November 5, 2003
Yep, that�s right, I have tiger toes! You all knew it was only a matter time before someone here attacked me with the henna. People in other countries have this thing with attacking Americans with indigenous things. Alors, my feet are hennaed. My toes have spirals on them�therefore the tiger toes. It�s pretty cool. I know how to do it now too. So that�s pretty fun. If anyway comes to visit me�be forewarned, I will break out the henna artillery! ;)
So that�s some of what happened to me this week. The hennaing was Sunday October 26. BUT let�s step back a little to go to a party. That�s right, it was an early Halloween party! See we had to have our Halloween party early due to logistics (the Peace Corps� second favorite word after Debriefing, n�est-ce pas?) The day after Halloween a bunch of us were heading to Dakar for the weekend�therefore�yeah.
So I got all dolled up and sat there like a wallflower. Because we all know that Paige is very much the wallflower type (and if ya didn�t catch the sarcasm�well duh). So a friend of mine took me for a walk (he�s married) and we talked and I cried, you know the type of crying�that one day a month when everything makes you cry? It was like that�so this went on for awhile and the party has been in full swing for about 2 hours. And I haven�t danced or talked to anyone really. I wasn�t having fun. But it was weird�I had this totally off-the-wall crying fit and suddenly�the world got brighter and the storm broke�and I went back to the party and for no reason at all started dancing. And then a guy (a slightly tipsy guy) grabbed me to dance and I managed to follow his crazy moves. And then they played Swing and Justin (a different guy, who can actually dance) grabbed me and we danced like I haven�t danced in about 3 years.
Afterwards everyone was like, �Wow paige! You can dance! That was amazing!� It�s like yeah�Paige�s little secret�she can dance! You have to understand that these people don�t know me the way you guys do. Due to something, hormones, larium, stress, ect, I haven�t been myself yet. I�ve been kind of quiet, not really a joiner and very much the wallflower. Not me at all huh? But that all changed Saturday night�I feel about 3 million times better this week�I feel normal, talkative, witty, open, unconcerned; that special brand of Paige happiness. There�s still a small edge of weirdness but nothing like before.
So that�s my good news! I know some people will be happy to hear that because there has been some concern with my well-being. The situation is being closely monitored by myself, the doctors here, and my mom.
Okay what other fun things can I tell you? Oh yeah�went to Dakar this past weekend! Wow. I am in love with Dakar. I�ve met a bunch of volunteers who say they hate Dakar. And maybe by the end of two years I will too. But right now, I love it! It�s just like any big city you would know, except it�s also very much Africa. With open air markets and venders following you. Some guy tried to sell me a fishing pole and I stopped, hand on hip and said (in French), �Why? Do I look like I need a fishing pole? I don�t need fish. I don�t even LIKE fish!� He laughed and went away.
So a run down of my journey to Dakar. It started off with a 7-place ride. Uneventful until we realized that the car�s horn had stopped working. No big deal, I mean I went over a year without a horn in the States. But here there are no traffic lights and everyone uses their horn to let other cars know we�re there. Without the horn it�s very possible to get sideswiped. So we had a bit of a fright but things were fixed and we were on our way again.
So we get to our hotel and find out that it was going to be a lot more expensive then we thought. So we�re all complaining all the up to our rooms when we walk in and see an air conditioner, a fridge and CNN in English! So yeah, that was totally worth the $16 I paid. CNN in English! I saw the Iowa-Illinois score�wow! Okay so it was like amazing, like oh my god! We spent Saturday just kind of wondering around the city getting know the place. We went to a supermarket (Score Supermarche) and had petit morts all over the place because it was amazing. I found an electric skillet I�m going to buy with my settling in allowance. I plan on fulfilling the stereotype of the spoiled SED volunteer.