The Big Market

Today I wanted to talk about the Big Chadian Market.

dun, Dun, DAHHHH

Nah, I’m just kidding. The reason I say this is because when hearing about going to the market, people will tell you it is pretty intimidating. Everyone will try really hard to sell you things and it might be an uncomfortable experience. For me it was not. It was actually quite exciting and adventurous.

I have some pictures of things we bought and some stories to tell! This specific experience actually took place a couple weeks ago, but because some of the things I want to show you where gifts we sent back t0 the states and I didn’t want to wreck any surprises!!

Warning!- I soooooo wish I had pictures of what the market actually looked like, but taking pictures of public is not allowed sorry! (trust me, I wish I could take them, as much as you wish you could see them!)

The day started out at Almondine, A French bakery that also serves a great breakfast.  I had an almond croissant, and can I just say they are TO DIE FOR!

After, we went to a place called the Artisan. This place was not yet the market, but had lots of little stands with people selling handmade type things. They had lots of things like animal figurines, paintings, clothing, accessories, games, and jewelry (Lots and lots of jewelry).

This is the place that I did feel a little uncomfortable, not in a bad way. They are just very eager to sell you things. Everyone wanted you to come in their shop and look at what they had to offer, which is all good, but I am just not the kind of person who likes “help” shopping : ) Here are some pictures of a few things we purchased!

 

 

Next up The Big Chadian Market! Well, The real name is Dembé (something like that, we aren’t sure of the real way to spell it.)

dun, Dun, Dahhhhh! (It’s Okay, I’m done with that now 😉

Walking in was even an experience! Just about everybody in Chad has a motorcycle and when walking in you will see probably about two hundred motorcycles all in one place!

The booths look like little stands that you would see at a farmer’s market in the States. Everybody has their own little stall where they sell what they have. Many of the similar items are grouped together, like there are veggies in an area, then a lot of women selling fabric, and some guys selling kitchen utensils. You name it, they got it.

We were with a team member who speaks awesome French, which is the more formal language of Chad and Arabic, the language that everybody speaks to each other. Him being with is the reason we went because he knows his way around very well. He even knows some of the people personally and the first thing we did was sit down at a mans shop and have drinks together. It was nice of them, but I was antsy to see the rest of the market (Not that we made it to the rest of the market, that place was huge!).

After, we started making our way around and decided to make our way to fabric because that is one thing we actually wanted from the market. We were in a little bit of a hurry so we had to chose quick, which was overwhelming because there are sooooooooooooooooooo many patterns. That said Livvy and I both ended up with beautiful patterns. The first one is the one I chose and The second on is the one Livvy chose.

 

That’s all for now!

Lots of Love – Abby