Tag Archives: reflections

wait

I learned to wait in Kenya, sitting in the shade of trees, being, breathing, until the time comes. Sometimes for the matatu to finally guzzle and cajole itself to a start, sometimes for the quorum to slowly make their way over the bulbous stones to the collection of chairs wobbling on uneven ground circled intoContinueContinue reading “wait”

twenty-one

Two days ago, I celebrated my twenty-first birthday. As I am known to do, I took the opportunity to reflect on life and self and soul and where I’ve been and where I’m going. Over this glorious birthday weekend at Bass Lake, one of my favorite places in the world, I slowly wrote twenty oneContinueContinue reading “twenty-one”

lists

It’s been one month and twenty-five days since I left Senegal. It’s been one month and eleven days since I returned to the United States. It’s been two weeks and two days since I’ve been back at Kalamazoo. I have felt amid a whirlwind of transitions. Sometimes scary, sometimes sad, mostly exciting, all challenging inContinueContinue reading “lists”

inconclusive

A week and some odd minutes ago, I was landing at Indianapolis International Airport, walking through the same entrance terminal to terminal B that I walked through 6 months previously, that time ‘departures’ this time ‘arrivals’. Since then I have filled my days with pots and pots of coffee, chunky sweaters and wool socks, naturallyContinueContinue reading “inconclusive”

the sun it rises, the sun it sets

Today, I am sick. Today, I am stressed. Today, I am a ball of emotions which fleet through my mind and heart a mile a minute.  And so when I got home today after a coffee-fueled afternoon of paper writing and apartment scrambling, I could have just gone to bed and taken a nap. ButContinueContinue reading “the sun it rises, the sun it sets”

clementines

Sometimes you are knocked off-guard. We’re sitting squished in a bush taxi, heaps of baggage, literally heaps of bread, tea, coffee, sugar, butter, choco-pain, sardine paste (all the necessary fixings for a stand up Senegalese breakfast) are piled on top of us. We are traveling to the village of Ngueth outside of Palmarin outside ofContinueContinue reading “clementines”

pelicans in flight, returning

Reflections on transitions from and toward a year: ——– The new year – moving toward mindfulness, thinking toward thankfulness. One step at a time. Always moments for good, for beauty, for gratitude. In the year ahead, I will pass time, be amongst, laugh with, sit aside, hold, listen to and be heard by, family inContinueContinue reading “pelicans in flight, returning”

a compilation

I’ve been busy. Busy with early morning trips to the market where the women know me only as Daba Sarr and I speak only Wolof, busy with walks through now-familiar streets to run errands or pick up something sweet to eat, busy making plans with sisters and meeting up ‘at that one corner where weContinueContinue reading “a compilation”

we cried and we laughed and we took deep breaths

We sat in the closed room, each in our own space that at times coincided with the space of others, and we cried and we laughed and we took deep breaths. We sat on the rock, bracing ourselves individually and as one clump as the waves crashed down upon us, and we cried and weContinueContinue reading “we cried and we laughed and we took deep breaths”

les gris-gris

I have always been a sentimental person. I have always been someone who attaches great meaning and emotion to the things around me. I have always been the person who hid my favorite pair of childhood shorts from my parents because they wanted to give them Goodwill and I wanted to put them in aContinueContinue reading “les gris-gris”

powerlessness

There are times when I feel powerless in Senegal. Much of the time, this powerlessness centers on gender. I feel powerless when I am told the only thing a woman can do when a man harasses her on the street is to keep walking, any sort of counter-remark or telling off by the woman wouldContinueContinue reading “powerlessness”

and so it shall be

Written 16 September 2013 Today seemed like a day of opportunity. Opportunity to learn and to discover. Opportunity to understand and ask questions and listen. Opportunity to laugh and sit and come together and be a part. Opportunity to take time, to think, to rest. Opportunity to greet others and build relationships. Opportunity to workContinueContinue reading “and so it shall be”

list-form thoughts of senegal

These are a few random reflections and thoughts that I have scribbled down at various times through my first few days in Sénégal. They are not especially profound or telling, but at the end of these first days I have been so [happily] exhausted that it all comes out in lists: – In the pastContinueContinue reading “list-form thoughts of senegal”

on such an anniversary as this, 2013

written August 14, 2013 On such an anniversary as this. Three years ago today I boarded the plane taking me to Kenya and to the discovery of myself. On this anniversary, I am thankful. Thankful for the immense honor and gift it was to live alongside, to learn alongside, my Kenyan family at such aContinueContinue reading “on such an anniversary as this, 2013”

transition(s) and adjustment(s)

In many ways, my life and its surroundings are in transition. In many ways, my life is just smoothing out after eighteen months of constant transition.  A list I’ve been making as I reflect on adjustment(s): 1. This is the first time I’ve at all slowed down since before I left for college. Really, sinceContinueContinue reading “transition(s) and adjustment(s)”

i write

I want to write.I am about to commence the last week of classes of my sophomore year of college.  In the past two days, I have written twenty-six pages of final papers, research papers, academic papers, explanatory and persuasive papers. Tomorrow, I will write twelve more.  By the end of this trimester, I will haveContinueContinue reading “i write”

confidence in ‘senses of place’

I’ve been feeling self-conscious recently about how much I talk about or bring up my time in Kenya.  I worry that I have become the “well, when I was in Kenya…” girl.  Potentially this is manifesting itself because three fourths of the junior class at my school just returned from their various study abroad experiencesContinueContinue reading “confidence in ‘senses of place’”

not an ‘if’ question

Somehow, impossibly, I am in Nairobi and in 7 hours will begin the 3-plane, 22-hour journey home. By 7 AM this morning we took our last breakfast with the family, said goodbyes at the airport, and gone through our first of many, many security clearances.  By 11 AM we had flown to Eldoret, then toContinueContinue reading “not an ‘if’ question”

reactions

First, let me say that I am sorry the posts are few – internet has been slow and the days have been full, such that it is rare that I am awake and functioning enough to write a blog after 9 pm.  It is not because I have not wanted to write, in fact IContinueContinue reading “reactions”