Clear blue day

So, it is Saturday. It is immensely bright and blue outside today, I don't see a cloud in the sky. Last night was pretty as well, I was out in the middle of the compound spitting watermelon seeds out, and I looked up and through the mango tree leaves, I could see the moon (almost full now) with wisps of silver clouds around it. It looked amazing.
So, about the watermelon... They started to show up in the market about a week or so ago, and ever since then, I have had my mind on it. So yesterday, in the evening , about an hour before breaking fast time, I decided that I would go down and get one. I didn't want to walk because they are piled up in front of the post office, and it would have been a long walk with a heavy watermelon. So I decided to take my bike, ( which now has a yellow covered basket strapped perilously to it) . I thought if I put the watermelon in the basket just right, with a blanket around it to make it more stable, I would probably be alright to ride it home. So I rode off, and soon got to the area where they have a ton of watermelons just piled up on the ground in front of the post office. The vendor looked as if he was doing a brisk business, because that is a particularly busy time in the market. After I greeted him, I pointed to one of the melons and asked how much it was, he told me 55 Dalasi, and I said no thats too much. So I pointed to one right next to the first that was a little smaller, and asked how much that one was. He said 45, but I said no again, and kinda started to back away, when he asked how much I would pay. I said 30 D and he kinda just laughed, but I handed him a 50, put the melon in my basket, and asked him for my change. He laughed but I told him I was paying 30 for it. When he said no no no, I began to take the melon out of my basket, and he suddenly so ok ok ok. And gave me my 20 D in change. After which my basket promptly turn sideways with the weight of the melon. I am lucky it didn't tumble out, so I turned it upright, thanked the man, and walked my bike all the way home. I wasn't going to risk having 30 D of smashed watermelon on the road on the way home! So after dinner we cut it in half, gave half to the family, a quarter to another family in the compound and slurped up the other quarter between Andy and I . When I went over to the family's living room last night, they were gathered around a gigantic bag of sugar, and were counting out scoopfuls of it into plastic bags. They did this until they had several plastic bags full of sugar, piled in a bucket, and the big bag was completely divided up. One of the girls told me that they were giving it away to people. This just goes to show you how generous our host family is all the time, and nice and genuine. :) They take good care of us. Like last night, we get dinner, and then they brought us roasted peanuts, and then juice, and we go and give them melon. It is like we are always going back and forth with things to share with each other. Its kinda nice. This morning Andy and I watched one of the girls prepare the chicken they had just killed. We watched the whole process of plucking, and cutting, and washing, and it was all very amazing. Nothing like going to the store, buying the frozen, boneless, skinless, gutless, etc. chicken. The whole process Andy reiterated for me so that I could write it down step by step how they did it in a notebook, it was about 30 steps! All over a open fire. It was cool. The other lady in the compound wants me to cook with her today, so I have to head back to the house soon, (we are at the college now) The college is supposed to start next week some time, and there has been some issues with the scheduling of classes etc, so I still don't know when, how, what I will be teaching, hehehe. We are supposed to have a staff meeting next week, and then I will meeting with my counterpart again after that. I think school might actually start, not next week, but the next, but you never know! I am just trying to be as prepared as possible, and am getting the ball rolling on the nursery school next Saturday, we are going to go in and rearrange the class, and go through a new schedule, and make all kinds of fun stuff for the one class I am working with now. Ok, well, I gotta go!Hope you are having a great weekend! Write me! (email, letters... :)

