Sunday, August 7, 2011

come to my shop..just look no buy

As part of new staff orientation we went on a condensed city tour saturday. 8 toubabs (white people) smushed into a white dakar academy van and dodged our way around town. literally dodged, the driving around here is insane. kyle will have a great time once he gets behind the wheel!

the highlight was an artisan village across town. the creativity and skill was amazing. and most done right before your eyes...men sitting on stumps carving out women and elephants from logs, scraping leather for book bindings, women hand stitching stuffed dolls...smell of urine and the constant heckling of merchants only enhanced the experience! 

to barter and to say no is a must for market shopping! even though the people typically only speak either french or wolof (local tribal language) all seem to have picked up on a few english phrases.  miss, miss, come see my shop!  no buy just look!  make me so happy!  i was exhausted after shopping from constantly smiling and saying "no merci." 
i did indulge on a few items, one being an african print dress for miss maeve's 1st bday. i was quite proud of my bartering skills, talking the lady down from 4,000 cfa to 2,000 cfa.
bartering a totally new concept for me, a way of life for my "craigslist loving" husband.  sometimes i think kyle may have some senegalese roots...

the learning experience behind it all was really that the senegalese truly do want you to see their creations. to them that in and of itself shows you value them. to buy is icing on the cake...

come and see my blog, make me so happy, faith

12 comments:

Amanda said...

Brad loves to barter...maybe we should visit :)

Danica Favorite said...

Oooh, sounds like fun! I hope you are able to figure out how to post pics!

Anonymous said...

That all sounds so awesome, I am so envious that every morning is a new adventure for you! Enjoy every minute! I love you!

rrohlfing said...

I love to barter too! What an experience you are having!

knit wit said...

Sounds interesting. I don't like to bartar but I can say no--I learned that from being a nurse (all those many days when it used to be "please come and work we have nobody to take care of them"!

Kate F said...

Savvy buy Faith! Good work. And you sold me on your blog too.

Adrienne said...

Hi Faith! I'm so glad you're blogging.

I am terrible at bartering and terrible at saying no, so I would never leave a store empty-handed. You look great in the picture!!

xoxo

cheri said...

I can just see you smiling the whole time you're at the market. Such fun to hear your adventures.

Mel said...

"Honeymoon price for you, my friend!"

UnclBill said...

The girls continue to be the cutest blondes in the world. I see they have another friend close to their ages to play with. Summer is dragging on here in Denver, but both Rowan and Ryder are starting school in a couple of weeks. Everyone misses your family walks by our yard and obligatory visits by Charlie into the inner sanctum of "big kid toys".

love the blog...great job

Andrea said...

I was the bartering queen when we visited China, which surprised the heck out of me, but I loved it. Wish I could do more here, but at the same time it is a bit exhausting, so sometimes it's nice to know a fairly solid price (and use coupons and such, when available).

Missing you guys tons. Is there a picture of Maeve and the fabulous dress you picked up for her somewhere? Love hearing about how you guys are doing :)

~Andrea

JHerina said...

Haha, my wife is from Gambia. She speaks French and Wolof and she tries negotiating prices at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc....Drives me crazy, lol.