Insanity

I just did what I'm pretty sure is the craziest and most spontaneous thing I've ever done. Before I tell you what it is, though, I want to give some context. I was sitting at my friend Lynn's house with her and my other friend Kylie. All three of us are in circus together, and Kylie wants to go to Senegal for study abroad next year. Last night, I hosted a Senegal reunion/informational dinner, for which I made ceebu jen (the fish and rice dish that everyone eats about three times per week for lunch). Eating Senegalese food and telling stories and knowing that Alyssa got a grant to go back over the upcoming break made me really nostalgic and made me miss Senegal even more than I already do, which is a ton.

So I was sitting there with Lynn and Kylie, and I said, "Man, I feel silly, but I found these tickets to Dakar for pretty cheap, and I keep just staring at them. I really want to go back."

Kylie asked me, "So why don't you?"

"I don't want to travel alone."

"I'll go with you!" she said.

So we both called our families to make sure we weren't totally insane, and we booked tickets. Just like that.

I've decided not to tell anyone (not Alyssa, not my friend Ellen who's studying abroad there right now, not anyone at the Baobab Center or at SenCirk', not any of the neighborhood boys...). I want to just show up and surprise them all.

Also, my housemates pointed out, "That's really soon." I leave in less than a month. Just like that!

My heart won't stop pounding, I'm antsy and excited, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to sleep tonight. I keep formulating more and more plans.

It's going to happen!

Nostalgia

I'm in Peer Leader training these days, which means I'm spending the majority of every day (no, we don't get weekends off) around other similarly self-motivated, overly helpful, crazy enthusiastic students. We're going through training to be the best possible resources for incoming freshmen. I'm having a blast! The group of Peer Leaders this year is phenomenal. They accepted fewer applicants, so some freshmen seminars will have only one Peer Leader, rather than the usual two. The result is that the more experienced Peer Leaders (who are generally the ones leading seminars alone [like me]) won't be held back by a less-qualified Peer Leader, and the less experienced Peer Leaders have partners to help them out. The less experienced Peer Leaders are better fits for the program than a lot of people who Peer Led my sophomore year, so I think things will go very well this year.

In our social time, I often find myself talking to others about my time in Senegal. ALL THE TIME. It makes me miss Senegal pretty terribly. In particular, I find myself describing how welcoming Senegalese people were to us, and how we were immediately invited to birthday parties, weddings, and baptisms--even by people we'd just met. I miss the way people were so eager to get to know others. Networking is so important there that everyone wants to be friends with everyone else. The networks people form open up all kinds of opportunities for them, and everyone helps out everyone else in their network. Looking at it that way, it's easier to understand why there's so much corruption in Senegalese government--politicians have to bestow favors upon people in their networks.

On a different note, there are lots of exciting and stressful things coming up for me. I move houses in four days, I need to turn in a new draft of my SIP ASAP, Orientation starts in three days, and I need to come up with a silks routine in the next week and a half. I'm halfway through ordering my own aerial silk (I'm waiting on some information from the woman I'm ordering through), and I started a Cafe Press store selling items with the Cirque Du K logo on them. Things are moving right along.

Tonight some people at my house are hanging out and dressing up and drinking cocktails. I'm looking forward to doing that and then getting to sleep in tomorrow morning, finally. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day!

...and sorry this post was sort of all over the place.

A little off

I'm feeling a little off today. I've been mentally prepared all day to work on my SIP, and I think I've been working pretty much since I woke up. But rather than feeling at all accomplished, I'm just feeling pretty depressed. Part of it is probably that the people I've been hanging out with lately all just left town for a few days. And my bed is the only place in my house where I can get reliable internet, which means that's where I have to do my SIP work. Sitting in bed all day is pretty lame.

I'm at 22 pages (out of 30, I think) of my SIP. I still have some sections to write that I'm not especially prepared for, which is why progress is slow right now. I'm gathering information and sources, which is time-consuming and doesn't produce writing. I need to be finished writing by Friday night. That will be challenging. Actually, if I can just write two pages a day for the next four days, I'd be done. It just seems impossible at the moment.

I also feel a little bit like I'm getting sick, but I'm hoping that's just a function of feeling depressed and overwhelmed. In general lately, I've been the happiest I can ever remember being. It's weird when I have periods of depression lately, because it's such a contrast to my normal state.

