So, it's Christmas Day, but doesn't really feel like it at all. We are here in the Peace Corps office now, and we are staying at the hostel here. We got here yesterday afternoon, and some other volunteers are down too. Our country director somehow got a turkey for us to cook at the hostel, so everyone is doing there best trying to come up with other things to cook with it. I think I'm in charge of mashed potatoes :) But even though we will have a Christmas type dinner it still doesn't even remotely feel like Christmas time, and I guess that's OK, but it still feels a little strange to know that family and friends in the states are doing the same things that we did every year, just minus us. Last night we tried to watch the only Christmas movie we had (Elf DVD) on the computer for everyone to watch, but the DVD was so scratched we got about a quarter of the way through and it just wouldn't go any further. So, that was a bummer. Then they put in The Italian Job (sooo not Christmasy) and so I went to bed. I think that I will really be looking forward to a white Christmas when we get back! We will have to move somewhere where there is a guarantee that there will be snow! Well, we may or may not stay in town another night, (depends when the turkey gets finished!, if it's late we will not be able to get transport back to Brikama) so we may end up going home tomorrow. I don't have to report back to class or the nursery school until the 7th of Jan. so, I have been planning things for the term, and since I'm here at the computer, have printed out some stuff for college, that I will take home, look through and tweak later this week to have it all prepared. Well, I don't want to bore anyone with work today, so
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Merry Christmas
Just in case I don't get to a computer again before Christmas, Merry Christmas everyone!
Tobaski Time
Last Monday I went to the college one last time before the break to meet with my counterparts and discuss this term and the coming term at the college. We decided on what we will be teaching next term. I will be holding the class on Teaching Strategies, (yeah fun!). I have already planned a lot for the term and hope it goes well.
On the following Tuesday, everyone was getting ready to travel to their families upcountry. So when I went down to the market, surprise, surprise, it was mass chaos. I've never seen it so busy before, people everywhere along the streets, cars lined up bumper to bumper (gelley gelley vans mostly), people selling via yelling through megaphones, and just tons of people winding their way around the market trying to buy silifando (souvenirs) to take for their families. Along with all those goods, there was a major influx of rams in the country. They are loaded where ever they can fit, on top of the vans, in the back seats of cars, trailing behind bicycles, etc. The good think about all this madness is that hardly anyone paid attention to me (lowest toubab tally yet!) because they were so busy trying to get out of town. I was thinking as I pushed my way through the market, " Man! People at home think shopping during Christmas time is bad!, At least in America we have some semblance or order in things we do, (like, we know how to get in a line, take turns, etc!) But here, the lack of order is the normal order of business.
The following day, (Wednesday) Andy and I braved the market again because we wanted to get our host family some things to cook with the family's ram (the ram was tied to the tree by the cooking area since about Monday)
We bought: 5 Liters of vegetable oil (very important here, it is the second food group besides rice!)
2 large eggplants
5 carrots
2 piles of potatoes (about 8-10)
2 piles of onions (about 8-10, and the 3rd food group)
1 jar of Senegal dijon mustard (used for sauces)
2 small plastic bags of pounded black pepper
then we went to what I call "the black light district" which is an area of the market where you can buy ready-made clothes, that is covered so that it is dark from the canvas roofs and lit with black lights (not so good because last time we went there to buy Andy's kaftan we didn't realize it was purple because of the blacklights, we thought it was blue!). We got Andy another outfit this time we made sure we figured out the color before buying it (a nice brown)!
When Thursday rolled around it was Tobaski. I woke up a little late (for here 8 ish) and felt kinda out of the loop because Andy had already woken up early and helped wash the rams to prepare them for the slaughtering that day. Everyone in the compound was very busy preparing things, and I felt like I had nothing to do. Like last holiday, it is slightly unnerving when you are involved in a holiday that is new to you, and you aren't quite sure what is going to happen that day. But eventually things got going and they prepared to kill the rams. Our family had a large ram, and a small family that just moved in at the end had a ram, and our next door neighbors had a goat. It was very eventful for me, because I witnessed the slaughtering of these animals. I documented the whole thing with our camera, which for me was easier to do,than just stand by and watch. It was easier to have something to do, if there was a particularly gruesome part, I would zoom in on what was happening, but looking through the lens helped me feel a little detached from it. After the animals had died, the men cut the meat up, after skinning and de-gutting the animals. While they were doing this the small children poked around watching them, touching the dead animals foot and at one point poking at the filled, detached belly of one of the rams laying on the ground. I got a lot of intense pictures of Molado and the other small children in the compound. One in particular of Moldao in her cream frilly party dress standing next to a pool of blood and a slaughtered goat in the background. I couldn't help taking so many pictures of her in the situation because of the contrast between her apparent cleanliness and innocence, prancing happily around what became a slaughtering ground that day.
Well, after the meat was mostly cut up the owners of the meat gave Andy and I some, and suddenly I was thrown into a panic, because I hadn't planned on cooking and I'd never cooked goat or ram before! I got stressed and in an effort to gain control of the situation, took off to the market to get something to cook the meat in. I got to the market and discovered that it was a mere skeleton of it's normal self because of the holiday and everyone had left town. But I found a few things and made my way home only to find out that Fatou Mata had brought over meat to roast in our oven and offered to keep the stuff we had in their fridge till Saturday. So that's what we did. We gorged ourselves on meat and food on Thursday and when bedtime came around Andy realized he had become sick. He moved to the other bed in the main room in the middle of the night, and vomited. We were up all night and he spend all of Friday and Saturday recovering. On Saturday afternoon we had to cook the meat that was being kept for us, so we marinated it in a mixture of: tomato paste, garlic, mustard, black pepper, maggi cubes, water, oil, and onions, and then put it in the solar cooker (after draining the marinate away) with some chunks of potatoes and onions. After about 3 hours in the sun it was a delicious roast. The solar cooker is magic! But it was a little tainted by the fact that we are a little sick right now of so much meat, because it is not a normal thing in our diet and honestly we've had it for every meal except one since Thursday. I think I'll be good for a while after this if I don't have meat!
On the following Tuesday, everyone was getting ready to travel to their families upcountry. So when I went down to the market, surprise, surprise, it was mass chaos. I've never seen it so busy before, people everywhere along the streets, cars lined up bumper to bumper (gelley gelley vans mostly), people selling via yelling through megaphones, and just tons of people winding their way around the market trying to buy silifando (souvenirs) to take for their families. Along with all those goods, there was a major influx of rams in the country. They are loaded where ever they can fit, on top of the vans, in the back seats of cars, trailing behind bicycles, etc. The good think about all this madness is that hardly anyone paid attention to me (lowest toubab tally yet!) because they were so busy trying to get out of town. I was thinking as I pushed my way through the market, " Man! People at home think shopping during Christmas time is bad!, At least in America we have some semblance or order in things we do, (like, we know how to get in a line, take turns, etc!) But here, the lack of order is the normal order of business.
The following day, (Wednesday) Andy and I braved the market again because we wanted to get our host family some things to cook with the family's ram (the ram was tied to the tree by the cooking area since about Monday)
We bought: 5 Liters of vegetable oil (very important here, it is the second food group besides rice!)
2 large eggplants
5 carrots
2 piles of potatoes (about 8-10)
2 piles of onions (about 8-10, and the 3rd food group)
1 jar of Senegal dijon mustard (used for sauces)
2 small plastic bags of pounded black pepper
then we went to what I call "the black light district" which is an area of the market where you can buy ready-made clothes, that is covered so that it is dark from the canvas roofs and lit with black lights (not so good because last time we went there to buy Andy's kaftan we didn't realize it was purple because of the blacklights, we thought it was blue!). We got Andy another outfit this time we made sure we figured out the color before buying it (a nice brown)!
When Thursday rolled around it was Tobaski. I woke up a little late (for here 8 ish) and felt kinda out of the loop because Andy had already woken up early and helped wash the rams to prepare them for the slaughtering that day. Everyone in the compound was very busy preparing things, and I felt like I had nothing to do. Like last holiday, it is slightly unnerving when you are involved in a holiday that is new to you, and you aren't quite sure what is going to happen that day. But eventually things got going and they prepared to kill the rams. Our family had a large ram, and a small family that just moved in at the end had a ram, and our next door neighbors had a goat. It was very eventful for me, because I witnessed the slaughtering of these animals. I documented the whole thing with our camera, which for me was easier to do,than just stand by and watch. It was easier to have something to do, if there was a particularly gruesome part, I would zoom in on what was happening, but looking through the lens helped me feel a little detached from it. After the animals had died, the men cut the meat up, after skinning and de-gutting the animals. While they were doing this the small children poked around watching them, touching the dead animals foot and at one point poking at the filled, detached belly of one of the rams laying on the ground. I got a lot of intense pictures of Molado and the other small children in the compound. One in particular of Moldao in her cream frilly party dress standing next to a pool of blood and a slaughtered goat in the background. I couldn't help taking so many pictures of her in the situation because of the contrast between her apparent cleanliness and innocence, prancing happily around what became a slaughtering ground that day.
