One month left

Here's the March update, as once again it was a slow (read: no) posting month. There hasn't been much to report on besides business as usual - work, reading, knitting, friends. My life here has taken on a very routine and normal feeling - and yet I have very little time here left. A month from today I'll be getting on a plane back. It feels crazy.

I will be happy to go home. There's no doubting that. I miss my family, my friends, my pets. There are plenty of other little things I never considered, either - green parks (there is not an abundance of public parks here, and they are generally a little sandier than what I'm used to), peanut butter (I use a bit of the peanut paste my host mom keeps for cooking to put on my bread on occasion, but it's not the same), good coffee (Nescafe cannot compete with a good soy latte). There's so much I am looking forward to seeing and doing this summer.

I'm definitely also going to miss it here though. Dakar worked its way into my heart little by little, and suddenly I found I had a pleasant routine here. I can't possibly talk about all of it, but here's a short list of some of the things I know I'll miss most.

• Lively Neighborhoods

I'll miss walking around Yoff and Mermoz a lot. Kids play unsupervised around the neighborhoods here, something I've never seen much of in the US. I frequently have to step around or through games of marbles, soccer, and tag. In Yoff especially I can still rely on shouts of "Bonjour toubab!" which I have more or less gotten accustomed to.

Animals also make the city a little livelier. It seems as though I can hear sheep bleating everywhere I go in Dakar, as well as the clip-clop of horses' hooves. There was a rooster crowing on my street for a while, but I believe he's met his fate. The kitten at WARC is thriving (as any cat fed a good amount of chicken scraps would be).

• Good eats

I'll miss the lunches and dinners around communal bowls, though I don't think the transition back to western-style serving will be too difficult.  I will miss the wonderful plates served, however, and I'm going to have to work on learning a few recipes before I get back. I've got plans to try serving trout yassa-style (grilled with onion sauce and white rice). I also need to get much better at my tea-pouring skills.

And that's not to mention the street food - something I didn't explore for a while, but have had a very good experience with. My favorites are the grilled sticks of liver and onions, fried egg sandwiches piled with french fries, and even the overpoweringly bittersweet Cafe Touba. I have to say, I'll also miss being able to buy all of these for less than $3! 

Sharing a sandwich with Claire at our favorite lunch stand near WARC

• Teranga (hospitality)

I'll miss the pleasant little interactions that follow day-to-day life here. Today, for instance, I went to the tailor to pick up some things, but ended up waiting a bit while they were adjusted. While waiting, I had a series of conversations with the employees and customers of the shop and the beauty parlor next door (I was knitting, and it seems everyone the world over loves to talk about my knitting). We shared bissap juice, millet flour beignets, and ataaya. That's the real Senegalese teranga, that kindness that I'm still so enchanted by.


I know already that I'll be back here someday. Not to live again, but I will be back. I want to see Dakar grow, and Senegal with it.

I've got a couple other posts I want to get up in the next few weeks. Thank you for your readership and patience!