When I started this blog, I noticed most of the other Peace Corps blogs hit a point where the owner seemed to hit a roadblock. Posts became infrequent or stopped altogether. For some, this happens almost immediately after just one or two posts. For most, it happens after about a year. For some resilient few, it takes most of their service for the blog to fall behind. Sitting here having lived now 19+ months in Senegal, I think I've hit that roadblock. I said to myself at the beginning that I would keep up with it, that I wouldn't be like all the other blogs. At a certain point, though, a blog about "My life in Senegal" becomes simply a blog about "My life". Senegal drops from the equation because it becomes the norm. When you first start living in a foreign country, it's a whirlwind of new experiences that you want to share with the people of the country you recently left. After some time, things become normal. You don't feel the need to share experiences that might interest, surprise, or even shock people in your old home because they feel normal to you, nothing special. The world around you slows down, but time seemingly speeds up. Next thing you know, you've blinked and it's been nearly 2 months since your last blog post. I suppose this is what happens when you fall into a rhythm and stop encountering new things every day. Life might be a little less stressful and scary, but time also seemingly goes by much quicker.
I'm squarely in the process of looking for what I'm going to do after Peace Corps except that I'm not looking for anything right now. I'm not applying to graduate school anymore, something that I had been planning since January. After working through a list of over 20 schools and narrowing it down to 5 where I felt like I had a decent shot of getting accepted at, I just realized that none of the schools felt right right now. I decided to wait. For jobs, I can't really apply for jobs that are looking to fill the position right now. I've kind of resigned myself to coming to the States with no job prospects, although, I'm not without a backup plan.
It's been another fun and interesting couple of months. I participated in the Girls' Camp that you may have seen pictures of in early September. I took a brief trip to Toubacouta to see the beautiful river scenery there and the plankton that light up the water at night. I survived my second Tabaski in country. After Tabaski, I was in a haze of not wanting to do any work, basically like the rest of the country, that delayed several of my projects by a couple weeks. I don't really regret that, though. My philosophy with funks like that has been to just allow myself to go through them and trust that I'll come out on the other side in tact. I think that mindset has served me well again. I'm back in the swing of things in Dakar, working in the mornings, returning home for lunch around 1:30 and working out in the evenings. I am trying, however, to break this routine as much as possible mainly in the name of this city guide that I'm updating along with several volunteers that should provide vital information to future volunteers on transportation, shopping, restaurants, and more. It's basically like a travel guide for Peace Corps Volunteers. There was a version created in 2009, but Dakar changes so rapidly that a lot of things already need to be updated. This means that there are many new restaurants to try and places to go. Already in the past couple of weeks, I've found an American-style restaurant that does good Mexican food kind of like a Chili's and an Ethiopian restaurant wonderful for vegetarians. There are a lot of hidden gems out there as Dakar is a very multicultural city and I intend to find as many as I can in the name of the city guide.
I have a vacation planned from December 9th to the 19th and I'm planning on spending Christmas on some beach here in Senegal. Until then, I don't have much planned, although I'll try to get out of Dakar once or twice during that time. In a few weeks, another group of volunteers will finish their service and then it won't be long before my very own replacement stumbles off of the airplane into his/her new home.