Anyways, I WILL finish my SIP, I WILL feel better mentally and physically, and life is going to rock next weekend and beyond. I just need to keep my head up and push on through this week. Here we go!

What? I still have a blog?

Sorry, Mom, that I haven't been posting lately.

Life is moving right along here. I'm up to 12ish pages written of my SIP, and I'm planning to work from home tomorrow to get maximum writing done then. I'm hoping to get up to 20 by the time I leave town tomorrow afternoon/evening for the Traverse City Film Fest.

Things have been far more interesting this week than they had been. I suddenly have people to hang out with all over the place! It's great. The weather has cooled down, so now I can actually handle cooking, working out, and eating real food. Not to mention sleeping.

We've been getting a bunch of intense summer thunder storms, which I love. Since my new room has windows on three sides, it feels like being in a tree house when it storms. It's so loud and airy. I love it.

I have two and a half weeks left of work, which is pretty exciting. Tonight I'm heading up north to the Traverse City Film Fest, which should be fun. I think we're also going to take a slackline and possibly some aerial equipment and see if we can get some playtime in.

Life is exciting!

Moving

Today is a joyous day. Why? Because even though I still haven't gotten over this nasty cold, even though I have work today and will probably have to make dozens of phone calls, even though I didn't sleep well last night, even though I can't take out my smelly trash because we don't have trash removal services...THIS IS MY LAST DAY IN THIS HOUSE! I'm packing things up to move even as I type this post.

Tomorrow morning, all my stuff will be packed away, and I will head to California for a glorious two-week vacation. Meanwhile, my housemate (sort of a misnomer, since I've been living alone here the past couple weeks) will move all my stuff to her (and my) new house. The new house will have the things I have been so lacking here, including:

• garbage removal services
• laundry
• working windows
• neighbors

I suppose I could update this...

Sorry for the long lapse in posts. I had a few crazy busy weeks, then a depressing one or two. Now that things are back under control...here I am! My internship has started, I'm about to leave for the annual RESULTS conference in DC, I get to see my friend Joe for the first time in about a year, I'm living alone, and things are pretty good overall.

This week at my internship, I've been learning about poverty simulations. They seem really cool and interesting. I get to witness my first one next Friday. The simulations run about three hours long, and they simulate a month in the life of someone living in poverty. Participants are randomly assigned roles, and volunteers play the parts of people working at services these people will need (mortgage company, school, community action agency, etc). Each week is 15 minutes, separated by 5-minute "weekends". Each week, families have to take care of basic things like going to work, paying bills, feeding their families--all while dealing with crime in their neighborhood, lack of money, long lines at service agencies, job loss, lack of funds to get to the places they need to go, etc.

I met with my supervisor, Kelcie, this morning. We had a great talk about what kind of experience I have and what I can do at PRI. I'm really excited now about how I'm spending my summer. There's a chance that PRI may need to make their own unique simulation model; I'm hoping I can help with that if it comes up. If not, I'll be working on grant-writing, volunteer recruitment and management, research, etc. It should all be great experience for me.

I may be taking a sort of last-minute road trip out to New York with my friend Evan who I met freshman year at K (He was a senior at the time. Now he's in a PhD program at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor getting paid to do what he loves [chemistry]). So I'll be in DC this weekend, New York next weekend, and California the weekend after that. It also looks like I'll be back in California at the end of August; I think I'll be taking the train out there.

I didn't get the straight A's I was hoping for this last quarter, thanks to B+ in African Studies, but I think I'll survive. I'm looking forward to taking a seriously fun course load in the fall (Intro to African Studies, Photography II, and Intro to Creative Writing), leading the circus club, and seriously squeezing every drop of value and fun out of my senior year of college.

Maybe I'll even post again semi-regularly. We'll see. :)

Life

Here's what's new with me:

I may not get the grant I was offered for my internship, because my internship will be a 10ish-week part-time ordeal, rather than a 6-week, full-time one. I'm meeting with someone tomorrow to see what we can do, because the grant would pay for my rent for the summer. That would be fantastic.

I bought a beautiful yellow bike a few weeks ago. A vintage Schwinn. Now the person who sold it to me wants to buy it back. I'm irritated, but giving it back is the right thing to do. So that's what I'm doing.

