I give you my uninspired supper this evening: Courgette and garlic, chevre, whole wheat bread and turkey “ham”
….again, what’s the deal with me buying ham and ham-like products?
If you were bored by my sheetrocking endeavors in previous entries, I feel compelled to warn you that future blog entries will contain equally mundane narratives. That’s my ten-dollar way of saying that you might get kinda bored with some of my subject matter, and I’m okay with that. Why is this okay with me, might you ask? Well my goal in Dakar isn’t exactly to create daily disturbances that reach a reporting level allowing for links to major media outlets. No thanks. I’d like to lay low while here, and minimize the number of times I make an ass out of myself (for those of you who know me, this might prove impossible).
So life goes on, and it evolves at varying speeds. At the moment I’m kind of waiting for things out of my control to get resolved (housing, primarily), and as a consequence I really don’t have a lot to remark upon. In fact, I spent most of today sitting in an office, hoping that the phone would ring and announce some resolution to any of my outlying concerns. It never rang, and I walked home at the end of the day feeling like I had mismanaged hours worth of potential opportunity.
A few days ago this might have bothered me more, but I am okay with this lack of progress. Yesterday I fortuitously received an email from the only other Scholar sent to Dakar (or sub-Saharan Africa for that matter). He was here four years ago with his family, and judging by the ease of my transition, he did a great job of trailblazing a path for me to follow in his footsteps. Since the first time I contacted him about going to Senegal (back in 2007), he has been readily available to offer up any assistance or wisdom as I went forth in my endeavor.
Anyways, his unsolicited e-mail probably contained the most useful, yet broad advice that I have received to date:
“Take this experience in its totality – not segmented into compartments. You have entered a rich culture that runs at its own pace and beat – be a part of it and don’t be surprised if you receive more education outside the classroom than you do sitting in class.”
Of course he is right, and he knows exactly what I am going through right now (and Hell, it’s only been a week!).
I think that those of us who are selected for this scholarship are largely “Type A” personalities when it comes to executing our military duties. Accordingly, it’s a jarring transition to suddenly sit patiently in an office and watch a clock tick away without ever obtaining any traditional sense of completion. I have a ton to learn, and I need to embrace the wonderful reality that am now in an environment where victory and accomplishment cannot be measured by checking off a list in a little green wheel book.
This picture is for you SWOs out there. The back of my hand is the only thing more useful when I’m on the job.
I’m going to continue to get frustrated, that is for certain, but I hope to at least remember these sage words, and try my best to go with the flow. After all, how many 32 year-olds get paid to just sit around and serve as a cultural sponge?