Goodbye Senegal…

The last few days were pretty hard saying bye to everybody. I left a few days after most of the people in my program, so that sucked because I had to drag out the goodbyes for three extra days than everyone else! The sadness hit me the hardest when it was about an hour before Abi left, and we were sitting outside the studio outside Aba's house (our djembé player) and they wanted to play one LAST song… so they brought the guitar and a djembé outside, and of course, five seconds into Price Tag I start weeping. 

I’m gonna miss so many things about this country. I'll miss so many little every day things that I've gotten so used to; long heartfelt handshakes and greetings. I’ll miss all my friends, especially Abi, my partner in crime, who I’ve seen almost every day for four months. the acoustic tree and it’s philosophy to be à l'aise no matter what. I’ll even miss the smell of Dakar (or maybe not), I'll miss my community in Ouakam, all the people I pass on my way to the bus stop, including the stray cats and dogs. I'll miss sharing money with everyone and not feeling like I have to keep track of every dime and every expense. I’ll miss going to people’s houses uninvited, and bartering in wolof. I'll miss getting hissed at when someone is trying to get my attention. I’ll miss eating around the bowl with my hands, I’ll miss dancing all the time and working out on the corniche by the beach and going on runs with Abi and Youssou, who starts clapping along singing songs in wolof when we start getting tired. I'll miss the gym in Ouakam and Big's step/ab routines and repetitive music. I’ll miss my host family even though we hardly ever talked about anything. I’ll miss walking around sandy streets and almost getting hit by cars (or cows) and sitting on the Terrace on the roof at school, listening to my Senegalese lawyer friends argue in wolof. I’ll miss laying on my stomach and riding the waves at the beach, playing with monkeys, and the fact that I can buy a sack of roasted peanuts for less than 25 cents. I’ll miss seeing people hanging out of buses and riding on the roof of the sept place cars. I'll miss not having to be exactly on time to anything, and the fact that a good excuse for being late is that I had to finish a cup of tea with my family and then say hi to everyone in my neighborhood before leaving. I’ll even miss my instant coffee with powdered milk.  I'm gonna miss playing music and drinking attaya on the beach with my wonderful friends: 

I’ll miss playing in concerts with Sous L’Arbre Acoustique, and rehearsals in Aba’s little studio. I’ll miss driving across the country crammed in a hot car with too many people in it, the taxi driver driving on the side of the road half the time to avoid potholes. I’ll miss little adorable senegalese kids that run up and shake your hand and sing and want a million photographs of themselves. I’ll miss drum circles, the desert, fresh mangoes, bissaap and monkey bread juice, the vibrant colors of Senegalese fabric. I’ll miss the way my host Dad yelled at the TV when his team was losing in soccer. I’ll miss bucket showers outside in villages in the fresh morning air, oh and getting woken up at five in the morning to the call of Prayer from the mosque. I'll miss feeding monkeys and the feeling of satisfaction after hiking all day in the heat and then finally reaching water. I’ll miss getting wise life advice from Big and Aba, people singing all the time, Teranga, speaking French and trying to speak Wolof. I can't say I'll miss wifi that never works, but I'll miss people not being connected or on their phones all the time. I'll miss seeing women wearing babies on their backs, and the sense of togetherness that you find everywhere you go in Senegal. I'll miss the feeling like I'm always present in the moment, and so is everyone else. And how people don't stress out about things that don't really matter in the bigger scheme of things. These are only a few things at the top of my head that I'm gonna miss. I'm sure there are many more.

I remember how much at the beginning of my stay here, it felt like such a foreign land, and now I feel so comfortable and "a l'aise" here. Maangi fii. I am here only. Alhamdoulilah!! Goodbye Senegal, Ci Kanam, Be beenen yoon, inchallah!! I will miss you!