Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! Although my Easter did not come with Americans, Easter brunch, or the Catholic camaraderie I am used to, it turned out to be a pretty good day. I went to mass at the Catholic church in Pout...or I should say, in the new Catholic church. When I first moved here and scoped out the church, mass was being held in a tiny, old church and ground had been broken for a bigger and better one. The building is finally finished, albeit a little rough around the edges, so mass today was held there so that all 200 or so of the town's Catholics could fit comfortably. It's certainly a welcome change since seats were lacking in the old one and sometimes benches would randomly break during the service. I kind of like that the church is a bit unfinished. It seems rustic and unpretentious. I was the only white person in attendance as per usual.

After mass I spent the morning being a bum with my brothers and feeding them Easter candy. My Senegalese mom's sister is up from Kolda and several of her friends were over, so the house was bumpin' at lunch time. This afternoon I spent lots of time updating this crazy blog since I was so behind. I really update it more for my own sake nowadays (not that I don't want to entertain you dear readers, but there are approximately 4 of you). When I'm back in the States I want to get the whole thing professionally printed so I can tuck it away and reminisce about Senegal when I feel so inclined. Or show my future kids how big of a badass I was.

Quick shout outs! Aunt Erin, The Onyshkos, Julie, & Zach: a big heartfelt thank you to all of you! I loved all of your packages and was totally overjoyed to see them waiting for me upon my return from vacation. All of the American goodies have definitely made the transition back to reality much easier. My family was a bit suspicious of Peeps but they ate an entire bag of Twizzlers, and somewhere in the compound there's a toddler covered in stickers and wearing a tiara (I'm forcing one of my friends to wear the other one on her birthday in July). Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Much love to all and God bless.