Time Warp

So, lately my part time job has been gathering information for my various employment requirements state-side. Often that means that I have to use my "connections" here at the college to call America through voice over ip calling. Then, through that, it feels kind of like a time warp, all of the sudden I am supposed to talk regular, non-Gambian English and speak to people in A-M-E-R-I-C-A! Which, the longer your over here, the more it becomes some kind of fantasy land, where everyone is rich and everything is wonderful.
Our pastime on "lazy" Sundays has been to plan various minute aspects of our move back home. Though this is good and makes us feel more proactive and excited about going back, it at the same time makes it sad that we are spending our time here doing that.
Today, being one of those Sundays, we have already made a detailed list of costs for moving back, moving to a new location, getting settled etc. Though for some it seems a long way off, only 8 more months of living here will go by so quickly because our weeks just disappear. We spent more than a year planning to come here, so moving somewhere else new is not far off in our minds. Always looking to the next thing. Sometimes we laugh, because I think if we weren't already married people would be wondering when we were going to settled down and live in one place for a while. I wonder too if I will ever have that desire!
Today we also made squash bread. I am becoming an expert in cooking with children. But I only always invite Fatou Bintou and MoLamin to help because they now know the ropes. Today, though Adama invited herself and added an extra spice to the mix. Andy did a good job wrangling her when needed and helping keeps things under control. Fatou Bintou holds the measuring cups over the sifter, MoLamin shakes the sifter (sometimes getting a little crazy). All the while we count out loud the amouts. Then after the squash was cooked I handed each of them a fork and they went to town smashing it in the bowl. All along the way MoLamin is taste testing everything sticking his finger in it all. Adama took the spoon that had cinnamon residue on it and stuck it to her mouth, then made a disgusted face. I smeared butter on her and MoLamins mouth. It was fun... It was carefully orchestrated chaos and we had a good time. After it was mixed I added a few raisins on top (MoLamin actually didn't like these) we put it out in the sun and a little over two hours later we had a delicious sweet squash bread. Man, gotta love the solar cooker. Fatou Bintou and MoLamin were the first to taste it and then we spread the wealth around the rest of the compound. Now... I wonder what we'll cook next week.
Oh, check out the new pictures of Andy putting in the solar system for our friend.

blog coming soon I promise

Hello people, I have been spending a lot of time working on state side job stuff, so I was going to write a blog today, but now I am sort of on computer burn out, so I will will write one this weekend and then post it up Monday! Have a nice weekend!

Mold glorious mold!

It sounds like this might be a tribute to that wonderful taste experience called cheese, but it is far from it…
This mold is the kind that has fairly rapidly invaded the household and which has overrun the surface of everything from leather bags, sandals, shoes, necklaces, even a wood mortar. In some cases the variety is white but in others it is a ghoulish green but in all instances is does an amazingly thorough job of encompassing the object. On my incense scented “jelly” (it is like a necklace for your waist women wear here) it went from being brown to a rainforest floor green.

The take over has even crept into my dreams. Last night I dreamt of Andy and I wandering around the house finding mold at every turn, and then not so mysteriously getting deathly ill from it. I specifically remember saying, “Andy it’s the mold, it’s killing us!” Now that’s just scary.
Now to shift slightly. Let’s talk about Fungus. Specifically, people fungus. The wet season creates such an environment where being dry (which in terms of bodies, I mean not sweaty) is something that never happens. And because of this my upper shoulder and back have been plagued by fungus. As it is right now, the transition to dry season is probably the worst time, because you still have the humidity hanging around along with blaring sun, but no relief in the form of rain, and the dry winds have not come yet. Even with an array of antifungal products, creams, powders, etc., it does not keep it at bay. In fact I think it is a lost cause, until dry season comes, or I move.
This may be one reason why many PCV’s from here move to someplace cold and dry afterwards. This is exactly what we are planning to do!