Peace Only

There are so many things to adjust to when you live in a foreign country and I can say honestly that I have adjusted quite easily (maybe even gracefully) to the majority of them. Learning Pulaar? I love it. Polygamy? Never gave it a second thought. Getting all my water from a well and carrying it on my head back to my room? No problem. Cooking over a tank of gas? Done. Eating rice and fish with my hands? Hope no one minds if I bring this one back to the states. It did take me a couple of weeks to figure out how to tie a panne skirt (the trick is washing the fabric until it is soft and can hug your body. Having ruffles on the bottom so that your ankles are free to move helps too) but now I have fully embraced conservative Senegalese clothing. 

There is, however, one aspect of Senegalese culture that I continually struggle with. Greeting people is the very first thing you learn in the language and it is the most important cultural exchange you can master. The typical greeting goes like this:

(lets say its morning)

me: jam waali 

other person: mbaal e jam, jam waali

me: mbaal e jam, a fini?

op: mawdum, a fini?

me: jam tan, no mbad-daa?

op: jam tan, jam tan. no mbad-daa?

me: jam tan. Ada selli?

op: mawdum, ada selli?

me: mawdum. A daaniima?

op: mawdum, mi daaniiima no moyyi, no mbadu-daa e tempere?

me: mawdum, no mbadu-daa e tempere? no mbadu-daa e nguleeki?

op: jam tan, mawdum. No mbadu-daa e nguleeki?

me: mawdum, naange in a wooli! 

op: wooli de! No mbadu-daa e heendu?

me: mawdum. No galle ma waadi?

op: ebey e jam

me: alhamdulillah

which translates to:

me: Good morning! (literally, peace morning)

other person: Peace in the morning, peace morning

me: Peace in the morning

op: Good, did you wake up?

me: Peace only, how are you doing?

op: Peace only, peace only. How are you doing?

me: Peace only. Are you healthy?

op: Good. Are you healthy?

me: Good. Did you sleep?

op: Good, I slept very well. How are you doing with the tiredness?

me: Good, how are you doing with the tiredness? How are you doing with the heat?

op: Peace only, good. How are you doing with the heat?

me: Good, the sun is hot! 

op: So hot! How are you doing with the wind?

me: Good. How is your household?

op: They are in peace

me: Praise to God

Maybe I can blame it on being from Boston, but this kind of exchange does not come naturally to me. No matter how much Pulaar I can speak or how integrated I become I always have to make a conscious effort to greet people. Its not that I don't love the people here or I don't want to see them, I am just used to walking through streets without even making eye contact. I am also unsatisfied by the answers in the exchange. Even if the person you are talking to were having the worst day of their life and everyone in their family was sick, they would still say peace only or good to everything you ask. I also rationalize some of my difficulties based on the fact that as a new person and a white foreigner I am a sensation in town, so I have to greet every single person I see and enthusiasm is a must. It can be exhausting. Sometimes to help me be infinitely friendly I like to imagine I am Belle in Beauty and the Beast:

Except that I'm far dirtier.