Well, after the meat was mostly cut up the owners of the meat gave Andy and I some, and suddenly I was thrown into a panic, because I hadn't planned on cooking and I'd never cooked goat or ram before! I got stressed and in an effort to gain control of the situation, took off to the market to get something to cook the meat in. I got to the market and discovered that it was a mere skeleton of it's normal self because of the holiday and everyone had left town. But I found a few things and made my way home only to find out that Fatou Mata had brought over meat to roast in our oven and offered to keep the stuff we had in their fridge till Saturday. So that's what we did. We gorged ourselves on meat and food on Thursday and when bedtime came around Andy realized he had become sick. He moved to the other bed in the main room in the middle of the night, and vomited. We were up all night and he spend all of Friday and Saturday recovering. On Saturday afternoon we had to cook the meat that was being kept for us, so we marinated it in a mixture of: tomato paste, garlic, mustard, black pepper, maggi cubes, water, oil, and onions, and then put it in the solar cooker (after draining the marinate away) with some chunks of potatoes and onions. After about 3 hours in the sun it was a delicious roast. The solar cooker is magic! But it was a little tainted by the fact that we are a little sick right now of so much meat, because it is not a normal thing in our diet and honestly we've had it for every meal except one since Thursday. I think I'll be good for a while after this if I don't have meat!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Nice
Well, it has been pretty nice weather here lately. Some days we will wake up and both grab for the blanket, because in the morning and as soon as it gets dark it is very cool. Very desert-like weather. I have to make sure to get my bath in before 6:30, because after that its a bit uncomfortable to take a cold bucket bath. The routine has been that I usually get home from work, read or practice letter activities with our host family, and then jump rope just before I take a bath. After that I make tea with powdered milk for us, and we sit out on the porch in our long sleeve shirts (or sometimes I've even broken out my hoody!) and chat with the family.
Lately we have been making more of an effort to help out host brothers and sisters learn letters, letter sounds, numbers, etc. One of them Fatou Bentu who is 6, is really enthusiastic about studying with me. I think because she is at the age where her brothers and sisters are older than her, (except MoLamin and he's 3) she kinda gets left out, or bossed around. I think she relishes the alone time we spend together studying, because I don't let anyone else come around, because she gets shy in front of the boys (cultural gender roles). What I really love is that every time I say "Ok, we're done!" she jumps up happily runs back to the house. Andy and I are really trying to set up a situation where they come to us in the evening to study, or do something academic, even if its just looking at a book with us. Andy and MoLamin were looking at "Goldilocks and the three bears" last night, it was very cute. Molamin just likes to point out things that he knows (in mandinka mostly, but if we don't know the word in Mandinka, we will tell him the english word, like the word "bear"), so he just goes turning all the pages, and saying "bear a fele, bear a fele, bear a fele", (bear is here, bear is here, bear is here) I have put alphavet letters on bottle caps and he really likes those, right now, he knows abc, so of course, every bottle cap is a, b, or c. He also likes to count with those, practicing dumping them out of the container, and putting them back in, (alternating between fistfuls, or 1 at a time) and counting, which he is good at. In the morning if I don't go to work until a little later, he comes in the house and asks where the bottle caps are, after the bottle caps, he will ask where the "booko baa" is (big book) that I got from the peace corps office. He likes to point out the girl and her father on all the pages of it, and when our host mother came over to see what he was up to, he showed her too! Gotta love it!
The other night we were have a laughing good time, and it all has to do with a plastic bag and frogs. (Tootoo in Mandinka). Andy had his plastic bag of charcoal on the porch for brewing attaya, and we were out there playing cards when the bag started to move and wriggle around. With a little bumping from me, out hopped a charcoal stained frog)
Well, one day when we were cleaning out the house, I put a plastic shopping bag outside on the porch. Well, it kinda just stayed there, because Andy thought it might be useful. The weather turned cool at night. And one day the bag started moving like the charcoal bag. MoLamin, (who used to scared of them, but has gotten braver) picked up the bag a little bit off the ground and 4 frogs plopped out. Well, this got him very excited and he started chasing them around our porch with a miniature sized grass broom, flicking them and trying to sweep these frogs off our porch. Well, after he had gotten those off the porch he went to get the bag, to throw away, and out plopped about 8 more frogs of all different sizes! They started hopping away for there lives away from MoLamin and he was ecstatic chasing them around the porch. Meanwhile, Andy and I are sitting in our chairs (like an old married couple on the porch) laughing our heads off, it was the most hilarious thing you've ever seen. Well, after a few more frogs got swept off the porch MoLamin and Fatou Bentu started chasing them in the dark around the compound, whooping and hollering. hehe.
The other day when I was getting water the cute white kitty kept sneaking up to my filled buckets and taking a drink. It was so cute, but he/she left dirty paw residue on the edge of my buckets. On his third attempt up to the bucket I got a hold of him and picked him up, he was purring! (must have been confused....) It was funny, and Ndea (our host mom) was on her porch laughing at me.
Oh, I know this is the most random of blogs but I'm just flowing!
The other day at the nursery school I made a teacher bulletin board, for me to put up things about particular topics for the teachers to come and look at. With the help of one of the teachers there we cut some poplin fabric into the right size, made a border with some left over fabric, pinned that in place, glued on some letters I had cut out, and then pinned on some information cards I had printed and mounted and colored poster board. With great effort I put two nails in the concrete walls, cut small holes in the fabric, and looped it over the nail heads. We also had a little table set out in front of it, and there I spread out some examples of items I had made, having to do with our theme. The teachers there were sooooo excited, and I think it will be a good way to get information to them about other techniques and issues, so they can start seeing new ideas and ways of teaching.
Well, next week grades are due at the college, and I still have about 250 test papers to grade., then I will have to go through all approx. 350 students grades and average those, it is going to be a quite a task. I can only sit there and grade for a little at a time before my bottom goes numb or I goes crazy with the answers I'm getting. Next week we are having a friend stay with us, she will be down here doing a training with the college, so that will be nice, and I think we are planning to do some hot chocolate get-together with some of the other area volunteers for Christmas while she is here.
Well, I think thats it for now, later!
Lately we have been making more of an effort to help out host brothers and sisters learn letters, letter sounds, numbers, etc. One of them Fatou Bentu who is 6, is really enthusiastic about studying with me. I think because she is at the age where her brothers and sisters are older than her, (except MoLamin and he's 3) she kinda gets left out, or bossed around. I think she relishes the alone time we spend together studying, because I don't let anyone else come around, because she gets shy in front of the boys (cultural gender roles). What I really love is that every time I say "Ok, we're done!" she jumps up happily runs back to the house. Andy and I are really trying to set up a situation where they come to us in the evening to study, or do something academic, even if its just looking at a book with us. Andy and MoLamin were looking at "Goldilocks and the three bears" last night, it was very cute. Molamin just likes to point out things that he knows (in mandinka mostly, but if we don't know the word in Mandinka, we will tell him the english word, like the word "bear"), so he just goes turning all the pages, and saying "bear a fele, bear a fele, bear a fele", (bear is here, bear is here, bear is here) I have put alphavet letters on bottle caps and he really likes those, right now, he knows abc, so of course, every bottle cap is a, b, or c. He also likes to count with those, practicing dumping them out of the container, and putting them back in, (alternating between fistfuls, or 1 at a time) and counting, which he is good at. In the morning if I don't go to work until a little later, he comes in the house and asks where the bottle caps are, after the bottle caps, he will ask where the "booko baa" is (big book) that I got from the peace corps office. He likes to point out the girl and her father on all the pages of it, and when our host mother came over to see what he was up to, he showed her too! Gotta love it!
The other night we were have a laughing good time, and it all has to do with a plastic bag and frogs. (Tootoo in Mandinka). Andy had his plastic bag of charcoal on the porch for brewing attaya, and we were out there playing cards when the bag started to move and wriggle around. With a little bumping from me, out hopped a charcoal stained frog)
Well, one day when we were cleaning out the house, I put a plastic shopping bag outside on the porch. Well, it kinda just stayed there, because Andy thought it might be useful. The weather turned cool at night. And one day the bag started moving like the charcoal bag. MoLamin, (who used to scared of them, but has gotten braver) picked up the bag a little bit off the ground and 4 frogs plopped out. Well, this got him very excited and he started chasing them around our porch with a miniature sized grass broom, flicking them and trying to sweep these frogs off our porch. Well, after he had gotten those off the porch he went to get the bag, to throw away, and out plopped about 8 more frogs of all different sizes! They started hopping away for there lives away from MoLamin and he was ecstatic chasing them around the porch. Meanwhile, Andy and I are sitting in our chairs (like an old married couple on the porch) laughing our heads off, it was the most hilarious thing you've ever seen. Well, after a few more frogs got swept off the porch MoLamin and Fatou Bentu started chasing them in the dark around the compound, whooping and hollering. hehe.
