Coming Home

Tonight I'm leaving Dakar and heading home after 3 and a half months abroad. I'm really excited to go home and see my family and friends, but I know there are things I'm going to miss about Senegal, like getting an espresso for 40 cents on the street and being able to bargain for the price I want when I go to the markets, which I did, yesterday, in a mad attempt to get all of my post-departure shopping (aka Christmas presents) done. I went to Sandaga, one of the biggest, busiest markets downtown, where I bought the last presents I needed to buy and a ridiculous pair of sparkly green flats that are Chinese, terrible quality, and cost me 4 dollars, but are really pretty...

I also ate dinner at my old boarding house with my old housemates. It was nice to see everyone again, especially the old woman who runs the house, because she's a wonderful person and it was her birthday the day before. The other boarders - a crazy musician, a Canadian student who's doing a journalism internship here, and another guy who I think is visiting from somewhere else in Senegal saw us to the door, and we all shook hands with our left hands (which you're not supposed to do normally, because of what left hands are intended for in many countries), which is what you do when you'll hope you'll see the other person again.

This morning I went to see my host family and was able to catch a few of them at home, my host mom was getting ready to go to a baptism and two of my host brothers were home, as well as their maid, who is really funny and who I really like even though I can't really talk to her because she only speaks Wolof.

We went to the 500 CFA ceebu jen place again for lunch and said good-bye to the woman who runs it, and then had ice cream at a place nearby.

Tomorrow night I'll be back in Seattle, which is exciting and wonderful, but I will miss Senegal. I told my host mom I would come back to visit, inch'allah.