#5 Who needs coffee when you can just take a cold shower?

Ndank ndank mooy japp golo ci naay.

Slowly, slowly, one catches the monkey in the bush.

Petit à petit l'oiseau fait son nid.

Little by little, the bird builds his nest.

Wolof and French sayings that describe my life very well here in Senegal. Both of them remind me that things take time and that nothing worthwhile and lasting comes quickly. Time time time. All it takes, all you need, right? But it's going by faster than it ever has for me.

I've been here almost two months, and yet I find myself facing new situations every single day that can and do completely change the experience I'm having here. All it takes is meeting one new person, simply taking the time to try and get to know someone, or even taking one wrong turn where you end up going on an accidental adventure...and it can cause a ripple affect that could add enormously to everything you're already doing or greatly change it. That's why I love it here; the small decisions you make every day here can cause such drastically different outcomes that I wake up every day as though it were my first here. I never get tired of or used to anything, except maybe the 3-hour-long lectures.

When I met Anne-Marie, for example, I thought we would meet maybe once a week for a short English lesson and not much more, but she has become not only my best friend in Senegal, but one of the best friends I've ever had. The lessons are more like 2-3 times a week and for up to 2 hours at a time, and they're more like really good conversations that we slip a little English into. She has to be one of the most genuine, sweet, good-natured and funny people I've ever met, and my cheeks usually hurt with laughter within the first 5 minutes of seeing her.

This past weekend she, Leah and I went to H.L.M.- a market where we searched for the perfect cloth for nearly 4 hours, and got it quite literally in the last 5 minutes as all the shops were closing. I had such a perfect idea of what I wanted in my mind that it made it seem like mission impossible, but Anne-Marie was relentless in the search- moreso than I was- and determined to make me happy by the end of the day, though I don't know if I've ever enjoyed one so much. Anyone else would have thrown their hands up into the air at least a dozen times by that point, but she never got grouchy or frustrated or gave up (everything I usually feel and do when I shop) rather, she kept pulling me along by the hand, weaving in and out of the endless stalls, as though it were her only job in life to find me the perfect material. And while I didn't expect her to, she bargained for everything for me, getting the price to less than half of what each vendor started with, and I realized I would have gotten very ripped off had I not had her.

I also got material for a boubou (just some simple, white cloth) and so the next day we took it all to a tailor. After getting lost on the way to Anne-Marie's, I was blind-sided by a hug when I accidently stumbled into the right direction into her. She laughed and laughed at my atrocious direction abilities and I couldn't help but smile, nobody had ever laughed at me in a more genuine way. She took my hand and off we set for the tailer.

Another thing I love. While you never see any kind of public affection between couples, you will see hand holding all day long between men and men and women and women. It's not a full-out grasp, but a loose little friendly hold, that I was a admittedly a little uncomfortable with at first, but now it's something that makes my already too-big smile stretch even further up to my ears.

We teased each other non-stop until we were at the tailors, where I picked out what I wanted in magazines and got measured for the first time ever for clothes! I was so giddy, and Anne-Marie was amused by me as usual, as I get excited about everything that is normal and everyday-life things to her. Afterward I sat on the cooshy green foam-seat while she bargained him down from about $35 for the two to about $15. Wow. That's like, one pant leg back home.


Afterward, we both had the whole day free so I went to visit her home and meet some family. If I ever thought it was hectic at my place with two little boys running around, it was nothing in comparison to the 4 or 5 little kids all under the age of 4 that sped by me in a blur of colors as I tried to cross the courtyard, while almost tripping over a chicken (or a very small fluffy child). She showed me her room that she shares with 3 other people, and the mat she sleeps on. She prefers it to the bed, which hurts her back, and we laughed as I told her it was sort of the opposite for me.

Her aunt was in the room when we got there (who also works at WARC) and we spent the next 30 minutes looking at a pile of old pictures where Anne-Marie looked like a model in just about every one, and her aunt and I teased her endlessly about how many ex's she had (even though there were only two- they kept appearing in the pictures and I'd pretend they were all different).

Oh yea, Anne-Marie got engaged on Valentine's Day. It's not my business to blog all the details on the internet, but I will say that we disagree about why she's getting married, as she is ultimately just settling and I tell her she should try the love part. Regardless, after the photo adventure we went to her financée's place and he was as nice as she described, and very hospitable. After talking for a bit we somehow ended up watching a pretty horrible 90's American film- still don't know what it's called- but it was in English, and despite my protests, they wanted to watch it, so we did. It was a random kind of afternoon but I enjoyed myself nonetheless.

And then, I still get to see her every day at WARC, where I bug her and all the other women who work there all day long, though I think they enjoy the interruptions- usually. I've also started talking a lot more with all the other women there, who all love to comment on the progress of my butons and laugh and clap while I show them what I learned in my African Music and Dance class. Another good lesson I've learned- if you want someone to warm up to you, look and sound a bit like an idiot, and it'll be appreciated (caution: context is probably important).

And can I just add that my adventure with Gilda yesterday was one of the best moments I've ever had? There is a huge trampoline on the coast that we pass all the time, and out of the blue we decided to go, and for one dollar we got to jump and yell and fall into the nets as we tried to look over the ocean and giggled and screamed until we were out of breath.

And now another week has passed before I could even grasp that it was Monday. While it always leaves me feeling uneasy to see time go by so fast, it doesn't change the fact that you have to catch the monkey slowly, you know?