On Saturday, I'm leaving Dakar along with three wonderful traveling companions to spend five days exploring central Senegal. We'll see the 2nd largest covered market in Africa (which I need as my flip-flops have been worn down by constant use) and a national park, complete with mangrove swamps! My host mother is usually very cool about me traveling in Dakar - I simply need to say "I'm going out with ____ for awhile" and all is well. However, I didn't realize just how relaxed the relationship was until I discovered yesterday during lunch that she had left early Monday morning for a region in the south of Senegal. For a week. Without telling me. Oh well, we'll have plenty of stories to swap for the last few days of Fall Break! But her absence has actually forced me to get to know the maids more - I interviewed one for my Wolof class and learned that she was one of 11 kids from a farm family.
On the "Through" part, I'm starting to contemplate my eventual return to KU. I love Senegal, but I miss my family, friends, and working AC, approximately in that order (kidding!). Also, I'm anxious to get back to campus and start making some changes. I didn't realize how strong I could be before coming here, and it's inspired me to break out of the inertia that was driving more of my life than it should have. Personally, socially, academically - not everything will change, but all will be critically examined. No one said personal growth was easy.
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