The other day when I was getting water the cute white kitty kept sneaking up to my filled buckets and taking a drink. It was so cute, but he/she left dirty paw residue on the edge of my buckets. On his third attempt up to the bucket I got a hold of him and picked him up, he was purring! (must have been confused....) It was funny, and Ndea (our host mom) was on her porch laughing at me.
Oh, I know this is the most random of blogs but I'm just flowing!
The other day at the nursery school I made a teacher bulletin board, for me to put up things about particular topics for the teachers to come and look at. With the help of one of the teachers there we cut some poplin fabric into the right size, made a border with some left over fabric, pinned that in place, glued on some letters I had cut out, and then pinned on some information cards I had printed and mounted and colored poster board. With great effort I put two nails in the concrete walls, cut small holes in the fabric, and looped it over the nail heads. We also had a little table set out in front of it, and there I spread out some examples of items I had made, having to do with our theme. The teachers there were sooooo excited, and I think it will be a good way to get information to them about other techniques and issues, so they can start seeing new ideas and ways of teaching.
Well, next week grades are due at the college, and I still have about 250 test papers to grade., then I will have to go through all approx. 350 students grades and average those, it is going to be a quite a task. I can only sit there and grade for a little at a time before my bottom goes numb or I goes crazy with the answers I'm getting. Next week we are having a friend stay with us, she will be down here doing a training with the college, so that will be nice, and I think we are planning to do some hot chocolate get-together with some of the other area volunteers for Christmas while she is here.
Well, I think thats it for now, later!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Just in case you were wondering
Just in case you were wondering, the kittens that were in the shed, have now left the building. Last week, in the morning, I heard a horrible "screaming" kitten sound, so I came out of the kitchen and saw the mother cat carrying a kitten by the scruff of its neck out the top of the shed, down across our pit and shower area, and up again to the top of the cement block fence. The whole time the kitten was screeching, and the poor mother looked like she was putting all her strength into this manuvere, and had to repeat it three more times, I'm guessing. Because when I checked the shed again, they were gone. I think that maybe she decided that they were getting too big, and soon she would not be able to move them out of the shed herself.
Even though those kittens are gone there are some "teenager" cats around here, that are sort of pets to our host family. They scamper through holes in the cement fence seperating our compound from a tangle of a garden, dart between shadows at night, trying to get closer to the food bowl, and one night one of them (this one is all white, except its tail, which is a great contrast because its black) was playing with this gigantic beatle on the ground. They are so funny to watch because they look (like all cats I'm sure) very schizophrenic jumping around, and avoiding the shadows and immaginary things all around the compound.
Even though those kittens are gone there are some "teenager" cats around here, that are sort of pets to our host family. They scamper through holes in the cement fence seperating our compound from a tangle of a garden, dart between shadows at night, trying to get closer to the food bowl, and one night one of them (this one is all white, except its tail, which is a great contrast because its black) was playing with this gigantic beatle on the ground. They are so funny to watch because they look (like all cats I'm sure) very schizophrenic jumping around, and avoiding the shadows and immaginary things all around the compound.
Busy, Busy
Well, I was looking forward to the "thanksgiving" break this past weekend, but it kinda of ended up being a whirlwind of activity as usual, when you have so many people around, and you want to hang out with all of them, and you are trying to fit in work with some relaxing time. I had classes Thursday up till the afternoon at the college, and jammed back home on my bike, to grab my bag, then caught a gelley to Fajara. I walked in the PC office and was immediately (literally like 5 feet in the door) thrown into practice for the 40th anniversary celebration. We were supposed to say a few snippets about where we are posted and what we are working on. After that we caught a ride to a peace corps staff house and had a great time, eating roasted pumpkin seeds, watching and trying no to get in the way of people who made the tremendous effort of making about 24 from scratch pumpkin pies. Amazing. Andy enjoyed barbecuing a ton of chicken with the people out back. It was a general good time. After all the food was finished, we took it over to the Embassy house and had a really great dinner. It was very surreal, after we stuffed ourselves, we hung out on the grass area out back of the house and watched the sun set against a picturesque view of palm trees and the beach. And even though I thought I might be in danger of sinking because of my full belly, we took a dip in the pool. After they kicked us out of there, we went to a house near the tourist area that we were fortunate enough to be staying. We enjoyed a nice warm shower, toilets that flush and you can sit on, nice people and a comfortable bed. But even though we enjoyed all this, there was always a strange feeling that I just wanted to go home to Brikama. Maybe because we are so comfortable there, and we don't really need those amenities anymore. After a great weekend of eating, hanging out on the beach, and sitting through meetings, we headed back home on Sunday. We were really glad to be back, and it was just a few days that we were gone!
So, I am trying to slow down a bit with work, the end of the college term is very near, this week we are reviewing in the classes, and then next week is their final test. The following week after that I have to turn in grades,..(groannn.....) Which means a lot of work figuring out grades for about 350 students by hand. The nursery school is coming along, I am working right now on getting a resource binder together for them, so we can start to build up the resources the teachers have available to them. I came to the peace corps office to print out examples of themed units and other helpful information to add to the binder. Hopefully, I will get the other teachers to contribute their own ideas to the binder, and soon we will have many binders. Thats the goal right?
I have been really trying to make a concerted effort to help out host brothers and sisters with school type work, because we are learning every time they come for homework help, that instead of the Venn diagram assignment they have to do, they really should just be learning how to read! So, instead of doing a lot of the things I was doing for myself, like drawing, and reading, I have been nonstop teaching it seems. Take yesterday, I had three, two-hours classes, drawn out between the hours of 9am and 6:30pm at the college, right when I got home, and sat out on the porch and two of the smaller children came, so I took out my homemade flashcards and bottle caps for counters, and started doing work with them. After they were done with that, one of my host sisters came over with her SES book, where it was talking about the importance of the River Gambia, and I said, "you read it, and any word that you can figure out, I will help you", turns out that was every single word. She can't read. So, I insisted that the next day we would start work on learning how to read, but for that moment, I read it to her, and we summarized it, talked about what it said, and I asked her some questions about what it had talked about. Well, if that wasn't enough teaching for one day, when I though I was done for the day, and we had eaten dinner and taken a shower, I once again came out onto the porch, only to end up doing place value homework with our host brother till about 10:45. The funny thing was that he came to Andy for help, and Andy didn't really know how to help him, so I took over, and I really think that he was getting the hang of it by the end of the exercise. I felt very accomplished last night, and the great thing is, that as much work as that was, I would do it all day because I really am finding out being here in the Gambia how much I really enjoy my chosen career. And because it's Thanksgiving time, I want to say how much I am thankful for the chance to be able to teach here and broaden my horizons by teaching older students, when I thought I would never like to go above grade 1! I'm also thankful that I get to work within such interesting cultural surrounding, and with so many people. Anyhow, enough of that!~ I think that Andy gave a more detailed account (of course!) about our weekend break, so be sure to click on that link on the right hand side of my blog.
Well, I think thats all my brain can handle right now, I am here in Fajara, doing work, and taking this chance on the computer to update you guys. Of course like every trip here, I have to hit up the grocery store and lumber down to the car park with my arms full to run and catch a gelley back home. Ok, well, call me, write me, email me!
So, I am trying to slow down a bit with work, the end of the college term is very near, this week we are reviewing in the classes, and then next week is their final test. The following week after that I have to turn in grades,..(groannn.....) Which means a lot of work figuring out grades for about 350 students by hand. The nursery school is coming along, I am working right now on getting a resource binder together for them, so we can start to build up the resources the teachers have available to them. I came to the peace corps office to print out examples of themed units and other helpful information to add to the binder. Hopefully, I will get the other teachers to contribute their own ideas to the binder, and soon we will have many binders. Thats the goal right?
