a couple quirks

i think the most common feeling here is just that I am along for the ride. At this point, not knowing the language or the people very well, there must be 50 percent of the day just given to following, blind wandering and utter confusion. from the moment I make my tea in the morning I am bound to be stumped by how to use my silly little half broom, how to hail a horse cart and how best to decline a marriage proposal from my aunt's cousin.

That said, there are two little habits among the Wolof that I've started to at least recognize, if not understand- and "knowing is half the battle" First we have the teasing. Wolofs are known among Peace Corps Volunteers to be extremely abrasive, aggressive, even rude-- I knew there had to be a reason for this-- the Senegalese are such peaceful people, they don'teven like to disagree, so whydo they feel the need to heckle every stranger they see in their community? The truth is; it is completely normal for people to act like this-- they rarely see a foreigner, especially a white one and beyond that this is how the Senegalese act between themselves-- it's just another way of passing the time- constant banter and joking. Some days I can feel it starting to get to me and some days it is no big deal-- it has caused me to adopt this sort of rough persona ( I know, I am very intimidating) so now I can respond to some people without being frustrated. Now when the kids on the street ask me for my watch or my shoes I tell them I want their mother. When my neighbor tells me he loves me I tell him he's ugly. I don't know; I think I'm on my way to sucessful community integration :)