The Sketch Chronicles-Episode 1

Some of my friends back home have been asking about specific stories about my encounters with Senegalese men. I decided to start writing about them and we're calling it the sketch chronicles.

Enjoy!!!

So it's Friday night around ten or eleven and me, Brooke, and Cody are standing outside waiting to meet up with some other friends. We're chatting it up when all of a sudden this guy comes and positions himself in the tiny little crevice between me and Cody. He greets us all and because Cody is cool and knows a good amount of Wolof he starts talking to him. I try to ignore when I hear him start asking about me. Then he starts talking to me and telling me how beautiful I am and luckily Cody distracts him, but he continues to go on and on. Finally Brooke mentions that I have a husband who is extremely large and gets angry quickly. This does not stop him as he says he doesn't want to hurt or bother anyone. He continues talking to Cody asking about my husband and why I won't talk to him, and Cody explains that he is somewhat bothering me. The guy then goes on and says but I love her!!! And repeats this a few times. I don't know how but finally he does manage to just walk away.

Later that night, I'm at a club with my friends Robin and Cody. Robin is trying to get us drinks while Cody and I were talking. All of a sudden a very strange and very drunk guy comes up to me but I turn around so he catches Cody. They start talking in a mix of Wolof and French that I barely understand but the words I did decipher were she's your wife? No, no!!! He continues trying to convince Cody to let him talk to me and then gets distracted when he sees Robin. He then goes What about her? and Cody explains that we both are with him. This bothers the man even more. Then he points at me and goes no, she's not yours, that one is but she isn't
(probably because Cody and Robin are both white but I clearly am not). Finally we give up and grab a few beers and run away from this man as quickly as possible-but we still had to dodge him every now and then.

Best story to date however is the following:

Sunday night I was trying to catch a cab when two teenage Senegalese boys basically trapped me. They start speaking to me in Wolof when I tell them that I don't speak that. Then they switch to English and start telling me how pretty I am. The whole time they were talking I was trying to catch a cab. Then they ask me where I am from and I tell then NJ. Then they go Newark, it's dangerous!!! I explained to them that I am aware of this when they ask whether or not I knew Tupac. I go of course! Then they start throwing up signs and exclaiming West Side everyday!!! I almost died of laughter-but I was not distracted by the fact that I was just trying to get away. Finally I was able to flag down a cab with the two still all over me. I negotiate with the driver and finally my escape was near. But of course they couldn't just let me leave. One grabs my hand and kisses it and as I try to pull away the other grabs my other hand. Then I try to grab that hand when the other one kisses my opposite cheek and of course the other kid then goes for the other cheek. I was mortified and I had never been so happy to get into a cab in my life. Trust and believe that I have learned my lesson.