Culture Shock

I am going home for Christmas in less than 48 hours! Most of all, I can't wait to see family, see snow, be surrounded by Christmas decorations, eat good food, and just relax. Knowing that I am about to leave has changed my perspective on life in Senegal over the past few weeks. I've started noticing the things I love and appreciate here, and the thngs I will be happy to leave behind for a month : )

I wont mind leaving behind the bugs, the heat, the constant back and forth between overwhelming volunteer events and quiet village life, the language barrier, the feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb no matter where I am, the monotonous food, the lack of activity between 12-3pm, and the constant requests for money.

I will miss (well. not miss exactly, but things that I will be happy to come back to) include: my open air shower, the warm palm tree covered beach, my incredibly cute siblings here, my projects that are just getting underway, other PCV's, wearing flip flops every day, never being concerned with what I look like, total independence and freedom, my lovely village, the kindergarten, and not having constant internet/tv/etc. stimulation (I know its inconvenient, but It's pretty nice : ).

Im excited to go home, will be happy to come back, and am just generally looking forward to these next few months!

On another note, I went into Kaolack for Thanksgiving, where we made a HUGE dinner with all of your typical American food, which was fantastic. Then, I headed to my friend Morgan's site to help her paint her hut. It sounds simple, but we somehow ended up with whitewash in pellet form, which we had to mix on our own. Life without google is interesting. So, we painted a wall with what looked like plain water...seriously, it wasn't white, it just looked wet. Then, sat and watched it turn white over the next hour. Throughout the day we both ended up with quick lyme in our eyes, and managed to get the hut covered in uneven shades of streaky whitewash. We celebrated by going swimming in the delta. We were walking home in the dark, when a beetle flew INTO my eye. I couldnt see it or get it out...it was crawling around in there while I freaked out. Morgan was kind enough to confront her fear of eye-touching, and saved me. She also pops out mango flies in my dreams. I would probably, literally, fall apart without her.

Anyways, when I headed back to site, I hopped in a crowded station wagon with a few Senegalese families. There is one main road that cuts through Senegal, and another volunteer who lives along that road owed me some money from Thanksgiving dinner. We decided to try a roadside handoff. 20k before we tried to meet, our car screeched to a halt and a random woman ran up to the window, handed someone in our car a baby and a suitcase, and we sped off. I asked them to stop at the white person, so everyone in the car sat with their eyes to the windows searching, until we saw her. We slammed on the breaks as she came sprinting up to the car, threw me money, and we continued on our way.

Back at site, things were just fine. I left in a rush to get to an all volunteer conference in Thies, afer which I came to Dakar, and have been playing the role of tourist ever since!

Ok, ttfn. See you in America!