The Senegal Experience: The Weekend

Hmm...I suppose I missed a day again...sorry. Last night was a little hectic. Tonight was not...yet...I am just now starting this business at 1:40am.... We have a had a great last couple of days. Yesterday...everyone went everywhere. Let's see if I can explain this in a way that is understandable.... The group that was in Sedhiou this week...split into two parts, in the first were Ryan, Travis, and Meg. The second was composed of Andrew, Chris, and Rachel. In the morning, the first group went to the artisan village with Maggie. The second group went to Ngor with Tim and Kate. Our Mbour group, minus Kesha and Chelsea, did something as well...somehow, I can't remember what...I think maybe they also went with Tim and Kate...but I'm not sure.... This is because I went with David to the office to check on some stuff for our flights home. No worries there, but, it needed to be checked. Yesterday, Kesha and Chelsea were both feeling a bit under the weather, that is why they didn't participate in the mornings activities. We all met back at the Grand Yoff guest house for lunch at 1:00pm. We just had leftover schwarmas and sandwiches and stuff. In the afternoon, the Sedhiou group switched. Those of us from the Mbour team, myself included this time, went with Cal to run some random errands. We ended up at the beach in Yoff for a bit while he checked on some rental property he is looking into.... We were planning to go and medicate the Talibe boys...but we couldn't go too early or they wouldn't be there yet...so, when our errands were done...and we had time to spare...we went to a gorgeous place...I don't know exactly what or where it is...but I want to go back. There was a small cliff...and some rocks led down from it...to lots and lots of really big rocks...in the edge of the surf...waves crashed...and filled the entire area with white foam...it was gorgeous. Cal and Erin stayed in the truck up top...but...Brea and I went exploring...we ended up getting a bit wetter than we had intended, but it was well worth it for the view, the adventure, and the experience of it all. We eventually made it to the Talibe house, and the boys were actually there. We didn't bathe them this time, we just applied some ointment...but...I think this time may have been even sadder for me. Some of the boys had so many sores from scabies that their knees were covered to the point that there were more sores than there was good skin. It was really sad...especially when we were continuously bombarded by more and more boys, each time we would finish putting on some medicine, a new boy would stick in a infected hand...or the older boy would hand us another with it all over his legs.... It was very sad.... After we worked with the Talibes, we returned to Grand Yoff for a bit. We all ended up meeting at Papa Sarr's house for dinner at 6:00. It was a lot of fun. It was like a big party with all of our team together again somewhere besides the guest house. Papa had a nice house, we all enjoyed eating there, and the food was excellent too. We had Ceebu Jagga. It is much like the other dishes we've had. It is different in that the fish is ground and balled up and then fried. Also, the dish had some crunchy rice in it also...that had been cooked a little longer. They put this rice in some of their meals to give a different texture...which is a grand idea...I like it a lot. After dinner we all made our way back to Grand Yoff...bedtime wasn't too awfully far off for several. Today...the weekend really began. I remembered it once it happened...the fact that last year we did this same thing...had a weekend where we just relaxedToday, we left just after 8am to go to Bandia, which is a game park. The rides today in the vehicles to and from Bandia and Pink Lake...were...special...and tons of fun. It took probably over an hour or more to get to Bandia. I was in the Pajero...as were 9 others. It was fun. At Bandia, we rode around in modified pickup trucks...they had bleachers of some sort built into the back of them. Luckily...the bleachers were padded...and actually quite comfortable. We spent probably close to 2 hours driving around looking at and taking pictures of various animals in the game park. When we had finished, we made our way to the restaurant that happens to be in the park. We sat around for a bit and had some sodas...and then we noticed the monkeys directly overhead in the trees. Soon after we noticed them...we realized that we had a small bag of peanuts.... I think that all of us ended up feeding the monkeys from our hands. It was pretty spectacular. When we ran out of peanuts, we decided to eat there...we were considering waiting until we finished at Pink Lake...but that would've been 2:00..at least. It was already noon and we were all quite hungry. The restaurant at Bandia has clay oven baked pizzas. They are delicious. We ordered several of those and quickly demolished them. As we ate, monkeys jumped around above us and ran by right next to us. It was quite a fun place to eat...definitely great ambience. When we finished, we moved over to the tent with all of the cushions and pillows...we all reclined immediately. I think some even slept a little bit. We lounged around in there for a while...and towards the end of our lounging...Ryan and I discovered how fantastically fun it was to create static electricty with our heads against the fabric ceiling of the tent.... There was lots of laughter and smiling. We left Bandia just before 2pm. It should have taken...maybe 45 minutes or an hour to get from there to Pink Lake...it took much, much longer. Cal decided to try a new route.... But, we didn't mind, we were having quite a ball in the Pajero. We ended up getting to Pink Lake sometime between 3:30 and 4:00. Once there...we rode camels. This is something that none of us had ever done before...it was quite the experience. We rode for half an hour. It was crazy. It's definitely a fun activity...but...the saddles aren't exactly comfortable. They cause a bit of...chafing...mainly on the thighs...and maybe the tailbone..depending on your particular saddle. However...it was still fun. I particularly enjoyed riding the camels down one of the prettiest stretches of beach I've ever seen. I think the prettiest thing about it was how...untouched it was. We couldn't see too awfully far because of the continued dust storm...but...it appeared to go on for miles. Just sand...water...sky...and 9 toubabs on camels. It was gorgeous...and the water...hmm...beautiful. Several of us just wanted to jump off of the camels and into the oh-so-inviting ocean...don't worry...we didn't. After the camel riding, we returned to Grand Yoff. That was the extent of our plans for the day. Upon returning to home sweet home, we sat around and talked and had some sandwiches for dinner. The rest of the evening was spent visiting and drinking attaya...until shortly after 9. This is when the activity, that Rachel and Meg so selflessly planned for us, began. It was foot-washing and prayer. They washed all of our feet...including David and Cheryl's. For those of you who don't know...Meg and Rachel dislike feet more than anyone else on our team. I think this is one of the reasons that they decided to do this...to show us how much we mean to them...that they would serve us, as Christ did his disciples, by washing our feet in and act of complete humility and service. As one of them washed the feet...the other prayed over the individual. It was quite moving and good. Upon the close of this awesome time, more visiting and whatnot occurred. Then...off to bed...'cept for me...I write a blog ;) Tomorrow...is the Sabbath. The relaxation intensifies. Our plans tomorrow are as follows: worship service at 10:45am, lunch at the Brazilian afterwards, maybe some frisbee or football or something after that.... Don't fret, the work resumes Monday morning. God bless you all, we are praying for you as we know some of you are experiencing quite the onslaught of winter weather.