family visits!

So Jenna and Mommy are here for a visit, which is so wonderful to see family members and sleep in an air-conditioned hotel room with a hot shower and electricity that works 99% of the time and eat delicious food.

Today they are going to Goree Island, and tomorrow all of us are going to Bandiya, which is an wildlife reserve south of Dakar, where we should (inshallah) see lots of big animals. Very excited!

Ryan and I also took Jenna to Marche Sandaga, which was an experience, as always. It is the most crowded, overwhelming, intense market in Dakar, and people are yelling at you and constantly touching you. It is insane, but I think Jenna enjoyed seeing what it's like, even if it is a little bit intense.

Unfortunately, I see to have contracted an allergic reaction to something I ate recently. First my fingers and hands swelled up a lot when I woke up yesterday morning. Then last night as I was going to bed, I noticed my bottom lip was a little swollen. Then when I woke up this morning, both my lips were HUGE and feeling itchy and tingly. So I'm not sure what I'm allergic to, but I went to the pharmacy and they gave me some sort of antihistamine.

What's so much of an adventure about going to the pharmacy each time I get sick, is that I have to explain all of my symptoms and medicinal allergies in French, and then read the instructions for the medication in French as well. Now I am thankful for all of that seemingly-useless medicine/hospital/health vocabulary that we learned in seventh grade, even when at the time I was that obnoxious kid in the class that kept saying, "When will we ever have to learn this! What a waste of time!" Hopefully the swelling will go down soon. Until then, I look like Angelina Jolie..........