Namm naa leen.

So its been a really long time. Namm naa leen. I’m back in Dakar… which is really kinda weird… its almost a feeling like I’m home again…. But that feeling makes me really miss my family and friends at home. But I must say it is really nice to have some of those good old comforts I have been living without for the past month or so – a toilet, shower, sink, variety of foods…. Mmm that last one is one of the best.

I left Toubacouta Saturday morning… a teary-eyed goodbye, a hard goodbye to say the least. I already miss my family there… but am getting really anxious and excited to go home.

So last night Ara made me and Ndiawar an omelette with bread. It was really good but because eggs are expensive I picked up that because Ara had gotten eggs for me her, Gnima, and Kaba didn’t eat anything for dinner (yeah, the family is way too super nice). Luckily I had some left overs from lunch that I made them eat.

I gave my younger brother my diskman and CDs and told them that listening to English music will help his English… I also left him my French to English dictionary for him to use cuz I won’t be there to teach him anymore. He went on and on about how nice I am and how he was gonna miss me… “I won’t have my big sister anymore.” At one point I thought he was gonna cry… which was making it really hard for me.

And last night Ara kept going on about how she was gonna miss me and said that when they have dinner she’s gonna say – Licia, kay reere (come eat dinner) and I told her that from the US I’ll say, maangiy new (I’m coming).

So leaving them this morning was really hard. I started crying when we left the house even though most of the family came with us – Kaba, Gnima, Binetou, Ndiawar, and little Lamine. Gnima had told Lamine that he was going to America so when I asked him, Foy dem? (where are you going?) He replied, Amerik. We went to Eva’s house and said some goodbye’s. There Gnima said she was gonna go back home and when she called Lamine he ran to me and grabbed my leg… so he continued the journey with us. So by the time we left Eva’s house with a lot of her family and most of mine, we had a small village accompanying us to the road. When the car came I was trying to hold everything back while we all said quick goodbye’s. Lamine was crying and trying to get loose from Kaba to come with me. I couldn’t even look at Ndiawar for fear of crying… but when I saw Binetou’s tears I lost it. I climbed into the car in tears and looked out to see Fatou crying too. As we drove away and waved it was really hard to believe that I will most likely never see these people again, people I had really come to love.

Being back in Dakar is a really weird feeling…. But tonight for dinner when had chicken and fries and there was flan and fruit for dessert… I feel like I live like a princess here. It is really nice to be back here… but making me really anxious to go home. Only one week left. Time really has flown by.

See you soon.