Look Both Ways!....or not

Look both ways before crossing the street…..

This is still true in Senegal.  But ‘look the other way’ is an art form here, that most people really do follow. No rubbernecking here. And it really does make a lot of things a lot more pleasant, and save you from seeing things you’d rather not see.  Keep reading though, for some good reasons NOT to look the other way.

A man carrying mattresses on his head-
a reason NOT to look the other way!

Look the other way when a mouse scurries through your room.*

Look the other way when a stranger tries to get your attention.

Look the other way when a cockroach falls off the cupboard door when you open it.*

Look the other way when someone is peeing on the side of the road.

Look the other way when a mom is nursing her baby in the middle of a writing workshop.

Look the other way when the taxi driver creates a new lane on a busy road.

Look the other way.

*That’s me…I don’t know if other people do that or not.

But DON’t look the other way

And forget to greet someone you know

Or ignore the greeting of someone you know

Or miss saying hello and giving dignity to the women begging with their children on the street

Or ignore someone when you enter a room

Or miss seeing people pouring ataaya (the tea they drink here) in just the right way to get the foam on top

Or miss the sight of sheep on the roof of a bus

Or the guy carrying 5 mattresses on his head

Or miss seeing the adorable baby on a ladies back

Or miss seeing a funny t-shirt, or a t-shirt from your hometown

Or miss a chance to buy a phone card when they’re on sale (I always forget!)

Or not see the taxi who drove down the road to you when you really did need a taxi at that moment

found at one of the used clothing markets;
says 'chillin with my gnomies'
reminder: few people here
speak English

Or miss out on so many of the wonderful joys of life here…the colors, the patterns, the funny signs, the relationships, the unforgettable experiences

God is Good!

God is good, all the time.  

All the time, God is good. 

And the best is yet to come.

Pastor: Dieu est bon                                                 Congregation: en touts temps

Pastor: En touts temps                                             Congregation: Dieu est bon

Pastor: Et la meilleure                                               Congregation: Est à venir!

     I loved that my church in Senegal started with that phrase every Sunday.  Not only is it so true, but it is a wonderful reminder of my church at home, where we often say those first two lines.  I love the addition that the best is yet to come.

     God’s plans for us are better than we could ever imagine.  Not better meaning we’ll succeed more, or better meaning we’ll make more money, or better meaning we’ll be more comfortable, or even better meaning life will be easier.  But better meaning his plans will glorify Him far more than ours will, and bringing Him glory is what its about, not you or me.  And if we can have the pleasure of knowing we’re walking in His will, we’re doing pretty well.

The best is yet to come.  There’s no need to fear.

     I don’t think I can ever hear those words or tell myself those words enough. 

God is good.

Déja vu

I’ve done this before. I’ve moved to a new place, enjoyed some of the feelings of a home that’s not my home yet…the freedom from distractions, the novelty of figuring out the nicest spots to see out the windows, or most comfortable chairs, figuring out a new way to put away my clothes, that is never really a new way, just a way adapted to the new dresser or wardrobe or closet.

The last 5 or so times I did this, I was in Senegal. And then I stayed at my parents house…which is wonderful, but doesn’t have those novelties, but has a lifetime of comforts and preferences and memories and distractions and stuff built up in my room through years of moving to college and coming back home for Christmas, the summer, etc.

But this move, it’s a new place. And it’s déja vu…and I have to stop myself. It’s not Senegal.  I don’t need to be relieved when the fan turns on that we do have power. I don’t need to think ‘Oh, I shouldn’t’ when I consider sleeping on the couch, since there is no mosquito net.  I can drink as much water straight out of the tap as I want, with no concerns. And when the internet doesn’t work, (it isn’t on my computer at the moment), there are a million and one places nearby I could go to use the internet- I’m not stuck like in Senegal.  But I am choosing to stay here, offline, to enjoy writing this.

My blog is going to have some déja vu in the next few weeks. Stuff I experienced, even wrote about months ago and never got around to posting. 

Ba beneen yoon (till next time)

iRan

I ran a 5k last Sunday!

Have I been running regularly? No

Did I plan on doing this? No

Did I take pictures? No : (

Do I know what my time was? No

Did I run the whole way? No

Did I have fun? Yes!

