Top 5

I have been released from med and am finally back in my regional capital. I have stayed the last two nights at my regional house and this afternoon I will return (equipped with a stick bed AND a bag of cement for a outdoor cement bed. Celebration? I think so.) to my site. In the meantime, I've had a lot of time to think and I give to you all now, my top five favorite things about Senegal.


1. Fabric
Who said that I wouldn't be able to get my shop on in Senegal? The fabric choices here range from the ridiculous to the sublime and I could literally spend hours at a fabric stall in my local market pillaging the stacks upon stacks of fabric. Just this morning I picked up a fantastic purple, pink and yellow tie-dyed dress, complete with a beaded hem. I for sure will be turning heads when I get back to my village.


2. Egg Sandwiches
Never before in my life have I craved eggs as much as I do in Senegal. Hard-boiled, fried, scrambled, etc. Luckily for me, getting an egg sandwich here is a simple feat. You can buy them on the street or make them in the comfort of your own home (or hut...I guess). Just last night I had a delicious sandwich of two hard-boiled eggs, mayo, hot sauce, salt and fresh ground pepper. And at night in Tamba, they make amazing breakfast sandwiches, with egg, onion and potato. Just add some ketchup or hot sauce and you're golden. I have a feeling that eggs are about to become a main staple of my diet, seeing as how the only thing I really trust myself to do on my little gas stove (please see previous post for further explanation) is boiling water. I hope I don't start to resemble a hard-boiled egg, well, at least not any more then I already do now. 


3. Illegal Downloads
Did you know that there are no downloading laws in Senegal? Say hello to all the crappy television shows and movies that I have been dying to see for the past several years. Of course, the internet is on the slow side, yesterday it took me seven hours to download one episode of "Make it or Break it." No big deal, PCVs have plenty of free time. 


4. Communal Napping
In Senegal, as long as you are visible to other people, that is considered being social. I often fall asleep on one of my family's cement beds in the late morning, as well as in the evening twilight before dinner. Often, I will wake up to little children sleeping next to me (or possibly just sitting and staring at me). Pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself. 


5. Ataya!
Ataya is the word for tea in Senegal. You drink it out of really small cups and it is made with foam on top. The more foam, the better (at least according to the Senegalese). I love it when people in my compound just hand me cup after cup of tea. You would think that drinking hot tea on a hot day would be unbearable, but surprisingly, I find it rather refreshing. 


Hopefully my list of "tops" in Senegal will only continue to grow. But for right now, five seemed like a good round number to me. Like I said before, back to site this afternoon. I'll check back in at the regional house in a few days, but until then, I'm signing off. 


Asalaa maalekum,
Rachel