So, mom has been pushing me to go shopping, and yesterday I finally gave up on the luggage coming and did! My Australian colleague David at work has a Senegalese wife, so he took me to meet her at some second hand clothing place where i could get cheap clothes. Basically, it was a tiny little shop, with clothes hanging on all the walls and all over the floor. There's enough place for 3 people to stand uncomfortably close, and you're surrounded by clothes. Helene, David's wife, kept rifling through clothes, throwing shirts at me to try on. Of course;, there's no change room, so I just tried things on over my clothes, and we made a pile of the ones I liked. Ended up buying 6 items of clothing for the equivalent of 40 dollars, not bad, considering how expensive clothes are in Dakar, from what I'm told. Next, she's going to take me fabric shopping so that I can have a Senegalese boubou tailored for me - that's what everyone does here. They pick the fabric they like, and have the clothes made. A boubou is a matching skirt, shirt and head scarf, usually loose with vibrant colours. I'm excited!
As for my original clothes, I took them to the ''laundry mat'' next door. It's three guys, with a bunch of buckets of water, bars of soap, and a whole bunch of clothes. I don't how they keep track of whose is what because I just handed them my clothes, and they ended up in a pile with everyone else's!
What else? I told myself that I would use my time here as I way of learning more about Islam, since it's a Muslim country. The guy at the cybercafe says he will take me to his imam for some Qu'ran classes, so I might take him up on that. Increasingly, I am feeling embarrassed not to know Wolof, the predominant African language here, so I will try to pick that up too.
Still no gel or anything, so I think I will go get my hair braided and not worry about the frizz anymore. It's nice not knowing anyone here, cuz I can look like crap, and nobody knozs the difference! Anyways, it's Saturday, so I have to go discover the city!
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