Today, I was thinking about (I know, I know, there I go thinking again) how being here has really put me "on the job" 24/7. Taking the teaching profession in general you become aware that you have to behave a certain way, even when your off the job, because, who knows, you may run into a student and his mother at the grocery store.... and if your the kind to wear daisy dukes, it might be a little awkward.
Here, I feel I am on the job ever waking hour, (and some I get woken up for!) But, unlike the above example scenario, I actually feel the calling to teach at any given moment. This happens because in the course of our daily travels we encounter people we may educate on American culture, the English language, etc. At work, I teach teachers, watch teachers, teach children, and so on. As soon as I get home I come in throw my bags down and there are children immediately at the door (if they haven't gotten to me walking through the compound already) And because I love my job and kids, I take the opportunity because I feel it is limited to do some form of educating.
It may get tiring, and there are times when I will make a cup of tea, sit down with my latest read and ignore them for 30 minutes, but even then in the back of my mind is the fact that we only have such limited time here in these kids lives.
Well, admitedly I am particularly attached to our host family children, especially our smallest host brother Mo Lamin. When I think about leaving him my heart sinks. And even though I try to equate it to teaching a new group of kids every year, it is apparent to me that we are a lot closer than I have gotten with any of those kids. Coming upon our year mark has propelled me into the future of when we will be done with our service here. It will undoubtly be more difficult to leave this place than it was to leave America, not because we love the place or people any more, but because we won't be the postive loving force in their lives, but mostly because we will probably never see them again. When I think of that last statement, I always start brainstorming ways to keep them in our lives, setting up scholarships for the kids to go to school, having them come visit us in America, and least of all calling them on the phone. And all of these thoughts bring me back to the present and the fact that I have to use ever opportunity to teach them something and, of course, for me to learn from them.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
ah.. the sweet pitter patter of rain
Well, yesterday was cloudy all day, and in some areas grey clouds covered the sky, even though there didn't seem to be much moisture in the air, it seemed like it would rain. I it made me feel happy and calm. But it did not...
About 4:45 last night I woke up because I needed to visit the pit latrine, but being as that I was sleeping so well, I didn't want to get up, and I fell asleep again till 5. That's when I heard a strange noise, and then all of the sudden there is the pitter patter of rain on the roof. Now, it never fails especially during the rainy season, that when it rains in the middle of the night, I always have to get up and pee. This is especially true if there is a downpour, of which I must go out in the middle of it. But at least our pit area is covered.
Of course, because I had to get up from my wonderful sleep, I couldn't get back to the sweet sleeping place I was before, and lay there thinking, tossing and turning.
This morning I was thinking about a blog I read that was talking about all these "crazy" things that happen here, and how they have become normal, and how I am myself somewhat complacent. And as I was later flipping through a magazine, with adventure advertisements in the back, I felt that sudden urge to move or experience something new again. And it got me thinking about how things here are normal to me now, and our existence here is very comfortable for us. But also how, even though we are living what some may consider exotic, or weird lives here, we are more restricted in our ability to travel and experience things that in America you can just get up and go do. Like camping, hiking, etc., There are many reasons why we can't do here, and in some ways I feel more restricted in that. I know this must sound confusing, but continuing on..Several factors I think contribute to this feeling; and of course the main two are time and money: because we are only here two years, and are likely to never come back again, we don't' feel we have the luxury to travel away from home as we normally did in the states., money: because of our limited income now, and no gains in the markets, and no deposits being made to our banks accounts now, we don't have the money to travel very far, and traveling within Africa is expensive if you want to fly and very difficult to find flights, though it is easier on the pocketbook to travel over land it is often difficult with the bureaucracy, police checkpoints, danger areas, long travel times, and not completely safe transportation... so this is probably the way we will go when we do! hehe.
In short, be thankful for the ability in America to travel down any road any time, and, (as long as your obeying the speed limit!) not have to be stopped or pay bribes etc. You can cross from state to state with nothing more than a welcome sign and a visitors center to stop at, if you want. And a crossing of the state boundaries can lead to experiences and sights and people that could be very different from what you normally experience in your hometown.
But, to keep my feet on the ground, and to not let myself be led down the path of many foreigners think of America as this great golden land, I have to remind myself that even though you can cross those state lines easily and experience change, there will also be the walmarts, cvs drugstore, target shopping centers where you know things will be in the exact place as they are in the store in your hometown. The monotony of it is somewhat sad, though highly convenient!
