reggie is dead.he and jonathan and travis and some senegalese friends were in casamance on vacation. they were swimming in cap skii and reggie got taken out by a wave and started to panic and call that he couldn't swim. jonathan swam out to him and tried to help him and got pulled under as well, he swam up and away to save himself and couldnt do anything more for reggie. reggie drowned. they didnt find the body til later, and jonathan had to identify it. this happened on sunday, carolynn told me in the street in the middle of downtown when i ran into her on monday (yesterday). jonathan just got back today.
reggies program was all done, he could have gone home, now his parents have to come here to get the body...
jesus, i cant even imagine.
yesterday was also the day my mom's plane flew in to dakar (shes over here for a week to be at and help with the wedding and to try to know my other/new family a bit). usually i am pretty chill about flights being safe (i dont usually see the point of stressing in advance about shit, especially when you have essentially no control over whatever it is) but i do have to say my imagination took a flight of whatif's after hearing about reggie and i was worried until i was actually at the airport.
casie took the news harder than i did, she was crying. helen took it lighter than either of us. she means well but she isnt very connected sometimes. i also think she had less interaction with reggie than either case or i did.
im kind of funny about crying. sometimes a lot of little things will add up and ill cry over something really stupid (although i think this is connected to The Pill) but i dont usually cry about things other people would; like a friend dying or having to leave all my friends for another country for a year; etc. i just got somber.. i mean, i think i would cry more if it was someone i was really close to, or if i was involved in the death like jonathan was. reggie was a really nice kid.
people here react to death very...i dont know. i think because its more common here and because people are very about being greatful for what is and accepting what isnt as gods will or just being that way but you should be happy anyway, people sort of wave its importance. a lot of people gave their condolences, but were really quick to say; hey thats life. not really what you want to hear if you are still grieving. sort of like you know that really aint helping right now, maybe i can hear that in a few days.
in other news my mom is settling in to my life in medina. all the peeps asking her questions in wolof or french is a bit much. though she has grasped a few things in wolof already, but it takes a minute to recognize what someone is asking and then to think of the response and by that time the conversation has usually moved on. seeing her makes me realize just how far ive come. things are said that i understand just as if it was english and she has no clue what the person is saying (naturally).
she brought a bunch of american junk food i asked for - whatchamacallits, reeses peanut butter cups, lemonheads, chocolate. ponge freaked on the whatchamacallits, he took like all of them and hid them and said we werent allowed to share them with anyone. america really does do junk food well. i said i didnt realize he liked candy, and he said he had just never tasted good candy before. my mom told him he was going to have a jaay fonde when he gets to the states if he doesnt watch out. he said he runs and works out everyday; she said when hes there he'll have to do it twice a day. heh.
she is sleeping in ponge and i's room and he is sleeping on a mat in the living room, which is nice coz im sure shes more comfy there than with ndeye mour and its fun to do the sleepover thing; but it also means ponge and i have no private time to snuggle or kiss let alone get it on. oh well, soon well be having socially approved sex. i wonder if that will make any difference, my guess is no.
its nice to have her see my normal life, last time she was here we did the tourist bit and that was about all we had time for. plus my mom rules, so its nice to see her and its fun introducing her to people and such. anyway. marriage countdown...4 days. my dresses are supposed to be done on friday. i told the tailor i was going to cry if they were not done by then. i probably also would swear a lot and be very rude. so i hope they will be done by then.
you know what is really dumb about the french/AZERT keyboard? you have to shift to use the period. that seems a common enough punctuation dealy that you wouldnt want it as a shift..but whatever. fucking frenchies.
