Mbaye's Send-off Dinner

Ricci and Mbaye left last Wednesday for les Etats-Unis! Too bad for Mbaye (and everyone who lives there) that Chicago is experiencing colder-than-normal weather. He showed us the two hats and three pairs of socks he bought; I told him he'd be needing to wear all of those at once. I hope he knew I was being serious. Anyway, I was soooo excited and happy and giddy for them! We're wishing them good luck at all of his soccer try-outs over the next three months - bonne chance!

Mbaye's mother flew in from Conakry, where Mbaye is originally from. Ricci was so happy to get to meet her in person:

some very good fish (although it looked exactly like a pirana)

Mia, Mbaye's fiesty and gorgeous little cousin

Naomi and Theo

Two silly girls

When the lights go out in the city...

What Christine calls my "Science-Fair Project" - what it takes for Jonathan to have uninterrupted internet and telephone access:

Malick Ka, the IT guy from the Tostan office, very kindly came to our house with us after work one day to help configure our internet. 

Livin' it up.

We love our apartment here in Dakar. There's just so much SPACE. After living in Sevilla, Spain, and Berkeley, CA, we've gotten used to constricted movements: stand up from couch, walk two steps to kitchen, open fridge, turn 90 degrees to your left, turn on two-burner stove.  But here, you could do cartwheels and jumping jacks!

Our courtyard: our pathetic little tree, door to the kitchen, and on the right a space for washing clothes

And, a first for us - we've got a kitchen table AND a desk, meaning Jonathan won't be working in the living room and we won't be eating hunched over a coffee table (presumably, although we've yet to conform to this novel idea, partly because there's been nothing worthy of sitting to eat, as I've yet to find pots, pans, or silverware. We've been using Jonathan's Leatherman pocket knife to open tuna cans and cut tomatoes, and we go to a little boutique every morning to get a hard-boiled-egg sandwich.)

We purchased most of our furniture from a journalist who moved to Afghanistan, and a little bit from another journalist who moved to Sierra Leone.  We were still in need of somewhere to put clothing, though, and so Naomi and Ricci took us to a man who makes shelves and armoirs on the side of the road.  There we described what we wanted based on the one he was displaying and some baskets down the street.

Our socks and underwear baskets and dirty laundry basket:

We paid half then, and the rest when we picked it up Saturday. I explained where we lived, but the horse-cart driver wasn't too sure, so I hopped on what little space was left on the cart, and off we went, me directing the way, Jonathan running to the bank to get money to pay the horse cart driver. Everyone stared at me, some in disbelief, others in sheer joy, shouting "Africa woman! Senegal woman!" I even got a "woo-hoo!" of approval from a 50-ish French guy driving past on his scooter.  Me riding on the horsecart seemed to invigorate the neighborhood. I'll have to do it more often I guess. Or perhaps it was just my 15 minutes of fame.

We also needed a fridge, so Theo (as in Theo and Naomi, the people that found our apartment, moved all of our furniture from its previous home, and hooked up our internet and electricity before we got here, ) took us to Grand Yoff, the neighborhood you go to if you need a refrigerator. After hours of walking, negotiating, and finding a bank, we finally found one:

SEE MORE PICTURES HERE.

Six airports, five planes, 38 hours

Two days after we the people elected Mr. Obama, we, Johann and I, were off. We were worried we'd miss out in all of the post-election discussion, but everywhere we went it was there to greet us.

Because we used miles (which we spent so much time stragically earning for this trip, but which we will never use ever again for a transatlantic flight,) we visited six airports on three continents over a sleepless 38 hours. After departing St. Louis, our first stop was Tampa. But why visit only one Floridian airport? We went to Miami too! At least there we could get some super authentic Cuban food...

From Miami it was off to Madrid.

We'd be getting there at 7:30 in the morning and have a ten hour layover, so we called up Colby and Rebekah to ask suggestions on where to go while there. (During our year in Sevilla, we never visited Madrid outside of the airport.) It was weird to be back in a place we'd just moved from knowing we weren't back to stay. There were all the "welcome back" feelings - the comfort and ease of sitting at a crowded counter during the morning rush, getting a cafe con leche and pan con tomate and reading the paper, the way Spanish feels on your mouth - the steady, continous roll of vowels and soft consonants... It was actually a little strange to feel those feelings, to feel at home, in Europe. I guess you don't know how comfortable you are in a place until you leave and then return to it.

Roasted chestnuts on the corner:

Again, Obama was everywhere:

But comfort can be disquieting, so we're off to yet another new place.