Some of you may laugh at the title of this post, knowing my aversion to our furry friends, feet. However, I have had an epiphany regarding feet. They are somehow important and dirty at the same time. They’re like sin, in a way.
In any case, I’ve definitely had to pay more attention to my feet in the last 10 days than I have in a while. (And yes, this post is about my feet only not Senegalese feet in general. I’ll make it short.) Why? Because they are so dirty.
Why are they so dirty? Because this city is dirty or sandy. The air is sandy or dirty. It’s omnipresent and no matter what I do I come home with dirty feet or sandy-there’s no difference here actually. No matter what shoes I wear or how much I avoid walking “off road” it happens.
Muslims here clean their feet and face every time they pray, which is 5 times a day. A very good habit, I’d say.
Today I had a lesson on cleaning from my mom. She walked into my room and there was footprints all over the white floor because I try to wash the dirt away but never get it all. (Thanks, Maman.) I knew she was wondering why I didn’t know how to clean myself or why I wouldn’t just let the maid do it. I told her that we do it a little different in the U.S. She laughed at that.
That seems to be the case for a lot of logistical (not cultural) things here. They’re the same in principle, and people usually use the same kind of tools. But they look different and come from different places and if you don’t know how to do things with the tools available, you feel incapable. Or you have a dirty floor.
Birthday gift to myself: pedicure. Yes, I’m thinking that far ahead.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Emily, You're so good at this blog thing. Fun to hear about your adventures!
ReplyDelete