Is it really fall at home?

And what does one do in a land of Days of Eternal Summer?

So I’ve been hearing that it’s starting to get colder back home. Masa – meaning “feel better” in Wolof.

Part of me is jealous given how hot and humid it is here, but then the other part me understands the allure of an eternal summer, especially to Minnesotans who are plagued by an extra long winter and an unbearably short summer.

On Sunday, I was woken up not by my natural alarm clock telling me to get a start on the day but by the unbearable heat of a power cut. Even though Dakar is not my favorite place in Senegal (it’s dirty, it’s chaotic, and not everyone knows my name), it has its appeal – mostly in the fact that you can usually count on fairly consistent electricity. Don’t get me wrong – the capital still has power cuts, but they usually only last a couple of hours. Well, by noon, still no power. So I was super excited when one of my housemates suggested that we head to the beach.

Off of the dock on Ngor Island

So while Minnesota was starting to feel some autumnal breezes, I was relazing on the beach. I can’t help but say, “Nananananana.”

Looking across from Ngor Island to Dakar

Ngor Beach is a place that I had already heard of as a great swimming location, but I had never visited it before this past weekend. All I can say is – WOW! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves on its beauty.

For about $1.00, you can get a boat across from the mainland to Ngor Island which is where we enjoyed most of the afternoon with a delicious lunch (I ordered the octopus salad for a splurge of $10, and the octopus was HUGE! YUM!) and a relaxing swim from the restaurant’s private dock.

Such a day though had to come to an end. I was meeting my friend Kaela (who is also here with Tostan) and going with her to see our mutual host family here in Dakar. My friends and I waited to catch the boat across.

Looking at the main beach on Ngor Island

On the way out, at about 1:00pm, it was fairly empty – a good showing but not too crowded. By 5:30pm, when we were looking to head back, it was packed!!! More so than you can imagine. Every surface of the beach, and into the low surf, was packed with families and groups of friends. Women had set up stands selling roasted peanuts and grilled fish. Young men were selling freshly brewed Café Touba, a local favorite. It was a totally different beach than the one we had crossed earlier in the day!

Apparently other people had the same idea of escaping the heat on the water – especially on such a gorgeous day, and after several rainy weekends before. Who knew?

In other news…

* I’m finally starting to settle in at work and have two small projects to start working on.

* I’m starting to find my way around my new neighborhood, and I’ve friends with the house guards (Super important! This way they will really want to save me from any intruders)

view from our apartment

* I got to catch up with my host family (pictures from a few years ago, here) on Sunday night, and I got to meet my host brother Babacar’s wife (married a little more than a year ago) and their new son, plus my host sister’s new youngest son. I lived with Famille Fall in Dakar for the first 6 or so weeks of my time in Senegal with the University of Minnesota.

* I also got to spend all of Saturday with my best friend from Sokone, Ahmed (see below). It was great catching up and hearing about the past two years!

Me and Ahmed