A Night Around The Dinner Bowl

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Sitting around eating dinner every night with my family reminds me of a scene in the movie ‘Nutty Professor’. The Klumps, a heavy-set family, are sitting around the dinner table eating some good ole soul food. The conversations are mixed until somebody has gas and everybody bursts into laughter. You might ask yourself, why this reminds me of my family in Senegal. No, it isn’t because I have gained 300 pounds since I’ve been here.

So, tonight, we were eating dinner and my parents were asking me about my parents and if/when they were coming to visit Senegal. I told them the loose tentative dates. They were disappointed that they didn’t intend to stay for more than a month. But they want them to come to Thies, which I want them to as well.

The next conversation piece, once again, revolved around me, because I’m not going to lie, I’m the talk around town. Apparently, a few of the other trainees’ sisters have been asking when ‘Aziz’ (my Senegelese name) is coming over for dinner. I just don’t have enough days in the week to handle my social calendar. But, getting back on topic, my parents asked if I was going to visit Senegal after my two years of service were up, and I said yes. Then, they asked if I was going to invite them to my wedding. I did say yes, because I will, but I did tell them that there was one small problem because I had no clue when that was going to happen and that it wasn’t going to be Senegal, unless I was offered more than 200+ assorted farm animals and a lifetime supply of rice as a payment to take their daughter.

Then, one of my brothers had gotten into trouble that day, so we all called him crazy. My dad then went off alittle. In the US, this would be embarrassing for the kid and in a sense an unacceptable means of punishment, but in Senegal, it is acceptable and quite funny to an outsider.

After my brother got lectured by everyone in the family, my mom let out a nice loud burp. Quite unexpected I must say. I would have expected it out of my brothers and then a nice hard slap on the face to follow, but, when Mamma Toure does it, it is pretty funny. All of us burst into tears. I then learned how to say ‘burp’ in Wolof, which is important.