I've been sick for the last few days. I don't feel particularly bad--my throat hurts and I'm mildly congested--but I've been so foggy-headed and sluggish and exhausted that I've been completely unable to get anything done. I'm hoping to work double-time tomorrow. I have lots to do.

Tomorrow we're planning to set up our NEW PORTABLE AERIAL RIG for the first time! This is a four-legged, 18' tall rig that can be used for any and all of our aerial equipment. I'm really excited about it.

Yesterday my throat was feeling icky, so I made some lentil soup. Today, I made fried rice. I also bought stuff to make sesame noodles, so I'm hoping to do that this week. I managed to spend very little on groceries this week because I'm only in town until Thursday morning, when I'll be starting my voyage to New York to convene with my family and hopefully watch my brother graduate.

The quarter is wrapping up, and there's a lot still to do. Here's hoping it all goes smoothly.

Inspiration

My life is inspiring. I live fully, take risks, and end up doing things that amaze me and that I never imagined I'd do. It's great. I want to tell you all about it.

This blog isn't cutting it right now because it's totally unfocused. I don't have a topic to write about. Can you give me some ideas? I'd love to keep posting.

When I was in Senegal, every time something strange or un-American happened, I'd think, "I can't wait to blog about this!" Those things don't tend to happen here, and I don't have any specific kind of event here that makes me think about blogging. So what kinds of things would you like to hear about?

Let me know.

A little stress doesn't hurt

But it does make it hard to get enough sleep. I've barely had enough downtime this week to feed myself. I'll skip a lot of that, but this has been maybe the most productive week of my life, and it's only half over. I'm also officially president of the circus club now, I'm working on organizing our gigs for this spring, I went with Claire and got $258.35 wired to SenCirk as a donation. They're planning to use that money to buy safety equipment.

I'm looking forward to a lot of things, and I feel like I'm constantly working just to mark pace and not get behind. I love being busy.

Also, last night I cooked the best thing I've ever made so far: chicken curry. I consulted several recipes, but I didn't have all the ingredients for any of them, so I mostly just winged it. It turned out so well, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I even managed to get 5 different vegetables in it, so I feel great about eating it!

Like I said...

In my last post, I wrote about sun and snow. Today, we got sun, hail, and lightning--all simultaneously! Hooray for springtime in Kalamazoo.

Last weekend I had quite the adventure. I went to a Senegal reunion dinner with the girls who went last year plus my group. We told stories and laughed, and we realized that most of them, at the time, were not so funny. Things like the incompetent doctor who didn't give me a malaria test when I had classic malaria symptoms, like one of the girls last year having a HUGE cockroach end up in her dress--and then in her underwear,  like boys "falling in love" with us everywhere we went... It was a great evening.

Partway through, I got a call from Allison, the woman who runs the Aerial Angels circus troupe in Kalamazoo. She said that she was looking for a last-minute replacement for a circus gig at a high school prom on Saturday night, and was I available? I said yes, of course, and spent all of Saturday sort of freaking out, wondering what I had just gotten myself into.

The gig went pretty well; there were about 100 kids there at the most, and they were pretty impressed by everything we did. Our portable rig was too tall for the ceiling of the ballroom, so we had to set it up in the recess in the ceiling where a chandelier was hung. Naturally, that meant that the ballroom manager was breathing down Allison's neck the whole night, freaking out that we would break her chandelier. I did a little silks routine, which was very well received. I also did a little bit of partner acrobatics with Allison, which went pretty well.

There was one point when I was supposed to fall backwards and Allison was supposed to catch me...and she didn't. I was overly confident in her ability to catch me (she does this for a living, after all), and she was overly confident in my ability to catch myself (it was clear from pretty early in the fall that I was toppling, but I didn't try to catch myself because I was being too trusting). The result was that I was suddenly on the floor, disoriented, and I landed pretty hard on the heels of my hands. My right wrist has been hurting ever since. I think it might be very minorly sprained, but it's not bad.

Today, I had two interviews for campus leadership positions. It turns out that for one of them--Peer Health Advocate--I'll only need to commit about a half hour per week. I can do that! That's nothing! Also, the issue I want to tackle on campus, caffeine abuse, hasn't been addressed at all by peer health advocates in the past. I feel so creative!

