Black Friday

While most of America was out buying early Christmas presents the day after Thanksgiving, we got a phone call we had been waiting for almost three months. Our things had arrived and would be at our house that morning.

PapaGus came home early from work and between the two of us we managed to direct the movers to get our things into the appropriate rooms. Jackie took care of Gusi and we ripped into our boxes.

We spent the entire weekend unpacking. And all I can think of is: we have a lot of stuff. Why would someone want to accumulate so much stuff? And then I think about the houses we've visited here and realize that when it comes to stuff (ok, junk), we are really not that bad, but still...there's a lot of junk that doesn't need to be here. For example...blankets. We're in Africa! What on earth possessed me to pack all the blankets we own? Granted, I'd never been here before and a lot of Senegalese are wearing coats at night (it is 75 degrees at night people! no need for a down coat), but still, we don't need so many blankets. Oh well, they're here now. Next time we move to a tropical climate I'll be more selective: winter clothes yes (because we might visit a cold place for holiday), excessive number of blankets no.

Turkey: It Tastes Like Chicken

We have had quite an exciting few days.

On Wednesday I dropped Gusi off at a play date and went with a friend, her driver, and our housekeeper to Marché Karmel downtown to do all of my veggie shopping for Thanksgiving. This is one of the biggest and best markets in town for fruits, vegetables and fish (they also sell meat but I prefer the French butcher's on the airport road) but it is in the dead center of town. Luckily it didn't take us long to get there and when we did, we had a great time around the seafood counters. Jackie was quite good at bargaining each and every price that was offered, so we got good deals on fresh fish (including tuna!), calamari and even mussels. Fruits and veg were easy too except that my friend got a call as we were finishing that we should leave town center since there were riots going on. I had heard there would be a possibility of demonstrations against the government (folks claim that the cost of living here is too high and they are right) by several unions and street merchants so we quickly left. As we drove back to my friend's house we saw tires burning, street merchants' stands burning and it took us quite a while to get back but nothing, thankfully, was ever directed at us. In some countries you'd have to watch out if you were a foreigner in the middle of a mess like this, but not here--here people are complaining about how expensive everything is and want the government to do something about it. You can't blame them.

Jackie and I spent all Wednesday preparing for Thanksgiving and all day Thursday cooking. We had three sets of friends over with their kids. The kids ran wild and Gusi loved it. He's never allowed to do what he was doing (run around screaming, spilling all the toys out onto the floor at once, scribbling on the floor) so he was in heaven. Out of our six friends, two are Americans who have lived overseas for a very long time and haven't had a turkey for Thanksgiving in ages since they are married to foreigners, one is British, one Italian and the last couple is an Australian-Malaysian mix. And yet, we all gave thanks for what we have, for our health, for our family, for the opportunity to live in a country as foreigners and still have a sense of community. Then WE ATE.

I had brined a turkey and then roasted it with oranges, apples and herbs de Provence. It was delicious. We also had sweet potato casserole, apple-sage stuffing, roasted green beans, fresh cranberry sauce (one of PapaGus' colleagues brought me a bag of fresh cranberries from the US on her business trip here just a few days before, bless her heart), scalloped potatoes (which my Malaysian friend made), homemade gravy, glazed carrots, a salad and bread (no rolls, just baguettes). Plus two desserts that the Malaysian mom and Italian mom made. Plus wine. Plus an expanding waistline. We were stuffed. And what did Gusi say about all of this? Well, he loved the cranberry sauce, he loved the sweet potatoes, had some green beans and chomped on the turkey. And even though we had gone through the whole "what is a turkey" thing with him days earlier when talking about the upcoming party, he still would ask for chicken when wanting more turkey. I would say, "Gusi this is turkey," and he'd say, "yes Mama more chicken please." Sigh. At least he ate and had fun.

It Takes a Village

The greatest part about living in Africa? People love kids. I mean, they really love kids. Everywhere we go, Gusi has instant play mates big and small. Everyone wants to talk to him, asks him his name, even pick him up and hug him (he doesn't always know what to do when this happens). They all believe it takes a village to raise a child.

Lately I've really realized how communal our son is. Our gardener and housekeeper are both Senegalese and have come, in our short time here, to care for Gusi. Our morning conversations go somewhat like this:

Me: Bon jour Antoine!
A: Bon jour Madame. How is Gusi? Did he sleep well?
Me: He's fine Tony, he's inside and will come out shortly. And yes, he slept well, thank you for asking.
A: Madame, tell Gusi that we will water the plants together today and then we will go looking for salamanders in the garden.
Me: I'll do that Tony.

