Benn at

Leah called yesterday to wish me happy anniversary for our year mark back in America. It's hard to tell a year has passed. But it was a different life. While I often think that I feel like my Senegal life and America life are two different identities (Aram Mbengue and Hannah), I'm finding there are pieces of Senegal that I've carried with me. For example, just today I went to Wal-Mart and felt sensory overload, and I don't remember getting that same glazed feeling from Wal-Mart prior to Senegal. I've noticed I still don't walk on my carpet with shoes, I ask people how they are doing before I make a request, or I avoid giving people things with my left hand. I'm sure there are much deeper qualities I've carried with me that I am not necessarily conscious of (yet). There are other parts that have definitely faded like names and Wolof words.

I hadn't realized it was an anniversary, perhaps because I think about time less now. It's odd how every day in Senegal was a marker; I thought about time passing because it seemed to happen so slowly. I ways always counting: there were monthly markers, days until I went to the market, days until I went to the regional capital, days until I could check email. So many volunteers seemed to have calendars with big X's through each day. (That makes it sound kind of like serving a sentence, and I certainly never felt that way.) You don't mark off days in America because there is no time to do so: an entire week is gone before you know it. We literally don't have time to think about time. In fact, I'm not sure how I found the time to write this because I should be in bed right now.