Life...
well it's true, it's an adventure. And here I am. Senegal has proven to be the most...trying, yet fulfilling experience of my life! I've been here over a YEAR (which while some days drags, I look back and think OH MY GOSH it has FLOWN!) And if experience is the best teacher, then my education is superb because through doing the PEace COrps, the most valuable of lessons have been learned, without me even knowing it! I look at where I started, and where I am now, and I'm not saying I'm jaded or worse, but I am here and more realistic...You come into something like this so whole-heartedly..."IM HERE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! WHAT CAN I DO?!" and while that still holds importance, I've learned to realize that my SERVICE will be remembered not by if I "saved lifes" but that I had that human connection-that's become my most treasured part of this whole experience. Some days it hits me in the face of someone across from me on the public bus, or a gooey hand of a kid, but so many times while being here/traveling here it hits me how BLESSED I am--not that I am american. not that I HAVE things, but that WE, as people, are so lucky to be able to interact, and love, and care, and enjoy one another. Being here has only strengthed my relationships--with those near and dear, here and there, and for that, I am grateful.

My life here in senegal has taken the shape of: lazy days. hot suns. long lunch breaks with harder work interspersed. broken conversations, mixed between pulaar, french, and english. laughing (mainly at myself). hard rains. big bugs. crowded cars. daily prayer (5times a day). colorful dresses. colorful people. loud mosques. hand games with lil girls. rice for lunch. leaf sauce for dinner. greeting the whole day through. struggling to make sense of my purpose. realizing it in the sparkle of someones eyes when they say, "salimata tubako!" awaiting packages. reading. bathing in the heat of the day and again by starlight. embracing my americaness while letting my african princess out to play. discussing heat, if i have a husband, and diarrhea. a green thumb turned black. eating with my hand. sweating. procrastinating isn't procrastinating if you really believe you can do it tomorrow (or if god agrees)...schemeing for all things COLD. loving the silent moments that are few and far between. realizing that home IS where the heart is, and the heart can be at lots of places at once.