Return from America

Hello beautiful people! Its been about a month since I've been back and my return from America went smoothly, much more than I anticipated. I remember first arriving in Senegal in March, stepping off the plane into a foreign land in the middle of the night. I'm not going to pretend I wasn't terrified. This second time around, it felt oddly like I was returning to my second home.

My sister's wedding was incredible. Truly the most gorgeous breathtaking ceremony I've ever seen. I was overwhelmed with happiness for her and brandon. The whole trip went by in a flash, but nonetheless was full of autumn nights snuggled up around bon fires with the greatest people in the world, laughing and sharing stories and eating food that has never tasted so good. I felt grateful as ever to be able to come home. Nothing like your own heavenly bed to sleep in again and trader joe's right down the road. But talking with people about my life in Senegal made me feel excited and motivated to get back to work.

I made my way down to Kedougou the next day after arriving in Dakar again. The first night was spent dancing uncontrollably for hours in the Kedougou kitchen while making cookies and five different types of smoothies.

All that time they spend around breathtaking moutains and waterfalls must be the explaination for such excessive amounts of hyperactivity.

The next day we ventured to Saraya to meet up with our buddies doing bed net distributions for malaria prevention. The best part was sitting in on their radio show! I threw in a little Pulaar blurb about malaria but that's about all I could muster. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay long enough for the actual distribution, but to be able to observe the meetings and efforts beforehand were beneficial for future projects.

On my way back to my village, I stopped in Tamba for a night to spend time with my dearest Emma. We popped open a bottle of wine and cooked up some delicious America pasta I had packed away. What intended on being a chill night turned into a wild dance party to various Britney Spears songs on full blast. Nobody else was in the house so we figured, why not? Girlfriends are the greatest.  :)

Returning to Mampatim always warms my heart! As always, I was greeted by a flood of hugging, clapping and dancing. Wouldn't it be awesome if thats what happened everytime you went anywhere?



payaya parents... expecting

 After unpacking, I walked out my backdoor to the sight of two papaya trees that had grown taller than my fence while I was away! Even more amazing, four other baby papaya trees are sprouting up too! 6 papaya trees in my small backyard? I'll be outplanting the other ones into the school garden, but for the two that are remaining, I shall be enjoying their fruits by next year!

My tomato plant is in full force and my friend Kelly brought me a banana tree to plant as well.

 So, as it turns out, this may be the only time where I have banana, mango, and papaya trees in my backyard all at once. What is my life nowadays? The mango season ended a while ago and now we're on to corn and cucumber season. Now these aren't just any cucumbers, the ones they grown here are seriously the size of melons. Villagers dice up the cucumbers and drench them in a vinegar mustard onion sauce for a snack. Mmmm!!! it. is. so. good.

mr. banana tree

Tomato plant

host sisters pounding corn

 Besides food, I have come to terms with my other two obsessions, slacklining and painting. My host family probably thinks I'm crazy, but I decided to paint my room again. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to keep things interesting when you're entire living space is a small square cement room. Our volunteer newspaper, Sabaar, wants me to submit pictures and an article about interior design in next month's Better Huts and Gardens column.

Slacklining. A gigantic thank you goes out to Kaede Holland, the coolest chick ever. Slacklining is something that Kaede is really into, and I trust her opinion on things, so I was more than willing to bring it back with me and try it out. My friend Cibyl and I often ride our bikes out to remote parts of my village and set it up in the woods. It's hilarious to think of Senegalese people crossing our path one day, discovering two foreigners tight rope walking in the middle of nowhere. What would they think of us? We had an Oktoberfest /euro trash theme party for the newcomers back at the regional house, so I set it up on the roof that night to see what would happen. They loved it. I'm glad I've been able to spread the slacklining love here in Senegal.