I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane, Don't know when I'll be Back Again

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!