Day 26: Tea at the Beach

Sunday turned out as another weekend day without any unusual occurrences. I woke up late, ate an entire loaf of bread for breakfast (literally) while watching a violent American movie dubbed over in French with English subtitles.(?)

We hung around till lunch, which ended up being late, but was well worth it. We don’t know what kind of meat we were eating; possibly goat or sheep? It tasted good though.

After lunch, we took a short trip to the beach, and then parted for Cresp to write e-mails. After finding that the internet wasn’t working (something that happens quite regularly,) I decided to go with Paupis and Sophie to the beach to drink tea. We had a relaxing time, sitting there, brewing tea on a small burner.

Let me explain this part of Senegalese culture. The Senegalese drink tea like Americans drink alcohol. The most common tea is that which is served in small glass that are about the size of shot glasses. Paupis’ friend who made the tea had me watch to see if I could learn. It’s a very complicated process. The end result is a little shot of tea (the second of a set of two with mint,) with a lot of sugar.

I had fun talking with Paupis, his cousin, and his friend. It was nice to break free from the group for a little while at least, and it definitely helps my French. With the Senegalese, I either speak French, or I just don’t communicate.

While I write this, the weekend feels like it was slow and not busy. However, it was anything but that. I feel quite exhausted sitting here on a Sunday night. I will write more tomorrow, and continue to answer questions that I’ve been asked in e-mails. Goodnight to all, go Red Sox.