Well, that's enough of that. Not much going on this weekend, Andy was going to go on a trip upcountry this weekend, but it didn't work out. But I know there are a lot of things around here that we could do, along with our normal requirement of hanging out on our front porch like to old country bumpkins.
About 4:45 last night I woke up because I needed to visit the pit latrine, but being as that I was sleeping so well, I didn't want to get up, and I fell asleep again till 5. That's when I heard a strange noise, and then all of the sudden there is the pitter patter of rain on the roof. Now, it never fails especially during the rainy season, that when it rains in the middle of the night, I always have to get up and pee. This is especially true if there is a downpour, of which I must go out in the middle of it. But at least our pit area is covered.
Of course, because I had to get up from my wonderful sleep, I couldn't get back to the sweet sleeping place I was before, and lay there thinking, tossing and turning.
This morning I was thinking about a blog I read that was talking about all these "crazy" things that happen here, and how they have become normal, and how I am myself somewhat complacent. And as I was later flipping through a magazine, with adventure advertisements in the back, I felt that sudden urge to move or experience something new again. And it got me thinking about how things here are normal to me now, and our existence here is very comfortable for us. But also how, even though we are living what some may consider exotic, or weird lives here, we are more restricted in our ability to travel and experience things that in America you can just get up and go do. Like camping, hiking, etc., There are many reasons why we can't do here, and in some ways I feel more restricted in that. I know this must sound confusing, but continuing on..Several factors I think contribute to this feeling; and of course the main two are time and money: because we are only here two years, and are likely to never come back again, we don't' feel we have the luxury to travel away from home as we normally did in the states., money: because of our limited income now, and no gains in the markets, and no deposits being made to our banks accounts now, we don't have the money to travel very far, and traveling within Africa is expensive if you want to fly and very difficult to find flights, though it is easier on the pocketbook to travel over land it is often difficult with the bureaucracy, police checkpoints, danger areas, long travel times, and not completely safe transportation... so this is probably the way we will go when we do! hehe.
In short, be thankful for the ability in America to travel down any road any time, and, (as long as your obeying the speed limit!) not have to be stopped or pay bribes etc. You can cross from state to state with nothing more than a welcome sign and a visitors center to stop at, if you want. And a crossing of the state boundaries can lead to experiences and sights and people that could be very different from what you normally experience in your hometown.
But, to keep my feet on the ground, and to not let myself be led down the path of many foreigners think of America as this great golden land, I have to remind myself that even though you can cross those state lines easily and experience change, there will also be the walmarts, cvs drugstore, target shopping centers where you know things will be in the exact place as they are in the store in your hometown. The monotony of it is somewhat sad, though highly convenient!
Well, that's enough of that. Not much going on this weekend, Andy was going to go on a trip upcountry this weekend, but it didn't work out. But I know there are a lot of things around here that we could do, along with our normal requirement of hanging out on our front porch like to old country bumpkins.
Monday, May 12, 2008
OK, I'll write! hehe
Happy Mothers Day! (sorry a little late!)
Ok, I guess people actually do read this thing! So, back to blogging...Though I don't have much.
Well, let's start off with a few random sightings..
Have you ever seen?:
-A large horned cow digging around in a dumpster?
-an ice cream man pushing a cart that says of the side, "ice crime"
-a young girl approach an upside down cocharoach to kill it, and it hop up and start running around the front room, meanwhile said girl just happened to have a machete in her hand, so there she is chasing a cockaroach waiving a machete..
-a frogs googly eyes peeking up at you from where the water from you bath drains
-a man trying to teach at a school for the deaf... and while being observed keeps saying to you the observer, "it's not easy teaching, these students are deaf,.. I don't know sign language very well,... "
-your little brother eating the bits of dough your pinching off from your tortillas because they have weevels or little worms.. even after you tell him they are there and you show him...
OK, enough of those-of course those are daily occurances so, more to come later...
I don't know if Andy wrote about when he planted some trees in our compound, but they have started to come up, there are pigeon peas and moringa. But this morning we wake up to a horrible goat sound baa-ing, and Andy jumps up out of bed and goes outside and there is a goat tied up right next to some of his new trees! I don't know if it ate any of them, (but yesterday some of the chickens dug up some).
Just a few hours later, that goat was in goat heaven, and a bowl of meat was brought to me on my way out the door to work. So, I had to run back inside and put the meat away. (away means in a bowl with some salt water to hang out till this evening when we have to figure out what to do with it). I think someone gave our neighbors the goat for charity. But I'm not sure.
mom and dad had sent us some kids books and one of them was a little golden book Finding Nemo, and a friend over here had the movie, so I told the older girls if one of them read the book aloud to the other kids, we would watch the movie afterwards. And Fatou M. did, she did a great job, and we went over to watch the movie, I even popped pop corn, we started the movie and...... the sound cut out about 10 minutes in...It was very sad, but a week later I got another copy of it, and we ended up watching it. They really liked it!
