A quick update

Hello readers of Au Senegal,

My blog! My precious, precious blog! It seems like I haven't been able to log on to the internet in years. Really, its been since Monday. The power in Dakar is as consistent as the printing of a 1st-grader. Even in Point-E (the upper-class neighborhood where SIT is located), the power will be cut randomly, sometimes for up to 6 hours. When the power gets cut, the Wi-Fi gets cut. When the Wi-Fi gets cut, the blog doesn't get any attention. Of course there have been times when the power has been on, but spending the afternoon hours in a shack with a tin roof and no water tends to make the bed more appealing than the computer. 

In any case, today was the last day of our week of visits to Village Des Arts. As I mentioned, I chose to spend the week working with clay. Regretfully, in the rush to catch the bus, I forgot to bring my camera. This is not the end of the world, though, because none of us (three students who chose to do ceramics) have any clay-working skill. 

Though we are no where near the artistic level of our artist/teacher, we did have fun working with the clay. After the first day, things started to improve. The second day, we were instructed to use the techniques we had learned the previous day to construct something of our choosing. Obviously I chose to make a rhino, the most difficult animal I have ever sculpted in Africa. It turned out looking like a mangled beast - somewhat triceratops-esque, gnarly none-the-less, so I beautified it by adding a basket to its back. The third day was spent at the wheel. We learned how to change a ball of clay into a beautiful pot. Well, I should say, we watched a gifted artist turn a ball of clay into a beautiful pot, then tried unsuccessfully to copy what he had made seem so easy. The fourth day was the same as the third, except our pots didn't fall over or self destruct under our hands. (They were still ugly, of course.) 

The whole experience at the Village des Arts was amazing in many ways. All of the artists we worked with (bronze-sculptors, glass-painters, sculptors, batik-ers) are internationally known. Many are showing their works in big name museums in Europe and the States, including the Loeuvre (sp?) and the Met. It was so interesting to get a glimpse into the African artistic community, especially since they are almost entirely Muslim. On this note, the artists were not only taking time from their work to teach us, but they were doing it all without having eaten or swallowed water. This combined with the heat is enough to make anyone grouchy. Instead of focusing on their hunger and the heat, they calmly taught us their craft, occasionally recalling stories of other grueling conditions in which they had worked in other countries. 

On a less positive note, the dead-rotting-animals-we've-seen-in-the-street count is up to more than 12 and includes horses, sheep, cats, dogs, and rats. I can't remember if I've said this before, so I'll say it again. Trash in the streets is incredible. Incredible isn't even the right word. It is completely baffling. There is trash all over all parts of all roads. This includes the slums, the middle-class neighborhoods, the upper-class neighborhoods, the markets, downtown, and everywhere else. Trash! Trash! Everywhere. On the same street that the school is on, there are probably 10 piles of trash, each at least 5 ft tall, within one block. Trash gets removed once weekly, but why wait for the trash service to come when you can just augment the pre-existing pile in your front lawn? Sadly, Senegal's sanitation problems will probably get worse before they get better. 

Ok, really, I promise to be more diligent about updating. And there might even be videos in the near future. Now I'm off to have Ceebu Jen for the 10th night in a row, hoorah!

Love Ryan