Goodbye Dakar, Senegal
(A view of Dakar by boat - I took this when I was travelling to Goree)
What? My last day in Senegal. Last full day that is. Where
has the time gone?
So as my custom is on the Sabbath day, I went to church. For
the last time. I wasn’t the only leaving the church as two others (who had
stayed in Senegal much longer) were also leaving. It was announced in church
that they were leaving. And Henri mentioned me that after my little summer
stay, it would be last time at Point E for church.
As we shook hands and greeted people when church was over as
we usually do, I received many a “Bon voyage!” Henri even gave me a parting
gift – the New Testament in French. I’m so excited, I’m gonna start reading the
Bible in French!
I went off for lunch by Lucas’ house after church. The walk
there was short but the heat was unbearable. Once again, I was fasting so I
only had something to drink. Let’s just call it a homemade kisko made from
juice (I don’t know how to spell the name of the juice but I can pronounce it,
oops).
After just relaxing for a while with a few friends from
church who were there, I headed back home – much earlier than usual. I wanted
to have my last dinner with my host family with a few invitees - so I invited
Amira, Malcolm, Niassa and her husband Phil and Malcolm and Niassa’s mom (i.e.
Amira and Niassa’s family)
Me, Niassa and Phil
With the host fam- my host mom and host brother
Amira and Malcolm were there to break the fast and we had
our customary dates, bread and cheese, nutella, and hot chocolate.
Amira!
The other guests joined us a bit later for the actual
dinner. For dinner there was vermicelli and fried fish as well as beef with
sauce. A crunchy salad as a side and mangoes for dessert made my meal complete.
Well as I mentioned before there were other people saying
leaving the church at Point E. One of them was this guy who was going to study
in the States and he was throwing a party that night. We all went (we being my
dinner guests except Amira) and altho it was already past 10 when we reached,
the food hadn’t been started. I munched on a few snacks but soon found myself
in the kitchen with Niassa ‘helping’ to cook. As in, I was watching the food on
the stove not much else, but hey at least I was helping.
The guys all crowded around the TV Saturday night
Most of the guys from church were too busy playing some
football video game and the girls were engrossed in their own gossip of sorts,
so I thought ‘cooking’ would do me well. However, because I had to be home not
too late I left before midnight before any of the chicken and fries was even
served (not a problem – I already ate lol, just emphasising how late this was).
As if to treat myself for the last time, I stopped by Mama
Mia before walking into my apartment building. I got myself a once scoop cone
and gave myself a thumbs up for my stay in Senegal. Look at that, it’s really
over.
Me and the host sister, Coumba
Saturday night was terribly unbearable, I just wouldn’t or
couldn’t sleep. Anxious, maybe? Not sure. Either way, I was very much awake at
5 when my host family was having their early breakfast so I joined them.
Everyone else went back to sleep but I just proceeded to shower and get all my
last minute packing done. I even had enough time to curl my hair since I didn’t
leave the house till 9:30.
My flight was at 12:20 and I was to be there at 10 but what
a stress – that Senegalese airport. First of all, I had to wait for the police
guy who was gonna help me get through without my visa extension (I only had a
visa for one month and even after applying for the extension on arrival all now
it don’t reach). When I reached inside I had to go through the motions with the
check-in and security. Would u believe the first baggage guy picked up my
suitcase, shook it a bit and then gave me a nod of approval. I was shocked but
at the counter another lady actually weighed my suitcase and it must have been
fine cause she didn’t say a word to me. Of course, they manually searched my
stuff and I just stared long and hard – there’s nothing I detest as having
security stick their hands in my luggage and rummage around in front of
everyone.
I got to skip through security with the police guy and I was
cleared for departure – yippee. I made a rookie mistake and got all my hair
products and facial cleansers thrown away cause they were in my carry-on (I was
so upset because I had bagged them all separately from usual bathroom stuff
that I would carry in my carry-on so I don’t know how it ended up in there.)
On the plane, I was sitting between this really weird old
man and this really nice girl gonna start university in the States, so at least
my 8 hr flight to NY-JFK was bearable. Yana (the girl my age) and I got along
well and we chatted in between watching movies and lunch and the light snack
during the flight.
Long flights can be fun with the right company and entertainment!
I thought I would just grab my connecting from JFK – wrong.
When I told the Delta welcome desk I was directed to a whole other airport and
I had to pay to take a shuttle bus there. At least I can say I kinda saw New
York outside of the airport but between the two airports. When I reached La
Guardia I went through problems with my luggage – they wanted me to pay to
check in but upon my very insistent reminder that for international flights and
connections 2 bags are free, I finally got my things checked in for free, of
course. Technically, I already lost 4 hours of my day that weren’t being
represented – so when my flight was to be leaving at 9, it’s already 12 based
on when I woke up in Dakar (waking up being relative since I didn’t even
sleep).
I don’t do too well with sleeping on planes so when I reach
Jamaica I will be so extremely exhausted. Of course, I had no idea how to
connect a Wifi that was free, so I was typing away at this blog entry while
waiting for my flight to Atlanta. Not looking forward to being in Atlanta at
night and not leaving there till morning.
Me in Atlanta overnight - rawr
Ok that’s it for now!