I have been really trying to make a concerted effort to help out host brothers and sisters with school type work, because we are learning every time they come for homework help, that instead of the Venn diagram assignment they have to do, they really should just be learning how to read! So, instead of doing a lot of the things I was doing for myself, like drawing, and reading, I have been nonstop teaching it seems. Take yesterday, I had three, two-hours classes, drawn out between the hours of 9am and 6:30pm at the college, right when I got home, and sat out on the porch and two of the smaller children came, so I took out my homemade flashcards and bottle caps for counters, and started doing work with them. After they were done with that, one of my host sisters came over with her SES book, where it was talking about the importance of the River Gambia, and I said, "you read it, and any word that you can figure out, I will help you", turns out that was every single word. She can't read. So, I insisted that the next day we would start work on learning how to read, but for that moment, I read it to her, and we summarized it, talked about what it said, and I asked her some questions about what it had talked about. Well, if that wasn't enough teaching for one day, when I though I was done for the day, and we had eaten dinner and taken a shower, I once again came out onto the porch, only to end up doing place value homework with our host brother till about 10:45. The funny thing was that he came to Andy for help, and Andy didn't really know how to help him, so I took over, and I really think that he was getting the hang of it by the end of the exercise. I felt very accomplished last night, and the great thing is, that as much work as that was, I would do it all day because I really am finding out being here in the Gambia how much I really enjoy my chosen career. And because it's Thanksgiving time, I want to say how much I am thankful for the chance to be able to teach here and broaden my horizons by teaching older students, when I thought I would never like to go above grade 1! I'm also thankful that I get to work within such interesting cultural surrounding, and with so many people. Anyhow, enough of that!~ I think that Andy gave a more detailed account (of course!) about our weekend break, so be sure to click on that link on the right hand side of my blog.
Well, I think thats all my brain can handle right now, I am here in Fajara, doing work, and taking this chance on the computer to update you guys. Of course like every trip here, I have to hit up the grocery store and lumber down to the car park with my arms full to run and catch a gelley back home. Ok, well, call me, write me, email me!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
On the wings of wind
Last week the winds came. The compound grounds are windswept, and everything has begun to build up its layer of fine dust from the dry season. With the wind came an unexpected treat. Baby kittens hiding in the shed with their mother. In the morning we got up and were moving about in the kitchen, and I noticed that the shed door (its really an outdoor cooking area in the back of the house) was ajar. Thinking the wind had blown it open, Andy went to go close it, and discovered three kittens. I didnt see them at that moment, but when I came home from class and saw the door was once again open, I took the opportunity to peek in. And there they were. They were huddled in the corner on a tiny scrap of rag that happened to be there, between two old kerosine lamps. I got the camera and snapped a few pictures. Then I took a rag that was outside the shed and tossed it to the floor, the kittens instantly hissed at the disturbance. And though they are completely adorable with big round blue eyes, I cant feed them. That would mean that they would probably learn to trust people, and that would not be a good thing for them around here!
Last friday we had a great dinner with some area PCVś. I had been saving my two pesto packets I had brought from American for when we could share it. So we had pesto pasta with tomatoes, I toasted some bread and we had garlic bread, and I even made sweet iced tea! It was delicious, but now, there is no more pesto :(
Just wanted to give a shout out to Cheryl and Tim! Yeah your married! Hope it was everything and more, and you are enjoying Jamaica mon!
Michael asked me about a fire in a market here, but I haven´t heard anything, but then again there areńt a lot of sources where you would get that information except for word of mouth probably.
Next weekend is Thanksgiving ( I realyl can believe that, because it just doesnt have the same kind of leading up to it all around you as you do in America), we are having an all volunteer meeting and a dinner in Fajara. I am looking forward to it, because it will be a much needed break from work. Not that I don like it, ( I really like having such purposeful work )its just been so busy. sometimes I dont know how I am going to get all that I want to do at the nursery school done in even two years!
Dharma (a nearby PCV) and I went the other day to have dresses made at the tailors for the meeting and dinner next week. I always have such a mixture of excitement and nervousness of how the thing will turn out that I am getting made. I always feel like I have this new exciting thing, even when I just drop off the cloth. I hope it works out well, because I used some cloth that I really liked and would hate for the dress to not be good.
A recent phenomenon I have discovered is that in the market there is a corner of the roadside that has just piles upon piles of second hand clothing for sale. Now the clothing is sometimes clearly from places like Goodwill, because it has tags still on it from there. Sometimes you can get great finds, that are totally ill fitted to the Gambia, like, a bright yellow fantastic lambs wool turtleneck sweater for 3 dalasi! Too bad I was sweating like crazy, or I could have imagined myself buying this sweater! I got a super comfy New Kids on the Block European Tour shirt, that is great to wear to bed because it is at that stage where it is perfectly soft. It makes me curious to see all these clothing items here in the Gambia, because I think of what journey it has probably made. From the manufacturer in asia somewhere no doubt, shipped to America, in the store, then someone buys it where it for one season, gives it to goodwill, someone buys it there, wears it for a while, then gives it to somewhere and it gets shipped, most likely to europe, and then down to the Gambia, to sit on the ground right next to the charcoal area of the market, and be sold for sometimes would be equivalent to 10 cents.
So, I have started my jump roping regiments. And of course it is such a interesting thing to the fam. Some of the younger girls, especially Jaleka like to join me, and are endlessly frustrated when they cant speed rope like I can, at first try. The first night I did it, she ran to the house to get into some spandex type capris. It was great. I wish I would have brought more than one of these ropes to share, because it is great with the weights, and the rubber rope has good weight to it, and will last a while. Anything I can do to build up female confidence! Well, I think thats about it for now, keep in touch. And if anyone has talked to my long lost sister, tell her to write me! Later.
Last friday we had a great dinner with some area PCVś. I had been saving my two pesto packets I had brought from American for when we could share it. So we had pesto pasta with tomatoes, I toasted some bread and we had garlic bread, and I even made sweet iced tea! It was delicious, but now, there is no more pesto :(
Just wanted to give a shout out to Cheryl and Tim! Yeah your married! Hope it was everything and more, and you are enjoying Jamaica mon!
Michael asked me about a fire in a market here, but I haven´t heard anything, but then again there areńt a lot of sources where you would get that information except for word of mouth probably.
Next weekend is Thanksgiving ( I realyl can believe that, because it just doesnt have the same kind of leading up to it all around you as you do in America), we are having an all volunteer meeting and a dinner in Fajara. I am looking forward to it, because it will be a much needed break from work. Not that I don like it, ( I really like having such purposeful work )its just been so busy. sometimes I dont know how I am going to get all that I want to do at the nursery school done in even two years!
Dharma (a nearby PCV) and I went the other day to have dresses made at the tailors for the meeting and dinner next week. I always have such a mixture of excitement and nervousness of how the thing will turn out that I am getting made. I always feel like I have this new exciting thing, even when I just drop off the cloth. I hope it works out well, because I used some cloth that I really liked and would hate for the dress to not be good.
A recent phenomenon I have discovered is that in the market there is a corner of the roadside that has just piles upon piles of second hand clothing for sale. Now the clothing is sometimes clearly from places like Goodwill, because it has tags still on it from there. Sometimes you can get great finds, that are totally ill fitted to the Gambia, like, a bright yellow fantastic lambs wool turtleneck sweater for 3 dalasi! Too bad I was sweating like crazy, or I could have imagined myself buying this sweater! I got a super comfy New Kids on the Block European Tour shirt, that is great to wear to bed because it is at that stage where it is perfectly soft. It makes me curious to see all these clothing items here in the Gambia, because I think of what journey it has probably made. From the manufacturer in asia somewhere no doubt, shipped to America, in the store, then someone buys it where it for one season, gives it to goodwill, someone buys it there, wears it for a while, then gives it to somewhere and it gets shipped, most likely to europe, and then down to the Gambia, to sit on the ground right next to the charcoal area of the market, and be sold for sometimes would be equivalent to 10 cents.
So, I have started my jump roping regiments. And of course it is such a interesting thing to the fam. Some of the younger girls, especially Jaleka like to join me, and are endlessly frustrated when they cant speed rope like I can, at first try. The first night I did it, she ran to the house to get into some spandex type capris. It was great. I wish I would have brought more than one of these ropes to share, because it is great with the weights, and the rubber rope has good weight to it, and will last a while. Anything I can do to build up female confidence! Well, I think thats about it for now, keep in touch. And if anyone has talked to my long lost sister, tell her to write me! Later.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
a few quick words
Just wanted to say hello, haven't had much time lately on the computer, but I try to kick Andy off his at work at often as I can. Today was another day at the nursery school, we are slowly making progress there, its just diffcult because I can't be there every second of the week. I have started giving the teachers I'm working with now, "teacher assignments" where I give them one particular aspect to work on for that day on a notecard, like today it was using positive praise, which is not something they even think of here as something that should happen in the classroom to encourage the students in behavior and in academics. I explain it a little, we talk about it beforehand, and then they put the brightly colored notecard on their desk in front of them, so that they have it there as a reminder of what they should be working on all day. At the end of the day, they write how they thought the day went concentrating on the particular assignment on the back of the card, and we discuss what I observed, they can ask me specific questions, etc. It is a good way of focusing on one issue at a time, and that way we can see progress and keep track of what we are working on, instead of just piling on all these things that we need to work on at once.
