My Favorite Things-- about West Africa

Raindrops on corn husks and whiskers on catrats
Bright striped a** kettles and warm running sh**s
Brown rat-chewed packages three months waiting
These are a few of my favorite things!

Cream-colored cattle and crisp unripe mangos
Door breaks and day breaks and street children gang-os
Wild bats that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things!

Girls in bright pagnes with mismatched head sashes
Sweat drops that drip from my nose and eyelashes
Silver-white toubabs that melt into drinks
These are a few of my favorite things!

When the mosquito bites! When the killer-bees sting,
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad!

But really:
-how drivers ALWAYS stop to help other broken-down drivers. Even with no tools or spares, they'll figure out some crazy way to tow it with a log (which I have seen) or push it, or something
-bissap juice, especially frozen
-the constant high-fiving congratulating any attempt to joke, even the quite clearly un-funny ones
-how laughter seems to always be on the tips of everyone's tongues, even when their words are sad or angry
-street food stands: meat skewer grillers, bean/omelette/spaghetti/caterpillar sandwich ladies, sweet tea and coffee tables, full meal cheb shacks... besides the excellent food, I love sitting at kids-low teetery tables in the middle of the sidewalk, chatting with nice strangers
-fanice! (Ghana and Burkina): ice cream in a bag, sold from carts wheeled around like wheelbarrows or on bikes. GENIUS!
-buying food through windows of public transport... how the hawkers will always run your change to you even if your car starts taking off
-that old people are respected and waited on and kids made to do it (we have this perversely reversed in the states)
-that no one whines about rough childhoods or neglectful parents. Everyone's had it rough here, so they all just get on with it. Furthermore, this extends into a drastically lower rate of creepy crimes. I know a lot of people have the idea that Africa is scary and dangerous, but the only real risk in the places I've talked about is pick-pocketing. And, isn't that an understandable crime? I'd do it too. In the US, as a girl, I sadly don't even stop for broken-down cars on the side of the road. This is because America has creepy creatively pschotic people who commit unspeakable crimes. I blame it on our self-absorbed whininess, among other things.
-singing, clapping, dancing, drumming
-men wearing pink boubous
-20 cent sandwiches
-mango, banana, papaya, coconut, pineapple, cacao, citrus--- trees
-peace corps house libraries
-peace corps volunteers, the greatest group of people I've ever met
-waterfalls outside of any guidebook
-being led to said off-the-map waterfalls by barefoot 7-year-olds scrambling effortlessly ahead, bush-wacking with homemade fishing poles
-starry, starry nights: shooting stars every 5 minutes
-sling shots, bamboo flutes, wooden hoops, and tied-trash soccer balls. Toys R Us ain't got nothin on creativity.
-washing clothes in sparkling rivers
-roasted corn made by 5 year-old siblings and dropped off lovingly like bouquets of flowers. or, made by street venders who wrap them in the husks as natural wrappers
-orange juice: squeezed straight from the orange to your mouth
-roasted peanuts and raw wet peanuts and picking or shucking peanuts with the family until you can't feel my finger-tips anymore
-mosquito net forts
-lanterns and candles that remind you to look at the world in romantic lighting
-wall-scrambling lizards
-fantastical birds
-hollowed-out baobabs
-tree-dwelling vines: the original jungle gym
-shaking everyone's hand when entering a room
-the circus acts of daily life
-inappropriate shirts with english writing no one but you understands ("Grandmas aren't supposed to be this sexy")
-the friendliness and readiness of everyone to always jump up and help with anything-- not just the white people, but EVERYONE
-that I could get free water, food, and shelter if broke, lost and homeless, in any village with any people. Why are the world's poorest people also the most generous people this Connecticut girl has ever met?
-Indiana Jones bridges
-Obama-gear, Obama shops, Obama music, Obama biscuits!
-hammocks
-rain winds
-postcard landscapes that make you wish you had fly eyes that could see all around you at once, and an even bigger soul to take it all in
-the ability to scatter terrified children with a jump and a "Boo!"
-4-year-old children with 3-year-old children on their backs
-group napping during the hot hours under the shades of trees
-being the most popular person in a 10 mile radius
-dug-out canoes
-simply putting down the phone without hanging up when lecherous guys call: they run out of credit and stop calling! wonderful system
-biere, grande modele
-not needing a towel
-being able to barge into restaurant kitchens to check out the ice cream, or ask for garlic cloves, or just to say hi
-tea
-"how is your family?"-- the fact that it matters yet is still so common
-the new levels of intimacy reached with friends once you know the details of their pus, snot, and especially other bodily secretions...
-NICE people
-gypsy funeral disney singer lady
-Touree's omelette sandwiches once I ride into Dindefello
-calling the Kamaras thieves, and hanging out with neene galle
-how cute Daby and Sadio are... they definitely win Best Couple in the Pellel superlatives!
-the little kids who chant my name and run at me like I'm Santa Claus (Houssey, Aliou, Mariama)
-the SOUARES, the entire reason to stay for two years in Senegal. The greatest family I could be adopted into. I miss them so much!
-people who actually read my blog. Thanks for sticking with it guys! You've made me feel much less alone and much more interesting than I perhaps have the right to feel! Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have! Thanks so much!