Things I Love About Senegal / A Normal Day For Me

                                       Things I Love About Senegal

•   Eating mangoes (although the season is almost over)
•   Washing clothes by hand
•    Playing card games with my friends
•   Eating Yassa Poulet, Thiebougien, and Mafe
•   Trying to catch two foot lizards (they're the small ones)
•   Getting water from the well
•   Wearing my 5 color paine
•   Getting my hair braided
•   Eating monkey bread

                                        A Normal Day
Every morning I wake up at 7:00 and do my Bible study. Next I take 400 francs and by 4 baguettes from the boutique next door for breakfast. After that, I take the bread to the kitchen and pass them over the fire to kill all the germs on them. Then we eat the bread accompanied with chocolate spread, peanut butter, and either jelly or butter. After breakfast comes school, and after school, the fun part: playing! Normally I go to the Diatta's and help my friends wash the bowls or wash clothes. And after that comes the really fun part: playing cards. Lately our friends have been teaching us new games like Outiko, Mon Carre, Jeu et Demi, and Menteur. Normally the signal to stop playing cards comes in two forms: falling off our stools laughing or being called to eat.  After lunch we'll hang out till dinner, take our showers and then play cards again. And, to answer your question, no, it never gets old. 

Journal Entry: Our Trip Back South

It's raining. Hard. I scheduled an Uno meet with my friends, but obviously it's canceled.

We came back from Dakar yesterday and it took me an hour to clean up my stuff and get re-adjusted. It actually took us three days to get from Dakar to Diouloulou. The main reason for that is because we took the N-6 also known as the Worst Road in Senegal; what I like to refer to as Pothole Central. It took us thirteen-and-a-half hours to get from Tambacounda to Ziguinchor instead of six hours. I guess life teaches you to be prepared. But we're all safe and sound in Diouloulou. Oh, and did I mention potholes?

A Normal Breakfast

Our family sat down ready to enjoy the fresh bread, chocolate spread and peanut butter for breakfast. But the world had something else in mind.

The chickens zeroed in on us and our bread and started making their war cries: loud, annoying buck-buck-BUCKAWs. The ever present ducks showed their disapproval by flapping their ginormous wings, therefore stirring up dust, the latter of which was content to settle on us and our food.

Oussemane and his three to four year old posse, on the side of the annoying animals, decided to distract us by shaking our hands 40 times and saying hi 400 times. So far they were succeeding. The big hairy pigs, not wanting to be left out, started squealing so loud that our family couldn't discuss our battle plan. Even the trees were against us for mangoes started falling left and right. Thankfully there was an old, rusty, tin roof over our heads.

The ants also came out of their holes, their target: our delicious, slightly dirty bread. The sun, also wanting to take part, beat down on us with all of it's force. Our family, sensing that the battle was almost over, persevered. And sure enough just as Ezra popped the last bit of bread into his mouth, a family of goats pooped on our doorstep in defeat. The war was finished. We had won...until lunch!

A few of the reasons why I love Diouloulou

Hi everyone!
 
    As most of you know, our family has been in Dakar awaiting tests results and, praise the Lord, everyone is fine. Coming to Dakar also gives us another reason to eat ice cream. I am exited about being in Dakar, but I also want to get back to Diouloulou to see my friends. And while I am thinking about it, let me tell you about Diouloulou.

    To start off I love it. My friends, I love. The trees, I love. The market, I love. And to tell you the truth, I even love the apartment. But let me go into detail. My friends consist mostly of our next door neighbours, the Diattas. The running joke is that I have become part of their already big family.
 
     The trees I love. I love how the moon rises through the coconut trees and how the wind sings through the mango trees. There are so many trees to climb, but I like the cashew tree in our backyard best.

     Next, the market. The market is just a big plot of land with a bunch of people and stands. I always like looking at the different kinds of things that the people sell. I am always surprised at what they have.

     And finally, the apartment. To tell you the truth, I wish it was my house. Not necessarily the building, but the location. Since my neighbours are my best friends, it is cool to live by them.

Me and My Senegalese Friends

Their feet were made to run barefoot in trash and sand,

My feet were made to wear socks and shoes.

