Ooh La La

I am officially integrated….or at least I like to think that based on today’s events. 

I was in the kitchen of the campement, drinking water, when Fatou, a reserve worker, walks by and boob slaps me.  Yes…she did in fact boob slap me, well more of a boob lift but really it’s the same thing.  This probably sounds weird, admittedly it is, getting groped usually is not what you would hope for as a sign of integration. However, the women do this to each other every once in a while, so it wasn’t just a funny “touch-the-toubab’s-boob thing.”  I proceeded to jokingly tell her to leave me alone, to which the women wanted to know what happened. I then had to explain she touched my boob in wolof.  Needless to say I never learned the word for boob, I don’t even know it in French.  It is not really a priority word for me. After some gesturing and lots of laughter they figured it out.  Also, once they discovered I didn’t know the word for boob, they took entirely too much pleasure in teaching me it along with the words vagina (which they have many of). 

Oh boy did they have a hoot with this.  Senegalese women don’t really hold much back. In fact my first week at site they told me I had to protect my “girl parts” from the boys in town.  This included gestures and all the things that would make you feel like you were back in 5^th grade sex ed class.  So this became a fun game for them. They found it particularly hilarious when my mom, a very distinguished lady, walked in and asked what was going on. After another up roar, with once women rolling on the ground in laughter, I told her what Fatou had done. They also insisted I told her the names I had just learned for the other region. To which she though was hilarious, kind look at me like “you poor  girl” and then told me she would scold Fatou.  Which really meant she walked in with me behind her, looking very mad, and called her a sey sey (joker), then laughed.  I proceed to tell Fatou that “I you were soooo nice but now know your just Baxul (bad).  Ankit (my ancienne) had warned me but I though he had to be wrong, because she was soooooo polite. “ This brought laughters from everyone, because nothing is funnier than a toubab cracking on you in wolof.  To top things off a little later, Astou (the main culprit in the vagina lesson) yelled at me to “come here.” Normally it’s a good idea to do what older women tell you, but my mom told me not to listen, because she was just messing with me. So,  I yell back “ I can’t I’m super busy, you come here”.  She then proceeded to run after me and pretend to spank me with a stick,  once she had caught up to me. Who’d a thought I would be getting spanked at the age of 23.  

SO there you have it. That is integration in Senegal..i mean if they feel comfortable enough to boob slap me it has to be right?