It occurred to me the other day that alot of what has become commonplace for me would strike the random passerby as a little odd. I decided to try and take my sene-goggles off to share the oddities of my life.
*One hundred and eleven degree days being perfectly standard.
*Instead of asking if 'm afraid of something, people ask if you have courage. Not sure what it is about that phrase, but I really love it.
*Appreciating how damn hard it is to get anything to grow in Africa.
*Having literally every conversation revolve around how hot it is.
*Everyone and their mom asking you if you have a husband, then asking if you'd like one.
*Being incessantly complimented on my jayfondae - i.e. big butt. Nice.
*The temperature dropping 30 degrees in the span of like an hour when a rain storm is on the approach.
*Children doing things like sucking on batteries, or playing with machetes.
*Eating with my hands out of giant bowls, while sitting outside on the ground.
*TOUBAB! Toubab! T-T-T-Toubab!
*Mosquitoes. Spiders. Creepy-crawlers. Absolutely enormous spiders.
*The early evening sound of millet being pounded.
*How foreign a car or moto sounds in my village.
*How "Senegalese" every taste/flavor seems.
*How absolutely dark is can be at night here.
*Communicating across languages, resorting to every trick of charades that I've ever learned.
*Waiting for cows, donkeys, goats to cross the road.
*Greetings. "How's it walking? It is walking. How's your mother? She is there. Peace only."
*How amazing it is to get rained on as you are walking back from the well with water that you just pulled balancing precariously on your head, trying not to trip on the goat in front of you.
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