Today was my first full day alone, and it was perhaps the calmest day I've spent here in Senegal. It was a complete rejection of yesterday's melodrama and a reassuring reminder of my life away from here. Now, I'll be careful to praise this day, because, with the luck I have, it'll end up that my family kidnaps me and sells me as a slave to a cannibal. However, today was a day one could get used to. I woke up after a night of sleep, feeling refreshed. I was relieved that my allergic reaction had disappeared, and with this relief, I had breakfast. I ate two bananas, drank my tea, and left. I was unable to get a ride on a clando, so I hoped in a taxi, and for 1000 CFA I arrived at ImagiNation Afrika. I texted Anjeli for a while, and soon after, I was invited by the star intern to a soireé with all the other interns. It was revealed to me then that the French intern was trying to smash Sophie, another star intern. Excited about hanging out with older kids, and relieved to have social interactions of any kind, I started my work. The day was not long, and I managed to take a 45-minute break. I had fun at some points, but overall, the day was spent feeling very neutral. I went home with a clando, and headed over to the Institute, where I am now.
With this new normal, I manage to put into my day nine hours of Western civilization in the form of the school, one hour of internet and working toilet with the Institute, five hours of Senegalese culture, and calm through the family, and nine hours of sleep. I am rarely left alone to do nothing, and whereas my problems are getting smaller, the things that make me calmer, happier, and more at ease are getting stronger. I hope today is symptomatic of a broader turnaround in attitude, but as I get closer to the weekend, and as the end marches ever closer, I feel good. I woke up with the radio playing 70's Soul music. I had breakfast to Otis Redding, James Brown and Marvin Gaye. I drank my tea as the father told me of the James Brown concert he went to in 1968. Tomorrow, I will probably have dinner with Isabella and her family. The next day, I'll go souvenir shopping in the markets of Dakar. The next day, I'll go out to see a different side of Dakar, one of friends and of good times. I hope this is a cloud lifting, not the calm before the storm. As I exited the shower, I saw something very symbolic. A dead mouse, lying on his back. It was a very reassuring sign because it meant that the traps were working. But it was also reassuring for two reasons. The first is that it was a sign that my problems, symbolized by the mouse, were dead. Secondly, the mouse was so much smaller than I had made him out to be in my mind. My problems, although scary, are a lot less significant than I think. I hope the rat is dead. Today, I feel calm. I feel like these next two weeks will go by much faster, and by the time they're over, I'll be a better, stronger person.
God, I hope so
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