One of the luckier students, I guess, my flight back home was pretty short. The group had begun to exchange goodbyes throughout the week, as some were going to Morocco, others staying prolonged in the country, another leaving early to Norway, and the rest of us home to the US in one flight. After the bulk of the group said their final goodbyes on the airtrain in Kennedy, Robbie and I walked to United to catch flights to DC. After leaving my Dakar residence at 11pm, I finally got off the plane at Dulles a little after 11am.
Erika and Kristina were at baggage claim waiting for me-- I love their dear hearts so so so much. Words cannot express how much it meant (and means) to me that you guys came to pick me up. Had I had to take a taxi alone home on top of everything else going on with my (real) family and with the tearful Senegalese goodbyes (with my Sebi family for the very least), the taxi driver probably would have had to awkwardly sat through a long ride of me bawling my eyes out.
We went straight from the airport to Cheeburger Cheeburger where we ordered three
milkshakes (frozen mint hot chocolate, pumpkin, and holiday something), three burgers, and a basket of onion rings and fries. I walked away so full that each step I took literally was followed by sharp pangs of pain in my abdomen.
Seeing silly little things that I took for granted before leaving for Senegal quickly reduced me to an overly giddy two year old: plush green grass, smooth roads, stoplights, and shiny new cars were just a few of the things that caused my heart to race. Culture shock hasn't really hit me yet-- not in an emotional manner yet, anyways. I think the stark contrast between life in Senegal and my current reality in the dc metropolitan area have furthered this sense of surrealism that I had been battling in my last week of Dakar.
When I walked into my house, I was greeted by two unfamiliar faces which with context I figured out to be I guess my cousin's daughters. Trailing behind them were my aunt, uncle, cousin, and Leo. I have another cousin who is still in transit, on her way over. With my mom gone, the minute I walked through the garage door, I took on her normal role; after saying hi to everyone, I checked up to make sure that all their rooms were properly equipped, shifted through all the mail to look for bills to pay, sorted through my dirty clothes and everyone else's which had been starting to pile up and started a load of laundry, entered appointments into my moleskin, and searched hopelessly for my cellphone-- which I still have yet to find.
For a little over the next week, you will find me living in this closet in which I am writing this blog-- because of all the relatives here, the only available room in the house is conveniently my dad's walk-in closet. I use the word conveniently because it is also the warmest part of the house-- I don't know what the architect did when he constructed the house, but that half size room never gets cold-- basically, a perfect transition between the 80
degree Senegal weather and this minus zero degree celcius business in DC.One of the many things that Ive sincerely missed while being in Senegal, I'm ashamed to say, is my laptop. But now that I'm back at home, I am struggling to use the darn thing because Ive grown so used to the French keyboard. Really, what im getting at is that I have nothing to complain about and life is beautiful.
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