Hi.
I know I haven’t written as many blog posts as I said I would. In fact, I know I haven’t written any since that short introduction about why I am here.
The truth is that, for months, I forgot why I was here.
Fortunately, days come and go, smiles close to open again, and dark clouds disappear to never come back. Apparently I have been here for 165 days now, and only have about 60 more to stay. As a promise to myself, I decided to write a blog post a week, until the end of my journey, but for that, I thought it was worth giving you a bit of a background on my life here.
I live in Tivaouane, a 55,000 people city that is home for the Tijani Muslim Brotherhood. My host family is huge, but only a small part of them live at home, and these are: my twin sisters, Adama and Awa Cheikh, who are 17; my hilarious and dear mom, Mame Diouma; and my little brother Modou, who is 11.
I am an English teacher in the local high school and English club. My classes have from 40 to 80 students and, despite all the difficulties, I have discovered a deep passion in teaching that I never thought would exist.
I am also an apprentice of tailoring, which, considering my teacher’s oddness, is one of the oddest things I have done in life.
My normal routine consists of waking up by children’s noises in the street by my room, making breakfast (breakfast <3) for my whole family, going to one of my apprenticeships, eating ceebujeen (the most common Senegalese dish – rice and fish), taking a siesta (as a good latina), reading books, meditating, taking a cold shower, dinner, watching the stars from my rooftop and finally going to bed.
Things I love about Senegal:
My host family, my supervisor, my GCY friendships (who certainly changed my life), THE NIGHTSKY, spirituality, food, juices, café touba, people’s friendliness, colourful clothes, peanuts and cold showers.
Things that still bother me:
Gender inequality, bugs, being called tubab (word for white person) 24/7, being ripped off, the lack of blankets on cold nights, being called tubab 24/7 and daily cold showers.
I will write my next blog post soon (I promise) and… yeah, stay tuned 🙂
