So here I go: I have a cereal problem that I really have no interesting in stopping, in fact, I just want to keep feeding the problem (yeah, I had to make that joke). Seriously! Even though the cereal I have access to is nowhere close to a wondrous US cereal aisle, it's so amazing for every meal: breakfast - cereal, didn't feel like ceeb u jeen for lunch - cereal, had to take your malaria medicine and didn't want rice and beans for dinner - CEREAL! Unfortunately it's a habit that is currently unsustainable: I can't get cereal in Bambey (well I can but at this point I'm not willing to pay the RIDICULOUS PRICES), so I'm suck gorging myself on cereal every time I go to Thies and practically buy out the store (but I bet there's some solution that involves US cereal... maybe the mail..? kidding!).
Now that that's out of the way, on to my day:
I woke up kind of early (that's a lie around 7am) to catch some of the super late halloween people on their way back in and was able to exchange a few texts with some (who will remain nameless). I, obviously, went back to bed around 7:30 because I didn't really have a plan for the day and I see no fault in making up for the sleep I lost in college! Anyway, around 8:30 I finally got out of bed and weighted my breakfast options (go get a bean sandwich, eat oatmeal, eat cereal... guess what I choose). My hostmom is REALLY big on me sweeping my room on Sundays but, figuring I didn't have any meetings for the day, I thought I would go the extra mile so I actually cleaned and mopped my room. Don't be fooled, there aren't mops here, I filled a bucket with dish soap and water, got a rag, and got on my hands and knees and cleaned the floor. It didn't actually take that long (you can see from the photos I kind of only have two strips of floor, so I showered and gave all of my dishes an intense cleaning. I then looked up the word for "to clean" in Wolof (so I could explain to my host family why I came downstairs at 10:30am not earlier) and went to really start the day.
I have an hfsister who's visiting for a while and BOY is she chatty. She's really about me learning Wolof (like everyone in my hfamily) so she only speaks in Wolof and refuses to explain herself in a language I can understand. She then proceeded to try to pry out every detail about my life in the US which only creates for more awkward conversation given the topic and the language barrier. Afterwards the president of the youth sports and culture association showed up at my house (I guess my hfdad had seen him on the street and sent him to find me). I was able to talk to him about what projects I might be able to get involved in and what they're doing/what they want to do. It was a great conversation to be able to understand the organization a little better and to get to know their priorities (soccer) so I can figure out if/where my work could fit in.
Afterwards it was lunch (which I pushed rice around until I had the guts to say I was full and go upstairs and eat cereal). I wrote everything I had learned from the ASC (association of sports and culture) kid and went to take photos of my house. They're up, by the way, so do enjoy them! After uploading the photos I went to sit with my family. I'm not sure how many of you are aware of the TV series "Full House" (anyone my age better be), but the annoying next door neighbor/best friend of the oldest sister, DJ, is the neighbor "Kimmy" who everyone else finds to be annoying. I'm pretty sure I have a "Kimmy" in my life. There's this girl that is friends with my youngest hfsister and always seems to be around. The other day she followed me into the boutique and made fun of me while I tried to ask for salt (it's "sel" in French and I was saying "sol"). Then today she came over and, while I was sitting there, told the story to my hfamily. Obviously the story was in Wolof but I knew what she was talking about because she kept saying "she said sugar, she said sugar, but she wanted salt" over and over again. And then she detailed my other purchases... I'm not sure how many times she sees people go to boutiques and buy salt, an egg, and a pack of biskrem. What bothers me even more than her making fun of me while I was there, was that she didn't know I understood her and I couldn't think of a good enough response. I struggled for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to say "I wasn't asking for sugar, I was asking for salt. I didn't say the word sugar" but then I let it go. I really can't wait for the day that I'm good enough for people to not talk about me while I'm sitting there (that alone is motivation enough to learn Wolof, if not for the work reasons).
The rest of the day continued without much excitement (my hfamily wasn't mad that I didn't eat dinner with them... I was saving room for cereal). After dinner, however, I had a really good conversation with my hfdad ranging from Wolof words, to health problems in Senegal, to problems to ASC has and what I can do to help. We discussed about how they're supposed to do cultural things and more sports than soccer but how they just play soccer. I told him I was maybe interested in doing some theater if there is interest (it's one of the thing they're supposed to do). He explained how a while back they used to play basketball, handball, and soccer as well as have theater competitions and cultural discussions. It's hard not to jump right in but I know it's important to wait and really assess the situation first. But I'm trying my hardest to be patient and observe!
The night's ending with cereal, some gatorade, and talking to family on the phone (which is always amazing)! Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to the high school to introduce myself as well as to meet the teacher who works with the American Club there. Supposedly one of my neighbors works for the schools (he's some sort of inspector/teacher watcher person?) and he's interested in getting a theater group together so I might get to meet him too. We'll see!
Happy November Everyone!
KO
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good blog
ReplyDeletegreetings from Spain