souls like wheels

so i am home now. senegal is a whole ocean away from me and i'm not sure how to deal with that yet.
i could list every memory that i can think of that made me laugh smile puke cry and everything else but i think i will just let you know that senegal was the most beautiful time i have had in my short 21 years of life and living away from the people i love there makes my heart hurt.
i love you all i really do and thank you for letting me share such a huge piece of my heart

tukki

so amid all the endings goodbyes and fetes that we have been having i haven't posted very much. also i think i am trying to avoid it because so many beautiful things have happened in the past couple weeks that i just want to keep them in my brain and i know that writing about them won't do them justice.

we are done with school. i turned in a "research paper" (mostly reflection with only 3 sources) that was "6" pages long (5 3/5) and i got a 19.5/20 on my wolof exam!! i think it's cause im selling mame bineta my phone so she gave me a better grade.

i don't know what to explain really.
modou made me the COOLEST hippo out of metal/iron (iron work is his profession so it's pretty legit)

kira gave me a gnome that we named tukki (it means to travel in wolof) and he will go with me whenever i travel
i have a ton of weird bumps on my legs that i thought were mosquito bites but they are definitely not. the nice thing is that any weird maladies we get in the next 72 hours is really no big deal because we are going home where the diagnosis isn't always "climate change"

we have all found out that going home is harder than we could have imagined. we had our re-entry session where we talked about how to deal with being back in the states and everyone cried. that was 5 days before we were scheduled to leave. now i have 3 days. and gah. awesome. sob fest 10.

now i am going to the beach to avoid packing or thinking about anything except sunshine and wolof.

weddings and wolof

so bineta got engaged yesterday.

i was in my room studying for wolof last night around 10 and my niece Dior comes in and says "binetas getting married." i was just like um WHAT because i have literally never seen her and her boyfriend (who is awesome so it doesnt really make sense) touch or make eye contact for more than 37 seconds.
but anyway i run out of my room and into our living room and just yell really obnoxiously how happy i am and i run up and give her a hug. mind you all the terrifying women of ouakam are in there and see this but i didnt really care, and bineta actually looked really happy and stood up and hugged me so that was nice.
so then my mom says some things about god and marriage and mohammad (finace) and i just smile and nod and then she says oh and its on friday. cool. this is ironic because nothing ever happens quickly in senegal except for binetas marriage apparently.
but the reception isnt until two months from now so i'll miss the fun unfortunately.

BUT IT'S STILL COOL BECAUSE BINETA IS GETTING HITCHED.

(come on hilary)

also i just took my wolof exam and i ended up getting really annoyed at my prof for being a jerk so i dont think i passed.

c'est la vie

i just poured my sheep soup (dinner) into our pet sheep's bowl thing (i ate by myself so i snuck outside to do so). technically i think that's canibalism but also i am annoyed at sheep for tasting so bad so i think its ok.

tomorrow is our last day of class. it's insane. my last class of wolof ever. that is actually sad for me.
soppnaa jang ci wolof
soppnaa bind ci wolof
soppnaa wax ci wolof

soppnaa soppnaa soppnaa

also there is this huge arts festival that senegal is having which is cool but also annoying. the power goes out a million times more than it did before and there are rumors that its because of this festival. in theory the festival is cool but i think wade should start taking care of his people first and then put on a festival after everyone gets some food and clean water that will bankrupt the country even more.

so as to not end this post on a mauvais note....i found out that carlos's real name is gorgui and that he was born in 1955 and that he is named carlos because he like carlos santana. duh.

music

so i got to school two hours early today so i could work on a paper i have due on monday.

instead i downloaded christmas music and listened to my favorite ones on repeat for 2 hours.
at the same time i am trying not to think about going home.
i dont want to write that much because when i do i realize what little time i have left and i get sad.

i cooked again for the family on sunday cause carlos wanted to taste the mac and cheese and he really liked it. again why i love him so much.
also on saturday night i came home super late and he opened the door for me and was wearing one my moms serongs. something happened to him in mecca i think....hehe

meat mound

so i did it again.
we were eating dinner the other night and my yaay decided it was a good idea to have cartilage for dinner. no joke. sheep cartilage.
here is a fact: you cant chew cartilage with your tooth nor can you cut it with a knife; therefore it should not be consumed (in my opinion)
luckily for me, the power was out so i would casually bring my hand up to my mouth and spit out the cartilage and put it between my feet. hence the title meat mound. i got up and just cupped my hands together (with the meat) and said merci beaucoup neexna!! and just looked like i was cheering. whoops.

last night natalie and i went downtown (on a school night what up!!) with 2 of our friends and that was a good time. at point she burped my name on accident instead of just speaking like a human. then she slept over and watched glee. it's the little things you know?

oh and also centre ville (downtown) is decorated for christmas. really its just one little store front but regardless.....they have christmas lights.

today

today is december 1.

i am spending it listening to billy play guitar in or wolof classroom while bmoore and kate practice for a pronunciation exam.

i spent the whole of sante publique drawing snowmen christmas trees and playing tetris.
jangkat laa. (i am a student)