I think I just almost got mugged, in plain daylight.
I was walking through Morningside Park, which is just east of my apartment, separating Columbia’s hood Morningside Heights, from Harlem. I had a few hours between when our latest orientation session got out and the evening discussion about media coverage in Iraq and decided to go for a walk in Little Senegal. I was on my way back, talking to Matt “Boring Matt” Bunczk, a friend from Senegal who I’m going to see this weekend in Philly and was walking up the stairs that lead back up to Morningside Heights and was going around a hairpin turn. I passed these two young guys who were hanging out near the stairway and after I walked by them while on my phone and they started following me, walking quite quickly. As I made the turn, I stopped and turned around to face them. They seemed very surprised that I noticed them and one of them stumbled for words, saying:
“Uhh . . . do you know what time it is?”
I hung up on Matt by accident and said:
“Yeah, it’s a quarter to five.”
Still seemingly stunned, the same guy said:
“Are you a cop?”
“No.”
“Why do you look — are you scared?”
“No — should I be?”
And they walked off. I looked up the stairs and saw that a woman was coming down, so maybe that scared them off as well.
So yeah, that was weird. Remind me not to be on the phone next time I walk through the park again.
Little Senegal was very cool, and I’ll definitely have to explore more of it. I walked into the first main shop that I encountered and hung out for maybe 20 minutes or so, talking with the shop owner, Samba Seck. He was very friendly, and pointed out all the great Senegalese products that he was selling, including a Turkish-made packaged cookie called Biskrem, which goes for about $0.30-$0.50 in Senegal, and $1 in Samba’s store. I bought a pack, and a bag of dried hibiscus (bissap) to try to make juice with it for $2. Just hanging out in the store, there were all kinds of characters coming in and out. It didn’t take long before a guy showed up wearing a whole boubou, the traditional Senegalese dress, with loose pants and a matching long shirt going to the knees.
More orientation stuff was pretty straightforward. Lots of info on health services, avoiding carpal tunnel, library research, and so on.
I did meet a guy named “Wally” from Ibadan, Nigeria who has been working from Lagos as a journalist for the last few years. He’s also been working on some project about early post-independence Nigeria — so once he heard about you guys, Heidi, Mom, Grammy and Grandpa — he wants to interview and meet you all! He lives in the Bronx and says that he cooks a lot and that there’s an African market near his apt and that I should come over for dinner. Sounds good to me.
