Hello from Dakar! Here again for work. I’m so glad to be back in Senegal and at Chez Lo, but I’m also feeling quite snacky at the moment and there are no snacks to be found. A couple of unripe bananas and a half-eaten bag of who-knows-how-old chips are all I could find. It also took me a week to recover from the jet lag this time around. I arrived on Sunday morning and only today did the clouds start to clear from my head. I had begun to think I had developed a physical imbalance.

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I guess my brain is still a little foggy because I can’t think of one thing to write next. I want to post some interesting links that I’ve been amassing for months, but I have no good transition to get there. Oh well, here we go:

A colleague recently shared this amazing grammar-checking tool with me. It feels like magic and in addition to correcting what you’ve written in French (or another language), it also explains why, so you can learn (or re-learn, in my case) the language rules.

And here are some new mind-blowing translation devices that I can’t believe actually exist.

The famous Strasbourg Christmas market is coming to New York in December.

A fascinating photography series showcases kids around the world (including a few from Senegal) surrounded by the food they typically eat in a week.

Fuhgeddaboutit! Sorry, but there is no Brooklyn accent.

This article compellingly explores how in the Instagram age, enjoying natural wonders (and being “morally sound”) is secondary to getting the perfect shot.

Common English phrases with unexpected origins.

An interesting map for French learners and linguistics enthusiasts, that shows dialectical variations of “intensifier” words in European French.

Inclusive writing, or l’écriture inclusive, aims to make the French language more egalitarian.

A new study shows that thinking in a foreign language can reduce emotional biases.

A holiday shopping guide for UNESCO-designated crafts (that only seems to feature European traditions, unfortunately).

How children evolved to whine (and how to respond to it).

As a lover of midcentury West African architecture, I appreciate this round-up of African architectural gems.

And finally, this has nothing to do with languages or travel and everything to do with poop, which as of late has become another theme of this blog. It also happens to be one of those articles that makes you feel less alone as a woman.

Have a good weekend! I leave you book-ended with Dakarois beauty.