Found

Sleeping in this morning felt amazing especially after I slept through the entire night because there were no mosque parties or continuous rooster crowing. Amazing. As my after IST resolution was to start running again I laced up my shoes and headed for the Post Office where I got a letter from Shirley! Thank you! I decided to take the long way home and search for a vegetable stand closer to my house in the opposite direction that I usually walk. In order to buy vegetables I had to break a big bill so I went into the toubab grocery store across the street from the post office and made a fabulous discovery. Tortilla chips!!! I've been on the hunt for tortilla chips in country since I got here. They supposedly exist at the huge toubab store in Dakar, but they've been out every time I've gone so I was thrilled to get a delicious bag of chips in Thies. You may be asking, wont you look ridiculous running with a bag of chips? The answer is yes, but I already look so ridiculous running as a white woman that I could honestly care less.

My grand plan to have a nice run and find a vegetable stand was foiled by the sandy beigeness of Thies and I ended up getting really lost and having to ask someone where the big round point I live by was. Needless to say I didn't find a new vegetable stand so I had to go to the one I know, which I could have gone to in the first place. This and playing with toy guns with Ahmed and one of his friends took up the majority of my morning.

For lunch we had soupakanja aka kryptonite. It's the dish with okra the consistency of snot slathered in palm oil. This dish is so universally disliked that Peace Corps actually tells families not to make it and I've had several discussions with my family about how much I hate it and that if they are going to make it they can just tell me and I'll make my own lunch. I don't mind. The ridiculous part of today's lunch was that it was just me, my mom, Jeenaba, and big Ahmed who also hates soupakanja. As I sat down at the bowl and saw my nemesis face to face my mom told me I hated soupakanja and that I didn't have to eat it. Relief. I said that I would make my own lunch since I had done a little shopping this morning. Jeenaba and my mom had a good laugh over the fact that I wanted to eat a salad for lunch, salad is not an acceptable lunch here, and my mom made Jeenaba make Ahmed and I omelets. The omelets were delicious because they were fried in oil with onions, but not really as healthy as the salad I wanted. I also felt really badly that Jeenaba had to make me a second lunch that's definitely not what I wanted. She already works so hard.

The rest of the day I spent reading and hiding in my room in order to avoid my mom and Khady dragging me to a wedding. My night ended with a chicken dinner so I really can't complain...