2008

Happy New Year’s everyone! Hope celebrations were everything you wanted and more! I had a blast up north. Last time I was up there it was for demystification, so needless to say I have learned a little since then and was a bit more confident.

To start off my vaca, I went in to Thies and hung out with my family there. The kids were all thrilled to see me and although I missed my host dad, since he was visiting family in Dakar, my host mom was wonderful. She was a bit tired considering all the work she had to do to prepare Tabaski outfits (she’s a tailor) but made sure to make me not one but two lunches. Pays de la taranga = country of hospitality.

Mandi and I then made the five-hour hike up to the north. We went to Richard Toll and spend a few nights there. We spent Christmas Eve at some French missionaries house and had a nice meal with lots of Catholics and watched RV (Robin Williams dubbed is not as funny) and made brownies in their oven. Bryn is amazing and made us all stockings and filled them with lots of fun things like floss, oral rehydration salts, drink mixes and candy. It was nice to open something Christmas morning since my packages didn’t make it in time. Who knew that a huge Muslim holiday would slow down the Senegalese postal service!?!

After a few days in Toll, we went to another friend’s site and hung out with his family as he showed us around. Since there were so many people, we even got the privilege of having a sheep for dinner! I took more pictures so maybe you can enjoy the thought of how dinner goes from a living, breathing being to dinner; and it’s delicious. I never thought I would look at an animal and think about how it will taste for dinner later, but I do! Hanging out at Josh’s site was fun, but a little scary. You may have heard on the news that a French family was murdered in Mauritania. Well, their killers crossed over into the exact location we were which made for tighter security. We decided to avoid the beautiful river and discuss Wolof with Josh’s brothers so we didn’t leave the family compound the second day and had like 10 rounds of attaya (tea that causes cavities) instead!

After that, we went to St. Louis. BEAUTIFUL. I loved it there. Over 20 volunteers got together to celebrate the New Year and there were more white people than we were used to seeing in the streets since it’s quite touristy. But we did go on a walk to where the ocean meets the Senegal River. Had an amazing shrimp dinner that you probably don’t want to know how affordable it was. Laid out on the beach but didn’t go in since it’s cold! Yea, I guess I’ve adjusted to the heat of Bambey!

Now I’m back home, and it feels good. Hope to bike to Ndem (13k on a gravel road, wish me luck!) this week and we have a softball game in Dakar this weekend. I plan on using computers there to update you on photos. Happy 2008!