So, the weather here is very hot during the day lately, as I'm sure you already got. Its the kind of heat where I walk with an umbrella to shield myself from the sun like when I'm going to the market, and even though it is about 5 when I usually go, I immediately have sweat dripping from the crook of my elbow that is bent from holding the umbrella above my head. But despite the heat during the day, the nights aren't too bad, like last night I was wearing a tank top, and sitting outside chatting with the family, and I was a bit chilly! When I took my bucket bath before going to bed, I had goosebumps! Crazy.
And some more random topics:
The oranges you can buy here are not the color orange, they are a good solid green, and light yellowish inside they are called "lemuno". They are pretty tasty, but I don't know if I would be saying that if I had one when I first got off the plane, if you know what I mean. But the other day I saw an amazing sight,... a orange colored orange! When I went to buy one, the lady mistakenly thought I wanted one of the green ones (the lemuno), but I said no, and pointed to the orange colored one, and she said, "oh, tubab lemuno" If you don't know already tubab is the word for white person/outsider, that is constantly berating us where ever we go. It made me laugh that she called it a tubab lemuno. But it was soo completely delicious, and juicy and orange.... even inside! It was expensive, (for the cost of one of the tubab oranges you can get 4-5 green ones. Anyhow (Guess you had to be there!.... so come on, get here!)
Another story about tubab. When I was at the nursery school observing a new class, the children were turning around and looking at me in the back of the classroom. They kept calling out "tubab" For some reason in this school they call the teacher Auntie, (so Auntie Mary, Auntie Fatou, etc.) So when the teacher tried to correct them, and said, "no her name is Auntie,... what?" The children said without hesitation, "Auntie Tubab".... hehe. One track minds I tell ya!
Well, thats it for now, gotta do some computer work for the college. Hope to hear from you soon. :)
So, the weather here is very hot during the day lately, as I'm sure you already got. Its the kind of heat where I walk with an umbrella to shield myself from the sun like when I'm going to the market, and even though it is about 5 when I usually go, I immediately have sweat dripping from the crook of my elbow that is bent from holding the umbrella above my head. But despite the heat during the day, the nights aren't too bad, like last night I was wearing a tank top, and sitting outside chatting with the family, and I was a bit chilly! When I took my bucket bath before going to bed, I had goosebumps! Crazy.
And some more random topics:
The oranges you can buy here are not the color orange, they are a good solid green, and light yellowish inside they are called "lemuno". They are pretty tasty, but I don't know if I would be saying that if I had one when I first got off the plane, if you know what I mean. But the other day I saw an amazing sight,... a orange colored orange! When I went to buy one, the lady mistakenly thought I wanted one of the green ones (the lemuno), but I said no, and pointed to the orange colored one, and she said, "oh, tubab lemuno" If you don't know already tubab is the word for white person/outsider, that is constantly berating us where ever we go. It made me laugh that she called it a tubab lemuno. But it was soo completely delicious, and juicy and orange.... even inside! It was expensive, (for the cost of one of the tubab oranges you can get 4-5 green ones. Anyhow (Guess you had to be there!.... so come on, get here!)
Another story about tubab. When I was at the nursery school observing a new class, the children were turning around and looking at me in the back of the classroom. They kept calling out "tubab" For some reason in this school they call the teacher Auntie, (so Auntie Mary, Auntie Fatou, etc.) So when the teacher tried to correct them, and said, "no her name is Auntie,... what?" The children said without hesitation, "Auntie Tubab".... hehe. One track minds I tell ya!
Well, thats it for now, gotta do some computer work for the college. Hope to hear from you soon. :)
Friday, November 2, 2007
November! November!?
Wow, its already November! Halloween flew by with barely a nod from us, I was so busy with work, that I almost completely forgot. The college work has been keeping me busy, and I am still trying to keep up with the nursery school, so that gives me a full schedule now. Grading, planning, prepping, observing, etc. Wheeww. I will be glad for a little break come Thanksgiving time. There will be a dinner for Peace Corps in the city, I think we might go. I am here at the PC office today, got up this morning and rode over, to spend all day on the computer for work stuff. I am beat, and still have to go to the grocery store here, and then off course chase after a van and hope that I get one back home! Tomorrow will be nice to have a little time to relax. Lately I haven't been able to write in my journal or draw but I hope to tomorrow. I went with the nursery school to the "zoo" (really just a few animals in cages) the other day. I thought I was just taggin along, but right before we left, I got somehow squeezed into leading a class! But it went ok. Thursdays classes at the college ( I have two on that day, four hours) went pretty well, but I have yet to look at the students papers for that day, so who knows. I always get the most random questions from them! Andy, myself, and one of our host brothers rode our bikes to the beach last Saturday, it was sooo hot! But the beach was beautiful, deserted, and then we went to another section and saw the fisherman pulling in their large boats. They chanted as they all heaved and hoed the boats in. There was a woman with a child in a small blue plastic tub at the edge of the ocean giving him a bath,.. it would have been such a cute picture, but I couldn't get my camera out fast enough! After we rode home (its about an hours ride each way) we got showered and went to a friends going away party. It was being thrown by a Gambian, and there were drummers there and a leader dancing around and with a whistle. She had amazing energy and was just jumping around and dancing, it was crazy, she had sweat dripping off her because it was so hot. Speaking of being hot the last volunteer in our house left a thermometer in our kitchen window, and we just assumed that it was broken because it stayed on 80 degrees the whole wet season, and then all of the sudden the other day I look over and it was at 100 degrees. We think what had happened was, like many other things, it got stuck with the extreme humidity during the wet season. Random things began to work a bit better now that its dry, like our salt shaker, matches, etc. Well, I better head off, and start my decent back towards Brikama. Hope all is well! Write me :)
Lydia
Lydia
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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!)
Monday, October 15, 2007
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
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!
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!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
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
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
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
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
Lydia
Monday, October 1, 2007
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!)
Saturday, September 29, 2007
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... :)
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... :)
Sunday, September 23, 2007
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!
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!
Friday, September 21, 2007
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!
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, September 15, 2007
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!
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!
Friday, September 14, 2007
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!
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, September 10, 2007
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!
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!
Friday, September 7, 2007
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!
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!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Check it out
Hey peoples I just read Andy's blog and it is much better at giving the overall feeling of the place, so read up, and ignore the misspellings like on mine! He also gives a link to a good compilation of our pictures! Yeah! http://nasdrovya.blogspot.com/
Day after swearing in!
Yeah! We are officially VOLUNTEERS now! golly, that took a while :) Yesterday morning we went to the U.S. ambassadors house and had the ceremony. It was very nice, pretty simple, and they had a wonderful array of food! Of course we are very excited about anything that isn't rice, but seriously it was awesome. I could have filled up on desserts alone, of which they had about 20 different types. So, we took the oath, and now have our id's and no one, no one may call us "trainees" anymore! We were happy this morning when we came to the office and the guards asks us for our id's for the first time:)
Well, I'm sure you will get more details from Andy's blog about training village and I think he spend a good chunk of time yesterday putting up pictures up so make sure to check those out.
This will be the last full day here in Kombo before we go back to our site to officially start our service tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be very chaotic, I foresee, (actually this isn't a big leap because it seems everything orchestrated for us is!) because we have a ton of mattresses, gas burners, propane tanks, metal trunks, food, etc. that everyone provisioned for the "3 month challenge". Getting all those things in cars with the right people going the right direction in the country, and making sure it's strapped down enought to withstand the leaps it will surely take because of the roads, is going to be a great challenge. The "3 month challenge" is something that our PC people request you take on. It is a challenge to you to stay in your site for 3 months without leaving it to spend the night somewhere else, or travel outside of your village very far. They want us to really force ourselves to get to know our surroundings very well, so that after the three months we will be able to know what the community needs and will really know our family well. For Andy and I it won't be very difficult because our site is a pretty good size city. We will be able to get everything we could get in Kombo there too. Though we surely will have a hankering to get out and explore the upper regions of the country after three months.
The place we will live in is called Brikama. When we first drove to it on site visit (last week) I was a little apprehensive because coming from Bambako a pretty small village, it felt like a big bustling city. I still think that it is a pretty good size bustling city, but only in the Gambian sense! There is a large market about a K from our house. It is open every day instead of just once a week, like most of the village markets are. There is a lot of fresh produce, and fresh meat (large livestock slaughtered and alive), and all kinds of things.
