Merci de lire!

I wanted to write a quick note to thank everyone for reading, and for all the comments which people have left, either here or via email. It's good to know that people are reading this blog! It's also nice to hear from family and friends while I'm so far away.

Also, a quick note on how much I stand out here! I knew before coming of course that I would stand out, but I was actually surprised when I arrived at how many toubabs (white folks) I saw. However, I stand out in so many ways! In some ways, it's annoying. I have never had anything stolen from me in the US, but within 2 weeks here my cell phone was stolen while on a bus, and I've heard much worse stories of crimes happening to white people here. (Don't worry concerned family members reading this, I've learned how to be very careful since then...) We are targets for criminals. And then there are the taxis who honk at me if they're searching for a client. Taxi after taxi will honk at me while I'm walking or waiting for a bus. Do they think that toubabs never walk or take public transportation? Or more likely that they'll make more money off of me than a Senegalese person? And then of course there are the men who see me as a ticket to the US, women who see me as someone in search of a maid, and who knows what else people want from me (half the time I don't really understand what one is saying).

In some ways standing out is amusing and sort of endearing. A few nights ago I went to a café touba vendor who I had been to once before during my first week here. He remembered that I wanted a little bit of sugar in my coffee. How many cups of coffee does he serve each day to how many different people, and yet he remembered what I'd had the one time I'd gone there over a month ago? Similarly, I ate breakfast at a little stand yesterday which I'd only been to once before, weeks ago, and the woman running it knew what I wanted based on what I'd had before. If I go to one of these breakfast stands, coffee vendors, a patisserie, etc, people never forget. One woman stopped me on the street and knew my name, and it was half-way through the greeting process before I realized she works at a boulangérie I'd been to once. Occurrences like these happen all the time, and if I was with Ewan the last time I'd met the person, they always ask how he is and where he is. Ewan has said that he'll go to a gas station he'd last been to 4 years ago and the staff will remember his name and ask where he's been. People here never forget a toubab.