Julia and her friend Bachir have been very helpful to us lately, and they came to Saint Louis our first weekend here and invited us to the beach. Julia went on the program two years ago, where she met Bachir at UGB. They came and took us to the beach on the coast, and we relaxed there and swam in the Atlantic. They showed us a couple good places to eat in the city, and took us to the French Cultural Center where there are lots of events and concerts and art exhibits that we could go to. On Sunday they were nice enough to take us around St. Louis and help us buy all the things that we needed. Because Bachir grew up in St. Louis, he knew where to go to get the things we needed, how much they should cost, and how to barter and get the price down. We bought things like mosquito nets, a fan, and soap to hand-wash our clothes with. Throughout the weekend, they told us need-to-know things about the city and the university, and also told us some history of St. Louis, as well as introduced us to a couple people on campus who we could trust.
On Saturday night we ate fatayas and chawarmas on a bench near the river that we bought for no more than 600 cfas, which is just a little over a dollar. Behind us we saw young boys outside under the streetlights chanting verses from the Qur’an while rocking back and forth. Bachir told us that these boys studied under a marabout, and were the same young boys that we would see walking around the streets asking tourists and adults for money. The boys would then bring whatever they got back to the marabout and either get rewarded or punished depending on whether or not they collected enough. It was information like this that gave us a lot of knowledge about the city, and we’re lucky and grateful that Julia and Bachir came to St. Louis and helped us so much.
At the university, we’ve been able to find our way to a few key places, such as the academic buildings, each other’s dorms, the dining halls, and small boutiques where we can buy necessities. The food at the university is not always awful (in my opinion), but from what we hear it gets boring because there is a total of about 10 dishes that they serve on a regular basis, at which point we can go to one of the private restos around campus for a bit more money and get something different. For the school restos, you need to buy meal tickets, which cost only 15 to 30 cents.
Clarence, the stray dog who followed us everywhere
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