Their hands were made to climb trees, hold chickens and cut open coconuts,

My hands were made to wear nail polish and hold a stuffed animal.

My body wasn’t made to live like a Senegalese,

Their body wasn’t made to live like an American.

I can adapt to what my friends do and think but,

My friends will never have to adapt to an American society.

So I run in dirty sand with sandals on,

And I climb trees and hold chickens.

Because it is easier for them to see Jesus in me when I try to act like them,

Not when I act like an American.

So I try, and meanwhile, I have fun!

Jesus In Me

If I told you that I was a cat,
I hope you'd say, "No."

If I told you I was a butterfly,
I hope you would disagree.

If I told you I was a lion,
I hope you would correct me.

But if I told you that I was a Christian,
I hope you would say that you can see Jesus in me.

My Latest Project

 

 

 

 

Greetings from Senegal (with a bonus dance from Hosanna!)

 

A picture taken on the roof of our apartment.

 

 

Just another bridge?

If you are reading this chances are you have crossed a bridge, seen a bridge, lived by a bridge or possibly even built a bridge. Chances are,you know something about bridges. Like, they can be big, they can be wide, sometimes they aren't safe. And maybe you know different types of bridges. Like, rope bridges, metal bridges, etc. But there is one type of bridge that not many people know about. It  is a bridge that you can't walk on. And it is also narrow. A journey for only one person at a time. This is a bridge from uncomfortable to comfortable. From unknown to known. This is a bridge for every person who moves, feels left out, or tries to fit into a new culture.

 As you take the first step you have a choice: you can make
 friends or be lonely. Once you make that decision (a hard one as your new friends might not look like you or act like you), you are ready for the next step. (Remember that your decisions affect your integration). Watch or stay at home. You can walk outside and watch what the other people do or you can stay inside and do your own little thing. Your decisions may affect other people too on other bridges.

Now, if for multiple steps of the journey (each choice has multiple steps of faith), you have picked the first choice, the better choice, you feel that this bridge is pretty safe. But, if for multiple steps of the journey, you have picked the second choice, the worst choice, you are wondering what is holding up the bridge. You are hoping that it will support you. But no matter what choice you have made you are ready for the next step.

Question or make fun. Now you are more aware of the differences between you and the people who surround you. You can either question them (in a nice way of course) or you can make fun of them. 

The next steps are a series of choices. Not the most important choices, but they will still affect other people and the way they look at you.

 After that, it hits you "why am I here?" "I don't even want to be here!" These series of steps are called, "I want to go home!!!"

Then comes the important choice, be confused or be embarrassed. You can watch and be confused or you can be embarrassed about the differences between you and the other people.

Then comes the step of disorder. There comes a time where you don't care where you put things down, how you put things down. The key word is down.

The next steps are a series of differences. Now you may not have seen these differences before, but you definitely see them now.

Then comes the final step: trust or fear. You can either trust God and your new friends or you can fear anything and everything.
Now that you are finally across you can see what is holding this bridge up. You can see Jesus' hands holding up your life.  And you can see other bridges in the distance.     

My School Marie-Reine

Do you remember your first day of school? The bus ride there or maybe just your mom's car? Asking your parents if you are going to have friends ten times in a row? Being nervous? Asking yourself if your teacher is nice? Looking up at the big school building and wondering if you want to do this? If you can do this?

For many of you that day started in Kindergarten in the U.S. But for me my first day of school was in fourth grade when I was nine. I came in the middle of a school year and I did not speak the language. I was in Canada and I was asking all the questions you were and some more. Some of the questions I was asking were, "Do they speak French?" Yes. "Will I have friends?" Yes. And, "Can you pray for me?" Yes.

I was as scared as you were. Everything was in a language I couldn't understand. When I did home-school we never had music class and when I learned that music was my first subject I burst out crying. What made it worse was that it was a substitute teacher and we were playing the flute. The teacher gave me a flute and I just sat there.

After that my day went pretty well except for a misunderstanding or two. Happily, since then things have changed a lot. I understand almost everything my teachers say, but I still do not play the flute.