Une Histoire de Deux Amies

I have known sweet Michelle Wijaya since the beginning of my freshman year at Vanderbilt - a whole five years! She's currently serving on a STINT team with Campus Crusade for Christ in Dakar, Senegal. So...I was incredibly excited when I found out I could stop in Senegal for a few days on my way back to America.

We've been this enthusiastic about each other for a long time.

As one of the kindest, smiliest, Godliest women I know, I was thrilled to spend a few days with her despite my exhaustion and brokenness from the last six months. What I didn't expect was the incredibly fulfilling four F's that were prominent throughout the four days.

Friends
My flight (unfortunately) arrived at 4:10am in Dakar...woof. Michelle and teammate Ted kindly picked me up at the airport and helped me fight off feisty taxi drivers (I think we can generalize that they're terrible throughout the continent). Clearly, we returned home for naps right away. At 7am, I was pleasantly awoken by one of her roommates and teammates, Ashley. We became fast friends when she immediately jumped up and taught me The Wobble. According to the Summer Project team, it's all the rage in the US these days, though all of us have been gone for so long that we're not so sure...but it sure is a good workout and a lot of laughs.

But friends. I've secretly been craving Christian community for these past six months in that I didn't realize how much I longed for it until it was back. This STINT team is an incredible group of three women and three men who are doing ministry at the university in Dakar. They live in the same building and are like a fun little family. Most importantly, they immediately embraced me into their lives for the four short days I was there. It's still hard to find words to describe just how meaningful this has been. And besides: we decided we could all be real friends on the last night. Hurrah!

The STINT team in Dakar

Not only that, but I got to meet many of the girls' Senegalese friends and Congolese colleagues. It was a blessing to finally meet these incredibly bright young women that I've heard so much about and see the ministry they are doing in Dakar.

Food
Oh. My. Goodness. The team tells me this is not typical, but we ate incredibly the whole time I was there. Did you know there are a million and one boulangeries in Dakar?! I was in heaven. Pastries, fresh bread (even BETTER than Nam), chocolate creations. And real ice cream! We also made many delicious family dinners with REAL fresh vegetables and delicious ingredients.

From not-so-typical Senegalese food...like chocolate fondant

...to real Senegalese treats, like these frozen juices in bags!

The highlight of our food experience was our last day. Michelle and I planned an entire day's worth of eateries - cafes, boulangeries, ice cream stores, coffeeshops. The first place we went was amazing. I'm convinced that menus always sound more delicious when written in French. Or even Italian. Anything but English. I decided to order a panini de trois fromages. Sounded like a glorified grilled cheese, but I had no idea just how glorified it would be. We're talking brie, roquefort, and some other really rich, unidentified cheese. I looooove lovelovelove cheese...it might be my #1 craving while in Africa. So I snarfed this down. Apparently, Michelle thought I was crazy for eating it all but didn't say anything. Needless to say, this put a huge dent in our day. We skipped our post-lunch ice cream store #1, but do not fear, I ate an entire pot of ice cream at the next place. I couldn't move for the rest of the day from all the rich food. Oh wait, until fried Senegalese food was put in front of me. Worth it? Totally.

Several Senegalese fried foods - including BEIGNETS, my fav

French
Most people in Dakar speak French or Wolof (but not many speak English), so I had a chance to brush off my rusty old French skills. Thankfully, it's not like riding a bike. One time I stopped riding bikes for several years and when I got back up, I fell off. But the French went just fine. It was fun to have it come back so quickly - and encouraging! Also, french food. 'Nuff said.

Fun
Boy, did we have fun in Senegal. From walks to the beach to giggling to cooking together. But the most fun of all was our night out to Magicland. Magicland is exactly what you would expect of an amusement park in an African city. It has a healthy dose each of thrill, lack of safety, and sketchiness.

The infamous Magicland

There were bull rides, a rickety ferris wheel with a stunning view of Dakar and the ocean, kiddie rides, and dressed up characters. The highlight of our time in Magicland was the unregulated bumper cars. They had no safety limit and flimsy bumpers, which made for a lot of big crashes, bruises, and laughs. In fact, I just looked down at my knees and found two new bruises. Hm. We rode them twice and are still feeling the effects several days later. Michelle is NOT a good bumper car driver, but thankfully I ditched her for Ted the second time.

Aside from that, Michelle and I did a lot of exploring (she said it wasn't typical, but it was just like our old days in Nash)...new parks, an evangelical women's concert, and did I mention food? All in all, what a blessing it was to have the opportunity to stop by Dakar on the way home. I couldn't have asked for a more surprisingly amazing time with old friends and new. Check one more African region off my list!