Apart from a minor touch of a stomach bug (what else is new?), today was probably one of the best days I have had in Senegal so far. Actually, scratch that, even with the stomach issues (which were minor, I swear!), today was one of the best days I've had in Senegal.
My mood from the moment I woke up was fairly jovial. I can't be sure if it was the return to routine (today marked my first day back at the school after the break for Tabaski) or my overcoming the major homesickness I was feeling a couple days ago, or perhaps it was neither of those things, but my day started out bright. I thoroughly enjoyed my rushed breakfast of baguette and chocolate before running to school with Thiarma. I taught the CM1 kids about the importance of trees and thought that the lesson went fairly smoothly. I was also glad to be entrusted with the class all on my own. The instructor had to go run an errand (something that happens with some frequency at Mbam II, and, I would think, other schools as well) and so I got to have some time with the kids. They are a lot different and more relaxed when it's just me around, so I had fun.
And returning to the house, I couldn't help but be in a good mood. I stopped at two boutiques in search of phone credits (which I successfully found!) and loved greeting everyone along the way. Upon my return, I almost immediately left again with Kumba to do our daily market run. I found out we were going to eat mafay- one of my favorite Senegalese dishes!- for lunch. Delicious! It's a thick peanut-based sauce that also has fish, tomato, and other veggies. So good. And filling. I helped her cook lunch and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch hour at home. There weren't all that many people around, which I think I found really relaxing after the craziness that was the week of Tabaski. The kids were mostly at school and some of the company has left.
After lunch it was apparent that Kumba was leaving again, and I asked to go along. She was leaving with Ndiaye (one of the neighbors who may as well live at the house) in search of peanuts. I love going to the fields to work, so I was really glad to get out a bit. It turns out that peanut cultivation in Mbam is more tedious than I ever could have imagined! The plants have already all been pulled and processed, but you can imagine that with all those little peanuts, many of them fall off in the dirt in the course of harvesting. So today we went to the field and combed it by hand in search of the individual peanuts that are left on the soil. It was a long, sweaty afternoon full of pricked fingers, aching backs, and really hot water. But it felt so good to be working, doing something, moving, that I hardly minded. Kumba and Ndiaye told me many times to “Repose-toi!” but I ignored them and kept up the work. We picked up a few buckets full of peanuts (that was a lot of work for what I thought to be a fairly paltry reward....) and headed home. On the way we stopped to pick the blossoms of red hibiscus plants (here known as bissap) and to gather firewood. At this point Ndiaye was carrying a seven-foot long log on her head and Kumba was carrying a bucket full of peanuts and millet with some firewood tied in a bundle on top. I was a little ashamed at my bucket full of peanuts and bissap blossoms, which paled in comparison to the loads these ladies were carrying, but I am still learning so I can't be too hard on myself.
After the field it was to the well! I did my usual ancillary tasks while wearing Birane on my back. The ladies are always so funny, making fun of me in Serer and Wolof, trying to see if I understand. Tonight I got the whole gamut: how could I have a baby already? No one even saw me pregnant! That couldn't be my baby- it's black! Who's the father? Where's my husband? Etc. All of it made me laugh and I was content that Birane didn't cry once even though I had him for more than an hour and he's usually a big mama's boy.
After the well was my typical bucket shower and the beginnings of my stomach discomfort. Ah such is life! But I ate a good dinner of cere with some sort of sauce and fish and now I am relaxing and enjoying a little 'me' time.
The last big development of the day is that I am definitively over my fear of cockroaches. You may be wondering how it is that I can know that so confidently when months ago I was trembling with fear over their very existence. Well tonight a large cockroach crawled out of the latrine while I was using it and rather than getting afraid, I was just glad that I didn't pee on it before it started trying to crawl on me. If that doesn't prove that my fear is gone, I don't know what does. I can't believe how living in the brush has desensitized me to everything. Snakes, lizards, roaches, bats, birds, you name it! I am really at ease with my surroundings.
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