Trip to Senegal Part 4

I had a nasty cough last night, so it took me a while to get some sleep. I wasn't able to get any sleep until I finally drank some water.

In the morning, my fiancee's mother made a wonderful breakfast. She was trying to make an American breakfast. While the food tasted very good and the contents of the breakfast were what Americans think of what they think of breakfast, I wouldn't quite call it a "real" American breakfast. However, I didn't want a "real" American breakfast, so I was very pleased with what we had; I didn't go to Senegal to eat American food. After breakfast, we started watching a movie, but I was rather tired and slept through the first part of it. I was woken up when the power went out. Even thought the weather was very good and there were no storms, the power still went out. In Senegal, the power goes out frequently. It doesn't go out every day, but it does go out several times a week. When you stop and think about it, it's not that bad, but I know many people who would have a problem with it after living in a place with power all the time except maybe the rare thunderstorm. However, the people in Senegal are not as dependent on power as much as people here in the US. In the US, because of computers, phones and lights, if the power goes out, many businesses would have to close or stop work, people at home wouldn't know what to do with their time because they can't watch TV or use computers. In the US, many things we do rely on power. In Senegal, that isn't the case. Not everyone has a computer, and in many cases, people don't know what to do with a computer. They may use it to e-mail or chat, but other that that, they don't have a need for computers. They don't use computers to play games or just browse the internet all day. Some of the larger businesses may find it difficult to function without power, but most of the other businesses get along fine without power. Senegal is much more about relationships and meeting people face-to-face. In the US, when the power goes out, you notice immediately, because life immediately slows down. In Senegal, the power can go out and you may not even notice. In Senegal, life is so much more focused on relationships and not technology that Senegal does not rely on power as much as the US.

After the power went out and I woke up from my nap, my fiancee and I decided to take a walk on the beach. This is where I took most of my pictures in Senegal. The pictures I took are in a resort area, so they are not indicative of what the rest of Senegal looks like. One thing I found interesting was how many small children were at the beach wanting their picture taken. Some of them were very excited to have their picture taken and had these big smiles on their faces when I took their pictures. After taking the picture of one of the children, they ran to get another child so I could take a picture of both of them. Now, these are people I don't know and won't see again, but they were still excited to have their picture taken. So, now, on my computer, I have pictures of kids I don't know and will never see again. However, now that I have the pictures, I can't help but wonder what they are doing right now, what struggles they are going through and just what they are thinking. Even though I don't know them and only took a picture of them, I am sure that I will think of them often.

After our two-hour walk on the beach, my fiancee and I returned to the house we were staying in. We only stayed there for a few minutes before we left for the swimming pool for the group of houses in the area. It had been a while since I had gone swimming, so it was nice. The best part was just being able to go swimming with my fiancee; it was the first time we had gone swimming together and it was a lot of fun. After swimming, we all went out to a restaurant in Saly. I had some lasagna for the meal and crepe flambe, which was delicious, for dessert. After dinner, we left Saly and went back to Dakar.