It Takes A Village

I finally arrived back in Thies last night after a ridiculously long and exhaust/ traffic filled trip from Dakar. I'm really happy to be back and just as happy that I'm going to be at site for a while. The last couple of weeks with the girls' camp and mid-service was rough. I like having my own bed, no matter how broken or uncomfortable it may be, and my own space. This is my home now so it's nice to be home. The only downside about coming back to Thies is Ahmed. Not to sound incredibly narcissistic, but he think I'm pretty awesome and wants my complete and undivided attention after I've been gone for a while. I think this trip to Dakar was especially acute since Codou and Khady Sow, the two little girls living with us since Ramadan, are now gone since school is supposedly starting back up.

Today, whenever I would try and hide for a little bit in my room would be met with two little hands sticking out from in-between the slats in my door. Softly calling my name while waving his hands, Ahmed tried and tried and tried to extract me from my room. To make matters worse Khady went to Dakar today so I was Ahmed's main source of attention and he wanted some attention. We held hands during lunch and then I watched him run around in the courtyard and then he sat in my room and stared at me and then I kicked him out only for this process to start all over again. He literally tapped on my door every 2 minutes when I was talking to Matt and I about lost it.

There was really no reason to be so annoyed with Ahmed since I really didn't do much of anything today. I just wanted a day of peace after being in the hectic regional house for so long. I did get a few things accomplished such as converting all of the video for the girls' camp so I can edit it. Hopefully there will be awesome video by the end of the week! I also cleaned my room, organized a little bit, and did some artisan expo prep work. December 11 seems like a long ways away, but I know it's going to come up quick.

I'm also starting to realize that the saying "It takes a village to raise a child," is actually true. Obviously I spend a lot of time with Ahmed, but tonight I also spent some quality time with Abdou. Jeenaba needed to run an errand so she gave Abdou to Awa who then needed to start dinner so she gave the baby to my mom who then wanted to take a shower so she handed Abdou off to me. Fortunately he either can't tell I'm a toubab or doesn't care because I have nice boobs so he was good and didn't fuss too much. Over an hour later Jeenaba realizes I still had her baby or finally felt badly for me and came to relieve me of my duties. He's currently under the bug hut I got him in the middle of our courtyard and no one else is outside. I'm watching him through my window.

Totally unrelated... I just downloaded and watched an episode of "The Amazing Race" which takes place in Accra, Ghana! Everyone should watch it! I'm currently in love with the two male, Glee club singers because they had quotes such as "I want my mom," and "I'm really proud I haven't peed my pants," while driving through African traffic!