Senegal in NYC

Today I....

1) Hated saying goodbye to my Woodland church family. Abby summed up my emotions perfectly by asking, "When we get back to Peoria, can we all stay in a hotel?" It's just so nice to spend all my time with my church. Room with them, work with them, eat with them, play with them. I could do it forever.

2) Rode/drove over six hours to New Jersey, listening to the end of The Hunger Games audiobook. Oh, Peeta, you are truly my favorite fictional character of all time that I would actually love and adore in real life.

3) Checked into a motel with my mom.

4) Walked ten minutes to a bus stop, then rode for 40 minutes into New York City. Also we got ripped off by our bus driver, who asked if we wanted round trip, and we answered yes. When we got to our destination, we asked for a ticket or receipt to come back, and he said that wasn't possible, because you can't use cash to leave NYC. $6.40 down the drain.

5) Was completely overwhelmed by Port Authority Bus Terminal and the subway system.

6) Figured out the subway map we borrowed from Sarah Pauli, and now I rule the NYC subway system. Or at least the E line.

7) Went to the Museum of Modern Art, anxious to use our CityPass, only to find that it was free tonight.

8) Confirmed that modern art is almost totally uninteresting to me.

9) Walked down 5th Avenue and stopped at a cute healthy awesome cafe for dinner.

10) Went to the top of the Empire State Building with surprisingly short lines and not much crowding at the rails. It is rather boring up there. All you can do is stare at tall buildings and other tall buildings that look short in the distance.

11) Walked along 34th Street, then ducked in Macy's because of that miracle movie my mom really likes.

12) Met a Senegalese woman! The lady who sold me some Clinique moisturizer had a name tag that said "Fatima," a slight accent, and vaguely Senegalese features. I asked her if she came from New York, and she said she was from Senegal, West Africa. I lit up, explained that I had just been there, and we talked for five or ten minutes.

She left Dakar ten years ago, and has since lived in France, California, Washington DC, and New York. Her mother is Sereer and her father is Pular. She greeted me in Wolof, and the reply slid out of my mouth without thinking, which is good because I don't think I could have remembered it if I'd consciously worked at it. I told her the only Pular word I knew was "Jam tung" and she freaked out. She was so super thrilled to talk about Senegal with someone, and so was I. When we finally left, she said, "It was nice to meet you, Siga Ndour" and I felt like part of my heart was restored.

13) Returned to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and totally rocked the tickets and finding gate 318. We rode the bus back to New Jersey, and collapsed in the motel at 9:00. It's been a long day. And a long week.