Sunday, August 29, 2010

you know you're in africa when

i don't know how to start this appropriately. we were all sitting in the living room of my house last night when a family friend came over with her daughter fifi. she sat down on the couch and then started touching one of her breasts. then she started scratching it and while i was already trying to avert my eyes as best i could, she was very quick to take off all of her top and sit there while everyone continued to speak in wolof like there were not 2 giant (and i am by no means exaggerating) breasts taking up the third seat on the couch.

all of my clothes smell like janky sweat.

we have been doing a lot of exploring here and i love that. things are super laid back. for example, all yesterday my family watches tv and sits around the living room. i started getting really lonely at one point because my family speaks wolof all the time and french only when they ask me something so im just like oh hey guys its whatevs i'll just hang out here. and then for lunch yesterday i thought my body was going to crumple up and die because of all the food i had to eat. i was put in a corner of the kitchen (because its ramadan everyone is fasting so i eat alone) and i had 3 entire fish, a ton of fries and fried onions to eat all by myself. for the first time i thought "a greenhouse girl cant finish her food. what is happening here"
but when i met up with the rest of the kids in the program we found out we all had a similar experience and already towards the end of the night things were looking up for me.

jason, justine, justine's host sister and i took a trip up to the lighthouse. you can see the ocean from all sides and it is as far west as you can go in africa. it was windy and not as hot. definitely the perfect place to hang out for a day or so. i felt like a queen in a castle.

there is another sister/cousin who is also named bineta so i play with her a lot. she loves loves loves photobooth on my computer and we ate coconuts together last night. i also have banana mango and lime trees in my back yard whatupppp

attention harry potter fans: there is a pizza here called le basilic. guess which american freaked out.

i took the car rapide all by myself today. it was glorious. i am called "toubab" which means white person. i'm all about it. who wouldnt want that name

all the ciee students went to downtown dakar today and it was saweeet. it was nice to reconnect and know that we are all kind of going through similar situations making everything seem more comforting (like the fact our poop smells like fish)



school starts tomorrow. im so excited. i feel like i'm going to kindergarten and i can't wait to use my new backpack and school supplies. but i'm sarah. therefore i only have one notebook and 2 pens here. whoops.

favorite part of the day. get a load of the name of this ice cream:


3 comments:

  1. Curses on the bad internet connection! If I don't get to talk to you again, have a great day in school tomorrow. We love you!

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  2. Hope your day goes well tomorrow, Sarah! Don't forget to take a First Day of School Picture (with your notebook and 2 pens)!!!
    Love you! xoxo
    Diana

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  3. Loved that "first day of school" look in your eyes, Sarah. Go out and knock them dead! Gma

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