a few of my favorite things...

since coming to senegal nearly seven months ago i've come to appreciate a few things...

village kids. specifically MY village kids, not nessessarily all village kids. but i am so glad that i have the kids i do in my village. for the most part they are very well behaved (different standard of what a "well-behaved" kid is but still...) i am able to let the kids in my room and they know they aren't allowed to touch or pick up or play with anything of mine before asking (and they DO ask!) whenever i do any sort of chore they come help. i have my regular water helpers who help me pull water from the well and bringit back to my hut. they love playing any sort of games and are just so happy to be around me. this bugged me at first--do you have to constantly be touching me!--but i've come to really like that. the kids don't hide their emotions, you can tell when they are so happy because they literally jump for joy as well as when they are upset because they scream and wail. (at first i was alarmed at this and bothered by it until i noticed the different wailings; i'm really hurt vs. i want you to look at me because i didn't get my way. after a while even i ignore the latter). the other day for korite (more on that later) i went to go greet my village and the herder village. a bunch of my village kids decided to come with me and took me by the hands and led me around. we created a little mini-parade much to the delight of the adults. and although a lot of my frustration comes from the kids, they really are such a god-send to have. a few have started giving me random hugs throughout the day which always lift my spirits and they are up for whatever game i want to teach them. they have even started calling me "banel toubak amen" which is "OUR banel foreigner"

senegalese faith. this is different from the muslim religion that the majority practice here and in fact exclusively practice in the futa just to get that out there. there are three major sayings that some up their outlook on life which are actually arabic (because they are muslim phrases). forgive me of my spelling (never was good at it)...the first one is "alhamdililah" or "thanks be to god". you see this everywhere in senegal from the vehicles to buildings. one of the public transports is even referred to as "alhams" by pcvs because it is written everyone on these big passenger vans. i don't even know their real name. one can say alhamdililah after anythig and they do. when you greet someone the conversation probably goes something like this, "how are you" "i am fine thanks be to god" "thanks be to god" "how is your health" "peace only, and yours" "peace only, alhamdiliah" "alhamdililah"...and so on...now depending on how you say it the phrase can mean several things; thanks be to god!!, thanks be to god i am finally out of that vehicle, thanks be to god now go away, thanks be to god THAT'S over, etc. the second phrase is "inshallah" aka "god willing". you say this whenever you make plans for something or refer to something in the future so..."inshallah"..."god willing i will see you tomorrow, god willing i'll make it back home alive, god willing it will not rain tonight because it is sooo hot in my room, god willing i will never have to do that again... the final phrase, "so allah jebbii" is a mix of pulaar and arabic meaning "if god wills it". is it going to rain tonight? so allah jebbii...are we going to have rice for dinner? so allah jebbii...will you do well on your test today? so allah jebbii...you get the idea. the other night manne my aunt here asked why i don't eat with my hands. i told her that i make too big a mess and that i prefer a spoon (which is true). she said, tomorrow night you must try your hands. and my mother replied, yes yes, so allah jebbii. the next night rolls around and we sit donw to eat and my sister hands me my spoon (knowing full well that i don't want to eat with my hands) and it is a while before my aunt realizes that i'm not eating with my hands. (i should clarify HAND. right hand only). she asks me why i wasn't and without missing a beat i reply, allah jebbani "god didn't will it" to which everyone cracked up. with these three phrases even if you don't know pulaar well -like me- you can still crack jokes and let people know how you are feeling. that's what i like about these phrases. depending on how you're feeling they can mean so many different things...it's a great way to bond with people when you both after a six hour car ride arrive at your destination and utter a "alhamdiliah!!"

my roommates. yep, although we are supposed to live along i have a few squatters in my hut. they've been gradually moving into my hut so i didn't notice them at first but now they've made their prescence known and although they didn't ask, i'm more than happy they call my hut home. i'm referring to shermann, lilypad, and walter my three toads. at first it was just shermann and he kept pretty much to himself. then lilypad moved in and for some reason like to hide in my clothes. (which has sometimes scared the____ out of me. walter is the newest addition and i must admit the most friendly and outgoing of the three. i greet them each morning as i sweep out my room and find out where they are hiding. they each seem to have their own space which is kinda cool so i can tell them apart. we have breakfast together and then i let them have a nap while i go do my thing. (as i discovered the other night they are noturnal and don't do much during the day. i was sleeping outside and it started raining so i had to move inside and couldn't sleep because they were crawling over everything!) but i love having them in my room. my ant problem is gone and there are less annoying beetles around. as long as they keep eating they can stay. it's also a riot because for some reason my village is afraid of them. my brother nearly started crying when i chased him with one and my mom won't come into my hut anymore. i don't understand why toads are so scary to them...my brothers chased a small mamba around the other day trying to kill it, yet they run like hell away from a toad. hmm.

market day. i get to ride into taredji, buy some frozen milk, chat with the vendors, buy beans and bananas...it always puts me in a good mood. plus i love it when i come home and surprise the kids with a treat (usually the bananas).

the landscape. it is soooo different from wisconsin. at first i hated it-it is brown and dry and hardly anything grows- but after a while i have been able to find the beauty in it. everything is in a delicate balance here and when it rains everything comes to life. because it is such a harsh place the things that do live are the toughest of the tough...plus the birds are so cool to look at (yep, birdwatch even here)

star gazing. and you thought the high school roof was the best place to watch the night sky (or get arrested for tresspassing if you're too loud about it)...it's amazing how many stars you can see here...it even beats the wyoming sky of duck creek ranch! i literally sit at dusk and just watch the sky. the sunsets are so beautiful and then night emerges...a great way to wind down the usually stressful day.

podor. when i just need to get away for the day, drink a cold soda (anything cold!), eat a bean sandwich (soooo tasty) and watch a movie trailer i just go to the side of the road wait for and unspecified amount of time, hop on whatever car pulls over and in twenty minutes i there. i love this town. the market is always bustling, the people are friendly, the post man always has a present for me (it's imported from the states) and the cyber guys are the nicest people in country. businesses here usually close for the hot hours of the day and so when we come they let us stay at the cyber, turn on the ac, and watch tv or do whatever we want while they lock up. it's really really really nice of them and i don't know what i would do if i didn't get to do this every week or so.

okra. it can grow in nearly every soil condition which is important here because you can't grow much out of sand...plus it's loaded with vitmins and minerals and available all year round and it's cheap. and it's surprisingly tasty.

ramadan. i won't elaborate as i've taked enough about it, but i really enjoyed it and very glad i got to experience it. we just had korite which marks the end of it. my village killed a cow so we ate meat all day, drank atayaa, and vistited everyone. i got my feet hennaed, my hair braided, and an outfit made for the occasion which the village loved and are still complimenting me on. it was more low key than i thought it would be but fun to see everyone dressed up and visiting with each other.

ok, there's so much i want to talk about but i've been pretty long winded already...enough for this post. i'm off to go hit up the post office then get a cold beverage for the fam.

peace out y'all!!