The other interview was for the chapel program, which I loved being involved with last year. If I could get paid to do that again, that would be phenomenal. If not...we'll see. Tonight in circus, we're voting on officers for next year. I'm hoping to be president, but we'll find out soon enough what will happened. I'm happy just to be involved, so I'm not concerned at all.

Everyone who sees me lately tells me that I look great. I look happy. It's true; I can't remember another time in my life when I felt so on top of my game, in my element, comfortable in myself. I'm loving how it feels. Walking across campus today and admiring the view of the city from the hill, enjoying the "warm" weather and brick buildings and well-fed squirrels, seeing all the smiling people, I thought, "I'm going to treasure these days for the rest of my life."

I'd say adjusting to being here is going pretty well.

Sun and Snow

Nothing like Kalamazoo in April. Last Sunday was a beautiful day. I spent all afternoon in a tank top out on the quad in the sunshine doing reading. Last week was chilly, but not cold. I wore jeans and short-sleeved tops with sweaters. This morning I woke up and looked out my window, and there was snow on the ground. It wasn't just snowing and melting when the snowflakes landed--there was already at least an inch. By the time I finished my 8:30 class, there were about three inches and more was coming. By the time my 10:00 class was over, it had stopped snowing and all the snow was melting. At 4, when my last class ended, there was no snow and hardly any puddles. Michigan is confused.

On the bright side, it's been so long since I've been around snow that it's pretty exciting for me.

I love my college. I love that no matter where I am on campus, I will probably run into someone I know, we will be thrilled to see each other, and we will try to catch up. I feel like I always have things to do and people to see. I'm just so happy here. That feeling I had freshman year, when I would walk down Academy street and look up at the trees and brick buildings and just grin? It's still there, just as fresh as ever.

The circus performance last weekend went really well. The audiences loved it, and we collected over $250 in donations, which is going to SenCirk (the circus group I worked with in Senegal)! They were so welcoming and wonderful to me, I'm thrilled that I can do something to support them. I feel like they're deserving of the money because they let anyone join the troupe. They teach people skills and allow them to earn money in an economy with a 50% unemployment rate. It's pretty amazing, and they're a remarkably talented group. To top it all, they're warm-hearted, generous, funny, welcoming, and enthusiastic.

I'm loving my classes. I've gotten to a point in my studies of Africa where I understand enough that I feel like I'm looking at a jigsaw puzzle. I can see the pieces, and I feel like they should fit together, but everyone is so set on jamming the pieces in that they've gotten warped and broken. Thinking about what makes government fail in Africa literally keeps me up at night. It's sort of a cool feeling, to have developed a passion like that for my studies.

I'm so content with my life. Hopefully spring will come soon and make it even better.

Sorry for the long delay

Life has been gratifyingly busy here. I haven't been very inspired to post, because life at K seems too relatable and easy compared to life in Senegal. In Senegal I was always inspired to write because I wanted to paint a picture of what was happening with me for my friends and family. Here, I think people can already imagine pretty well.

Here's a brief life update though:

Classes are going really well. So far, I'm enjoying each of them a lot. Even the homework I've had has been fun for me. I think I should be able to get some good grades this quarter, which would be nice.

Circus is in full swing. We have a show next weekend, so this week is tech week. Monday is a two-hour tech rehearsal, and Tues, Wed, Thurs are each 4-hr rehearsals. I'm loving spending so much time with people I adore, doing things I love. I'm kicking myself into shape as quickly as possible right now, hoping that using the blue silk rather than the white one (super elastic vs inelastic) won't be too hard.

My summer is slowly getting scheduled. It looks like I'll be working for the Poverty Reduction Initiative in Kalamazoo, which should be a great experience. I'm hoping to use what I learn at PRI as my senior thesis research. I'm also hoping that I can do my senior thesis in the summer, so I won't have to worry about it during the school year.

Overall, things are going very well. I'm hoping to have time this summer to go camping with my family and to visit Caleb in the lovely Caribbean, and it looks like both will be possible. I'm loving life and having a great time. This week will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it.

Changes

You may have noticed some changes to my blog. The name, for example (Thanks for the suggestion, Jeff!). At Mom's request, I'll continue posting on here from time to time. I'll try to focus mostly on my re-integration, culture shock, and processing my study abroad experience. Of course, that will also involve a lot of talking about what's going on in my life now.

