Senegalese "lutte"

was meant to understand whom, between the logistic and the administration department, would cook at the beach :-)

Next step...Niger

Bissau and Casamance is done, have some pictures for you except I cannot download them....stupid blog!

Anyway, just had the time to come back to Dakar to sleep most of the time, but also to have a nice picnic in Somone beach, 50 km south of Dakar....real good fun, nice team, have the pictures as well but cannot download them...(stupid blog)....might be able to give you another link though....let's see....

Still for now, packing again, about the last time before I pack for good to come back to Europe, and this time to go to Niamey. It was meant for a week, will probably be for two if not for two and a half....so will be out of reach for another while, unless the hotel provides internet! Let's hope at least I'll be able to use my phone this time.....it's terrible to be completely disconnected from the world!

http://picasaweb.google.com/olaberta/SomoneSenegal?authkey=8trCm9LKCIk

Off to Guinea Bissau and Casamance....

we'll be out the whole week, don't know if I'll have access to the net.....catch u soon!

Let's travel around!

The worst boring annoying incredibly beuuuuuurrrk bleaaahhh part of my work is now down! let's push it back in my "who cares memory"and give some more space to fun and travel! No more computer from dust to dawn, no more paper work, no more running to please others, nononononononooooo!

Time to see new places, meet new colleagues, do more training, counselling and visiting!

Last week in Dakar I guess ! Now let me say hi to Guinea Bissau, to Casamance, to Niger and Niger again....and why not come back to pack up my stuff and go home uh?

Oh then for sure, Internet might as well be a faraway souvenir.......so let's say bye for now and catch up with you sometimes insh'allah.... ;-D

yahhuuuuuuuuuuu !

une gazelle, des gazous

Elles sont blondes quand on les boit

Elles s'esquivent quand on les chasse

Elles sont belles et sveltes quand on les courtisent....

mais qui sont elles?

Ils sont toujours là pour les boire

Ils sont toujours à l'affût

et courtisent toutes celles qu'ils peuvent....

mais qui sont ils?

Si mon premier peut être singulier, mon deuxième est définitivement pluriel!

Tea for two and two for tea?

Senegalese smooth talkers always find their way out when it's time to approach someone new....and their local culture helps a lot for that! 

So what about a tea, gently offered and mentioned as being the first one.... as two more have to come (meaning as well you have to have them all or none....and then again if you have them all......then forced to stay in the surroundings!).

1st one for friendship, they say...

2nd one for health, they told me...

3rd one for love, they assured me!

The first one is really sour, the second a bit less and the third one is almost too sweet.... ;-)

Good time still, small talks and a bit of fun company which does do harm!

Oh yes, for sure, the end of the story........definitely invited to have more tea! HA!

When the "mi-temps".......

matches with the call of the muezzin........must be a god thing no? bent down then, have a prayer (is anyone praying for their team?) and go back to football game! ;-)

La cucaracha, la cucaracha......

ya no puede caminare, porqué no tiene, porqué le falta........vida para caminar! 

because "fumigation breakdown, it's always the saaaaaaame, tadada!"

This is the end, beautiful end, my only friend......the coacroaches's end......

Freedom! Freedom, yeah yeah, i won't let you down!

husbands all over the place.......

Senegal is probably the easiest place to get married if you don't mind being the second or third or fourth wife! If you don't mind eating rice everyday, if you don't mind your man flirting with every new girl crossing his way saying "ça va bien?" to him ....ehehheheh.

Already have a 100 proposals since i'm here, and most of them come from the workers next door! everyday a new one ask for my name, ask if i'm married, or just tell me "i like you, you marry me!" (and it's not a question....ah!)

Well funny as well, today someone invited me to go to church......

Hummm, let me think,........mmmhhhh........euhhhh well let me think a bit more.......mmhhhh...........NO!?

One of the positive part of the France-Afrique......

is that you can go to one place and find yourself invited to a wine degustation! 

Well seated and accomodated on a terrasse, under few trees and here we are, degustating one, two, three, four and more different wines! 

Thing is that here, everybody drinks the glass completely (it comes all the way from France and is more expensive due to heavy custom tasks, who wants to spit it out!?) ....and not only one, as we sometime had to test it again to make sure we could feel the "raspberry" flavour in it :-D 

Of course ...after few drinks under the sun, nothing much in the stomac but few delicious mini brochettes, we could hear popping here and there silly giggles ........ starting from myself......pfffffhihihihihihihi. 

That helps a lot though, as i knew absolutely no one in that group and realised that no one knew anyone ......but all became best friends in the world in the end!

Drink wine people and make no war! ;-)

Week ends are soooo tough! ;-))

Walking, running, swimming, walking, running, swimming....

one two one two, welcome to the sport country! 

Thousands of people running in the street, on the brand new corniche next to the sea!

