At Night I Watch the Stars

Evenings are rapidly becoming a beautiful time to find moments of solace, peace, and comfort here in Linguere. My host family and I sit on our front step after dinner most nights, where it is blissfully cool compared to inside the house (still warm from the day). I often sit on the ground, sometimes on a basan (mat), sometimes on a chair or foam mattress. But with my feet on the ground, my eyes are often on the stars.

I love this. Taking a little while to stargaze and be at peace – or to allow any turbulent thoughts to turn over in my mind – is something I relish at home as well.

This time in the evening allows me to both spend time reflecting and sorting through events and thoughts from the day, and to get to know my family better. My host brother, Gabi (who is 2), loves to try to spot animals roaming the street in the twilight. We see cats, donkeys, goats, birds, bats, and the occasional dog. He is a little bit scared of the donkeys, so when they wander nearby, we shoo them away.

My other two host brothers, Jel and Joel (Jel is the oldest; also the "e" in his name is supposed to have an umlaut over it, but my computer won't cooperate), like to sprawl out on the foam mattress and watch Tom & Jerry. Though last night, we had fun playing a game of peekaboo through the grates on our front wall (I was sitting up against the front of our house, and they would try to surprise me through the grate). At one point I surprised them by running through the front door and saying "boo!" They giggled, screamed, and ran away into the living room. Jel came back a minute later to giggle again and exclaim, "I am afraid!" We all laughed really hard at that.

Samba, who works at SLDS and lives with us, usually sits in his chair listening to reggae music, which he loves. Other times, he is patiently trying to check in with me and chat.

Natasha, my host sister/cousin (she is technically Rose's niece, but is treated like a daughter/sibling) is usually watching over all of us, and simply sitting and relaxing next to us.

Rose, my host mom, also is either simply resting, or wrangling Gabi. Though, if Gabi has thoroughly worn himself out for the day, she cradles him as he falls asleep in her arms, often singing to him. She identifies as a feminist and I think that is the most amazing thing.

Needless to say, my host family is wonderful. They have welcomed me in and treated me as one of their own. I can hardly speak to them, and feel bad that my Wolof knowledge is improving so slowly, but I am learning more so that I can keep getting to know them. They have met all of my needs, and continue to make me feel comfortable and welcome in their home.

For now, I appreciate what I can communicate and understand with them, and also appreciate the moments that inspire laughter or peace across language barriers. I appreciate when we all look out, into the night sky and over our street, and can simply rest together.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures yet. I'll start taking some soon. I have also been having troubles with having good enough wifi for my blog site to upload the pictures. So this post is a bit bland in the image department.

I hope that you can find moments in your day to pause, reflect, and find some peace. I hope that you are also surrounded by people who you can share that peace with. Blessings to you and yours! Bennen yoon! (Until next time!)

(Until