First let me give a little background to “Dab.” My brothers and I wrote a card for my dad for father’s day. I was in charge of sealing it up and writing “Dad” on the back just so he would know who it was for. So I wrote “D” then an “a” and then finally, in the rush of writing and motion, a “b.” You would think that this was a younger Sam problem, but, actually this happened at the embarrassing age of 16.
Now back to the blog. This month I welcomed my father to Senegal!!! I have been looking forward to this for almost since I said goodbye to him in a Philadelphia hotel. I made a sign like those car drivers do because I thought it would be incredibly cute. I met him at the airport. He landed and I immediately started crying, hadn’t even seen him yet and the fact that he had set foot in Senegal made me cry.
This blog post wont be about the glamorous travel that my dad and I went through and our itinerary- it is more for me to record an emotional whirlwind that this trip was.
He came through the sliding doors and went a different direction that I was standing and couldn’t hear me yelling at him to tell him to go the other direction, but I was in his arms in a matter of seconds shaking with glee.
Next was to get a cab to our hotel. My dad got hit with two things immediately stepping out of that airport; the hot moist air and the rush of cab drivers running up to us. I did a lot of warning of the heat but the aggression of cab drivers I unfortunately forgot because I am so used to it. Then my dad got a blow of the confidence-assertion that I have to put out to not get overrun of drivers and not get taken advantage of. Another thing I think I forgot to warn my dad about… through the quickness of getting a car and through arguing and finally sitting in the back of a car, it was apparent on his face of not knowing what language I was speaking.
Being who I am people assume; I speak French, I do not live in Senegal, and if a man I present I shouldn’t be talking. Through these assumptions I have to show confidence and assertion to these cab drivers to be take seriously. This new persona to an outside eye, like my fathers, looks and sounds like I am speaking an aggressive language fiercely arguing with 5 men surrounding me who slowly back away in defeat. Which I am humbly bragging that my dad mentioned was pretty cool to watch.
The language does help you in these tourist situations that having family members visit you puts you in. A tip I have to share is that if you speak wolof at the Expat Hotels the people there are really nice to you and will not give you weird looks for asking for ataaya, a wonderful tea.
The trip was an amazing time to show my dad this wonderful country that a call home right now. We went to my village and he got to meet my family and feel the heat of the sun. we concluded the time in the former capitol of West Africa in St. Louis. It was a wonderful time of living a life of luxury that I am not used to here and showing how I live in my town.
As much as I loved having my dad here I want to share my experience of having him here. IT was amazing and my dad was so fun to be a tourist with and he was so willing to try everything. The most stressful part was probably staying in my Road Town- which is on the aggressive side. My father is a very adventurous and adaptable guy, he inspires me to try a lot of new things. Even so the thought going through my head was “Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die” and “don’t freak out that this is my normal.” Going from the luxury lifestyle to my aggressive road town was a big change to adjust to. Even for me, but I am used to it a bit more. He was great through it all though, and then he got to go to my town and I think he fell in love with it the same way I did. Except for the heat… that is hard to get used to
We had a lot of fun and I had fun showing off my skills, confidence, and language as well. It made saying goodbye a lot harder. Even when I got home to my town. It might have been the most homesick I have been since being here. It was a combination of the heat and long day of travel, but I was really down.
It was a long hard day and when I came home to my room it wasn’t as relaxing as I needed it to be. We got to do fun activities and eat really good food. It was fun and easy and simple and after every day I came back to an air conditioned room. Then today when I came home after a long day of traveling it wasn’t to speak with my dad or to an air conditioned room. I got this rush of “it was so much easier in the cities.” Then I had the thought of “it was so much easier in America” the cities still cause frustrations and hardships that I don’t have in America. For one thing it is not exhausting to step outside because it is the temperature of the sun every day.
I knew that I was going to feel better, and I was just frustrated from my travel and in the cities after travel I at least came to air conditioning and this time I didn’t. the heat really effects your feelings, or at least mine.
Everything about having my dad here in Senegal was amazing and better than I expected. He got to see everything that I had been through really an I showed him almost everything that I could of the beautiful country. Some people say that maybe you shouldn’t invite your family because they don’t have the time that you must get used to the country and it can be stressful. I understand that and I felt that in my Road Town. However, I think my family is really wanting to understand what I go through every day and I am excited to show them. The hardest thing I think was saying goodbye and realizing that they are going back to a world that is easier to navigate than the one you are currently in.
I am feeling better and not as homesick, it might be because in two months I am planning on going home for Christmas, but I am also just feeling better getting back into my rhythm. Invite your friends and family and show off your skills and confidence is what I say, just prep for that homesickness.
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