Pretend there is a banner on these stairs : )

Cool Things: 

1. It was free!

2. I got a free t-shirt!

3. The race was on the road that runs along the coast, so it was beautiful.

4.  The advertising for Tigo, the cell phone company that sponsored the race.  Ridiculous, but the  banner striped in their colors covering the 100+ stairs leading up to the huge monument that was the landmark for where the race started was neat looking.  Thankfully, I did NOT have to run up the stairs.

5. Getting to see tons of kids, boys and girls, excited to run the 2.5 k.  With bare feet, flip flops, sandals, and gym shoes. Not many women ran, but lots of girls.

6. Seeing lots of these kids and other runners dance and warm up to music with the person announcing the race while we waited for it to start.  (Officially scheduled at 2, we showed up at quarter to 4, it actually started at 5)

7.  Two friends of mine came too, one just to watch, and another one who kindly ran with me the whole way, even though he’s much faster than me.

Pretend I'm wearing this ; )
in a crowd of 1000+ people,
 all wearing them in different colors-
yellow, green, blue, red, and white

Picture Time!

Dear world,

It’s been awhile. I haven’t had internet at home for almost a month (I have had it at the office, so don’t think I’ve been suffering too too much.)  But it is now working! Yay for working internet!!

I’ve had some requests for more pictures.  I’m working on taking pictures more, but to be honest, how often do you see people stop and take pictures of strangers in your neighborhood? Exactly.  So my pictures tend not to be of people on the road (although believe me, the streets can be crazy!) but of nature, or of things sneakily taken from a car when stuck in traffic.

           

So here’s a random collection, with some comments.

I absolutely love this picture.  What a butterfly was doing on a boat is beyond me, but it was so cool to see it, and so kind of it to pose for a picture ; )   I think I like it because its simple, but shows a lot of God’s majesty all at once.  The intricate wings of a butterfly and the majesty of the ocean.

The butterfly picture was taken on the boat from Dakar to Ziguinchor, which is an overnight trip.  Its actually pretty nice.  You can get a bed in a cabin for a good price, and not only is it air conditioned, but its quiet! There are no sheep, birds, or calls to prayer to wake you up!  I also have enjoyed getting to know the people I’ve shared the room with.  I’ve seen dolphins from the boat every time so far, which is amazing.  Unfortunately I haven’t managed to take a good picture of them. 

Shells instead of gravel in Ziguinchor.

This is one of the literacy classes I saw when I was in Ziguinchor.  

This letter makes the ‘ng’ sound (like in ring, rang rung,) etc.  It is hard to say at the beginning of words, and also sometimes causes me trouble on the computer when it won’t display correctly.  It actually makes reading easier though, because instead of having to learn lots of spelling and reading rules the way we do in English, spelling actually makes sense with one letter equaling one sound.

The biggest herd of cows I’ve ever seen coming down a main street in Ziguinchor. 

    






While traveling on the road, I get endless pleasure from the different billboards, buildings, backs of trucks, things for sale.....like these.

Laughing cow cheese- it’s cheap, doesn’t require refrigeration, and has a laughing cow on it.  What more could you ask for?

This picture was taken in The Gambia, so the billboard is in English.  A cell phone company advertising a contest to win a trip to Mecca.

Back in Dakar, a supermarket billboard says “quand mere noel vien ici, c’est la fete des bons prix.”  Which, in English, approximately means “when Mother Christmas comes to our store, it’s a party with prices!”

Even in Senegal, in Dakar there are some fast food places attached to gas stations.  I don’t know what English speaking country the chain comes from, but it the sign outside says “Fast Food, Creamy Inn, Pizza Inn”  I had a pretty good (and fast!) hamburger there once. 

LOTS of people in Senegal loves Obama.  So…..they paint his face on trucks.   Or name ice cream or oil after him.

Speaking of oil, you might need it for your van.  Most don't look as bad as this one.

Or you might need oil for your boat.  I got to cross a river by pirogue a few times to observe and evaluate literacy classes.  This is a close-up picture of the inside of the pirogue and the sky.  It’s kind of incredible to sit in a boat hand-carved out of one tree, powered by a motor, in 2011.






But there are plenty of things that are not hand-carved.  This was a workshop next door to the apartment I lived in from December to February.  It was as the work day was ending. 