To start, I'm back in Kalamazoo. I am moved in to a house right next to campus (yay!) in a cozy room on the first floor. I'm living with three other girls, two of whom I didn't know before moving in. My room is the only one on the first floor, so I have the downstairs bathroom to myself. My room is already feeling very home-y, which has made me excited about living there this quarter.

One challenge I'm facing now: I'm always cold. The cold of Kalamazoo (should be freezing or below all week) is compounded by the fact that one of my housemates wants to keep our thermostat at 65 or below, plus the fact that I'm still accustomed to warm weather! My feet haven't been warm since I stepped off the plane in Detroit, I'm pretty sure. Just to make things more interesting, I'm missing two of my blankets. NO idea where they are.

Another thing that has been getting to me is how much stuff I have. Clothes and school supplies and bedding and all kinds of STUFF that I just don't need. As I was unpacking, my friend Caity got to hear me say over and over again, "Why do I have so much clothing?" "I don't even remember this shirt!" "What am I doing with all this stuff?" Needless to say, she was amused.

This quarter, all my classes are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Most of my housemates have 8:30 am classes MWF like me, so we can carpool the one block to campus (It's not far, but it is cold!). I'll have my Tuesdays and Thursdays free to study--my challenge will be utilizing that time well.

All in all, I'm really excited to start this quarter. It's my fourth to last quarter at K, and my classes shouldn't be too hard. It's so wonderful to see my classmates who have been missing from my life for almost a year. I'm looking forward to lots of story exchanges, a fabulous circus show in three weeks, maybe some swing dance festivals, and cool shows on campus.

Adjustment

I've been home just over a week now. Or rather, in the US. I got home to California last Wednesday night, after a long travel day. I still get weirded out all the time when I realize just how few black people live around here. I never see them, and when I do, they're so light-skinned! It's just not the same as being in Africa. I know. Duh.

As I tell stories about study abroad, I've noticed that I talk about my "other" life in the present tense. I'll say, "Whenever I go to this boutique, I talk to this one jaaykat..." and then realize that I don't go there anymore, and no one knows what a jaaykat is. (It's a vendor, by the way.) I've been pretty good about not speaking French to people who don't understand it, and I've been not speaking Wolof in general (sadly). I don't want to annoy people by saying things to them that they don't understand, but sometimes English just doesn't express exactly what I want to say. It's like trying to talk to someone who doesn't understand a particular vocabulary word. You can rework your sentence to use another word, but it's not the same.

In general, I've been enjoying my almost excessively comfortable bed, my pretty room, hot showers, clean feet, and family. It's nice to be back around people who understand me so well, but I miss my Senegal friends a lot.

Back in the Zoo

I got to Kalamazoo early this afternoon, thanks to the time sacrifice of my fabulous friend Colleen. It was such a relief to have her come pick me up at the airport and to have a little rest before going to campus. Thanks, Colleen!

I got to see all my K circus friends! I went to a circus practice and teared up a little just watching them practice moving into formations for an act for a show. Something about the facilities we were in and the cold and the people was just emotionally overwhelming to me.

I hear myself talking about Senegal almost any time I open my mouth to speak. Every time someone talks about something, it reminds me, "In Dakar, _______." I'm trying not to say too too much about it, but it's hard not to.

Tomorrow there is another circus rehearsal and then swing rehearsal, and Tuesday there will be more circus (playtime!) and then we're celebrating my 21st birthday! I'm so touched that my friends are taking time out of their last week of the quarter (always a stressful time) to go out with me and celebrate. I'm so lucky to have such fabulous friends in my life.

I'm staying with Nolan, which means good food and company. I'm looking forward to the next few days, and to going home on Wednesday.

Re-entry

I am in New York, at the airport. I'll post when I have more battery on my computer and am less overwhelmed, but I'm back in the country safely.

It's been a crazy week, and I can't wait to share about it.

Goodbyes

I had been feeling pretty ready to leave here, until Thursday night. We had a dinner in our honor at the Baobab Center. All of our teachers were invited, plus other Baobab staff we've gotten close to. Our group has been here longer than any others, because no other program at the center lasts more than 4 months. Because of that, and the strong personalities in our group, we've become favorites with everyone from the guardians to the maids to the teachers.

