noises all around

Below is a list of common Dakar sounds:

• The call to prayer at about 6, 2, 5, 7, and 9
• The shuffling of the Senegalese slipper shoes
• Honking taxis
• People talking at all hours under shady trees
• Cats fighting
• “Salaam Maalekum”
• “Toubab!” “Toubab!”
• Cars with rattling parts barely making it to their destination
• The “flop” of plastic flip-flops
• Pots clanging in the kitchen cooking up a new dish of cebbu jen (the rice and fish dish I eat once a day)
• “Madame, donne-moi cent franc.’
• Hand-held brooms sweeping the floor or sidewalk of sand, dirt, and leaves
• A car rapid apprenti yelling “Dakar, Dakar” or “ Foo jem?” (where are you going)
• Goats bleating
• A lone rooster that crows only in the afternoon
• Motorcycles, motorbikes, and scooters speeding down my road
• Horse drawn carts clomping away carrying watermelons or empty soda bottles
• “Wa’Allah, cherie, je te jure.”
• “Kaay lekk” (come eat)
• The crazy man outside of the Karak mosque who screams the prayers about 2 seconds behind the Imam in the harshest voice I have ever experienced. The first time I heard it I was afraid for my wellbeing. Now whenever I hear him I can just laugh like everyone else.