Sinom - Chewing Gum

My parents arrive in Dakar later this week. Via e-mail, I’ve asked them to bring me a few things. Even though it’s only been a little over a month spent living in Senegal, the list of things I want from home is lengthy. It honestly felt like I was a kid again writing to Santa Claus for every possible thing I wanted, hoping that maybe this year Santa would bring me my Mickey Mantle baseball card. This time around, I just asked for cheez-its. And a few other things. Here’s the list:

- Chocolate chip cookies. Or white chocolate cranberry cookies. Soft, not hard, please. Alternately, Jan Kay cookies or my mom’s oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies.
- My lightweight purple plaid shirt that I bought at a thrift store in Vermont. It breathes really well and doesn’t mark me as too much of a tourist.
- Packaged Foods (i.e. goldfish, milanos, cheez-its, chewy granola bars, etc.) I’m drooling just thinking about it.
- Vitamins with Calcium, Vitamin C, etc. The Senegalese seemingly have no concept of diet or nutrition. Everything is incredibly high in oil and fat, with vegetables being reserved for the poor. I miss salad, but in the meantime, I need some vitamins.
- Gatorade powder. I’m constantly sweating and getting very sick of drinking warm bottled water, I hope the Gatorade powder will help.
- My pillow. When I got to my room, there was no pillow. I asked for one and was given a pillow I think came from a couch in a pillowcase. It’s actually been surprisingly comfortable, but I do miss my pillow/bed from home so I thought I’d bring a piece of it here.
- A bar of dial soap. The stuff goes fast here and isn’t cheap.
- Miniature battery powered fan. At the risk of looking like a tool, I have wanted one of these since my first day here. You wouldn’t believe how miserably hot it can get.
- My translucent yellow sunglasses. These are actually my brothers but I’ve taken to wearing them. I lost my Texas blue-blockers at the beach a couple weeks ago and since then the world has been very bright. I still mourn the loss of those sunglasses I bought at a Dallas gas station for $7.
- A small mirror. Particularly when I had an eye infection here, having a mirror would have been helpful. Instead I have a lot of myspace-esque photos of myself on my camera to see if the infection had gone away or if I needed to shave.
- AA batteries for flashlight. The power continues to go out time and time again. And my family has decided that my flashlight is the go-to light source during dinner preparation and mealtime. The batteries go quick when used like this so I hope my parents bring a good amount.
- Big beach towel & normal towel. I nearly didn’t even bring a towel, assuming my family would give me one. Instead, I decided to bring one very small towel that I can’t wrap around my waist nor can I use at the beach as I’ll have nothing to shower with. I bought another towel but this one is also quite small and not beach worthy.
- Emergen-C. You wouldn’t believe how often people get colds here. Sort of defeats the purpose of calling it a cold. It’s an incredibly miserable feeling having a fever in 90 degree and humid weather. I’d like to avoid having any further experiences like that.
- Roll of toilet paper. I miss it, what can I say.
- White CD with my portfolio and mom's laptop. I’m applying to an internship program for the following summer that asks for my portfolio and for me to put together a series of print ads. Trying to find the Adobe Creative Suite programs in Senegal has not been easy.

So, Merry Early Christmas to me. Can’t wait to see you Mom & Dad!