Top 10 Things I Will Miss

What will I miss?

10. Kolda! Greatest place in Senegal. Beautiful, nice, wonderful. XOXO

9. Greetings.  These can be rough on the days I'm tired, but I love having a reason to engage people.  You have to greet, and you have to talk to people. It really gets you involved in the community, and I'm going to miss that sense of belonging.

8. Job Freedom.  It's a fact that I will never have another job with such ambiguous goals and expectations ever again.  While there's something to be said for structure, it was nice to make my own schedule.  I did the projects that I wanted with the people and groups that I wanted, and I also made my own down time.

7. English as a secret language.  This is a double edged sword as it's really frustrating not being able to understand everything 100%, but its also got a bright side.  We can say whatever we want in English, especially when we're mad!

6. Tea Time.  While I don't really really really like tea, like some people I know, I really enjoy the togetherness that it creates.  Let's hang out and drink tea!  It's just casual time to hang out with friends, family, or guests and catch up or get to know each other.  It's how I learned Pulaar and got to know almost everyone I know.

5. Afternoon naps.

4. Senegalese/Guinean wax.  I may have went a little crazy, but I have a whole new wardrobe made entirely of this fabric and tailor made to my body. Sorry, can't share.

3. Joking cousins.  Baldes are thieves and they lie and steal all the time.  They often eat too many (or all) of the beans, and then have a fit of flatulence.  They're also pretty ugly and smell bad; never heard of a Balde showering unless forced.  Any successful Balde got to the top by stepping on the good, normal, innocent people like the Diallos.

How can this really be a thing?! This kind of conversation accounted for about 95% of all my conversations in Senegal, and gained me at least a million friends.  If you are with me somewhere, and I run into a Senegalese person, and then I start really berating them, it'll be ok.  I'm just trying to save you the horror of having to talk to a Balde.  If we run into a Diallo, however, they'll be accompanying me the rest of the day as they're a good, honest people.

2. My family and my village, especially the kids. They're so bad but so cute!

1. Senegalese hospitality! Imagine if I just showed up at a strangers house and demanded tea? Or needed some money, just for now, I'd pay them back? Or just wanted to chat because you look nice? Or I needed help with a project and heard around town you were helpful? This would never fly in America.  And that's why Senegalese hospitality is the most beautiful thing.