I’m getting sad about leaving Senegal soon- but from the looks of this ad, I might have a future occupation here post-Navy. Each time you go to the gas station and fill up, you have the chance to win your own taxi. I think that would make for a fantastic TV show- and a whole new kind of blog!
“I know my limits, that’s why I go beyond them.”
But we toubabs are here for a morning of surfing. Really, this whole outing wasn’t organized at all by me- so I had no excuse in trying to find some lame excuse to not go and checking it out. Besides, after being stationed in Hawaii for 3+ years and not ever trying to surf, I already had some splaining to do.
The big clincher for me to go and surf was that I’d get a lesson- and also the fact that this beach has a nice sandy bottom that would not hurt too much when I would fall each and every time I attempted to stand up on that floating board thing.
Marée haute and marée basse on this fine June day. I will leave you to decipher the translation.
I’m the only one of the group who signed up for a lesson– and as the guys all took their boards and headed for the waves, a cool Italian chick named Marta got ready to show me the basics.
Behold my chariot of instruction for the morning. We started on the beach doing Senegalese-style calisthenics and then as she showed me the basics of how to lay on the board and also how to spring up. I will tell you that even on terra firma, I kind of sucked at the springing up part (that’s a sneak peak on how the rest of my lesson would go!).
So, I couldn’t exactly take my camera in the water, but I will tell you that surfing is tough! Marta was an awesome teacher who explained the mechanics quite well. Actually, I felt like it was very similar to yoga- except you have the whole wave action aspect that messes with your ujjayi breathing. BTW, I loved this fish.
Lest I post absolutely zero photos of people surfing, here’s one pic that I took of the lads while out in the waves. They did a really great job of making surfing look easy. Me, I ran out of gas after about 45 minutes and was zapped of all requisite strength that props one’s legs up on top of the board. Still, it was fun! I felt like a little kid again as I kept zipping off the top of the board and crashing into the waves. 
Back on the beach, I worked on catching my breath and mentally programming a reinvigorated upper body workout regimen. As the morning wore on, I watched as the beach got more populated and folks played soccer, conducted dance lessons, and even brought their sheep out to the water for a morning bath.
After our surf outing, I showered up and counted my new souvenirs (I believe we call them bruises in English). As we were sitting at a (newly installed!) traffic light, one of the street vendors came up to my open window and said “Promotion! Promotion!” He had a bundle of sticks on his shoulder (they use them to clean teeth)- and of course he was joking. I suppose I should explain a bit: “Promotion” is kinda French for “on sale” – and phone cards purchased on the street often go on promotion….the Senegalese are definitely known for their fantastic sense of humor- and this guy making a joke about putting sticks on sale made me laugh. He broke a stick in half and gave it to me- and I commenced with cleaning my teeth the local way. I mean really, who needs a toothbrush?
