Interview (Part II)

Hello all!

I've included here my responses to a few more interview questions presented to me by a gal from Scripps. Enjoy!

1. What was the name of your town/village in Senegal and how large was it?

I spent the semester living with a host family in Dakar –Senegal’s capital. I spent a week living with another host family in a village called Louly Ngogom –which is a few hours south of Dakar. Dakar is a huge city containing a large percentage of the nation’s population. I’m sure wiki could give you a rough count. Louly Ngogom couldn’t have had more than 2,000 inhabitants, and probably less. Their primary language was Serer while Dakarois speak Wolof and, for the most part, French.


2. What was the house like that you lived in there?

The house I lived in while staying in Dakar was quite large, containing an inner courtyard, two floors, and a terrace. I’d say we were upper-middle class. We had a gas stove, but my host mother preferred the slower and more flavorful method of cooking over charcoal. When the shower broke, we spent the rest of the semester showering out of a bucket. Regardless, the water was always cold. We flushed the toilet by throwing a bucket of water in. The house was comfortable and inhabited by three generations, but fans were absolutely necessary during the beginning of the hot rainy seasons. We had our fair share of fine china, a basic TV, a pristine dinning room, and plenty of room to throw parties. My friends oftentimes commented on how lovely and large our house was by comparison to theirs, but I visited several houses that were as posh as any upper-class house in the US.

My temporary home in Louly Ngogom was composed of a collection of buildings made of cement or thatch amidst an enclosure covered in sand. We were very rich, housing a large political figure of the area, and the couches in one formal sitting room attested to this wealth. We cooked over embers, showered out of buckets, ate around one flashlight over dinner, and used a hole in the cement for our personal endeavors. Decoration was non-existent outside of the one showy sitting room and meals were taken outdoors.

I’m not sure about which home you were inquiring about, so I thought I’d just cover both of them. ☺


3. Are you now living in Vina del Mar? How big is that and how near to a major Chilean city?

Viña del Mar is pretty much a suburb of Valparaíso, which is either the second or third biggest city in Chile. I take a bus twenty minutes into Valparaíso for classes during the week. My home here is similar to those found in the states, we have a huge mall three blocks away, and lovely monuments and parks mark the cityscape at regular intervals. However, my friends and family here constantly emphasize to me the great degree of poverty found in other parts of the country.