Lazy Sunday

So, my high hopes for lunch yesterday were slightly shattered as I realized that my stomach did not agree with the oatmeal I ate in the morning. As a show of support I decided I would still get up and eat my breakfast with Andy early in the am, and then we of course went back to bed. When I woke up, my stomach wasn't feeling so good, and so after drinking some gatoraid (thanks parents) and eating a cracker, I fell asleep on the bed. I felt ok after that, but did not get to have any lunch on my first day off fasting, save for the cracker. I was feeling well by evening, and ate dinner. Dinner was chicken, fresh from the compound :) When I was laying down, I heard a lot of squawking and the kids running around. Andy went outside to check it out, and came back a little while later stating, "no more chicken!" I'll miss that brown and white speckled one. .......
Last night while we were sitting on our porch playing cards there came a big black beetle, being mesmerized by our exposed bulb on the porch ceiling. It was so funny to watch, because it was so big and clumsy. It would start from the ground, kind of waddle around, stop, flutter its wings out at its sides, and then slowly start to lift from the ground. After swaying unsteadily between the confines of the porch on its way to the light, it would inexplicably slam into the side of the wall and land of the floor. This happened over and over again, and it was so funny I couldn't concentrate on the game (and thats the only reason Andy beat me!) Even after Andy swatted it out of the porch, it came back full force, only to slam into the wall and slide to the floor again. At one point the beetle was exploring the front of the doorway, and started dragging across its face and along its body a long string of dust clump. It was traveling the crease of the wall and the porch floor blindly, and it just looked so funny!
Well, there is not much going on today, Andy and I came to the college today to get some work done, I want to have some things prepared for my meeting with my counterpart tomorrow. And I also prepped some information for the nursery school. I want to start the ball rolling on our jibita "refrigerator" today if we can. The jibitas are clay pots that people put water in and it keeps it cool. The idea around the jibita refrigerator is that you have a small jibita and a bigger one that the small jibita will fit in. The space between the two jibitas is filled with sand and wet down with water. The evaporation that occurs keeps the things in the small, internal jibita cool, things like vegetables, etc, to keep them fresh longer. The larger, outer jibita has to be specially ordered, so we will have to go down to the pottery guy and talk to him about it.
A couple of nights this week, (including last night) we have been woken up with the intense winds and rain. We scrabbled to shut the blue metal shutters that cover the windows, but it is hard to get back to sleep because of the howling. But I am thankful that it rained because we had the buckets out and we got the water we needed to do wash today without having to extra trips to the tap. We had a few things lately show up with mold . Things like our baseball hats, and backpacks, so we had to wash those. Well, I guess that is about it for now, not too much to write about at the moment. Hope all is well!

Glad its Friday!

Man, I'm glad its Friday! For several reasons! For one, today, I have decided, through much deliberation I assure you (I've been going back and forth for days now), that it will be my last day of fasting. :( I am pretty proud of myself for having done it for a good solid week though.
I have been visiting a nursery school in a village about 20 minute ride from here, and have found that I severely lack the necessary energy to put into that and my other projects. Next week I think I will finally meet the other teacher that I will be working with at the college, and in a week the college term will open, so there has been lots of prep work going on there. I just don't think I can teach with zero energy!
I am also glad that its Friday because I get a break from a hectic week, I have gone to the nursery school about three days this week, and I think I have my work cut out for me there! It is going to be a long (and probably painful) process for everyone involved! Like everyone warned, it looks like I will swing from being totally and inescapably bored, to being extremely busy, with little in between. OH, another reason, that I will admit to myself and you, for ending the fasting is because I finally got the birthday package from the parents, and those skittles and beef jerky have been screaming at me from the box! I can admit openly that the last four packs of skittles thoughtfully sent by my brother was devoured in less than 72 hours (wheeew got that off that my chest!) To the same person, I owe a giant debt of gratitude for the going away present of Nutella, which was probably the only thing that kept me sane during village training. Andy would find me in the back room of our hut, huddled on the metal food truck, stuffing my face with Nutella on pretty much anything I could find, crackers, bread, my finger...after a bad day.
While I am on the concept of food, (which is ever present with me especially on fast) I was considering some things that I missed the other day while I was pondering in the hammock trying to shut out the mosquitoes by pulling it closed around my body. I never realized that I would, out of the blue, have a craving for pork products, something that it seems is impossible to come by here. Mmm bacon! Also, another hard to get item is cheese, of any sort. If you go to Sera Kunda you can find it, but I can't buy any because of lack of refrigeration. Grated Parmesan would be heaven sent because it doesn't have to be refrigerated, and because of course i am a Parmesan lover (one of those people at Olive Garden that just says,'keep coming, keep coming, uh, you might need to go get some more...' when they offer fresh grated Parmesan), but I cannot locate it in the grocery store! (believe me I've searched!)
Another thing explicable missing is brown sugar, who would have thought! Man, I am such a 'foodie'! The other day, I made some good balsamic salad dressing from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and salt and lots of black pepper. We had a crazy occurrence that inspired that dressing...... ...we got.... a salad to break fast from our family! It was delicious. :) I also think that making minestrone soup will be in the future, because I have been eying ingredients here in the market. Well, all of these things are just a part of moving to Africa I guess, and will be, along with the Wendy's fries, still be there in America in abundance when we get back in a few years!
Andy and I were discussing the fact that it seems to be going by pretty fast already, and we aren't even in the full swing of things! We were also discussing the fact that someone-one of you out there-needs to come visit us, and you will be staying in relative luxury at our house, with electricity, a bamboo bed, a stove, and a very close tap :) So, start your planning, and gather up your courage, (not like you need any!) and get on a plane over here! It will be an experience of a lifetime.
Ok, I think I'm done rambling for now, I gotta walk home and then chill out a bit, before maybe hitting the market, because tomorrow... I am going to eat lunch! Woweeee!

