Gerte - Peanuts

An idea borrowed from a friend and reminiscent of early Firetrky (my first blog)—a list.

You know you’ve been in Senegal for a long time when:

1. You feel no guilt in throwing your trash on the ground or out of the window of a moving car
2. Bugs in your meal simply means more protein
3. You’ve seen an animal grow up, then have eaten said animal
4. You can vaguely find your way around downtown Dakar
5. You realize that it can actually be cold here
6. You no longer find breasts sexually attractive
7. You add “inshallah” or “alxamdulilaay” onto the ends of your sentences
8. You felt guilty about eating in public and now cherish feeling no guilt at all, but remain conscious of the action
9. Your natural response to a yes or no question is “Waaw” or “Deedeet”
10. Chocolate on bread is no longer a weird concept, but rather a delicious and easy-on-the-wallet snack
11. The ideas of personal space and hygiene no longer exist
12. Anything done with your left hand feels inherently dirty
13. You’ve tried all the Biskrem varieties (Original, Versem, and Dark)
14. Wolof miraculously begins to make sense
15. Gin is your liquor of choice
16. Women with makeup look bizarre
17. You’ve mastered the Senegalese hiss
18. You no longer call, but only send text messages
19. Hand sanitizer and malaria prophylaxis become a part of your daily routine
21. Uploading photos to Facebook is the bane of your existence
22. Dakar feels luxurious
23. You take Car Rapides or Ndiaga Ndiayes on your own
23a. You learn how to spell and pronounce Ndiaga Ndiaye
24. You manage not to burn your tongue while drinking ataaya (Senegalese tea)
25. Anything above 2000 CFA ($4.00) for a cab ride is an absolutely ludicrous concept
26. You learn the words and beats to the songs played in the clubs
27. You’ve done the row-tak dance
28. You’ve devoured a plate of otherwise less-than-spectacular food and not cared because it hit the spot like nothing else
29. You stop going to Le Mex and Just 4 U
30. You realize that you’ve done most of the things in the guidebook
31. You forget what your face used to feel like
32. You forget what you used to look like (see ‘Africa cut’)
33. You’ve decided you’re either a Flag drinker or a Gazelle drinker
34. You walk through your neighborhood and know the people you speak with
35. You understand that civilization is relative
36. You look forward to the next ‘promotion’ day
37. You’re as close with your Senegalese friends as you are with your American friends
38. You have a very complicated relationship with rice
39. You can almost dance like a Senegalese person
40. You can’t name a single movie in theaters in the US
41. You would do some very bad things for certain American food items
42. You learn to live without electricity
43. Bananas become a staple of your diet
44. The word ‘toilet’ takes on a very loose definition
45. 5 AM is early to be going to bed on a weekend
46. Going out on a weekend begins outside of a gas station and ends with mac n’ cheese with eggs and ketchup
47. You expect to have to bargain for everything
48. You judge what time of day it is by the prayers
49. It’s the small victories that matter most
50. You can make a list of 50 things that you know when you’ve done them that you’ve been in Senegal for a long time