Day 27: Monday, Feeling adapted

While I won’t summarize the days events (to avoid repetition,) I will write a few breakthroughs I had on this hot and sunny Monday.

In the afternoon, we had a lecture on GEN Senegal. GEN stands for: Global Ecovillage Network. This lecture was similar to most other lectures save in one respect: I understood nearly every word that was spoken. I cannot explain how great a feeling it is to finally get a language. I figured I would get to that point eventually, but today it really clicked. Okay, so I’m not fluent, but I could understand this lecturer extremely well.

The second revelation came to me when I was walking to the Shell station. Walking across the street and through the sandy parking lot, passing by the bank and the magazine stand, I felt like I truly knew this place. I felt like I knew everything that was going on around me. I felt like I owned the place. I felt like I was at home. Tomorrow being day 28 of my trip and thus four weeks away from home, I’m finally starting to feel at home. I feel comfortable walking around, just as I do in Coolidge Corner.

Besides those two relatively significant moments, the day was quite average. I will take advantage of this and answer a few more questions that I’ve been asked. Remember, I urge you to ask more questions, or else I might not be able to write entries on such a regular basis….

1. Are all the American students from Umass Amherst?

No. Let me take this opportunity to give you an idea of the seven other Americans on this trip:

Rich: Umass junior, swimmer, whom I’m living with while here. Rich likes everything and everyone. We’ve heard him complain once. Just once. He’s enthused about all activities, likes all the food that’s put in front of us, and doesn’t speak much French. Rich’s favorite phrases: “C’est bon!” and “Je ne sais pas.”

Kaila: Vassar College junior, international studies major. Kaila lived in India until she was 4 years old, and now lives on Martha’s Vineyard. Kaila is the only true Sox fan on this trip (besides me), and she likes reggae and jazz.

Katie: UC Santa Barbara junior. Katie worked on a ranch over the summer, and has been away from home since May of this year. Katie knows a lot about tea, and is very interested in Ecotourism. Her nickname for me is “Mumbles.”

Deb: Junior at Oberlin. In Yoff, Deb lives closest to the Cresp annex. In fact, she lives about 100 feet from Cresp. In the US, Deb lives in Amherst, MA. Deb likes watermelon, and is very good at French. Deb really enjoys Wolof class.

Alison: Junior at Umass. So far on this trip, Rich and I have spent a lot of time with Alison. She has been over to our house so many times that she might as well be in our family. If she were to walk in to our house without us even being there, our family wouldn’t think twice. The reason for this frequency of visits is mainly because she likes the beach and swimming in the ocean. Alison is from New York and she doesn’t like Boston or people from it. She thinks that Boston just wants to be like New York. She’s just jealous of our Championship teams.

Kristin: Senior at the University of Vermont and is from Andover, MA. Kristin is the eldest of our group and I believe she is the most knowledgeable when it comes to permaculture and sustainable development. Kristin is fun to be with and likes dancing.

Lindsay: Junior at Umass. Lindsay is from Newton, MA. She went to Wash. U of St. Louis for one year before transferring to Umass. After this trip, Lindsay will be studying in Israel for her second semester. She lives with Fatou Lo and her extended family. Like Deb, Lindsay really likes Wolof class.

That’s a quick summary of the people I’m spending most of my time with. Obviously, there’s a lot more to these people than I could write here. But maybe that will give you a better idea of who I’m sharing my experiences with.