Me: Bon jour Jacqueline! How are you?
J: Bon jour Madame, I am fine, how is Gusi?
Me: He's fine Jackie, he's waiting inside to get his shoes on so he can play in the yard with Tony.
J: Madame, you are running out of the mosquito repellent that is in the hallway. Do you have more? Gusi will need more since there lots of mosquitoes around here. It isn't good for him to be bitten you know.
Me: Yes, Jackie, I have more in the back and I'll make sure to leave it out.

Tony is teaching Gusi to play football (soccer) with a lime from the tree in the back yard. Jackie is teaching him nursery rhymes in French. The Senegalese are teaching all three of us how to have bigger hearts. Perhaps that's why we always include a special prayer for all the children of Senegal each and every night before Gusi goes to bed. If they're taking such an interest in my child, a prayer for theirs is the least I can do.

A Busy Week

We have had quite a hectic week this past week. PapaGus and I celebrated our wedding anniversary, I had my birthday, we went to the US Marine Ball and we had two dinner parties for some of PapaGus' colleagues who are visiting from the US. In between all of that we had pottery class (we're making Christmas tree ornaments), play group, a doctor's visit (to make sure Gusi's ear infection is fully cleared, which it is), market shopping and more.

The crazy part is that we've never gone out for a date since we've gotten to Dakar, so going out three times in one week has been a deluge. The Marine Ball was especially fun since we got to get all dressed up and danced the night away. It turns out one of the Marines here at the embassy grew up in Metairie, LA, one of the suburbs of New Orleans. I went over to introduce myself as a fellow Louisianian and wish a Marine a "happy 232nd birthday". I've never considered myself to be particularly patriotic, but to see these kids (and most of the Marines at the embassy here are in their early 20s) with all these medals and ribbons on their uniforms made me realize how much they have done in their short careers; several have even been to Iraq and were wearing purple hearts. So, I asked the Marine from Metairie if he had plans for Thanksgiving but he said they were all going over to the Deputy Chief of Mission's house (he's also the acting ambassador at the moment). Then I asked if he had plans for Christmas Eve. His eyes widened real big and he said no. I told him that he was invited to our house then. He said, that all the Marines would be quite happy to have a home-cooked meal for Christmas Eve. Uh-huh. My eyes widened. Ok. I thought I was inviting one Marine, but it looks like we will be having at least four of them. No matter, I can only imagine how happy their moms will be knowing that their kids are with a family at Christmas time. Besides, the Marines will be fed and happy as well. When I told PapaGus as I returned to our table that we would have the Marine Corps over for Christmas Eve he just laughed: our patriotic duty in the most unusual way. But they are kids after all, and it is the holidays and we are all far from home so it will be nice to share a meal with new friends.

Biblical Proportions

I kid you not when I say that the amount of butterflies I have seen in the last three days have been of Biblical proportions. Swarms of these pale yellow numbers flying everywhere around town. Gusi had to squint his eyes shut at the store the other day as we walked from the car to the door of the store--and we were parked four feet from the door--because there were so many butterflies swarming around. And somehow with the butterflies have come all kinds of creepy-crawlies and even creepy-jumpies. There are heaps of bugs coming in to the house. Heaps! Bugs are everywhere. Everywhere.

And why are there bugs in every corner now? The winds. The rainy season is coming to an end and with that come the winds from the desert and the winds bring something new each year. Apparently there have been swarms of locusts, grasshoppers and ants in the past. This year it is butterflies. I feel pretty ok about the butterflies I have to say...it could have been much worse. Sure there are other bugs running about, but the butterflies are overwhelming. Plus, when you add the swarms of butterflies to the goats that are down your street, and people walk around your neighborhood in long flowing robes, you do begin to wonder what time and place you are actually living in.

A Darker Shade of Pale

Gusi looks a lot like his father at first glance. They both have fair complexions to my dark one. (Yet, if you look closely, you will see me in our son.) And now it seems that we've been in Senegal long enough that both father and son are starting to tan. It's not like we've been sitting under the sun at the beach or pool. Quite the opposite; we go to the beach around four in the afternoon when the sun isn't strong, we use sunscreen and I never take Gusi to the pool around noon when the sun is the strongest.

Despite all of these precautions, he is getting tan. His little arms are getting a tanner glow to them, a tan that seems to recede to paleness at the sleeve line. His father is going through the same thing. PapaGus's neckline is a dark red which goes white at the collar of his shirt.

And me? Well, I'm not staying too far behind either. I feel the tans are more noticeable on them but as a whole, the entire family is getting darker. Our Christmas photos should be interesting this year.