Peeping Toubabs

Amanda and I can look out our bedroom window and the apartment complex adjacent to us is unfinished.  However, there is a family that has taken up residence on the second floor.  Amanda was the first to become infatuated with watching this family.  There is a little girl who would walk out on the ledge (this would NOT be okay in America) and play with the rocks, throw the rocks off the ledge into neighbor's houses, brush her teeth, put a bucket on her head and yell out fish names (like the fish sellers in the streets), etc.  We were stricken with this little girl.

So sometimes the mom would come out.  Amanda noticed that she was pregnant.  This made us really happy to know that a second child who would be as cute as the first was on it's way.  So we've been watching this family for a while now.  We've been careful not to be seen.  Hence the name - Peeping Toubabs (foreigners). 

One day, as we are driving along, Amanda (being the CIA agent that she is) sees this family selling peanuts not too far from our house.  So then, anonymously, we start buying their peanuts because we love them.  We give the girl candy.  The first time we gave it to her, she smiled a huge smile and said, "Ca va? Merci" (How are you?  Thank you).  So we continued to go.  But after that, something changed and instead of being happy to see us, she would immediately start wailing.  We were so upset because we love this child... haha!  We just continued to give her candy each time.. Pavlov's classical conditioning at it's finest!

Another time, I decided to call her name from our window.  It was hilarious because each time I did it - she went into a room looking for her mom because I imitated her mom's voice pretty good :)

Soon afterwards, we heard a newborn baby's cry.  We were so excited!  So we decided to meet this family formally and the way to do it was to bring the baby a gift :)  I consulted our language teacher on exactly what to say to make us seem less the creepers that we are.  I had an entire speech ready.  "Hello, how are you?  We are your neighbors.  My name is Mariama.  This is Aminata.  We would like to get to know you.  We brought a gift for the baby."  So we knock on the door concrete wall that serves as the entrance to their house and the little girl comes down the stairs.  Luckily, she didn't start crying but just announced to her mom still above that it was the toubabs.  So the mom leans over the balcony and tells us she doesn't understand Wolof.  We were devastated!  There was no way to communicate because they are from another country in West Africa.  We gave her the baby gift and I was able to say in French "gift for baby" but we left disappointed we couldn't get to know them.

We call our language teacher (aka person to call for anything and everything) and tell her the situation.  So we decide that someone in the family must know Wolof.  We set a day and time for her to go with us to where they sell peanuts and find out who speaks Wolof.  Luckily, the mom's brother and husband both speak Wolof so we were able to sit down with them for a while and talk.  The little girl is still scared of us but we learned alot about her - the funniest is that she would brag to her parents that "she had toubabs that give her candy" and that she likes to be called "toubab" because her skin is light.  We had a great time with them!  I got to hold the newborn baby and we learned his name and I invited us to the naming ceremony.. haha!  There are advantages to living in such a forward country- I can invite us to things :) 

Today, we were walking to go catch a taxi and we passed by them and just said hello and waved.  Next thing we know, the little girl is running after us with her uncle.  So we give her candy!  The uncle says to us, "She was upset because the toubabs passed by without giving her candy.."  haha!  I looked at Amanda and said, "You know we're going to have to keep this up for the next 1.5 years!"  We don't mind.  We're just happy that the little girl loves us too.  They say that money can't buy love... well, we've discovered that candy can! :)