Hold on to your hats this is going to be a long one. It may also be a little frantic since I havze a lot to do on the internet and racing time to finish it all. It may sound silly but it actually stresses me out quite a bit. It is like doing a really long times math test, which i was always awful at so i guess the stress is no suprise.
SO recap of the last week, at least i think that is how long it has been. after site announcements we were al rushed back to spend korite with our family. It is the day ramadan is over, so everyone can stop fasting. Holiday/celebrations in general seem very odd here in the fact that no one seems to do the same thing. yes i know we are like that in the states but, the events here are very community based so you would assume there would be a general concensious of what everyone does. Anyways, i helped my moms, sisters and other women cook. Everyone seems to make the same dish, grilled chicken and a spicy onion sauce. After all dazy cooking we at around 3 then sat around a lot more. During this whole time kids are going house to house asking for money, sometimes they get candy instead. They adults also go around after lunch and into the night asking for forgiveness from others. So it is a general mix of people wandering around everywhere, and people constantly filtering in and out of the house. Lots of family also returns home, so i met lots of siblings i didn't know existed. The most exciting was my namesake and older sister Coumba.
Like my other sister fatou I have really come to like and appriciate her. They are both very patient with me, try to engage me and just in general very spunky. I wish there was no language barrier bc I am pretty sure we would all really get along. (side note Coumba lives in Dakar and I hopefully will be able to visit her when I am up there)
Finally, around 9 or 10 we got all dressed up in our complets and walked around visiting. This was honestly really stressful and tireing so I don't know how much of it I understood. Unfortunately I was pretty tapped out at that point. It can be really tiring not knowing what you are doing or when it is going to end. On a funny note my sisters curled my hair, it made me think of all those times melston got stuck doing mine for date parties. The funny part was they curled it really small and then completely brushed it out, so i had a sexy clown-fro going on.
Last night I let them do my makeup, bc we had a wedding reception to go to and that was equaly if not more amusing. Apparently, i don't hqve eyebrows so naturally those had to be drawn on. Then I needed blue and gold make up, since that was the color of my complet. The makeup when all the way to my clown brows and then out a little bit. I lookes one of those women who is still stuck in the 80s. Thankfully, i did my own hair, otherwise i would have been downright scary looking.
All of this dressing up and doing up has been done by Coumba with Fatous imput. It is acutually quite fun. I sit there forever and try to guess how i'll look. Then when I finally look in a mirror I am shocked and horrified (in a funny way) and have to fake excitement. This part was not so hard last night since my eyebrows were always excited.
Oh Senegal... we've decided it is kinda like going to a mick between prom and halloween with lots of bling...alwayw loads of bling.
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