Each of us talked about some memories or feelings about our time in Dakar, and each of our teachers talked about us. Rama spoke last, and kept looking at me as she was talking about the personal moments she'd shared with our group and how she's gotten so close with us. Finally she just said "Especially Erica. I'll miss that one." That and our other professors ("All I can say is, I adore these girls." "They've become children to me." "I've never had such a conscientious, enthusiastic class before.") made me realize that the relationships we've developed with our professors and the staff here is a completely uniquely Senegalese thing. The candidness of our conversations with our professors is not something I can even picture at school in the US.

That dinner made me feel truly sad for the first time about leaving. Then, on Friday night, Katy and Christine left for Europe. Katy will be back in Dakar for five hours next Friday night before we leave again for the US. Christine will get back to Dakar after the rest of us have left, and she'll be here until May. I hung out at Katy's house for a short time before we took her to the airport. When we were all saying goodbye to her family, her host dad told us about how we've become part of his family, especially after a few of us went to his son's baptism (remember that, way back in September?). He said that the fact that we'd gone meant the world to him, and he would never forget it. Naturally, we all cried, especially Katy.

I'm not all that close with my host family. Still, I have a lot of love and affection for my family members, and I appreciate them. It will be hard to say goodbye, and I am dreading that moment. I'm sure I will be back, and I'm sure I will see them again. But I doubt I'll live with them again, and I doubt I'll stay in close touch.

I've also been realizing lately that leaving Dakar means much more than just that. I'm not just leaving this place, I'm leaving this whole experience. I'm going to be saying goodbye to the people I've met and come to care for deeply, but I'll also be saying goodbye to this phase of my life. This is the only time I'll be on a study abroad, where I arrive in a place with a built-in support network and a family waiting for me and field trips provided. This is the one time I'll travel around the world with friends from school and spend six months doing just about whatever strikes my fancy.

In the time I've been here, I've done things that never would have occurred to me before, and I don't know how many of those things I'll ever have the opportunity to do again. For example, how many times will I be in a family that will slaughter two sheep and a goat for a Muslim holiday? How often can I go to a Muslim naming ceremony, or a wedding where the bride and groom aren't present? When will I be able to go on a 10km barefoot walk through mud and rice paddies, or dip my finger in freshly pressed mangrove honey?

I have had such a rich, eye-opening, welcoming experience. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to it all.

I love this place, and these people.

So little time.

It just struck me how soon I leave. Tomorrow morning we have re-entry session, and Thursday night is our farewell dinner at the Baobab Center. Friday night Christine and Katy go to Europe because our program will be over. I have one weekend left.

I want to put together a mini-performance (I guess more of a showcase?) of the circus stuff I've been doing. I'd been planning on doing it some weekend...but then there weren't any practices last week, and now I'm almost out the door. I think I can make it work, but wow! Down to the wire here.

I'm still waiting for some things at the tailor, I have souvenirs to buy at the markets, I want to travel down south to the Casamance and Ziguinchor and the Gambia. I want to get a tan (it's been too cold for that lately!), finish Guns, Germs, and Steel (which will be harder since I just started Flatland), work out more, cook with Remy, hang out with my Senegalese friends, and so much more.

On top of all that, I have to do a ton more work on my ICRP, which is due a week from tomorrow. There's still plenty of time, so I'm taking my time and not stressing over the paper, but I know that at the last minute I will end up with more to do than I was hoping. At this point I've written about four pages out of fifteen.

Some things I miss from home today (I think I'll start listing these things more so I remember what this is like and to get me more excited about re-entry):

