Autour Le Monde: Agent Mathews, this Woman has no Talent!

Today was challenging. As of this morning, I was still fighting serious jet lag. According to Fitbit, I slept over eight hours last night, but I was still struggling to keep my eyes open after breakfast. Yes, I was hydrated, I drank a 32 oz bottle of water before lunch. First thing today was a lesson in Wolof, a local language. Then we were given a challenge: take one or two objects from the table, then go out into the community and ask different people what the objects were called, what were they used for.

Audra and I set out together, she’s a little more outgoing than I am. Sénégalaise people are really friendly. I’m not sure it’s even legal to be an introvert here. It’s a 180 from Europe, where you don’t talk to strangers at all, even if they want to talk to you. And if a guy says “Come to my house and meet my children” he really means he wants you to come meet his family. Try that in any major US city, and you’ll end up either having your life story narrated by Keith Morrison, or in a movie with Liam Neeson. We got our questions answered, Audra had prayer beads, and I had bouye and a yellow cola nut. After we got back, everyone showed off their new found knowledge, then we had lunch. Fish with vegetables and millet.

Not really my favorite, but not bad. After lunch we learned the art of bargaining. Again, I’m not good at it. I’m more of “I’ll hand you some money, and if you give me the right change, great.” I ended buying a basket that reminds me of a Charleston sweet grass basket, from a family that we interacted with during the morning activity. After a break (I found a few minutes to stitch 🙂) we worked on our batik projects, then had a djembe lesson. Again, art and music = not my strengths. The djembe lesson was fun, even though I’m terrible at it. That instructor had the patience of a saint.