Saturday and Sunday: The days that blended into one.

Since I've been moving non-stop since Saturday morning I haven't had time to post my musings. Thus, Saturday became Sunday and Sunday a part of Saturday. A six hour time difference took a significant chunk of time away from my existence, which is fine I'll get it back when I return, but for now I'm still trying to adjust to this new-found concept of "jet-lag."

Postings from Saturday and Sunday will be mixed together here.

Saturday-- Jan. 21, 2012

What. A. Morning.

I must say I did not imagine that my attempts to catch my flight this morning could have been any more troubled. I can either interpret the events of this morning as the start of an adventure or a reflection of my disorganization....

My condition at the moment is rather zombie-like as I am quite exhausted. Only now that I am sitting in my gate, Gate E5, do I feel the adrenaline leave my body and the color return to my cheeks. I am relieved that I am here, that I am safe, and that I will be boarding the plane to Washington and then, finally, to Dakar within the next 2 hours. I almost lost that chance.

I awoke this morning around 7AM and took, what I have been told by students that have already arrived, my last hot shower. I had only managed about an hour of sleep last night and I almost fell asleep standing. The plan, was to be done packing/last min details by 7:45AM when the family, Waseem, and I would head over to the airport. I imagined the morning would flow rather smoothly and that my departure would be a memorable goodbye scene, the kind accompanied by profound inspiring music (Such as, “Postcards From Italy” by Beirut or “Blue Spotted Tail” by the Fleet Foxes). Clearly I was setting myself up for failure lol.

What actually happened was a combination of misfortunate events/coincidences that led to chaos.

The first, was that Waseem overslept.

The second, was that I realized all of my Bras from the Bra research project (which by the way went extremely well!) were still in his car.

And thirdly and most importantly, I had left my yellow fever card in his car (the very card I need to board the plane, without it I am not allowed to enter the country).

I didn't realize this last one until I was heating up my breakfast in the microwave and my mom walked by and casually said, “Do you have all your documents?” At first this was an obvious yes, I may have even rolled my eyes (sorry mom) but then I realized my yellow card wasn't in my bag (thank you mom!).

Naturally, I panicked. Before coming to the conclusion that it had to be in Waseem's car I searched all over the house, previous back-packs, pretty much anywhere and everywhere. My family joined in the search as well, which I was/am thankful for, but we couldn't find it anywhere. I called Waseem several times but he didn't answer. Finally, after getting through his house phone and talking to his very confused mother, I ended up getting a hold of Waseem. At this point I was terribly stressed and upset so Waseem got the bad end of the stick. My flight was at 10AM, and I was running late to check in. We both took our cars and met up at a Mcdonalds where we exchanged the documents and glances. I'm still pretty upset over exactly how our “goodbye” played out. A drive-by goodbye. I sped home and the entire family hopped in a car in the direction of DFW airport. My mom and I hustled into the terminal, and as I handed over my itinerary I realized—my flight was at 11:30AM—not 10AM. All the rush for nothing, I could have said goodbye after all...oh how disappointing is that moment when it hits.

Even though the airplane goodbye was not how I had imagined it, my family and I enjoyed some quality time and everyone gave me thoughtful advice and of course, I love yous :). Rather than Beirut or Fleet Foxes, my dad was playing the Mexican Hat dance on his phone...oddly I still felt inspired lol.

I am ending this part of the day on the plane, I have the window seat as always...which only means my bladder is sure to be more active than normal. Ah the excitement!

Sunday: Jan 22, 2012

Currently it is 8:19PM in Senegal, which means it is 3PM in the States-- when I think of the time difference I think about how silly it is that by the time my day is semi-over, Waseem's day is just beginning. We chatted a bit on skype today and it was lovely to hear his voice. I would go on and on about how much I miss Waseem, but the travel and the jetlag have kept my mind preoccupied as we had both predicted it would.