We just finished our education in service training week from April 28-May 2nd. It was a lot of sitting in a boardroom setting talking from 8:30-5... monday-Friday... but it did make me think about all the things we could be doing here.. which made me more anxious that I don't have the time to finish everything, or even get them started! It also makes it harder to figure out what to do this summer, because all the schools will be on break, and a majority of the major work I have it with the college or the nursery school.
After a short mid-service crisis, two of my goals for the summer are to re write the curriculum with the nursery school, and work at the college on their extension programs if possible.
There are a few parents visiting our friends here this summer, and we are happy because they are to come and stop by our place too. So we can feel a little bit of what it's like to show people around where we live and the people, and our "amazing" Mandinka skills!
Well, hope you kept up with that really scatterbrain entry. I'm sure I will have more to write later this week, till then!
Ok, I guess people actually do read this thing! So, back to blogging...Though I don't have much.
Well, let's start off with a few random sightings..
Have you ever seen?:
-A large horned cow digging around in a dumpster?
-an ice cream man pushing a cart that says of the side, "ice crime"
-a young girl approach an upside down cocharoach to kill it, and it hop up and start running around the front room, meanwhile said girl just happened to have a machete in her hand, so there she is chasing a cockaroach waiving a machete..
-a frogs googly eyes peeking up at you from where the water from you bath drains
-a man trying to teach at a school for the deaf... and while being observed keeps saying to you the observer, "it's not easy teaching, these students are deaf,.. I don't know sign language very well,... "
-your little brother eating the bits of dough your pinching off from your tortillas because they have weevels or little worms.. even after you tell him they are there and you show him...
OK, enough of those-of course those are daily occurances so, more to come later...
I don't know if Andy wrote about when he planted some trees in our compound, but they have started to come up, there are pigeon peas and moringa. But this morning we wake up to a horrible goat sound baa-ing, and Andy jumps up out of bed and goes outside and there is a goat tied up right next to some of his new trees! I don't know if it ate any of them, (but yesterday some of the chickens dug up some).
Just a few hours later, that goat was in goat heaven, and a bowl of meat was brought to me on my way out the door to work. So, I had to run back inside and put the meat away. (away means in a bowl with some salt water to hang out till this evening when we have to figure out what to do with it). I think someone gave our neighbors the goat for charity. But I'm not sure.
mom and dad had sent us some kids books and one of them was a little golden book Finding Nemo, and a friend over here had the movie, so I told the older girls if one of them read the book aloud to the other kids, we would watch the movie afterwards. And Fatou M. did, she did a great job, and we went over to watch the movie, I even popped pop corn, we started the movie and...... the sound cut out about 10 minutes in...It was very sad, but a week later I got another copy of it, and we ended up watching it. They really liked it!
We just finished our education in service training week from April 28-May 2nd. It was a lot of sitting in a boardroom setting talking from 8:30-5... monday-Friday... but it did make me think about all the things we could be doing here.. which made me more anxious that I don't have the time to finish everything, or even get them started! It also makes it harder to figure out what to do this summer, because all the schools will be on break, and a majority of the major work I have it with the college or the nursery school.
After a short mid-service crisis, two of my goals for the summer are to re write the curriculum with the nursery school, and work at the college on their extension programs if possible.
There are a few parents visiting our friends here this summer, and we are happy because they are to come and stop by our place too. So we can feel a little bit of what it's like to show people around where we live and the people, and our "amazing" Mandinka skills!
Well, hope you kept up with that really scatterbrain entry. I'm sure I will have more to write later this week, till then!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Where is everybody?!
Um... has anyone talked to my family? I haven't heard from them in a while... maybe something is going on with the phone where people can't get through? I don't know. Aside from that,.. I feel like boycotting blogging if I don't get emails or comments from people,.anyone out there!?
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Long time no blog
Well, it has been a little while since I've written.... and I hate that, because there are so many things that are going on, and have happened that it is hard to decide what to talk about. I've been mainly busy with work, and I did some traveling.