The Gambia college is located about a kilometer from our house, (really quick bike ride or short walk) All the teachers in the Gambia are trained through here, so I'm hoping that I will be able to make a substantial impact because I am at the center of the action. Andy will be working there too, though he seems like he might want to spend more time with the National Beekeepers Association. There is also an insane "carpark" which is where all the gelley gelley drivers go to pick up passengers to cram into their vans and take across bumpy roads to pretty much any destination in the country. You can not even imagine the chaos that ensues when a "toubab" (too-bob=outsider or white person) is near the carpark. Everyone is trying to hustle you into their van, and you have to be very wary of pickpockets we have heard. There are a ton of cars trying to go from a culdisack type area through a bottleneck entrance and exit. Horns are honking, the van driver's apprentices are yelling at people different destinations, men are yelling at each other, there are people winding through the narrow spaces between the crammed cars selling things like bananas, boiled mangoes, etc. from trays they carry on their heads, it is crazy! Last week when we walked down there to make our first trip from Brikama I saw this man sitting on a mat on the ground, surrounding by severed goat heads, and he was roasting one. I did a double take! Did not see the other parts of the goats though.... hmmm..??.. Anyhow you get the picture.
Well, I'm sure you will get more details from Andy's blog about training village and I think he spend a good chunk of time yesterday putting up pictures up so make sure to check those out.
This will be the last full day here in Kombo before we go back to our site to officially start our service tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be very chaotic, I foresee, (actually this isn't a big leap because it seems everything orchestrated for us is!) because we have a ton of mattresses, gas burners, propane tanks, metal trunks, food, etc. that everyone provisioned for the "3 month challenge". Getting all those things in cars with the right people going the right direction in the country, and making sure it's strapped down enought to withstand the leaps it will surely take because of the roads, is going to be a great challenge. The "3 month challenge" is something that our PC people request you take on. It is a challenge to you to stay in your site for 3 months without leaving it to spend the night somewhere else, or travel outside of your village very far. They want us to really force ourselves to get to know our surroundings very well, so that after the three months we will be able to know what the community needs and will really know our family well. For Andy and I it won't be very difficult because our site is a pretty good size city. We will be able to get everything we could get in Kombo there too. Though we surely will have a hankering to get out and explore the upper regions of the country after three months.
The place we will live in is called Brikama. When we first drove to it on site visit (last week) I was a little apprehensive because coming from Bambako a pretty small village, it felt like a big bustling city. I still think that it is a pretty good size bustling city, but only in the Gambian sense! There is a large market about a K from our house. It is open every day instead of just once a week, like most of the village markets are. There is a lot of fresh produce, and fresh meat (large livestock slaughtered and alive), and all kinds of things.
The Gambia college is located about a kilometer from our house, (really quick bike ride or short walk) All the teachers in the Gambia are trained through here, so I'm hoping that I will be able to make a substantial impact because I am at the center of the action. Andy will be working there too, though he seems like he might want to spend more time with the National Beekeepers Association. There is also an insane "carpark" which is where all the gelley gelley drivers go to pick up passengers to cram into their vans and take across bumpy roads to pretty much any destination in the country. You can not even imagine the chaos that ensues when a "toubab" (too-bob=outsider or white person) is near the carpark. Everyone is trying to hustle you into their van, and you have to be very wary of pickpockets we have heard. There are a ton of cars trying to go from a culdisack type area through a bottleneck entrance and exit. Horns are honking, the van driver's apprentices are yelling at people different destinations, men are yelling at each other, there are people winding through the narrow spaces between the crammed cars selling things like bananas, boiled mangoes, etc. from trays they carry on their heads, it is crazy! Last week when we walked down there to make our first trip from Brikama I saw this man sitting on a mat on the ground, surrounding by severed goat heads, and he was roasting one. I did a double take! Did not see the other parts of the goats though.... hmmm..??.. Anyhow you get the picture.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Passed!
Yeah! We just found out late today that we all passed our last language test! Now the 50 ton truck of pressure will finally be lifted, and be replaced with a 15 ton truck. :) Now we are all looking forward to the swearing in ceremony, and not really looking forward to buying stuff for settling in to our new abodes. It will be a bit chaotic finding everything, because its so spread out, and getting all 20 trainees things in cars to take back to their sites!
Ok, anyhow, I left on the getting to training.
In the morning in training village we would get woken up at about 5:30 with the prayer call from the mosque, and people and donkeys (making the weirdest noises ever!) and roosters, and any number of other things. We would try to sleep till 7:15 when we had to get up and get ready. As soon as we put ourselves together one of us would go out to open up the door to the house and prop it open. We would then greet all the people in the compound (these greetings are sometimes lengthy) Then we would leave Andy's family's compound and go across the village to my host family's compound to greet them as well. Sometimes they would have my breakfast for me and I would take that to class. Breakfast usually consisited of a small baguette type bread, and tea. On rare occasions I would have rice porriage, but Andy got that a lot. We could get ahold of local peanut butter which is delicious, because its just ground peanuts not added anything, but we would sometimes add a little sugar!) We would then head over to our teachers compound and have class for about 4 hours. After class we would often go take a nap, (the heat, lack of high energy foods, and of course lack of sleep makes you tired!) because the middle of the day is the hottest part, most people would hang out in the shade. Locals ( mostly boys/men) would hang out under shaded trees in certain areas of the village called "bantabas" The women, always doing work for the household, would sit under the porches on plastic mats called "basoos" (pronounced kind of like 'baa-sews') and do idle work like shell mountains of peanuts so as not to get too hot.
Ok, anyhow, I left on the getting to training.
In the morning in training village we would get woken up at about 5:30 with the prayer call from the mosque, and people and donkeys (making the weirdest noises ever!) and roosters, and any number of other things. We would try to sleep till 7:15 when we had to get up and get ready. As soon as we put ourselves together one of us would go out to open up the door to the house and prop it open. We would then greet all the people in the compound (these greetings are sometimes lengthy) Then we would leave Andy's family's compound and go across the village to my host family's compound to greet them as well. Sometimes they would have my breakfast for me and I would take that to class. Breakfast usually consisited of a small baguette type bread, and tea. On rare occasions I would have rice porriage, but Andy got that a lot. We could get ahold of local peanut butter which is delicious, because its just ground peanuts not added anything, but we would sometimes add a little sugar!) We would then head over to our teachers compound and have class for about 4 hours. After class we would often go take a nap, (the heat, lack of high energy foods, and of course lack of sleep makes you tired!) because the middle of the day is the hottest part, most people would hang out in the shade. Locals ( mostly boys/men) would hang out under shaded trees in certain areas of the village called "bantabas" The women, always doing work for the household, would sit under the porches on plastic mats called "basoos" (pronounced kind of like 'baa-sews') and do idle work like shell mountains of peanuts so as not to get too hot.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Let the updates begin!
Oh, gosh, Where to begin... Well, we reached out two month marker recently but it seems like a while ago that we came here to the Gambia. So the last time I wrote we were preparing to go off the training village. Our training village was called Bambako. It was a very momentous day when we all hopped on the Toyota coaster van with all our stuff strapped to the top of another car and bumped down the horrendous road to drop people off at their respected villages, group by group. Whenever someone would get dropped off you could just see the mob of children surrounding them and the look of "Oh boy what have I gotten myself into!" look on their faces.
So Andy and I were dropped off along with one other volunteer in Bambako. We met our language teacher there and we just sat in some chairs under the shade of a mango tree adjusting to the heat and the realization that we were actually there. After a little while, and a few glasses of attaya (strongly brewed green tea) we went around to meet people in the village and meet our families. The arrangement that we had was a little different because we are a married couple. I had my host family that would provide my meals, and Andy had his own host family that would provide his meals. But.... we lived in Andy's host family's compound. My host father is the alikahlo of the village, which is like the chief of the village. The compound is a group of houses in which a family lives. Now, the general family here is a very extended affair, because a lot of the people are poligamists, and of course they usually have the regualr extended family there too, like grandmothers etc. So, my host father had three wives, but most of the time only one was around. Andy's family had three wives and they all have a ton of children. So when we first got a chance be alone in our new living situation we were not really alone, because of the kids would just stand outside the screen door and talk about us. Whenever you are home the general rule is that you have to keep your door open, (but you can have the screen door closed) because people think that you have something to hide if you have your door shut when you are home. It would probably also be a bit crazy because it is so hot inside a tin roof house in Africa!
