…Happy Holidays !

I had the distinct pleasure of receiving two lovely guests over the holidays. My mother and sister arrived in the Dakar airport before dawn on Christmas morning. I couldn’t have asked for a better present. After hauling luggage through the sea of considerate people (read: shameless budgers), trying to avoid getting our heels run over, we hopped into a cab. Of course the cab driver took us somewhere other than where I told him to go, which I have since realized is a scam rather than poor communication on my part. ‘Ooooh! You want to go to the Gorée Island dock, why didn’t you say so? That will be an extra 3 mille.’ So within 30 minutes of embracing my family, I was yelling at a local. How’s that for peace and world friendship?
But overall, we didn’t have any major issues, and managed to have quite a time! My mom and sis get a round of applause for rocking the greetings, and I know that both of them would be awesome Peace Corps Volunteers. They even went to a baptism! The Senegalese were impressed.
We did a whirlwind tour of the Northwest portion of Senegal, which has some good things to offer. We got out to mangroves, bird parks, big cities and little towns. The highlight was the last night spent with my host family. An intense series of card games left my host brother jabbering incessantly in Wolof about the game, as if everybody, including my real mom and sister, or nobody (I’m not sure which) could understand him. My host brothers and sisters rolled as I caught an offhand comment from Iba and reminded him that my mother is not his equal. I dropped my own game as I realized that my real mom was responding to Iba in turn (in equally not understood English). The breath was gradually sucked out of my body as I listened to Iba tell my mom, ‘Yow, danga bon! (You’re a bad person!)’, and her respond, ‘Don’t get mad at me that’s how you play the game!’. They continued this way for 30 minutes without translation.
It’s weird- I’ve started to count down how much time I have left here rather than count up the time I have spent. I comprehend this change bit by bit, and I am again reminded that I can’t sit more than three days without feeling different about my surroundings and my place in them. The only constant is change.
Until next.