In a few days, we will have been in Senegal for three weeks. It’s still hard to believe that this is a reality! Before the newness wears off completely, I wanted to share a few of the ways Senegal surprised us when we first got here.
- The food is excellent. I don’t know what I was expecting, but everything we have eaten has been wonderful. Also, chocolate! Apparently it’s a big thing in Senegal. And here I was thinking I was going to have to say goodbye to my favorite treat. Great for my taste buds – not for my waistline.
- Toilets flush by pulling up on a lever (?) on top of the toilet, not pushing down. This may sound like a small thing, but you don’t realize how strongly that habit is ingrained.
- Everything is later. Like, lunch is at 2 and dinner can be 8 or later, kind of later. This has been a harder adjustment, mostly because of the younger girls’ naps.
- We have been cold at night. Now, before you Wisconsin friends start calling us wimps, just know, the wind is constantly moving through our house, and it can get chilly! Fine, call us wimps now.
- Dust. We should have expected this one, but I distinctly remember exiting the airport, getting a face full of dust and thinking, “Don’t fight it.”
- The people. I know that there will be people who are trying to take advantage of us, and I know that there are those who will not be kind. In spite of that, I have been touched over and over by the genuine kindness of different people we have interacted with so far. God seems to know when I need a smile.
Just so you know I (Stacy) wrote this. So don’t give Michael a hard time about the waistline comment.