Day in the Life

Example of a day in my life --

Today, I woke up around 8, got ready pretty quickly, and grabbed a baguette on the way out of the house. Usually I wake up a bit earlier so I can calmly have my bread with a bit of butter, and when it's a really good morning, have enough time to boil some water for my Nescafe. Before rushing off to catch the 7 bus that stops right in front of my house, I greet my mother and wish her a good day.

The bus is almost always super crowded, with people clamoring to pay for their bus ticket (150 cfa, ~30 cents in the US) from the guy in the middle of the bus who has a yellow cage that he works from. The bus ride to school is probably one of my least favorite times of day, especially since it's so damn hard to physically get out of the bus when (and if) they stop at ENEA/Suffolk University, the campus that my program is in.

Classes are either from 9-4:30 or 11-4:30 for me, depending on the day, with an hour and a half for lunch in between. Normally I get an egg sandwich which comes on a baguette with salad and spicy sauce from the shack on campus (500 cfa, or about $1), but lately I'm getting sick of the same food everyday. It's a shame that I can't go home for lunch like the people who live in Mermoz or Sacre Coeur 3, but I'm slowly starting to discover new ways to eat lunch, like by buying a bunch of fruit from the nearby fruit stands and/or cookies and yogurt from Elton, the gas station near the school.

After class, I usually chill around campus checking email and hanging out with friends until I feel like going home. As much as taking the bus to school is my least favorite time of day, taking the car rapide home (75 cfa, ~15 cents) and walking the 10 minutes to my house from the last stop of the car rapide is one my favorite times of day. It's the time I get to relax and think, and the walk home is one of the only times during the day that I get to walk around the neighborhood and see and sometimes greet the people who live in my town.

I'm usually home anywhere between 5:30 and 7, and spend the next 1-3 hours greeting the family and their guests, playing with the girls, watching Senegalese TV, reading for pleasure and for school, doing Wolof assignments, talking to my brothers and sisters (who are all incredibly kind, intelligent people), hanging out with Ouakam friends from the program, and chilling with Maman. Dinner's usually around 8:30, around a bowl on the floor. The food has all been really delicious so far (except for Sunday night porridge, which they make with millet and yogurt, which I endlessly complain about). Food so far has included LOTS of cebujën (white or red rice with fish), maafé, yassa poulet (my personal favorite), random other Senegalese dishes I still don't know the names for, and even spaghetti with a meat sauce.

After dinner I hang around some more, reading, relaxing, working, and socializing with the family, oftentimes drinking ataaya when my brothers decide to make some at night, which is always fun since a bunch of their friends usually come to hang out with us when that happens. Lately I've also been inviting a couple of Ouakam friends from school to drink tea with us as well, and I enjoy having my people in my life bleed into each other and enjoy each others company.

I sleep anywhere between midnight and 2, depending on how tired I am and whether or not my family is awake. Overall, une bonne vie, and I couldn't be happier.