Saturday

Hi, I back, I decided to come back to the internet cafe with Andy today, because it would help pass the time so I wouldnt think about eating so much! So, yesterday was the first day of fasting, and man it was difficult! In the morning at 4:30am we got up and ate bread and eggs and tried to drink as much as possible. After that we went back to bed until it was time for work. I rode to work and was there at the time I was supposed to meet my colleagues, but no one was around. I lolly gagged around for about an hour and a half, doing some work in the staff lounge before giving up and going to visit Andy at the beekeepers place. It was a little ride from the college but it was around 11:30 and it was very sunny and hot. After I checked that out I rode back home and stood in front of the fan to cool off for a bit. It wasnt good to be sweating so much when I wasn´t drinking or eating! So after we relaxed under the tree for a while Andy went inside to work on some stuff with a co-worker and I sat outside in the hammock we just bought from Andyś co-worker. I read for a while..it was very comfortable. :) Then Andy went to another volunteers house while I went to the internet. But I went a different way and got really lost and ended up walking down this street forever (about 45 minutes) and was so hot and sweaty and feeling like I was going to pass out that I turned back around. But not before I tried to ask some girls where the Nice cafe¨was. They promptly led me to a bitik down the street where I could buy Nescafe coffee! heeh. So I turned back around and got to this intersection looked to my right, and lo and behold I could see the sign for the nice internet cafe at the end! so I went -after some more muddy trails, and sat down at the computer. I looked at the screen and just to the right of it was that sign for ¨cool water for sale now¨. Man, everytime I took my eyes off the screen I read it, and wanted to cry! I started contemplating what my course of action would be if I passed out! After the internet cafe I had to get stuff for breakfast the next morning and also needed to get omo (laundry soap). But I did not want to go because I was so delirious and hungry plus I had my bike and it is very difficult to wheel around large potholes filled with mud and rainwater and through the narrow walkways that wind through some of the market. I circled a portion of it, eyeing things that I needed to buy before pumping myself up to go around again and actually buy the stuff. Its not that I dont like going there it was that I was very tired and wanted to go home and lay there until food came! So I gathered strength from somewhere and went and bought some eggs, tomatoes, and potatoes for some omelets and fried potatoes. I got home unloaded my stuff and chilled out till the food came. We were told that they break fast by drinking tea and eating bred, so when a plate of pasta, onion sauce,chicken, and fried potatoes came we chowed down thinking it was dinner. With Andyś help we ate the whole plate, washed it and returned it. About a hour or so later Andy was lamenting his suddenly full belly when Fatou J. comes up with a food bowl and says here is dinner! Andy just gaped at her them remembered to speak and thank her. He came inside and, his mouth still open, said ¨They brought us dinner?!¨ Apparently that first round of food was to break the fast! Little did we know! So after a marathon of eating we went to bed to wake up again this morning at 4:30. All night I was working out in my mind how I would orchestrate the breakfast so as to have the omelets and fried potatoes and tea ready as quickly as possible. When I awoke I started immediately because ---surprise! I was hungry! So I chopped the potatoes into tiny pieces to cook them up fast, Andy sat down with a bowl to crack the eggs into and whip up for the omelets. I continued chopping and heard him bang the egg against the side of the bowl, then he said,¨uh, Lydia?!¨ so I turned around and looked to see him holding a hard-boiled egg with half the shell cracked off! apparently folks I had unknowingly bought hard-boiled eggs! so much for omelets!

Well, that is the latest saga, but if you check out Andyś blog he has a version too. We arent doing much today, I just have my mind on the price once again, (the food at the end of the day! :) I am going to have to stop fasting as son as there is real work for me because I have a severe lack of energy when I am! Hope you are all well! Write me or something!

Hungry!

Hey, all,
Man, I am so hungry. I am trying to fast today, an I only have about 3 more hours to go, but I am soooo hungry. I think that I would die and go to heaven for a cheeseburger and a coke right now! And I havent really craved that sort of thing until now! I am here at the internet cafe again, trying to keep my mind off food, (and water), but I got lost getting here, because I came from a different way, and went a long ways out of my way, was about go home, but suddenly came upon it. The sun in glaringly bright today, there are some sparse white clouds around, but it is difficult to keep from sweating out all the water that I dont want /can tafford to loose! Anyhow! I started ¨work¨ this week, and I use that term loosely , because we were supposed to have an all staff meeting but only about 15 people showed up, and we started about an hour and half past the meeting time. We got together in our respective subject groups, and then could not go any further than that really because we were supposed to plan for the term, but the syllabus was not printed out, they tried for the rest of the day to get it printed, but it never showed. Yesterday, only a few people showed up for our group, and today, I hung around for an hour, and no one was there. But everyone says this is how it works in the Gambia. :) Yesterday, they provided ¨lunch¨ for us, and it was a large hoagie with a ton of mayonaise on it, and french fries, and fried eggs, and later that night I threw it all up! It was the first time I have been sick here, but after I threw up I felt fine :) I sure you all wanted to know that, but hey, you get what you get! Man, there is this posted sign right next to the screen here at the cafe, and it says, ¨cool water for sale now¨, it is kililng me! Ok, well my main reason for coming here was to do some research on learning theories, because I think that is what I will be teaching this term, (not for sure as always) but they dont have any resources at the college, the students dont have books, and the teachers dont either,.. Time to do some research, talk to you all later!

Monday

Hey all. I had another day of nothiness planned for today (I mean, realy difficult work of reading everything in sight!) , but instead went with Dharma to Fajara just to do some internet stuff and pick up a shirt had am having made at the tailors. Hopefully! Because I actually went there to have it made the Tuesday before our swearing in ceremony, and I came back like a week after he said it would be done and he still didn't have it,.. he should have it by now! I talked to my parents and David last night(hello) it was good to talk to them, though its hard to know what to say. Because I'm sure its expensive to call, there is a rush feeling to the conversation, at the same time there is so much to talk about. I feel like I don't give enough back in terms of conversation, blogging emailing, etc., to warrant all the great packages people have been sending. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
So, anyhow, I got my hair braided the other day by the landlord's wife. It was a fairly painful experience, because they pull on your head, and I was leaning over for a couple of hours, while sitting on a little tiny, barely above the ground, stool. After they finished I felt like an 100 year old woman getting up! Last time I had it done my head hurt really bad right away.. this time it took a little while for the numbness to dissapate before I started feeling the pain. And because I don't wash my hair while I have it in, after the pain goes away, it starts itching a lot! But I guess it looks pretty cool, ... ahh. the pain we go throuh for beauty! So lately I have been trying to find ways to relate to the landlord's family, ..( I will just call them my host family from now on).. That was a major reason for the hair torture-I mean-braiding. I made alphabet flashcards and they liked those, but what I really wish I would have brought is some children's books to do a kind of story hour. Another volunteer brought one and translated it into the local language, but I also think it would be good just to foster literacy and interest in reading, (they would probably just be facinated by the pictures) because right now I don't see that there is much. The kids in the compound are as follows: Fatou J. 16, Hadja ? (about 15) Jalika 12, Alieu 11,Fatou B. 6 , and Lamin 3, and all the neighborhood kids frequent our porch too. Lamin has a lot of little playmates that come around and are soooo cute, because they are all about the same age, and they fight each other over Lamin's little red rubber ball, and run around doing whatever. The other day they were freaked out because there was a spider on the porch with its web across it, and they were throwing their little flip flops at it. What's really cute is the tiny girl (Ma Binta) that hangs out with the boys, she has such attitude and once you start playing with her, is so lively. She, like many of the little girls you see here, wear little party dresses sometimes, they probably get from the many used clothing places in the market. You will see this little tiny girl, all dirty from playing in the dirt, runny nose, etc, with this gauzy, satin brightly colored party dress. It also just looks strangely out of place amongst the wrap skirts everyone else wears. The little girls also wear the wrap skirts, and for some reason, to me, they look like little grown ups in their full Gambian outfits.
Last night we went over the the host family's to talk about what we were going to do during Ramadan. I don't know if I have it in me to fast! But it might make things easier because pretty much everyone else will be fasting. They will get up early in the morning (like 6am) to eat breakfast, and then they don't eat or drink anything again until sunset . When we went to go talk to them about arrangements (because we get lunch from them and they won't be eating lunch) we didn't get much talking done, because the family was sitting in their living room watching Charlie Angels movie (Camerion Diaz and the like) on their tv! So we watched that with them, so it was funny because on the part where Camerion Diaz starts doing her booty shaking in her underwear, the dad fast forwarded through it. hehe, it was a little strange because there are a ton of sexual inuendos and I'm not even sure how much English they understood.
Today looks like it will be a fairly clear day, maybe its taking a break from all the rain this weekend! I hope at least until we catch a gelle (the transport van) and make it back home. Well, thats it for now, I think I am going to look up a few recipes, for things like corn tortillas (mom maybe you can help with these) , goat milk caramel, etc!

Internet cafe

Hello all, I finally got to an internet cafe here in Brikama! Man, it took two tries in one day to find it, and very muddy feet to get here. Speaking of muddy, Yesterday I made the great decision to venture out for a bike ride to release a little energy, and ended up in the craziest rainstorm yet. Or maybe because I was on my bike in the middle of it that it seemed so crazy! I started out going towards the market, and I could see these impending clouds rising up behind the market, but I thought,¨eh, so I get a little wet!?¨ I should have known because everyone at the market and on the streets were running around like crazy, fast walking to where ever they were going , and putting away their wares. Then in the middle of the place, it let loose, so, I put on my raincoat, and was going to keep riding until the wind started blasting and great claps of thunder and lighting came! So I started to head home, which was a bit of an ordeal, because the roads are a muddy mess when they have had rain, and evern worse when your in the middle of the rain. So I finally got to our street and through the pelting rain could see that the street all the way past our compound is totally flooded, and not only that, it is gushing water from the perpendicular street! So I just charged it, and hoped that there werent any creatures washed away in the water.! After that I took advantage of the rain and got my evening bath.
Right now, are far as work goes I am not doing much, but hopefully a series of meetings next week will launch me into work full time.
I have received a number of packages since I have been here, thank you everyone! That list from the first blog is probably obsolete now, but if you have sent some of it, dont worry I wilĺ def. use it! Now that we are in our permanent living sitaution I have a better idea what I can get, and what I can´t. Hope all is well, maybe I will here from some of you this weekend!