Circus Show

I remember having a conversation with my dad on the phone a few months ago, telling him how I was looking forward to living a life not in the spotlight. That may sound weird, because I am far from a red carpet celebrity. By standout, I mean from the Peace Corps sense, being the "Dakar Volunteer", being white in an overwhelmingly non-white society, speaking a traditional language (not national language), etc....I standout. Standing out isn't all that bad, so I somewhat rescind the comment I said to my dad, but one aspect I do not like about standing out is the "circus show" phenomenon.

You may or may not know what this is, but regardless, it is disrespect of difference. Early in my service, I don't remember if it bothered me if I was minding my own business and a Senegalese person would come up to me to try and be cute or funny and speak arrogant french to me in places not typically frequented by white people/expats/tourists/non-Senegalese/etc (public transpot, thieb(cheb) shacks to name a few). The thing is that it isn’t over at “Bonjour” but lasts for awhile typically. You always get a few that have to mess it up for everyone.

I feel like I've gone a long time since I have had this experience. I go to the same places for lunch now and take the same route to work now, not because I want to avoid confrontation, but because this is my home. And it is nice to be able to do that, say that, and feel at ease.

Tonight, was a different story. I was on the DDD Bus #5 coming home from downtown after meeting a couple of friends and I sat down in a seat and three guys started talking to me. You know it right when it happens, and I realized that I was the circus show and in for a long ride. After a year and 9 months of the circus tour, you get tired of it....i'm trying to figure a way compare it to something at home, and thing I can compare it to is the fat kid in school (who is minding his own business) who always got picked on even when he didn't know it.

All of these conversations are exactly the same. The all bring up Senegalese food and women. That is typically it. I'm looking for new material so I can spice up my act.

Yes, I did call it an act. Everyone has there own coping skills to situations. From my point of view, you can either be an asshole, shut down, or go with the flow. If you are an asshole, you are going to get eatin alive. If you shut down, you will be ridiculed right in your face. If you go with the flow, you can get annoyed but also have fun with it.

Tonight, I decided to take the "go with the flow approach." One of my biggest tactics in this approach is to never agree with the "opposition", so I didn't. I somewhat got them laughing when I decided to pull the wolof card out of the hat. Seeing a white guy on the last bus head out of town was a good opener, but hearing one speak wolof was apparently a new joke.

So the first thing they brought up was obviously Senegalese food (yawnnnnn). I love Senegalese food, but as a topic of conversation from hecklers just gets old. In their eyes, thiebudiene (rice and fish) is the only Senegalese dish. Sometimes I feel more cultured and Senegalese than them after just talking to them about food, primarily because there is more than one dish in Senegal. To their suprise, it is not my favorite dish.

The next topic is whether or not I am married or want a Senegalese wife. The answer to both is no. I am definitely not married, I can't fool myself on that one. Senegalese women are beautiful, and while I am not opposed, I currently just don't find that to be in my best interest right now. I can't say I'm looking for a wife at the moment....I'm looking at the next 7 months and then what and where I am going after here (I don't put that in my circus show though).

Well, one paragraph is not just enough for this topic though. While I say I do not have a Senegalese wife, they typically dig a bit deeper, and I will provide them with as much as I can. They typically ask if have I have a Senegalese girl. Of course, I say no, because that is the wrong answer. Going against anything I learned in 7th grade health class, I'm sure Sunday School when I was 8, and the sweet, innocent, angel status I felt I once had, I tell them that I have 4 or 5, spread across Senegal (NOT TRUE....its actually 8 during peak travel periods). This got them rolling.

By getting them rolling, I am referring not to the 3 guys who initially started talking to me, but the entire back portion of the bus. I hadn't had this happen to me before, but it was somewhat interesting.

Then, the guy across from me tells me he just came from the US yesterday. I take this for a grain of salt but ask "from where?". He says "the capital". In my mind, I know what the capital is (and was) of the US, but I ask him again where he is from. He says the same thing. So, I ask him where that is. While I did not see the news reports or notice any demolition when I was in Washington DC this past summer, APPARENTLY NEW YORK CITY IS THE NEW CAPITAL.....I heard it first on the Dakar Dem Dikk….who would have thought.

Finally, I was close enough to my stop, where I did not find it socially awkward to get up and head towards the exit. I somewhat felt that I should bow, but I held off, instead, I just passed around a hat to see if anyone would put change in it to show their appreciation for my performance.

It was nice to get off the bus and make it home, only so I could recreate it in my head, cry about it, and write this 5 minutes later. Getting back to it though, if I hadn't taken the give it back to them sarcastic approach, I would not have survived. I wish I could deal with curtious, nice, and respectful people 100% of the time, but, its only 95% of the time here. With those 5%, you can't handle the situation like you would in the States (atleast I can’t), in this culture, you can't settle for being a victim of your race, nationality, culture, beliefs, you gotta spit it back and play their game....it took me a long time, but tonight, I proved myself to be an equal, which is all I can want….welcome to the JLand circus, with Dakar shows every hour.

So, is this a good approach to handling a situation like this. I honestly don’t know. The thing I do know though is that the next time one of these people sees me, they typically know my name, know I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer, know what I do here, and have lost the arrogant attitude they once had.

At the end of the day, you have to be the standing ovation act in the circus show before you can sit in the audience.