First Impressions

I arrived in Dakar at 4:30 in the morning local time after an 8 hour flight over the Atlantic from Atlanta. So some what groggily and feeling cold (as the heat on the airplane wasn’t working very well), I stepped out onto the tarmac in hot humidity of the Dakar peninsula. This alone was enough to make my head start to spin a bit.

Driving from the airport to my new apartment, the driver told me we were along the ocean but since it was still dark I didn’t see it. I saw one of the two lighthouses that warn sailors of their approach to the coast. Far out in the dark water there was the occasional flicker of light which I was told was fishing boats. The sun was just barely rising when we turned down the street towards my new apartment. In an open door way I saw men kneeling to pray the morning prayers. Senegal is a country that is over 95% Muslim. It is the only time I have seen anyone pray in my first few days here, I hardly hear the call to prayer from my apartment. Though not hearing the call could be that I have been sleeping too soundly while recovering from jet lag and the fact that my windows are closed. I do have a small AC in my apartment and in my office which is nice on these hot days that we are having. That first morning before sunrise the city seems quiet and calm, there was hardly anyone out and about that was the last time I saw the city like that. Ever since during the day light when I have been out of my apartment the city has been full of people, cars, and noise.

Walking to work in the morning or coming home at night, Dakar seems much like other large African cities that I have been in: lots of people, lots of noise, a bit dusty even dirty at times, and a seemingly chaotic all the time. It isn’t like all those other cities I have been to, beyond the obvious fact that nearly everyone here speaks French and the food is really very good. Less obviously when I walk into a grocery store here I imagine for a moment that I am back in Paris instead of being in Dakar, many if not most of the products are French which means hopefully I won’t be too homesick for special foods. Though the French and the Senegalese may not have discovered Oreos yet!

So far though I like the city, the people I have met, my co-workers, the projects that I will be working on, and my apartment. It feels different here mainly I think because I know I will be spending up to a year here and that hasn’t be the case in any other African city I have gone to. The risk is always that in thinking I will be here a long time I won’t do things or see things right away. Since that first ride near the pitch black ocean I have only seen a few glimpses of the ocean even though the city is surrounded on 3 sides with water. I had to go find a map yesterday so I could figure out where I lived and worked in relation to the ocean and the airport and some of the other landmarks that I had heard about on this fairly large peninsula. I live maybe a kilometer from the ocean and work about 200 meters from the ocean. One of the things that I was most excited about coming to live in Dakar was living near the ocean but so far I hardly feel like I live near it, except for the occasional breeze that carries the smell of salt water. I am about to rectify this travesty of living near the ocean but not ever seeing it, as this weekend I am going to the beach with some co-workers!