So I had two zippers break on my brand new dresses. This was very much not my plan. It’s much trickier trying to figure out a new
solution to even simple problems when you are in a new culture.
Where do you go? Who
do you ask to fix it? How much is
reasonable to pay? How long would it take, not just the sewing, but the waiting
for it to be sewn. And what on earth is the French word for zipper? (It’s une
fermeture à glissière, at least according to google translate, but most of the
people that I talked to just called it “une fermeture”).
I met a lady in my neighborhood a week or so back who owns a
little dress shop. I decided to give it
a go. It turns out that “Not My Plan” is
exactly “God’s Plan”. I spent almost an
hour in her shop talking with her and getting to know her. God’s plan=my developing a relationship,
getting more settled into the neighborhood, and pressing forward in my French
and Wolof learning. Not My Plan turned
out way better than I could have planned.
PS. She had her
assistant fix the two dresses on the spot, she had my name my price (which was
stressful, but I think that we were both satisfied), I learned much more about
sturdy zippers and the various types of fabric that are here in Senegal.
