Ani Comes to Visit

Saturday afternoon Ani came to visit me.  Ani is a little dachsund who belongs to some friends living in southern Senegal.  Family is visiting with them from the USA so they planned a trip to the beach.  Evidently they are not allowed to bring pets.  Something happened to prevent their previously arranged dog-sitter from keeping Ani so they asked if I would be willing to keep her for a few days.  I readily agreed knowing she would be great company to me while she was here.  She started off her stay by "crying" for her "parents" and going to the door every time she heard a car outside.  After a while she settled down to life with me.  She has now accepted me as her temporary "mother" and follows me everywhere.  I was leaving to go to a boutique with Kimberley this afternoon.  Ani cried so that we decided to let her go with us.  It sort of reminds me of the days when my children were little.  It will be interesting to see how she does this week when we have school at my house.  Her "parents" will be picking her up on Thursday so I must not get too attached to her.

Moving Up in the World

The Before Picture of My Road

Progress has been made on my street in Fatick.  At long last, the road is finally paved.  Not long after I arrived in early October work began.  They started by grading the dirt road to make it smooth.  They had to wait for a LARGE mud puddle on one end to finally dry up.  Once the road was smooth, they placed rocks all across it to keep traffic off the road.  Well, that didn't last long.  Before you know it, many of the rocks had been moved to make a path for the motos (motorcycles) to pass through.  Over time more and more rocks were moved so horse carts and cars could travel the road.  At long last, the actual paving began this week.  They got one side completely paved but then they stopped working for a couple of days.  I'm not sure why unless the blowing wind (full of dust) kept them from work.  Yesterday they finally started paving the other side but only got halfway finished.  At last today they were able to finish the paving (during our family church service, of course).  Now I can look forward to rainy season knowing I won't have to deal with any more mud puddles.

First Layer of Tar

Paving My side of the Road

Finishing Up the Other Side of the Road

My Newly Paved Road

Friends

As my days in Fatick increase so does the number of my friends.  As I pass my neighbor's little boutique I always stop to greet her.  She is helping to coach me in my Wolof for which I'm grateful.  I love going to the market to see the ladies that have become my friends.  Last week, as I sat on a bench at T's stall, she would tell the ladies who stopped to make purchases to speak to me so I could practice my Wolof.  Even though she doesn't speak any English, she would coach me on what to say.  She is very special to me because she gave me her last name.  So my Senegalese name is Saly Sarr (pronounced sah-ly sahr).  I'm also developing a friendship with my next-door neighbor.  This evening I walked over to pay her a visit.  She was sitting on their balcony making ataya (tea) so I was served some when it was ready.  Fortunately, this was like the third round of tea so it wasn't too strong but it was very sweet.  She had put mint in it as well so it tasted like real sweet spearmint.  It's very hot and served in a little shot glass so you have to be careful not to burn your tongue when you drink it.  Communication is very minimal since I still don't know much language but the great thing about friends is you don't always need words.  Just being together can be a blessing.

Driving

Today we had to make a trip to Mbour.  I went along for the ride and to buy a few fruits and vegetables.  This was a much better experience than the last time.  My cell phone was stolen on the previous trip.  Today I held my purse very close and stayed close to Martine.  After all our shopping and business was completed we headed back to Fatick (about 1 hour away).  Travis decided it was time for a "driving lesson."  I know how to drive a car, even a five-speed so that wasn't the issue.  My "lesson" was for me to experience driving on the road amid the traffic.  Fortunately, today's traffice was pretty light.  I did manage to pass a few cars and buses along the way and even drive the speed limit.  I think I can handle a trip to Mbour on my own now but I'm definitely not up to a trip to Dakar!  City driving is too crazy for me!

Happy New Year

My New Year's Eve was spent doing some chores around my house.  I tried to get all my work done on Saturday so I could relax on New Year's Day.  I've heard the saying that how you spend New Year's Day is an indication of what the new year will be like.  I certainly don't want to spend my whole year washing clothes and house cleaning so I made sure I finished that on Saturday.  I was in the process of cooking my supper when I was called to go to the other M's house for supper.  Must be getting old since I forgot about the supper invitation!  That's ok.  I just put my food in the refrigerator (meat loaf, English peas, garlic mashed potatoes) to save for my Sunday dinner.  We spent the evening eating, playing video games, and watching tv.  I beat everyone at Bocce Ball except for T.  Maybe I'll beat him next time!  I returned to my house with a small laptop computer geared up with slingbox hoping to get to watch the Auburn football game.  Unfortunately, it was on a channel that we didn't have so I had to resort to watching it via Gamecast.  The game didn't start until 12:30 AM my time.  I was up because who could sleep with all the firecrackers popping outside.  I would watch a few plays, doze a bit, watch a few more plays and doze some more.  Finally, I went to sleep at half time.  I woke up during the third quarter and saw we were way ahead so I decided I could just go on back to sleep.  By that time it was quiet and I had no trouble sleeping.  New Year's Day was cool and windy.  I had to sweep the dust off my floors three times during the day!  So much for my plan of no housework!  Since we had all been up late we decided to have church after lunch.  The other family came to my house and we had a great time together  singing, listening to a message, and praying.  What a great way to start off the new year!