....glimpses....

6.26.08

Not really having any one specific thing to write about, all I can really offer are GLIMPSES into a few random experiences. Today I worked at Hospital Fann. While I was throwing away some bad tomato plants I came across this fellow here:

 

I had previously found some large and rather ornate, uninhabited shells and had wondered what the missing occupant might have looked like. I thought perhaps a snail, but judging by the size of the shell it seemed improbable. The shells I had found looked like something one ought to find on the beach. The only difference being the lightness of weight and feel of fragility. Finally seeing an occupied shell, I was slightly surprised by the sheer magnitude of it’s tenant! A snail the size of which I have never seen. Apparently he likes tomatoes. Not having the heart to play the part of big, bad wolf and blow his house down, I opted to give him a change of scenery. Apparently I’m not a good Baykat (farmer) when I choose to let my enemies live. I admired his spiral house. It was beautiful.

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On another note, I’ve been finding my relationship with the public transport here to be as bumpy a ride as the transport itself. There are days when swinging elbows and hugging strangers is not something I want to do, and there are days when I LIVE FOR IT! Take today for example. I walked out to the stop and my bus (#29) met me there immediately as if the timing had been prearranged. It was completely fess na (full) so I squeezed in a small crack between two other flattened people and grabbed whatever I could find so as not to fall out of the unclose-able door. After a few shoves and accidental “feel ups” I was secure. While we climbed the overpass, I hung my body out of the bus to feel the cool wind and gaze down upon my home. Dark clouds hung in the sky like marionettes, provoking my desire to experience the rain they withheld. Looking down, I saw the beauty of life’s kinetic energy: hundreds of people going about their morning business. I felt like a kid watching an anthill, wondering about the intricacies of each life story. I WASN’T  thinking how lucky they were that they weren’t crammed in #29 with elbows in their ribs, I WASN’T thinking ‘get me out of this death trap!’, I WASN’T thinking about how the guy next to me needed to invest in some deodorant. NO. I was thinking how lucky I am to share this life with them, in this place, at this moment. Now, not all transport experiences are filled with such realizations. Many have been quite painful, literally. Like when you can’t squeeze in all the way but the driver seems to think that if he continues to push the “door closed” button, slamming the door into your shoulder over and over again, that maybe, just maybe he’ll shave a bit of you off so the door can close. However, like I learned today, there are times when a crazy bus ride is exactly what you need.

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Because we just recently slaughtered one of our lambs, Dinners have consisted of a lot of meat, which my withering away body gladly and joyously consumes. (Allow me to interject that said lamb was slaughtered just outside my bedroom. Quite the occasion I must say). I’ve been learning (ndank ndank) that Senegalese sure do find creative ways to eat everything their lamb has to offer.  SO the other night, I’m called to reer (dinner) at the surprisingly early 10pm. As I enter the kitchen, I see delicious looking rice on top of which lies a huge hunk of meat. My stomach danced eagerly when I sat down, so I grabbed a spoon to begin. Then my sister Mameisha used her spoon to flip over what I thought was a delicious hunk of yapp (meat) to reveal its true form…..the head of the lamb. I’ve learned to take everything in stride and not flinch at anything, ever. I ate mostly rice because every time I scraped some flesh off of the skull with my spoon, the giant exposed eyeball would look at me as if to say “remember when I was alive and how you used to pet me when you came home from work? Remember? Remember?” My sister quickly ended that day dream when she turned her spoon upside down and jammed it into the eye socket popping the eye out violently. She looked up almost apologetically and asked me if I wanted it. Without breaking eye contact with the eyeball, I declined saying I was full and that this time I would let her enjoy. She smiled and threw it into her mouth as if it were a grape. She made a loud “Mmmmm” sound as she chewed and I excused myself to my room where I ate a handful of cornflakes.