• Cheese! So many varieties, so many uses, so inexpensive!
• Kitchens with all the luxurious implements I'm accustomed to. We all freaked out when we saw that Remy has a salad spinner--that's the most high-tech I've seen here
• Electricity. I know that it's a big deal in the US when the power goes out, because everyone depends on it. The fact that it CAN be depended on is really nice. We've been getting more and more outages lately, and everyone is in a bad mood because of it.
• Nutrition Facts. This is really silly, I know, but sometimes I'll buy a packet of cookies or something and want to know what's in them! Are they super high calorie? Do they have any iron?
• Running. I'm not much of a runner, but I love being able to just put on some running shoes and head out when I want to work out. Here, the pollution, uneven roads, lack of sidewalks, piles of trash, and insane drivers make it not worthwhile to me.
• Being a racial majority. It's hard being a minority (duh)! Kids constantly dare each other to touch the toubab, or make fun of the toubab, or ask the toubab for a gift. Almost every kid I make eye contact with asks me for money or a gift. And most guys I talk to eventually ask me to go out with them or to marry them. In general I can be in good humor about it, but some days it really wears me down.
• My family and friends. I'm not one to miss people much. It surprises me how much I miss being around people who won't judge me based on individual actions, but on my character which, they already know. There's something so freeing in being around people who have already decided they love you no matter what, so you never really need your guard up. Since all my friends here are recent acquaintances, I've had times with all of them when I feel like I'm being misjudged based on something insignificant I've done or said.

I'm having a great time, by the way. Today I did acro-yoga in the morning, and Remy joined me. Then we went back to his house and met up with Christine and Meredith. We played in the ocean, did a workout on the beach, rinsed off, and made lunch. The weather today has been gorgeous--it's the first time in a long while when I've been slightly too warm in yoga pants.

I'm looking forward to our re-entry session tomorrow: lunch is provided, and we'll get to talk about what we're looking forward to at home and our reflections on the program.

Feeling quite content, though pressed for time.

Weekend Number...who knows.

It's a Sunday! Katy slept over last night and we slept in late. I've been making some good progress on my paper, and when I can't think about it anymore I take a break and read. I'm about three-fourths through with Sense and Sensibility and about the same in Guns, Germs, and Steel. It's nice to be reading more again, and it keeps me from feeling lonely more than most things.

Last night I went out to a bar and found myself chatting with a bunch of cool people. Notably, I met a guy who's a drummer from Philadelphia who has been living in Dakar for three years now. He happens to be close friends with my friend Chloe's older brother--Chloe and I went to Hebrew school together. It was pretty crazy to discover that some random guy I met in a bar has a common acquaintance with me. Apparently he and Chloe and her brother hung out in Dakar together for about a week last year and had a blast.

Tonight there's apparently a Peace Corps party, which I'm considering going to. Still, I don't really like dancing, and I do really like being well-rested. Why do I bother going out?

I'm on to the third page of my paper, and the still on the first page of my (5-page) outline. This bodes well for a 15-20 page paper. I just wish I was as eloquent in French as I am in English. Ah well, "ca va arriver". It'll come.

I leave now in just under two weeks. I feel like I've already plateaued, and I'm in a good place to go home. Especially with my stomach still not quite up to snuff, with the weather getting chilly, and actually having significant schoolwork to do, I'm looking forward to getting home. I'm looking forward to re-entry sessions, getting on a plane (this is the longest I've gone without being on a plane in years), and hot showers. Not to mention family, friends, and clean feet (okay, that last one probably sounds really silly, but you don't know how frustrating it is to NEVER have clean feet unless you've experienced it for an extended period of time).

Overall, feeling pretty content.

Oh, and an anecdote. Apparently Youssou got a job as a coiffeur (barber), even though he's never learned the trade. Rowan told Papa this over lunch (maffe! Delicious!), and Papa had been taking a swig of water. Papa lost it, spit water all over, and couldn't stop laughing. Everyone cracked up, and throughout the meal Papa would say, "Youssou, coiffeur?!" and lose it all over again. Papa has finally regained an appetite, plus about 10 lbs. He's looking great, and it's wonderful that he's back to his old humor.

Research and Counting Down

I've been working on a research project on tontines in Senegal. I've interviewed a few women and read a bunch of scholarly articles, organized the information I've gathered into an outline, and am about ready to start writing. I'm hoping to do all my writing in the next week or so, and then be DONE.

I only have two weeks (and one day) left in Senegal. I'm hoping to spend a little bit of the time I have left in the south of Senegal and maybe in the Gambia. There's a boat that goes down overnight, which is supposed to be a lot of fun (plus it means not having to go over the horrible road to Ziguinchor).

I think my stomach illness is finally easing up. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I'm also not completely exhausted or in pain. Hopefully I'll be able to go to circus tomorrow and actually do some fun stuff.