The Days Fly By

Wednesday

Finally got a late morning in, slept till 8:30! Got up for French class – and of course we talked about Nelson Mandela (even more fitting being on the African continent and all).

After class, I had very little time to make my stop at the tailor’s. Went to Marche Sandaga (passed Nice-Cream and instantly started craving ice-cream) were we walked to a tailor’s shop. And yes he’s a tailor with many male outfits hanging in his store – but he made two beautiful dresses for my host sisters and I wanted one too in the same style, so I had bought the material to make it on Tuesday. Luckily for me, my dress will be ready by next week Monday – talk about efficiency!

I took a taxi to work so as to not lose any more time and was greeted by more heat than in the outdoor market. Each day is getting hotter and hotter!

I’ve come to the realisation that my baby Marc is no longer the silent little angel that he used to be. He’s still an angel but he cries a lot more now – I’d still adopt him if I could cause he’s too adorable :)

My baby Marc!

There were 3 new babies at work tho – boy twins and a little girl, all three younger than a month old. They are so young when they come to the orphanage and I still don’t understand exactly how the process works for them to get there – but they are too young to be without their mothers. I try my best to be as comforting to them as possible, but imagine these newborns and their tiny little hands and feet – makes me teary eyed sometimes. But I really can’t help loving my job – it’s been so amazing.

Since Ramadan is coming up, I’m still on my eat-all-the-street-food binge and bought some begne after leaving La Poupponiere.

My begne covered in sugar

 I took a car rapide home and was expecting to go walking with my host mom around 7 p.m. but she wasn’t home so I set out to walk to the Statue (the big fancy Monument one that I’ve already blogged about made under President Wade) myself - it's a good walk uphill!

Thursday

I was up before 7 and went to my host mom’s room but she was sleeping – I was so tempted to return to bed but I decided that I should at least ask her if she wanted to walk. She thanked me for waking her up and we did an hour’s walk – yay for the exercise cause we went up to the statue but geesh, I was so tired.

When I came back for class, we had a mini break because she had to go drop off her car at the mechanic. I was writing my CV in French in the meantime and doing some exercises, but was glad when she finally came back, albeit a little later than planned.

When class was over, I was expecting a friend to come over. It was actually Amira’s birthday and she had said she wanted to volunteer at La Poupponiere in the afternoon (Amira, who I met in Saly). I thought it only fitting to have lunch together at the house and my host mom had enough to feed us all (My host family, Amira and Coumba’s two friends as well) – some riz a viande/ cheb u yapp/rice with beef and chicken and beef balls in sauce plus pears and corassol (Jamaican sweetsop) for dessert. Yum!

After lunch together at the house, we took a car rapide to work.

I introduced Amira to Sister Justina as soon as I had the chance – and we worked with the babies who were so miserable in the heat till closing time. I have realised that I know like most of the songs they play at the orphanage – but only by tune, cause the words are all just that words, that I can’t really understand but can hum along too lol.

Friday

On Fridays I work in the morning just like Zhaoyi – I was so happy to see her because she wasn’t at La Poupponiere last Friday. We got a chance to catch up and we made a date to eat out during my last week in Dakar.

Prof Sidy

 After work, instead of going home for lunch as usual, I finally had my lunch rendez-vous with my Wolof Professor and Awa, as well as the other WARC staff. It was good timing too – Ramadan technically started for some people but for the Senegalese most were starting on Saturday because they had not sighted the moon as yet. It was cheb u yapp and they always serve lunch with attaya.

Cheb u yapp? Yum.

I was very glad to catch up with the WARC staff but eventually had to go for my afternoon French classes.

Me and the Wolof Prof - cheers!

Second to last week in Dakar? I think it went well, very well J