Firsts...

This weekend was full of firsts for me. Every time I did something new I chastised myself for not having thought to have my camera with me. Regrettably I have gotten into the habit of traveling light.

Friday after school was my first trip to King Cash, a Costco style warehouse grocery store. Things are not necessarily sold packaged in bulk, but you often get better prices if you buy more than one unit of any given product. King Cash is also a North American favourite because they sell products that we would otherwise miss. For example, they had taco shells and seasoning mixes, cake mixes, and a KD equivalent. This particular trip also happened to be my first time driving with our school director who recently came with his wife from Guatemala. He is a great driver. We were caught in crazy traffic because of an accident and he navigated very easily around it, just like the Senegalese. A Shell tanker had jack-knifed (a fancy maneuvre) across the two-lane (which really means 3 or 4 or 4 1/2 lane) road. Two large trucks had then tried to pass the accident in different directions and had crashed into one another blocking the entire road. It looked like they were leaning on each other for support. Fortunately we were able to cut through a gas station parking lot to get around the mess.

Friday night Kari and I had dinner with a family from school. They live around the corner from a beautiful beach and it was my first beach visit since arriving, my first time wiggling my toes in the Dakar sand. It was a gorgeous evening even if we did get caught in the rain (NOT a first). For dinner we ate Senegalese style for the first time. We sat on a mat with the family (six of us total) and ate from a large bowl together. Everyone's body had to be turned in the same direction and we all ate using the spoons in our right hands. Each person has an imaginary pie-shaped section to eat from, and anything in the middle is up for grabs. Once you've had enough it's polite to burp to convey your satisfaction with the meal. The food itself was maafe; veggies and chicken in a peanut sauce over rice. Delicious! We finished a great evening watching The Man from Snowy River (also a first as I had never seen that movie before).

Saturday morning was a shopping trip, which is always a fun outing. I took it easy in the afternoon and enjoyed reading on my patio for the first time. I even managed to finish the book, Bud, Not Buddy before bed that night. It was another book that I had purchased on my Kindle to read that I just happened to come across in hard copy.

I enjoyed a homemade pizza dinner and games night with good friends and met some new friends who introduced me to Pass the Pigs, a fun and hilarious game for all ages. Once they showed us the game (which involves miniature pigs) I realized that it wasn't the first time I'd played, but I can't remember when or where I'd played it before...so I'm making the executive decision to call it a first. I've also made the executive decision to add the travel version to my Christmas list.

Sunday morning was my first taxi ride in Senegal...ever (and also, coincidentally, my second). I attended Eglise Evangelique, a French church here in Senegal with my friends Tim and Nabrissa for the first time. It was a great experience and I look forward to visiting again soon. I was impressed with my comprehension. I followed nearly the entire service. The most challenging parts were the scripture references because I'm not used to the French translations. I've also decided to add a French language Bible to my Christmas list.

I think that's as far as the firsts went this weekend. I'm looking forward to other cultural novelties as the year continues. I was recently out with a missionary friend who has been in the country for 12 years and said (more than once or twice) that she is still learning and discovering things for the first time. I hope and pray that even as I become increasingly comfortable here in Senegal and leave the honeymoon phase behind, that I will still be open-minded about new experiences and even search them out.