Some Funnies

Random tidbits... no real theme on this one, just some goofy recent happenings that I feel deserve some sharing:

Played soccer for the first time with my brother and friends on Wednesday. I've protested for two months on the sidelines but finally caved and joined them on the field. The best thing I have to say about my game is that now my brother and friends actually believe me when I tell them I can't play soccer. There are definitely levels of competency: either you're really good (mad ball handling skills, really fast), not great but not bad (you can kick and receive the ball, get a good hustle now and then), or just straight up bad (me). My favorite was my one break away when I thought I was cruising down the field, really huffing it...until a guy from the other team casually breezed up to me and just tapped the ball out of my control. Taking candy from a baby. No worries, though. I felt a lot better when my brother told me everytime he saw me on the field he just laughed. They're really an uplifting bunch.

Lunch at my internship at the Ecole Bilingue has been stellar minus one little hiccup last week. Diced hotdogs, beets, onions, potatoes... much like a heaping pile of curiously pink potato salad, if you will. Cold. And get this--you had to add your own mayonaise. As if it was salad dressing to slather over everything. I had to pass on that one. Vom.

It happened. My sister finally told me the other day I've gained weight (which by Senegalese standards is a good thing for women, in moderation of course). When I asked her if it was just in my face or maybe in my hips she reassured me, "No, just everywhere." I proceeded to compare jaayfondes (jie fon dayz) with my sister and maid. For those who don't know (which is probably all of you), jaayfonde is the Wolof version of badunkadunk... aka, having a jaayfonde literally means having a butt so big you can serve porridge out of/off of it. We concluded that although mine has a larger surface area, my sister's has more volume. Really nice family bonding moment.

We learned in school the other day the only word that is the same in both English and Wolof: poop.

My laundry here is pretty unpredictable in terms of when it gets picked up, when I'll get it back, whether it will come back with bleach stains, and whether it will come back at all. All that to say, I'm a little wary of which articles I surrender to the non-French-or-English speaking laundry lady. As a result of this distrust, I realized today that I haven't washed a pair of my jeans in about three months. Whoops.

At supper the other night my mom served us all fried egg rolls that were absolutely oozing with oil. Having a bit of saturated fat overload, I went to the kitchen and opted for some bread and jam instead--I thought a healthier choice...sama yaay seemed to think differently. My mom proceeded to follow me to the fridge and warned me that I "risked gaining weight" if I ate that bread. Nevermind the fried oil-laden egg rolls we just had, but stay away from that bread!! We seem to have different understandings of healthy eating habits.

I had a dream the other night that I was back in Minnesota and I started absolutely bawling because EVERYONE was pole hiking around (dryland training for nordic skiing) and I was sad to see only quiet Scandanavian Lutherans and and no cultural diversity. Prophetic, perhaps? (PS for all you Minnesotan readers, you might appreciate this as well: our university here is hosting International Day where everyone is supposed to share a part of their culture with the rest of the student body... the other midwesterners and I are trying to find ingredients to make a tater tot hot dish HA oh ya sure ya betcha!)

Think that's all for now, kids. I hope this entry won't deter you from reading future posts :) I'll work on washing my pants, I promise.