Ipod in the ears or singing it, almost completely covered or wearing a minimum necessary, fancy clothes or anything to cover oneself with, Nike sport shoes or plastic shoes, anything is good to be fit in Senegal, and the youth is definitely FIT!

So no way i'll left myself behind! and here we go, walking in the street most of the time (have no car, that helps!), running on the corniche like anyone else (except that i'm a white toubab and that i have 15 guys running after me within 5 minutes) when the wind is not blowing to strong (yeah well, would like to see you running with a strong win facing you!), and then swimming in the not so fancy olympic dirty pool next to my house!!!

Oh yes, let's no forget stretching, rope jumping and stairs climbing (hoooo don't laugh, that help!)

after the party mission, it was time for me to get back into shape......guess that will do! 

Cesaria Evora in my bed....

Party time people! It's Friday night, it's midnight ......now starts the night life in Dakar! Nothing to do before that precise timing, unless you want to spend few hours on your own in a deserted bar!

Should be out, not telling you the way it is ...but there enjoying it, but this is another story...

In the meantime, the sound of Capo Verde or Guinee Bissau rythm flows all over the appartment...invades the space and makes you swing for few hours, except if you manage to sleep before it stops.....around 4 am! yes, of course, forgot to mention that the bar is just down the house and feels like Cesaria Evora is having a party in my bedroom!

Sodade! Sodade! Dess nah terra Sao Nicolau......

Swimming with the birds

weird but true.....got my first swim in the national olympic swimming pool of Dakar.....where the birds are the most frequent users....white and tall white birds.....looking at you with a freaky look.....brrr......could be another Hitchock movie! buhuuuuu!

n'dongolo n'dongolo (.....dans la case)

Here we go again, making my way through Dakar's life...

Already have all my guards friends all along the street to make sure nobody jumps on me when it gets dark (although I should not bet on them saving anything else but their asses if something should happen...), already have friends in the different little shops around the house.....the fruit guy, the beer one, the bread dude who wants to sell me "10 miches" everytime I go there.....not quite understand the joke, but like him a lot already ;-) .

I'm back to the old good "we have no fuel in the generator" whenever it's necessary to make it work, back to the guards sleeping under the trees, enjoying a tea with their friends, lifting up an eye whenever they hear you around, lazily waving at you and then they pronounce their famous "ça va bien" which is more an answer to a non-asked question than a question as such......funny.

Back to the good old destroyed and rusty taxis, having to deal the price of any single kilometer which could cost you your life...."bring me to the market for 700 CFA" "for a thousand CFA" "no way, it's 700 CFA" "let's make it 800" "you know it's 700" "ok let's go".....you never loose anything if you try right??? well they try it, over and over and over and over again! arghhh! 

Nice mix of  sounds, from "allah al'akbar" to Fado. Have the mosk on one side, a good live band bar on the other side of the appartment.......get different sounds and rythm through the hours......love it.

Polite and well educated ones, sticky and annoying others, poor and rich, barefoot or nike "foot" (well yes, some might be fake ones), a good sense of humor and here we go, life in Dakar is getting real and daily lived....as if it had always been!

Gorée...

little island of "irreductible"....

First trip to the Island of Gorée.....

A real pleasure for the eyes....for silly business, rasta and marijuana! The island of the slaves though! Heavy past indeed, where the portuguese, french and so many others used to come by for their own deals at that time! Protected site by the Unesco, where would definitely get a place on my own if it was not that far away from Europe!

......so cool but so not possible to share the bloody pictures with you as my blog is on strike! argh! so will do my best, promise u some pictures soon......but have to do some blog social work first! dam'it!

First day in Dakar.....first "gazelle"!

Nope, did not see it jumping in the bush......but found it quite refreshing after my first heavy day at work.......

Gazelle is the local beer of course, that I can enjoy in a wonderfull little lounge bar down my flat, where the carpirinha only cost about 5 chf......ehi buddy Gil wanna join for a cheap party'???

Appart from this, I can say for the first time in my ICRC time.....you definitely wanna be here! That's gonna be hard work but real good fun! Can't wait! .....and no, not only the effect of the Gazelle!

ciàààààààààà

Soon I will be gone again!

Ok people, I'm off again ....next time you'll get some news i'll be in Senegal already.....hope I'll be able to fill you up with good stuff!

Off I go!

Soon I will be born again.........

A 23.58 de ce 6 mai 2008 je vais pouvoir souffler mes 23 bougies.......quoi 23? 33? j'ai dit 23 moi!!! nahhhhh. Bref, cette journée qui va commencer avec prises de sang et examens médicaux divers prévus au départ en mission ne peut que mieux se terminer qu'elle n'aura commencé! je sais pas encore comment, mais rien n'est moins grave......

bon voilà un petit délire, un recueil de monstruosités.....et pas uniquement les miennes al'hamdulilla!

En français par contre, sorry pour les autres, mais là il est tard, faut pas exagérer non plus!

http://homepage.mac.com/djahan/comiclife