Well, let's see... I came back on Sunday from a trip up country with a friend. I hadn't been up that far yet, (Basse) so I really wanted to go. And I was finally able with my schedule less restricted by class times. I don't have any classes at the college this term because there are some specific special topics that other Gambian teachers are teaching this term, because we pushed them from the first and second terms. Honestly, I was really glad that happened, because if I can work out an auxillary purpose here, instead of myself having a class, the better in the long run. Anyhow, my friend and I went the south bank road all the way to Basse. Now the south bank road is notoriously bad, with more pot holes than actual asphalt, some of the times you have to go literally 5 miles an hour. But lately there has been some work going on it, they have dug up the cement on all the bad parts, and then grated down the dirt, which, even though still bumpy and very dusty, it better and more smooth riding than what was there. And at least it is on it's way to being better after so many years. I just hope it gets done before the rainy season, because you can just imagine the mess that would occur if it wasn't!
Well, our journey started at the Brikama car park, where we immediately secured a van going almost all the way to where we wanted to go, so we hopped in, and...... there we waited for about an hour and a half. hehe...at one point we actually did move... to the other side of the car park. Once I started to have to go pee, we started off on our journey, where we would continued on for about 12 hours. At one of the many police checkpoints, I ran out of the van, and found a pit that didn't offer much in the realm of privacy, but hey, when you gotta go! Because of the dusty road, we arrived in Basse after a few switches of cars, looking like we had a really bad spray on tan, because of the dust. At one point we got squished on a seat with about 5 people, and 3 kids, where my legs were so pressed together, that sweat started to drip down my legs, and I looked down, there was a brown river of sweat.. because of the dirt that had accumulted on me! Well, up in Basse, it is significantly hotter, so a lot of the time, we sat around the hut, trying to distract ourselves from thinking the only thing that seemed to register in our brains... "um... it's hot.... Its Hot!..... Ugh ITS HOT!" Needless to say I was very happy to be back in Brikama :) I love Brikama!
Let's see, what else.... we have inservice training this month, that should be..... good... maybe. It will be a week in Kombo away from work, so I don't know, I think I would rather get on with my work, but I'm sure there will be something useful. (?!)
I have been trying out themed nights in our house with our host family, and the neighbor kids. I put a sign up on the door that indicates what kind of activity they can do if they come hang out in our house. So, one night will be reading night, the next game night... I have a mat I lay out next to the trunk with supplies in it, and they just hang out look at the books, I read to them, Andy helps them work on reading some of the books, but right now, because none of them can really really read, and only have english words memorized like this " c-a-t cat, o-n-e one", even the easy books are way above their head. So, on games nights we play things like ABC memory, where they match up captial letters with lower case letters, bingo with letters or sight words, or a cube game where the cube has different consonants on each side, and they have to come up with words that start with that sound, or identify the letter name and sound. Even Mo-Lamin gets involved and he's 3, by looking at the books, he is very good at pointing out things in Mandinka that he regonizes in the books (mostly farm animal!hehe) and I have some toilet paper tubes and boxes he play with like blocks. I'm always working on new games, but the ones they have played so far they really get a kick out of. I'm going to try out a sort of verb charades soon, with the word and a picture on a card, and they act it out for the other kids to guess in english what they are doing. The reason I started these themed nights is that they often come to hang out, but, like kids do, they would just fool around, fight, etc, so I just felt we needed to do more to help them academically at home, because they don't really have the help from anyone in their lives, (parents-don't speak english, teachers-barely speak english, both can't really read.. yes,.. many of the teachers can't read... etc.) And like kids anywhere they need incentives to study, so we give them things like a sticker if they win bingo. Mom and dad sent a football and frisbee, that we just got,.. (yep, took 6 months to get) that I'm trying to think of a way to give away for a reward of some kind of academic achievement.. but haven't figured that out yet....
Well, if there are any packages that you've sent, but haven't heard that we have gotten them.. don't worry because even after 6 months there is still hope it will come! My parents shipped the packages around the middle of November, and as far as we can decipher from the many tags on the postal bag, it went from New Mexico to Johannesburg, to JFK airport, to the Gambia... so.. yeah, so the candy was a bit less chewy than it was originally meant to be, but just as tasty! and the ants or rats hadn't gotten to it. :)
Well, I think thats all I have right now.. I'm sure I will have more to talk about later! Hope to hear from you.