So Andy and I were dropped off along with one other volunteer in Bambako. We met our language teacher there and we just sat in some chairs under the shade of a mango tree adjusting to the heat and the realization that we were actually there. After a little while, and a few glasses of attaya (strongly brewed green tea) we went around to meet people in the village and meet our families. The arrangement that we had was a little different because we are a married couple. I had my host family that would provide my meals, and Andy had his own host family that would provide his meals. But.... we lived in Andy's host family's compound. My host father is the alikahlo of the village, which is like the chief of the village. The compound is a group of houses in which a family lives. Now, the general family here is a very extended affair, because a lot of the people are poligamists, and of course they usually have the regualr extended family there too, like grandmothers etc. So, my host father had three wives, but most of the time only one was around. Andy's family had three wives and they all have a ton of children. So when we first got a chance be alone in our new living situation we were not really alone, because of the kids would just stand outside the screen door and talk about us. Whenever you are home the general rule is that you have to keep your door open, (but you can have the screen door closed) because people think that you have something to hide if you have your door shut when you are home. It would probably also be a bit crazy because it is so hot inside a tin roof house in Africa!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Don't rush out and get this, but if you are thinking about it sometime and feel like sending a package a long way....
Granola bars (chocolate chip, etc.)
Salty snacks
Gator aid
Emergen-C packets
Bug spray (pump spray) (they give us a lotion, that is just horrible to put on because you are just so sweaty all the time, plus you have sunblock on.. it would be much better to be able to do an overall spray of the body)
waterless hand sanitizer
cookies
button up shirts colorful, and straight cotton - size large
Stickers for kids
Notecards (index cards)
pictures
q-tips
sport shorts (I forgot these, and had to jump rope in my pajama pants the other night! hehe)
You should have the address to send any of these things if you choose to send it- NOT that you need to! I was thinking that maybe you could seperate the things that you want to send into a couple of packages, (small of course), because if they go through it they won't be as likely to take the only thing in the package, then if there are a bunch of things, they would think I wouldn't know what was in it anyways. Also, maybe it would be a good idea to put a list of items in the package somewhere on the actual package... I really don't have any clue, because I am new at this as well, ... so. we will just have to try it out and see.
Salty snacks
Gator aid
Emergen-C packets
Bug spray (pump spray) (they give us a lotion, that is just horrible to put on because you are just so sweaty all the time, plus you have sunblock on.. it would be much better to be able to do an overall spray of the body)
waterless hand sanitizer
cookies
button up shirts colorful, and straight cotton - size large
Stickers for kids
Notecards (index cards)
pictures
q-tips
sport shorts (I forgot these, and had to jump rope in my pajama pants the other night! hehe)
You should have the address to send any of these things if you choose to send it- NOT that you need to! I was thinking that maybe you could seperate the things that you want to send into a couple of packages, (small of course), because if they go through it they won't be as likely to take the only thing in the package, then if there are a bunch of things, they would think I wouldn't know what was in it anyways. Also, maybe it would be a good idea to put a list of items in the package somewhere on the actual package... I really don't have any clue, because I am new at this as well, ... so. we will just have to try it out and see.
Wednesday
Hello, man, last night was a bit difficult, because Andy and I switched beds (he insisted that his was much hotter). And I fell asleep fine, except I woke up and there was another storm, this time much worse, and I had to go to the bathroom.. there were more people in the unlucky position to get their laundry caught out in the rain, so there were people running out there in the lighting, rain, and extreme wind. There was something shorting out and sparking on the side of the building, so it all seemed a bit crazy in the middle of the night. So after I got back from the bathroom, I fell back asleep but woke up again because I felt something bite on my shoulder. I thought it might be mosquitos, so I tried to cover my body up with my sheet. In the morning I felt a large bit bump on my arm that was exposed, because I was sleeping on my right side, so my left arm has that one big bump and a ton of other bites. They itch a lot, and I guess there are either, 1)mosquitos, 2)an ant and mosquitos 3)bed bugs,..(yuk! I don't even want to look! because there is nothing I can do about it!) or 4) any combination of the previous three choices!
Yesterday we had that infamous two hours class on diarrhea, and other common diseases, and we learned all the horrible things that could, and probably very well will happen to us. And today in the same class we learned more about that, but also how to put up our mosquito net, filter and bleach our water... and went through everything that is in our extensive med. kit. Today we took our second dose of malaria medication, so hopefully everyone will be alright with that.. I went to the "supermarket" to try to find some things, but it gets very expensive right away, IF they have the things you are looking for. Tomorrow will be our last day here in this area until after training village. We are going to be very busy with our schedule, we have language pretty much from the moment we wake up for a couple of hours, then breakfast, then another couple of hours, and then we are supposed to go to our host families and practice with them for a few... so from like 8 am to 6 pm we will be doing that stuff, then we have to work in bucket baths, filtering/fetching water, and other things. Everyone says that they are totally exhausted at the end of each day.
So, that's about it for now, we have some more studying to do...
I don't know when the next blog will be because I probably won't have time to come over tomorrow, we will be busy with classes all day and then we have to pack to get ready to go on Friday. I feel kind of like what I was feeling on the plane over here, that I just want to hurry up and already see what it is like, and what the situation is already in the village.
Ok, oh, yeah, I might cut my hair short, or shave it (some girls have already done that!) I am going to try it out in training village having long hair, and if that doesn't work then off we go with it!
Later!
Lydia
Yesterday we had that infamous two hours class on diarrhea, and other common diseases, and we learned all the horrible things that could, and probably very well will happen to us. And today in the same class we learned more about that, but also how to put up our mosquito net, filter and bleach our water... and went through everything that is in our extensive med. kit. Today we took our second dose of malaria medication, so hopefully everyone will be alright with that.. I went to the "supermarket" to try to find some things, but it gets very expensive right away, IF they have the things you are looking for. Tomorrow will be our last day here in this area until after training village. We are going to be very busy with our schedule, we have language pretty much from the moment we wake up for a couple of hours, then breakfast, then another couple of hours, and then we are supposed to go to our host families and practice with them for a few... so from like 8 am to 6 pm we will be doing that stuff, then we have to work in bucket baths, filtering/fetching water, and other things. Everyone says that they are totally exhausted at the end of each day.
So, that's about it for now, we have some more studying to do...
I don't know when the next blog will be because I probably won't have time to come over tomorrow, we will be busy with classes all day and then we have to pack to get ready to go on Friday. I feel kind of like what I was feeling on the plane over here, that I just want to hurry up and already see what it is like, and what the situation is already in the village.
Ok, oh, yeah, I might cut my hair short, or shave it (some girls have already done that!) I am going to try it out in training village having long hair, and if that doesn't work then off we go with it!
Later!
Lydia
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
New Week
So, I guess the last time I wrote we went to the beach. It was pretty unique. The sand is a deep black color with gold and shiny specks in it. The water was pretty much the same, a nice color, and little waves. There were lots of people playing soccer, and the area goiabove the beach had little hammocks and cabana type things. You could get a semi cold sprite or fanta. We walked back from there and stopped by the hostel that PC people only can stay in. There is actually a room that has air conditioning and a hot water heater...ohhhh...ahhhh... hehe. Yesterday we got more shots, typhoid in one arm and Hep A in the other.... (there is more tomorrow!) The typhoid was the most sore I have had from a vaccine. Yesterday I could barely move my arm! Anyhow, we are preparing ourselves for leaving the comforts of the compound in the "city" because we won't have extras like, showers, toilets, solid walls, ceiling fans etc.
Yesterday evening we Andy and I decided to try our hand at the bucket method of doing the laundry, and it was a lot of work. After we hung it all up we went to dinner, and went to bed. Well,... in the middle of the night about 3, I noticed that Andy had turned the fan on super fast, and then I noticed he was gone,.. I thought it might have gone to the bathroom, so I fell back asleep for a second,.. and I woke back up because the wind was rushing through the window and blowing the curtain and I noticed that he was gone still... and it took me a few seconds,... to realize that Oh my gosh my tank tops and clothes are going to blow away!~ because we don't have clothespins! So I frantically find my dress and put it on, and run out into the hallway,.. I check the bathroom for Andy, and he wasn't there, so I headed out of the hallway and outside, and he was there, I grabbed my headlamp and we started to gather up the clothes that dropped, and put them back on the line, when it started to really blow, .. there was dust everywhere,.. then.. it started to rain! So then we just went around as fast as we could gather up everything. Once we got inside our small room there was a challenge of finding places to hang wet clothes, but we eventually did. We ended up with some dirty clothes again, but hey, what can you do! Hehe. Oh, today we went to the big market downtown.,,.. let me just say ... oh my gosh! I was so overwhelmed, and we didn't have any practice with our "market terms and language" so it was difficult, and I felt hopeless! Well, I suppose that will get better with practice, but there were so many things everywhere, and back hallways, and people, and random things, that it is hard to know where to go to buy specific things, and if you are getting the lowest price possible!
