#NotInTamba | The joys of reverse culture shock

After spending nearly 8 months in Senegal, I took a two-week holiday to Paris with my parents and Oxford with my boyfriend. Needless to say, this whole trip has had a healthy dose of reverse culture shock and essential rejuvenation. It’s been really fun to remember little things about daily life and miss weird things about Senegal.

First Impressions from Paris:

• How quiet it is! From the moment we landed in Portugal for a layover, everything seemed so hushed. It was weird.
• Street smells are eerily…absent
• How liberating it is to run in shorts
• Fixed prices everywhere! No negotiating!
• Fast internet, everywhere
• Automatically saying “Bonjour, Ca va?” when walking into a store. I got some weird looks from shopkeepers caught off guard
• Similarly, in Senegal, the informal tense “tu” is used for practically everyone. Having to take a second to think of which tense to use took some adapting. And I hope I didn’t offend anyone through the informal tense habit!
• Drinking any water/eating any food without running through the short list of health questions (how long has the meat been sitting out? Is it hot?)
• Actively switching money to my right hand to pay or receive anything or actively telling myself it’s ok to pay with my left hand

River Runs.

Moonwalk back from dinner our last night

We got to see Alizée almost every day for a week! Just like old times

Being in Oxford:

• All signs in English (even though I misread the first few metro signs in London…)
• Being surrounded by English speakers everywhere
• Defaulting to “pardon” instead of “excuse me”, although I finally dropped the French accent
• Reversing the exchange rate 😦

One of the 38 majestic Oxford colleges in the shadow of Radcliffe Camera

Radcliffe Camera

Home for the year. I’m not jealous.

John in front of the Said Business School, where he will be studying this year

I’m heading back to Senegal tomorrow and am feeling ready to tackle the last few months of my contract. We relocated our headquarters to Thies, a larger town only an hour outside of Dakar. A whole new set of challenges, opportunities and fun ahead!

Sidenote: Senegal is currently Ebola-free. There was one confirmed case in August/September but he has recovered. We are in touch with the embassy, Peace Corps and other NGOs/programs in the country and are closely monitoring the outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Thoughts of courage to the countries affected by this debilitating outbreak. Let me know if you would like more information about the outbreak.