Leaps and Bounds

Going to the grocery store was such a tough excursion.

 How much money to take?

 How do we greet people…we don’t want to look like foreigners when we first walk in? (even though we are)

 Where is everything?

 Does it really cost that much? 

What do we really need? 

This looks sketch…should we try it?...do people actually eat this here?  (usually in that order)

All these thoughts used to come into our minds all too frequently.  We’ve been here over 5 months now.  We’re on the downhill slope of this mountain called Africa (bad analogy…it’s actually very flat here).  …But things are getting easier. 

I laugh at the idea of going to the grocery store being such a tough thing.  It was so draining.  But I’m glad to say…not anymore.

Over Christmas break we tried to get out and about once a day in Dakar, whether it be to go get crepes near the beach, to go to a bigger grocery store only 10 minutes away, to go spend the morning away at the beach, go shopping downtown, whatever it may be.  And we’re actually doing it on our own.  Looking back at the beginning, Faith’s goal was to hail a cab on her own by the time we left here.  Well, she did that in the first 2 months, as she wanted to help out at the talibe center across town and needed to get there on her own.  I had only sparingly driven a manual before coming here (the school has 5 different vehicles staff can check out…all manual transmissions).  Now I can hold my own driving a stick (even in the congested, “make up your own lanes as you go” streets of Dakar).  We’ve grown by leaps and bounds since we first came here.  The little things seem like little things and the big things don’t seem as big.  We’ll see if the next 5 months hold more of the same. 

kyle