and she's back!

I realize it hasn't been a huge absence but I've been sick the past few days so it feels a world different/better to be back to normal (no worries, the sickness wasn't serious). First, to catch up to speed: On Monday I went to Ndem and it was pretty much everything I was promised, it was really interesting and really weird. It's not Senegal - it can't be. The best way to describe it without dedicating a whole post to it (which I'm not feeling right now) is it's kind of an artist commune in Senegal. Yeah, the artists are all Senegalese but they're working on a purse deal with Banana Republic, everything's painted blue and white and, somehow, they don't drink salty water like I do. Anyway, in Ndem I met 5 French women, 2 a few years older than me who worked with NGOs and Ndem and the others were midwifes who occasionally took weeks in Ndem. I was planning to leave after the hot part of the day (so around 5pmish) but around 3pm I felt a fever coming along and decided it would be better to be sick in Bambey then Ndem even if it meant a bike ride back through the hottest part of the day. So off I went, and, honestly, it didn't seem much hotter than usual. I got home and showered as my fever really kicked in and, long story short, the last few days have been filled with drinking Oral Rehydration Salt mix and lots and lots of water. Don't worry, it wasn't anything serious and I woke up today ready to conquer the world again!

I set off around 9:30am this morning (much to the surprise of my host family who hadn't seen me in the past few days except when someone would come up and tell me it was a meal time only to be turned away by me mumbling "I don't eat" and pointing to my stomach) for the high school. I was meeting with a French teacher to correspond with my world wide schools class in California (hi class if you're reading this!!). After a pretty productive meeting I left still feeling on top of the world! I didn't have too much going on but it was going to be an awesome day if for no other reason than I was feeling great.

On my walk back from the high school (which is a hike) some horrible high school girl followed me yelling the Senegalese equivalent of the "n-word" for white people. At first I was taken back, then chose to process my emotions while I ignored her. She and her friends proceeded to continue yelling it then saying "maybe she didn't hear/understand (it's the same word in Wolof)" and then, the cherry on top, "hey red-ears (the translation) give us some money." I ended up doing nothing, something I both do and do not regret. I wanted to turn around and give them a verbal lashing in Wolof but my Wolof isn't anywhere good enough. I was debating just telling them, in English so it mostly would have been for my own good, "you're disgusting and offensive," but I realized that wouldn't have done me much good either. I briefly entertained picking up a rock and throwing it but obviously didn't. It didn't really anger me as much as just offended and saddened me. I can deal with people calling me Toubab, that's kind of a cultural thing and most people don't realize it could be offensive (this is a culture where there are stereotypes about the different ethnic groups and it's completely fine). Everyone knows this is an awful word to use and that it is disgusting and offensive and these girls were just doing it to be horrible people which is offensive and saddening in my mind.

Not willing to let it ruin my good mood and settled stomach I made my way to the post where I received a whole bunch of letters (thanks AGC, Grandma, and Schlankers) and onward home. I had tutoring today and while it wasn't a great lesson in terms of my Wolof progress I had fun with my tutor. I casually explained that I wanted to learn the words for bargaining because I know I'm being charged a high price which she found hysterical, but knew was true. Hopefully next time I'm overcharged in the market I'll be able to fight back with my new Wolof vocab (I'm probably going to think of myself as a superhero in that sense).

After tutoring just more hanging out with the HF and dinner. I've long had this theory and I hope sharing it doesn't jinx it: any dinner served with bread is going to be awesome. Examples: beans come with bread, spaghetti comes with bread (who knows), sometimes we just have meat with onions and bread, and, from tonight's dinner add to the list, chick peas, potatoes, and bread - it was amazing! Way to go Miss!

Tomorrow's not filled with any specific plans but I want to get some laundry done and go visit the women's training center again.

One week until Thanksgiving, I cannot wait!!!

KO