– When my baby sister screams my name
– When my host dad calls me his daughter
– When people in my village, or random people I have never met before, tell me I know how to speak Pulaar (real mood boaster)
– When my brother dances just to make me laugh
– Literally sitting and doing nothing, but doing it surrounded by people
– Watering the garden
– When people in the village call our baby cow by his “American name,” Jeffery
– Shaking hands with everyone!
– When my little sister looks at a picture of my family and knows them all by name
– When my cousin calls me lengee (a fish), because apparently I drink an absurd amount of water
– People being impressed with my ability to wash clothes, cook, dance, make tea… really anytime I get a compliment, I take it
– When I am able to dish out the jokes instead of being the butt of jokes
– Being the butt of jokes…sometimes
– Bucket showers, they are surprisingly great
– When I realized that now it’s not as strange that I am the only white person in most situations, but the fact that I am the only girl most situations
– My homeboys, the clan of 15-19 year old boys, who have adopted me as somewhat of a sister and friend
– Roasted corn
– Roasted peanuts
– The days when I can just read Harry Potter for hours
– The fact that am so much more comfortable here than I am for a day in the next village over
– The fact that I have friends
– When I get hugs, rare but wonderful occurrences
– When my dad chases my homeboys around with a knife when they are pissing me off
– When my family tells other Senegalese people to call me by my name instead of calling me toubako (white person/foreigner)
– Their smiles
– How incredibly bright the moon and stars look at night
– When I can make people laugh, not by saying something wrong, but by saying something witty
– Going without internet
– Word spreads fast, so when I’m sick people come to check on me
– When my older brothers call me, even though I can’t understand a damn thing they say
– That I spend 98% of my awake hours outside
– The fact that Boussoura feels like home to me now
– That I am so happy in Boussoura
