Dinner Club, Dakar-Style

I had another visitor from Seattle last week and am enjoying this trend (2 visitors in 4 months, with another arriving in June!). Jonathan, a friend from school and a fellow dinner/cooking club pal, was here to set up a research project which will bring him back to Senegal later this summer. When he arrived, it was a little like Christmas as he unloaded two bags full of goodies from REI and Trader Joe’s that my parents had kindly sent with him, as well as a gift from dinner club friends in Seattle. Not that I am roughing it here, but it was really fun to receive items from home that just don’t exist here. It reminds me of the thrill of receiving mail at summer camp (only I’m not in a cabin in the woods, nor singing campfire songs, though I can smell a heap of trash burning as I write … okay, still not quite the same).

Jon and his parents, who live here, picked me up for dinner and met the (very sweet) dog that I’ve been taking care of while the dog’s owners are traveling. We noticed three worms that had burrowed under the dog’s skin, which is apparently very common here when the temperature rises in warmer weather. There are more flies that appear when the mango trees bloom this time of year, and the flies lay eggs that can burrow under skin of animals and humans (clothes and sheets have to be ironed here after drying outside to kill any eggs that might be on the fabric). My skin crawls just thinking about these worms. However, none of the others were fussed at all and Jon's dad, a surgeon, took the worms right out while I squirmed more than the dog. This is after they treated me to dinner – I think the next dinner will have to be on me.

I joined Jon and his co-workers/fellow students for dinner later in the week, at a restaurant serving fish kebabs and tajines, fried plantains, and mighty strong mojitos. The server brought us a menu in English, although we were all equally perplexed by some of the translations (bananas Nordic?). We sat outside on the patio, seemingly the only customers for the evening. It wasn’t until we were just leaving, close to 10:30 in the evening, that other tables starting filling up (and this isn’t the first time I’ve noticed this here). They regaled me with their travel stories and updates from Seattle and I was a bit nostalgic when we said farewell.