The one where I feel accomplished

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I feel like an African woman. Although my strength and fortitude is in no parallel, I'm beginning to re-live my life as on, a white, less strong version of one. I have been very domestic lately, which is fairly unlike me. Especially in the department of cleaning. Because of all the bugs and sand and little critters that get into your home, it is essential that you scrub the floors, BOP spray (insecticide) and sweep frequently. Otherwise, your house becomes a sest pool of insects you dont even want to look at in a magazine. So I decided to be very efficient, and I trecked my hot sweaty ass into the market the other day to by brooms, wash buckets, soap, pots, and pans, and things of that nature. Again, I looked like a drunken fool trying to negotiate the dirt roads and taxis trying to kill me, while juggling all of this crap on myself.

I felt a surge of energy last night, around 1am, and decided to wash my clothes. No, there are no washers or dryers here. While in the process, I am ashamed to say, I purposely drowned a insect creature in my shower by force of water. It was really creeping me out, so I decided to be selfish and put the thing out of MY misery.

I've realized, that in this whole circle of life, I am required to kill things in order to sustain my body. Mosquitoes for example, they gotta go. Otherwise I get malaria. Nasty bugs that crawl in my bed, they gotta go. Fungus that lives on my body, it's gotta go too. I've become more comfortable with that, and have realized that some insects must die in order to achieve a semi-healthy life.

What may seem bizarre in my life here, is becoming more and more common in my everyday life. I don't see it as bizarre any more. I've gotten used to kids calling me toubob (white person) asking me for minty (candy), men asking me to marry them within the next five minutes, and goats and chickens waking me up in the middle of the night. I've gotten used to the power and water outages, the heat, the sand and the dirt, the diarrhea, and the funky creatures that live in my house. This is ALL my life now, I couldn't exist without one of them, it wouldn't happen. I don't have to like everything about it, but it makes every day an adventure, one that I love, and a life I am very proud of.

Quote of the day:
I wanna walk up the side of a mountain,
I wanna walk down the other side of a mountain,
I wanna swim in the river and lie in the sun,
I wanna try to be nice to everyone. -Grandaddy (Nature Anthem)

An aside: I am super excited about a new Gambian greeting I got. It's usually "HEY BOSS LADY" "HEY EMPRESS" "HEY BEAUTIFUL/NICE GIRL". But this takes the cake "Hey FOXY lady. How far do you wish to go with me?". Thank you Mr. Gambian man, although I shut you down, you made my day.

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Comments

[Matt C]

When I was in Mexico I would often think thoughts that started with, "When I get back to real life...". It took me a while to realize that, No, this IS real life. This is as real as it gets, and it is no more or no less real than life back "home." It's just life, and it's not stopping or slowing down for anyone. That may or may not have anything to do with what you said here but I thought I would share it all the same. Hope you're doing well, Ali. See you this summer?