I know this is long, but one more thing! We went to this crocodile pool, that is basically a big hole in the ground with a bunch of crocodiles in it, some people went up to "pet" it, and take pictures, (to me not so smart!), and the guy fed them in front of us.. I got a lot of mosquito bites... OH, yeah, they say that if you are an infertile woman, and you go and bathe in the crocodile pool, you will have a baby. (don't know if I believe that! I think it is a ploy to get infertile (useless) women to get eaten by crocodiles! hehe) Ok.. People are waiting for the computers... so I will have to catch up more later!
Lydia
Yesterday evening we Andy and I decided to try our hand at the bucket method of doing the laundry, and it was a lot of work. After we hung it all up we went to dinner, and went to bed. Well,... in the middle of the night about 3, I noticed that Andy had turned the fan on super fast, and then I noticed he was gone,.. I thought it might have gone to the bathroom, so I fell back asleep for a second,.. and I woke back up because the wind was rushing through the window and blowing the curtain and I noticed that he was gone still... and it took me a few seconds,... to realize that Oh my gosh my tank tops and clothes are going to blow away!~ because we don't have clothespins! So I frantically find my dress and put it on, and run out into the hallway,.. I check the bathroom for Andy, and he wasn't there, so I headed out of the hallway and outside, and he was there, I grabbed my headlamp and we started to gather up the clothes that dropped, and put them back on the line, when it started to really blow, .. there was dust everywhere,.. then.. it started to rain! So then we just went around as fast as we could gather up everything. Once we got inside our small room there was a challenge of finding places to hang wet clothes, but we eventually did. We ended up with some dirty clothes again, but hey, what can you do! Hehe. Oh, today we went to the big market downtown.,,.. let me just say ... oh my gosh! I was so overwhelmed, and we didn't have any practice with our "market terms and language" so it was difficult, and I felt hopeless! Well, I suppose that will get better with practice, but there were so many things everywhere, and back hallways, and people, and random things, that it is hard to know where to go to buy specific things, and if you are getting the lowest price possible!
I know this is long, but one more thing! We went to this crocodile pool, that is basically a big hole in the ground with a bunch of crocodiles in it, some people went up to "pet" it, and take pictures, (to me not so smart!), and the guy fed them in front of us.. I got a lot of mosquito bites... OH, yeah, they say that if you are an infertile woman, and you go and bathe in the crocodile pool, you will have a baby. (don't know if I believe that! I think it is a ploy to get infertile (useless) women to get eaten by crocodiles! hehe) Ok.. People are waiting for the computers... so I will have to catch up more later!
Lydia
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Salaa Maaleekum!
Now, you would say.. "maaleekum salaam" That is how you start the traditional greeting here in the Gambia, then you can continue in your the language that you are learning, mine is Mandinka. Today is Sunday, and we are just pretty much chillin. We woke up to go to breakfast in the morning, but afterwards went back to sleep for a quick nap. Afterwards we went to a grocery store here in the city, it was pretty well stocked, and had a lot of foreign things (to me). We were told by other PCV's (Peace Corps volunteers), to get some extra toilet paper to bring to training camp, so we got that and some pringles and cookies. (They also suggested snacks). We are planning to go to the beach, but that will be after lunch, then while at the beach a guy said we could come and check out his solar panels, so we are going to do that. That's about all we have planned, except for lots of language studying and making a detailed list of our med. kit., which is pretty extensive.
Yesterday, while we were under this humungous mango tree "in class" and a mango just fell beside one girl and splattered next to her. That was bad enough, but the stuff that splattered on her arm had maggots in it! heheheh... whenever we are under there, (which has been alot) for class we are always paranoid that mango is going to get us! hehe.
Anyhow, if you are mom or dad please check your email, I just sent one about phone cards.
Talk to you later
Lydia
Yesterday, while we were under this humungous mango tree "in class" and a mango just fell beside one girl and splattered next to her. That was bad enough, but the stuff that splattered on her arm had maggots in it! heheheh... whenever we are under there, (which has been alot) for class we are always paranoid that mango is going to get us! hehe.
Anyhow, if you are mom or dad please check your email, I just sent one about phone cards.
Talk to you later
Lydia
Friday, June 15, 2007
Ist full day in Gambia
Hello. Today was the first full day in Africa. We woke up and had breakfast, (we had some good rice porriage and things) and then we started into a rotation of going to get shots, interviewing with the director of our sections (mine, education), and going to the Peace Corps office. I only had to get one shot today, rabies, which is always good. Andy and I found out that the language we are going to be learning is called Mandinka. We had a good time learning from our teacher today, which everyone says looks like Dave Chappell, which he does but he is a little shorter. He also if very funny which makes it very easy to make mistakes and not have to worry about it! We learned the greetings today, but we shall see if I remember them tomorrow! Tomorrow we are going to go to a mosque and check it out together, it shall be interesting. Everyone here if very nice and ready to help you, I had a conversation with a school boy today on the street when we were walking from the office to where we are staying. He spoke very good english. On Sunday we are going to go to the beach, we saw pictures of it today, it looks very nice. Sorry there is a lack of details in my blogs so far, but I am still trying to catch up on sleep, we planned to get to bed early tonight but I don't think that is going to happen. Last night I slept well, and only woke up once, but we had to wake up early and have been going, going, going all day long. Ya know, living in this compound feels like living in Puerto Rico, with the kind of tropical-ness, the cold showers and humid conditions, the strange animal noises outside that we dont' quite know what they are... Well, thats about it for now, Talk to you guys later! Hope you are going well.
Lydia
Lydia
Thursday, June 14, 2007
I'm in Africa!
Hello everyone, I hope you are checking this, we finally arrived here in The Gambia, and it is so far so good. It was a long trip here, and I still feel like everything is moving, and that I am still riding on an airplane! But I'm sure that good nights sleep in a cot will take care of that :) We have a busy schedule planned for us, but I think I may be able to make a couple of posts while we are here near the PC office. I wanted to thank everyone again for the well wishes, and your support. We are both really excited, and glad that the anxiousness if over, and we can finally get in the midst of the whole thing. Well, I gotta let other people on the computer, so I will hopefully update/talk to you guys later!
Lydia
Lydia
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Time to Move...
I have that Tom Petty song in my head, "Time to move on... Time to get going.. What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing....... In fact that has been a theme throughout the goodbye process. But that last bit is especialy true of tomorrow, it will be exciting to finally get there and to start actually "knowing" what lies ahead!
We had staging all day today, and afterwards we went to do a jam session through the monuments. We saw a lot in a little bit of time, I'm glad we went, because a lot of people didn't go because it was kinda rainy. But we just got a little sprinkle at the beginning and then it was fine. We had a good "last dinner" in the US and probably last glass of red wine for a while. I savored that for sure! If only I wasn't so full from dinner I would have gone to get some ice cream for dessert!
Well, tomorrow we are off early in the morning to get our shots, and then it will be all mass in transit to the airport. I am actually looking forward to getting on the plane for a while, so that I can finally just chill out and read, do crossword puzzles, etc. Well, I think that's it for now, my brain is kinda full from today, and getting ready to actually leave tomorrow... :) :0
Talk to you all soon somehow! (letter, email, phone)
We had staging all day today, and afterwards we went to do a jam session through the monuments. We saw a lot in a little bit of time, I'm glad we went, because a lot of people didn't go because it was kinda rainy. But we just got a little sprinkle at the beginning and then it was fine. We had a good "last dinner" in the US and probably last glass of red wine for a while. I savored that for sure! If only I wasn't so full from dinner I would have gone to get some ice cream for dessert!
Well, tomorrow we are off early in the morning to get our shots, and then it will be all mass in transit to the airport. I am actually looking forward to getting on the plane for a while, so that I can finally just chill out and read, do crossword puzzles, etc. Well, I think that's it for now, my brain is kinda full from today, and getting ready to actually leave tomorrow... :) :0
Talk to you all soon somehow! (letter, email, phone)
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Day before departure to D.C.
Ok, early tomorrow we will be leaving on the plane to DC. That is just wacky! I am very excited/anxious. I am pretty sure I am ready, I finished packing my bags, (except for last minute stuff) on Saturday, and the total weight is........60 pounds! I think that is pretty good! We are allowed to have 80 pounds of checked luggage. Andy actually has more than me,.. but I will grant him the fact that he is carrying a lot of our electronic stuff which may be heavier,... I guess. Tonight, our last meal here will be some yummy homemade smoked ribs, that will be a memorable one! We went to the beach earlier today and met a lot of people and it was very nice, I spent most of the time in the water, it will be a nice memory to take with. Well, that's about it for now! Not very interesting,.. but ya know..
Later
Lydia
Later
Lydia
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