I arrived in Senegal after a very long nearly twenty-four hours of flying. My flight pattern was Entebbe to Kigali (Uganda), Kigali to Addis Abba (Ethiopia), Addis Abba to Bamako (Mali), Bamako to Dakar (Senegal). And that was after driving 1.5 hours to get to the airport in Entebbe.
All of the flights were on time, thank God, but I felt like crap during most of the flights. The last flight was interesting because I had a woman who completely covered her face sitting next to me. She looks like this:
The first time I saw women in full burqas was in Dubai. It is quite a shocking scene if you have never been around this before. I hope this doesn't come out respectful, but they remind me of ninjas. They are so secretive and you can't see their face. This woman actually took the face veil off for the plane ride. The woman was not orginially sitting next to me. Originally there was a guy sitting next to me, but during the time we were taking on passengers in Mali, I went to the bathroom and came back to find a woman sitting beside me. Obviously, she could not be seated with a man. The lady did not speak English or Amharic, so it was difficult for her to communicate with the flight attendant or I. I also noticed she had a hard time communicating with the immigration official once we arrived in Senegal. The immigration in Senegal was stupid. The people were so slow and the visa took forever! I completed a visa online, so I thought it would be an easy process, but it was incredibly tedious. I was about to lose my mind waiting in line.
After immigration, I found my bag and my ride. It was very easy. Then, we headed to the Sunugal Village, where I was going to meet my friend Rebecca from Ethiopia. We decided to stay there a few days before the conference because it was cheaper. The first night, we ate dinner and I crashed. Rebecca got there a day earlier, so she was much more relaxed than I. I just needed to crash for about 12 hours. Once I recovered from my sleep deprivation, Rebecca and I headed to a bakery for some breakfast. This pics are from another bakery, but they illustrate what I had nearly every day!
After an awesome breakfast where I imagined I was in a French cafe with my latte and pastries, we headed for the ferry to go visit Goree island. Goree island is located about 2 miles off of the coast of Dakar. It is very tiny, only about 3,000 X 1,165 feet. It is easily accessible by ferry for about $12 round trip. Most people come to the island to learn more about slave trade, but we were interested in the natural beauty. Goree was on of the first place to be settled by the Europeans.
I knew I was visiting and island, but I really wasn't prepared with the shear beautiful of the island. Rebecca and I roamed around the island for nearly five hours exploring the mysterious bunkers and left over army equipment. I didn't realize how much sun I was getting, but by the end of the day I looked like a lobster's sister. There are many more pics of Goree on my facebook.
After exploring the island and enjoying a seafood lunch, we headed back to our hotel in preparation to transfer to the conference hotel the next morning. We transferred to Al Afifa around 8 a.m. the next day (Wednesday) to attend our Mid-Year Fellow Conference.
We took a taxi to the conference the next day and met all of our colleagues. From Wednesday through Friday I listened to the amazing things that my fellow ELFs are doing. I could not get over the difference we were making in so many lives across the continent. I felt humbled and honored to be a part of the group.
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| Regional English Language Officer Maria |
I love that Ella's picture was up on the screen as I was presenting. I can hardly wait to see her little blue eyes.
We also had a chance to meet the ambassador, which was a thrill for me. I have been to the embassy in Kampala and Dar es Salaam, but this was a thrill to be invited to a reception. The ambassador of Dakar, Lewis Lukens, was very gracious and humble. I enjoyed meeting other teachers at the reception as well as our respective embassy staff. The food was also AMAZING!
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| Ambassador Lewis Lukens |
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| Allison (Mozambique), Valeria (Rwanda), Rebecca (Ethiopia), Ambassador Lewis Lukens, Eric (Mozambique) |
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| Senegalese teachers |
I really enjoyed this vacation and meeting so many new people. I shared a room with my friend Rebecca and we had such a great time. As I reflect on trips, I am always amazed at how well we all travel together. So grateful for this amazing ride.