Well, let's see... I came back on Sunday from a trip up country with a friend. I hadn't been up that far yet, (Basse) so I really wanted to go. And I was finally able with my schedule less restricted by class times. I don't have any classes at the college this term because there are some specific special topics that other Gambian teachers are teaching this term, because we pushed them from the first and second terms. Honestly, I was really glad that happened, because if I can work out an auxillary purpose here, instead of myself having a class, the better in the long run. Anyhow, my friend and I went the south bank road all the way to Basse. Now the south bank road is notoriously bad, with more pot holes than actual asphalt, some of the times you have to go literally 5 miles an hour. But lately there has been some work going on it, they have dug up the cement on all the bad parts, and then grated down the dirt, which, even though still bumpy and very dusty, it better and more smooth riding than what was there. And at least it is on it's way to being better after so many years. I just hope it gets done before the rainy season, because you can just imagine the mess that would occur if it wasn't!
Well, our journey started at the Brikama car park, where we immediately secured a van going almost all the way to where we wanted to go, so we hopped in, and...... there we waited for about an hour and a half. hehe...at one point we actually did move... to the other side of the car park. Once I started to have to go pee, we started off on our journey, where we would continued on for about 12 hours. At one of the many police checkpoints, I ran out of the van, and found a pit that didn't offer much in the realm of privacy, but hey, when you gotta go! Because of the dusty road, we arrived in Basse after a few switches of cars, looking like we had a really bad spray on tan, because of the dust. At one point we got squished on a seat with about 5 people, and 3 kids, where my legs were so pressed together, that sweat started to drip down my legs, and I looked down, there was a brown river of sweat.. because of the dirt that had accumulted on me! Well, up in Basse, it is significantly hotter, so a lot of the time, we sat around the hut, trying to distract ourselves from thinking the only thing that seemed to register in our brains... "um... it's hot.... Its Hot!..... Ugh ITS HOT!" Needless to say I was very happy to be back in Brikama :) I love Brikama!
Let's see, what else.... we have inservice training this month, that should be..... good... maybe. It will be a week in Kombo away from work, so I don't know, I think I would rather get on with my work, but I'm sure there will be something useful. (?!)
I have been trying out themed nights in our house with our host family, and the neighbor kids. I put a sign up on the door that indicates what kind of activity they can do if they come hang out in our house. So, one night will be reading night, the next game night... I have a mat I lay out next to the trunk with supplies in it, and they just hang out look at the books, I read to them, Andy helps them work on reading some of the books, but right now, because none of them can really really read, and only have english words memorized like this " c-a-t cat, o-n-e one", even the easy books are way above their head. So, on games nights we play things like ABC memory, where they match up captial letters with lower case letters, bingo with letters or sight words, or a cube game where the cube has different consonants on each side, and they have to come up with words that start with that sound, or identify the letter name and sound. Even Mo-Lamin gets involved and he's 3, by looking at the books, he is very good at pointing out things in Mandinka that he regonizes in the books (mostly farm animal!hehe) and I have some toilet paper tubes and boxes he play with like blocks. I'm always working on new games, but the ones they have played so far they really get a kick out of. I'm going to try out a sort of verb charades soon, with the word and a picture on a card, and they act it out for the other kids to guess in english what they are doing. The reason I started these themed nights is that they often come to hang out, but, like kids do, they would just fool around, fight, etc, so I just felt we needed to do more to help them academically at home, because they don't really have the help from anyone in their lives, (parents-don't speak english, teachers-barely speak english, both can't really read.. yes,.. many of the teachers can't read... etc.) And like kids anywhere they need incentives to study, so we give them things like a sticker if they win bingo. Mom and dad sent a football and frisbee, that we just got,.. (yep, took 6 months to get) that I'm trying to think of a way to give away for a reward of some kind of academic achievement.. but haven't figured that out yet....
Well, if there are any packages that you've sent, but haven't heard that we have gotten them.. don't worry because even after 6 months there is still hope it will come! My parents shipped the packages around the middle of November, and as far as we can decipher from the many tags on the postal bag, it went from New Mexico to Johannesburg, to JFK airport, to the Gambia... so.. yeah, so the candy was a bit less chewy than it was originally meant to be, but just as tasty! and the ants or rats hadn't gotten to it. :)
Well, I think thats all I have right now.. I'm sure I will have more to talk about later! Hope to hear from you.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
What day is it?
Well, just a quick note to my sister and mom, Happy Birthday! (I would have put it up on their respective birthdays, but I understand that there was little chance that they would have actually looked at it then, seeing how my sister doesn't have internet, or an email address.. ! and my mom probably did not want to waste her birthday away waiting for their slow internet to get going). But anyhow if there is a chance that you read this, hope you had good birthdays and I did try to text both of you,.. don't know if you got it.
Well, this morning I had gotten dressed and gathered our buckets to get water and went outside to the tap. My host mom was there washing clothes, