a few things

Sorry for the gap between updates! So, things have been just moving along. Not much has been going on on the home front. The other day I helped but mostly watched one of my host sisters cook. She gutted and scaled the fish, saved some of the guts, fried the fish and a pounded ( I pounded) mixture of onions, garlic, and lots of black pepper along with these things we fried about a cup and a half of tomato paste in oil, and then of course we fried the vegetables (a finger size eggplant, small sweet potatoes (they are white here, and not like yams) and there was a small chunck of yellow pumpkin type squash that had a hard dark green rind on it. Yes, everything is fried. When they fry, the oil is extremely hot, and when she put the fish in the oil the fish's skin immediately split like artfully and purposily done slashes, and the eyes popped out. While we were sitting there she gave me two of the fish insides that she fried. I took a bite and it just tasted like the general fried food, but when I looked inside there were all these tiny white balls, and so I tried to find out from them what is was.... from what I gather, it was the eggsack.....yum......... Last night, when Andy wasn't home, Fatou M. came over with homework, and then Jalicka came and hung out, and then Lamin came (just to tag along!) , I think that they may feel more comfortable coming to hang out with me at the house when Andy is not there because he is a man! Anyhow, I tried to help with homework, and thats when Fatou M. asked me if I had novels, well, do I ever! I have been averaging 2 days to per novel! So I gave her one by Maya Angelou to borrow (I tried to find one without anything riskay and one she might find interesting). I was excited in here interest, because they don't have too many literary sources around here , (practically none actually, I haven't seen a book yet!) , except maybe the text books (really just phamplets) for school. I hope she likes it, and then comes back for more! If I get one person to love reading here it would be a great accomplishment. :) Well, I think thats it for now. Hope you are all well, and you haven't dropped off the face of the earth, (come on people write!)

A few funny stories

So after I left the college after doing that last blog post, I went to the market to get a few things...... and a funny thing happened on the way home....I had stopped by and got some eggs and four mangoes. I put the mangoes in my basket on my bike and the eggs in my purse ( I'm not that confident in my bike basket!) and strapped my bag across my chest. I hopped on my bike, navigated through the craziness of the market and as I was turning onto the main road by the lumberyard, I was thinking to myself what a very nice, blue sky day it was. I saw a little ways in front of me a run away d0onkey and his cart on the side of the main road that we turn off of to go home. As I came along side it on my bike I looked around to see if there was anyone chasing after this runaway donkey, but people were just going about their business. I assumed that it was one of the many donkeys with cart that line up beside the street by the lumberyard and impatiently waited to be loaded up. As I was on the right of the donkey ( on the street side) a small boy came with his bike right up in front of the donkey. Well, .. I guess the donkey didn't really want to trample over this boy so he made an immediate right into the street and into me! still in full motion, draggin his cart, it knocked me on my left side and unbalanced me from my bike. Because my basket is not so secure, it tipped and my binders and my mangoes were splayed out onto the street. Ok, just to take a moment to reiterate... I GOT RUN OVER BY A DONKEY! Even now, writing it, I am laughing at the situation out loud! So, Two little boys very nicely helped me put my things back into my basket all the while saying, "ohhhh.. sorry, sorry" As soon as they were finished helping me they got to chasing that donkey that had crossed the street after running into me in front of on-coming cars. This whole scene (which must have been just as hilarious to onlookers) took probably about 2 minutes and I was stunned but laughing when I turned onto our neighborhood street off the main road. When I relayed the story to Andy it was one of those situations where I was laughing so hard, it was hard to get the story out! So, ... there it is, for public embarrassment, that I'm sure I will never live down! To add to it, for the next couple of days, on the suggestion of Andy, I couldn't get "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" song out of my head, somehow relating it to my situation of getting run over by a donkey! hehehehe.
A Few Other Random Short Stories:
"Talo" Our host father brought us these fruits. It is a strange green fruit. Actually it has a hard brown shell that you peel off and inside there is bright grass green flesh and a pit in its center. The fruit has a texture of sweet tarts and it actually has the flavor of grass! And little bits of veins or roots from the fruit get stuck in your teeth. It is a very unusual fruit, but I liked it!
Molado and Baby:
Molado is a little girl about 3 or 4 that just moved in about a month ago in our compound (Andy is putting pictures on the blog now, and there is a couple of her, she is the one getting her hair braided by our host mom and the one in the cream outfit on our porch). She is sooo cute, and energetic, she is great fun. Well, the other day Molado was sitting in front of her porch (2 spaces down from ours) naked, sitting on her little port-o-potty seat, when Adama her bouncing baby sister kept crawling to Molado and pushing her on her back while she was on the potty. So, Molado picked up her potty, while still holding it to her bottom, and scooted it a few scoots forward. Well, Adama is a very determined baby and has been known to crawl across the hard, dirt compound to her mom or some other interesting thing all the way across the compound. So she kept at it with Molado and Molado kept scooting , until she ended up in frontof our porch!" It was such a funny scene to just be sitting on the front porch looking at it.
"Sam"
Sam is the resident (or rather one of the resident) large geckos (he currenlty measures about 5 or 6 inches long ) He lives in one of the wood panel boards that has come ajar on our porch ceiling. Every night while we sit out on the porch, Sam comes out, doing his "Mission Impossible" scene by crawling expertly across the ceiling and snatching up with precision a tasty bug dinner.
"Porch Bugs"
So, the other night while Andy and I were in the kitchen we heard this extremely loud bug noise out in the porch. When I got up to investigate and looked out the window I saw Sanussi (our host father) coming towards the house. So, I went outside and he proceeded to chase this humongous flying bug around our porch with our straw broom. After going around the porch catching it under the broom a few times, (but it did not want to die easily) Andy came out and so I'm standing off to the front of the porch watching these two large guys chase this bug around the porch, one with a short straw broom in his hand, and the other trying to smack it with a bright yellow "smiley face" Frisbee. It was hilarious!

Well, I fear that after all that, I don't have much energy to put into a description of our holiday weekend, but maybe Andy will, and I'm sure I will add something later to it!

Holiday

Well, last night I got a couple of phone calls from counterparts, letting me know that today was declared a public holiday. So, instead of going to the nursery school today, (no school today) I came to the college to do some typing work. I am feeling pretty good about what I got done, putting college students names in alphabetized excel spreadsheets, so that I can keep better track of them, writing new lessons, still working and fine tuning my syllubus, and I started some work on compiling resources for nursery school teachers. Now I have all these documents piling up, but no where to print them, that I've found yet. I am planning to go to the PC office sometime next week, so maybe I can print there. Though that is next week!
Some people have asked up about Christmas gifts, ( I guess you gotta start early if you want to send it all the way here). I will talk to Andy and see if there is a list we can compile and put up on the blogs. We will probably take part in some sort of Christmas celebrations I'm sure, because there are some people that celebrate it here, and there are public holidays scheduled for Christmas. Along with that holiday we will also have Tobaski, and New Years which I think may all be in the same week this year. It will be a busy one if it is!
Man, I just read some of the other PC blogs and I realize that I am just not that creative! But come on, I do update often! Even though, comparitively, it is just useless rambling!

Wheeeww!

So, its been a busy last few days. This past Saturday I went to the nursery school I am working with and we spent from 9:30 to about 5 working on materials for the classroom. We made a large calendar out of local materials, we made a stoplight behavior system, we put up rules for the class, rearranged the class, came up with a new schedule, talked about curriculum, etc! It was a lot of work, but I'm sure it will pay off. Yesterday I had three classes at the college. They were all 2 hours each, so it was a very long day. When I finally got home at 6:30 or so, I was very tired physically, and my throat hurt from talking for so long in the hot dry day. It is also difficult to keep up your reserve of water, because you don't want to drink in front of anyone here, because they are all fasting (so I had to sneak a couple of sips!) The classes went pretty well, I think that it is going to be a great learning experience for myself, and the students in my class. I refuse to just stand there and lecture at them for 2 hours, so it is a big change for them. The age is a lot different for me, and a lot of my students are older than me. Today, I didn't have college classes, but I spend the whole day helping the teacher at the nursery school go through her new class, and class systems with the children. I will be there for her the first couple of days, then she will try it on her own on Thursday, and tell me what went wrong on Friday when I go back to help iron out wrinkles. The first day went fairly well, though I was disturbed by the teacher in the other room that I could hear. There were times in the day where she would say, "everyone, laugh at him" (after a boy did something everyone was directed to laugh at him!) as well as "shame him" (The students are told to "shame him" and so they say in unison to this child, "shame shame shame, shame on you!" ) Keep in mind that these children are just 3 and 4 years old in that class! Anyhow! Enough work talk.
The end of the week on Saturday or Sunday will signal the end of Ramadan, and the start of the feasting! Our family helped up get new outfits, like they had. Andy got a mid length Kaftan (I think that is how to say it!) Which is like a tunic, with pants. And I went around with one of my host sisters and our host mom and picked out some cloth for a new outfit that is being sewn for me. It is pretty cool how you can do that so easily here! I wish I had some people's measurments to get them things made here! They have sooo many kinds of materials, and patterns, colors to choose from. I do have to say that going and picking out the cloth was a very overwhelming experience, like everytime I have gone to get cloth. The sellers will just bombard you with questions, and ask which one you want right when you walk in! It is very difficult just to look and compare colors, price, and maybe go and see if you like something better somewhere else.
Lately it has been very hot with no relief. It looks like dry season is here, so that hasn't been any rain for about a week. Everyone tells us that we just have to make it through about end of November/December, and we will be good, because then it actually gets a little cool. I am excited about that! We actually live in the lap of luxury because we have a fan that we point on our bed at night to help us sleep.
Well, I think that is all for now, I have to do some computer work to help organize myself looking after 5 classes of about 50+ students in each class! Not to mention that, in any given class, there are usually about 4 or 5 students by the same name! (same last and first!).
Well, Send me a line!
Lydia

Headache

So yesterday was a fairly stressful day at work, endless meetings in very hot, un-air-conditioned rooms, lack of food and water and who knows what else contributed to yet another migraine. These seem to have been happening more frequently, but as with everything, especially here in Africa, there are many factors that could possibly be contributors. Each time I get one I find myself trying to figure out exactly what could have been the contributor this time, but of course it is virtually impossible given that it could be any number of subtle nuances in everyday life that it is just a frustrating, fruitless pursuit. The abundance of "Maggi" cubes (used in just about everything you eat in great amounts here due to lack of other abundant spices in the local markets) is one factor that cannot be discounted because they are basically MSG cubes used like bouillon in like I said, everything! Another would be the diet changes, heat, hormones, etc. I have started to chart them on the calendar, because it is ultimately annoying that every so often you get these headaches that completely dessicate your day. I immediately came home yesterday took a shower, ate, then went into the room and laid down. Then I decided that last time I had one it seemed to help to sit up and not let all the blood go to my head, so I alternated between laying down and sitting up in bed. But the rest of the day and night, until I sleep it off over night, is gone. But I have to say that I don't know which is better, not having been sick from the usual illnesses you expect when you come here to Africa, (knock on wood) OR having migraines. ???? Anyhow, today I'm back at the college for another meeting and then tomorrow classes are supposed to start, however unofficially, because it is (from what I gather) basically just a "meet and greet" type of thing. Nothing to worry about if you knew what you were teaching and where, but that isn't the case for me! Lately I have been thinking the Gambian people must be the most patient people on earth! hehehehe :) Hope you are all well!
Lydia

Another Monday

So, its Monday. The major events for the day are doing laundry and coming to the college to get on the internet. This weekend was a pretty uneventful weekend as well. Yesterday there was an evening rainstorm, and so Andy and I ran to the back of the house and took an impromptu shower, cleaned the covered area, and filled up the buckets. That was nice and cool especially after the rain. This weekend I was again lamenting the fact that no one is going to visit us, I wish I could show someone the in's and out's of our life here. I can write about it, but until you show up here you don't really know ( ya know!?) But I guess that is the kinda of life we have! We can't expect people to just drop everything and come here, but it will probably be the only chance to come and stay with someone that lives here. We have been discussing other options when we are done with our service here, like extending to another country of Peace Corps service, we still have a while before we have to make that move, but really we kinda got start thinking about it. We are also trying to gather information about where would be good places to travel to while here in the west end of the continent. There are a lot of places that we are considering, but just deciding on one is difficult. Another idea we have been mulling around our heads is a sort of across Africa, Europe, Asia kinda of circumvent before heading back to the US of A. This is what we do in our spare time,...stare at the maps, breeze through the guidebooks and think of other places to go! Well, I don't feel too inspired today, so I am going to stop here. If you haven't written in a while make sure to drop me a comment, or email, or letter :) The initial wave of excitement to write I guess is over, but drop a girl a line! (If you have, it might not have gotten here in time to get picked up for mail run - when PC goes to pick up our mail and bring it to our respective sites- That was last week, no stops for us though, maybe next month!)