After the prayers

As promised, continued Tobaski photos. I should probably remind you that by the time you read this, Tobaski would've been about a month ago. Sorry I'm always giving you so much chronological confusion.

Some members of Julia's host family.

Me with my husband. Note the guinea fowl pattern on my complet.

A newborn goat in my neighbor's compound.

Some children in my neighbor's compound.

Neene handed me this bowl of meat and onions and asked me to cook it with my gas burner. In my paranoia, I probably overcooked it. But the nice part about eating large quantities of meat only once a year is, no matter how poorly you cook it, it'll taste delicious!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

You didn't have to wait a year!

Here are some photos from this year's Tobaski. As I predicted, they look a lot like last year's photos. Even so, you will see more tomorrow. And some more the day after that. It'll be like the meat from the slaughtered rams, in that sense. Luckily, photos do not suffer from lack of refrigeration.

The women and girls.

The men and boys.

This man's hat is amazing. It reminds me of a panda.

Leaving the mosque.

This ram was minutes away from dying, but some hours away from being cooked to deliciousness.

Lever!

Student: What is “leever” in Pulaar?
Me: I do not know.
Student: You do not know what is “leever”?
Me: L-E-V-E-R?
Student: Yes.

So I’m amused they're pronouncing "lever" so incredibly British, but wondering what levers have to do with anything since the lesson is on fractions. But they did just come from science class. I say they need to bring me a lever and then I can show it to people and ask, “What is this in Pulaar?” No one volunteers. Instead, they ask if I know the Pulaar word for heart. I tell them. I tell them I also learn the word for ear. Then I tell them we should talk about maths.

After class a student comes up to me and says, “Miss Jallow, leever is [some word I’ve forgotten] in Pulaar.”
Me: Lever?
Student: Yes. And do you know what is ‘long’?
Me: It is not ‘juutde’?
Student: No.
Me: Long? L-O-N-G?
Student: Yes. What is in a sheep’s body. It will go [he breathes heavily in and out]
Me: Oh! Lung! Yes I know what a lung is, but I do not know what “lung” is in Pulaar.
Student: Long is [some other word I’ve forgotten]. When I slaughter a sheep I will show you long and also leever.

"But they are not people"

Neene and I were conversing one night about fruits and she proceeded to list the location of all major Senegalese banana plantations. A few nights later we are talking about luumos and she recites the schedule for the major luumos in all villages from here to Bansang. I’m about as interested as I would be were someone to read to me from the Yellow Pages, or a railroad station timetable.

I change the subject to the Pirahãns of the Amazon rainforest because at the time I was reading Don't Sleep, There are Snakes. I said the people will sleep in hammocks and they do not farm; they will pick what they want to eat from the bush, but cassava is there, mango is there... Neene is surprised to learn this. “Heh! But they are not people,” she tells me.

Then we talk about the famine in the Sudan. Mamadou overhears and says, "Sweden!" Neene corrects him, "No, Sudan." So at least she can distinguish Sweden and Sudan, even if Sweden and Switzerland remain one and the same.

Home Sweet Home!

I am in front of the computer. Not only that, but the computer has functioning internet. Not only that, but I finally noticed the drop-down menu that allows me to save my photos as "best for web," before I upload them. As uploading photos is no longer an incredibly long and painful process, I intend to upload many photos. If you enjoy photos, you will be pleased. If you do not enjoy photos, you will not be pleased.

I do not know why it has taken me over a year to upload photos of the actual inside of my hut, but, anyway. Maybe it hasn't taken me a year; maybe I already uploaded photos and forgot. In that case, here are more up-to-date photos.

The panorama makes the hut look larger and less circular

 than it actually is.

I wanted to write more captions, but everything I thought of seemed painfully obvious. "Roof." "Floor." So I decided not to waste your time.