The flights to Dakar weren't as bad as I had originally expected them to me. The first was around 4 hours, the second around 7. I particularly enjoyed the second flight as there were several other CIEE students taking the flight with me, and because I happened to meet Silimbo d'adane who was a Senegalese musician. According to his business card, he is a Master Drum Player that had been living in Wash D.C. for over 10 years. He was heading back to Dakar to visit his second wife and family for a vacation. Of course, since Silimbo was originally sitting next to Madeline, another CIEE student, I discovered most of this information snooping in on the conversation. Since they were speaking in French, I don't consider it eavesdropping, I consider it a nifty way to practice comprehension skills :). 

After awhile the two stopped talking, and I decided I'd look out the airplane window. I wish I could adequately describe exactly what I saw, but honestly I believe there are no words for that kind of beauty. I wish, truly, that I could have taken a picture, it's a shame that the scene is now only a memory Looking though the small plastic window revealed billions of stars. They blanketed the night sky in an array of patterns. I had never seen so many stars, so close, and so brilliantly bright. For lack of a better word, I was quite literally "star-struck." Since I am a relatively weird person, I decided I would try to share this moment with the people around me so naturally I tapped Madeline and Silimbo on the shoulder and told them they had to look at the stars. At first they didn't understand, but I offered my window for Silimbo to view the stars and he (who by the way was the tallest man I've ever seen, about twice my size) squeezed his way into my seat. He was taken back by the sight as well and he immediately started talking about the greatness of God. The comment that, how could something so beautiful exist without someone as great as God to create it. I just nodded and smiled, although I'm pretty sure he knew it was slightly in-genuine because he kept asking if I understood. Even though I said yes, I don't think he was convinced lol.

So then I started having a conversation with him in French and I found out he had a bit of a thing for Madeline. Perhaps searching for a third wife? Very possible. He basically had given her his number/address/email/etc. and told her to get in contact with him. All things considered he was a very generous man because he offered to pay for all her meals (and mine too) and said that we wouldn't have to spend a cent of our money in Senegal. He also invited us and all of the CIEE program to his home and said he wanted to feed us. This was a point he made several times. Apparently the man is very well-off because his mother is a famous dancer and his father is a famous actor, he of course a famous musician. Both madeline and I expressed our gratitude, but it was really Madeline who deserves credit because he was really pushing her for some kind of response--she was very calm and collected throughout the entire 7 hour flight.

When we landed we went straight to orientation as it was 7am in Dakar. Orientation today really just consisted of eating food (WHICH IS JUST FINE BY ME!!). Since I'm vegetarian on this trip, I'm eating a lot of food I wouldn't normally eat in the States, it still trips me up a bit but I'm coming to terms with it. We had some baguettes and nutella for breakfast, which was delicious, but lunch and dinner was lack luster--for me anyways because I'm vegetarian. I am catching up on my vegetables that's for sure since I had salad for both lunch and dinner. No complaints on my part though, I think it's very kind of them to be understanding.

I met a lot of interesting and really cool people that are on the program with me and I am hoping to get to know people better as time goes on. I also met some students who have been here for a semester already so it was interesting to hear their stories :). 

One last thing before I go...a little bit about my first impressions of Senegal:

Senegal reminds me a lot of Mexico, there is a mix between modern and rural here that is unmistakable.

For example, 

a horse dragging a cart next to the road filled with taxis. 

makeshift shelters next to modern-style homes. 

People dressed in traditional wear and others dressed in more "Western" style clothing. 

There is A LOT of sand everywhere, surprisingly. There was a raging sandstorm in Dakar before we arrived, and we're still catching the aftereffects-- such as the chilly and gritty wind. I can't really say I enjoy the feeling of sand stinging my eyes or grinding in between my teeth, but it is something I'm going to have to get use to, or at the very least, learn how to protect myself against.

My favorite thing about Dakar so far, is the singing. Throughout the day Muslim men face mecca and begin reciting prayers. When I first heard sone senegalese men sing aloud I was a bit surprised until I put it into context. The men sing beautifully here. Large, full volume, deep voices that skip across notes. It is beautiful.