I loved the neighborhood I was in- near church, friendly people, near a big food market, and a nice home.  I’m looking forward to getting to know the family that normally lives there when they return from furlough next week.  However, I am still getting used to ovens in Senegal.  As long as I can remember, the oven my family had was an electric oven with a screen where you clicked up or down to set the exact temperature you wanted, and it beeped when it was ready.  This is a picture of where I had to have the dial turned to get exactly 350 degrees, or something like that. I forget now, but I was very excited when my cookies were done in exactly the time they were supposed to be according to the recipe, so I took a picture so I could make them again with the same success.

I didn’t do anything exciting to get to this class, but I had a lot of fun observing a preschool class for kids that was done well and taught them in the language they knew, so they learned and had fun!

Anddd (drumroll please) a picture taken from one of the highest places in Dakar at sunset.

A Crazy Christmas Eve!

So, for the first time in my life I worked on Christmas Eve this year.   I never had a job in the mall, so this was a first.  I decided to take a 1/2-day though to leave time for baking, napping, and last-minute Christmas preparations.  (You'll see in a minute why I needed a nap.)  So, after a nice quiet morning at the office, I came home to house full of preparations for a proper British Christmas.  No, I was not in England, but 4 out of the 6 of us who celebrated Christmas together are from the UK.  I joined in on some of the carrot peeling, but mainly worked on wrapping a few presents and taking a nap.  

So, it got to be 9, time to head to church to be slightly late, as most people here usually are, for the 9:00pm church service.  And da-da-da-daaaaaaaaa I got home at 2:30am and went to bed.

It's true.  But it was great.  The church service itself lasted till around 12:30, and then there was a meal that lasted till 1:30, and then an hour of songs, skits, and dances.  It was quite the night. 

in english: church service program, Christmas 2010

You may think: wow that sounds miserable, a 3-hour church service! And to be honest, I had thought it might not be miserable, but maybe less than 'fun' and more exhausting than it was worth. To be fair, you need to know that a normal church service here lasts at an absolute minimum an hour and forty-five minutes.  And 2 to 2 1/2 hours is the norm.  So I've built up some stamina, although to be honest, church still usually feels long to me.  Especially if I'm having trouble understanding the French of whoever is preaching.

But the Christmas Eve service was really special.  No candles, no wreaths, no orchestra or brass band, but a lot of joy and celebration.  I'd had probably my most homesick day here, and was really praying the service would be a blessing.  I knew it would be different than a normal Christmas Eve for me.  I realized I have spent every other Christmas Eve that I can remember in almost the exact same way: at least one of Northminster's Christmas Eve services, followed by a Christmas Eve party with family friends at my parents house.  But it was still a hard day--I had decided I had to think of this year as 'Noel,' not Christmas.  'Noel' is French for Christmas.  

So, back to the crazy long cool Christmas Eve Service.  We walk in at 9:15, and the church is decorated with shiny blue garlands on the windows, a star hanging from the ceiling towards the front, and a Christmas tree at the front as well.  We sing a few songs, some Christmas songs and some worship songs, and then, baptisms! 4 women and 1 man each shared a little bit of their testimony and then got baptized individually in a tank of water at the front of the sanctuary. Some of the worship was in French, some in Wolof with French subtitles, and some in I don't remember if it was French or Wolof because it was slightly spontaneous worship while they cleared up the stuff from the baptisms. After all that was a sermon.  Which I confess, I did not fully pay attention to because I was trying to stay awake.  

And finally, dinner!  I was wide-awake for that! Yay for yummy food from all over West Africa since most of the congregation isn't from Senegal, but from all over western Africa- Senegal, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, and Cote d'Ivoire.

Around 1:30 am-oh yes-church part 2: a talent show/random collection of Jesus related and awesome songs, dances, and skits/sketches.  There was one really awesome dance by 5 women to a song about Mary carrying Jesus and how she would have felt and the honor and beauty and scandal of it.  Of God sending a baby to earth and her being an unmarried virgin.

And finally, bed. At 2:30. 

A side note: I had a nice Christmas too, but I'm tired of writing now, and you’re probably tired of reading, so I won't describe it.  But I will share some pictures.  

nice pastries for Christmas breakfast from a local bakery

I also enjoyed having Christmas last an extra several weeks because of Christmas cards and packages arriving in early January.  I also celebrated 'Russian Christmas' with a Russian colleague and friends when they celebrate it in Russia, on January 7th. 

We pulled 'Christmas Crackers' a noisemaker thing with a trinket inside that are a British Christmas tradition.   Inside them were the noisemakers that we're blowing, and the crowns some people are wearing.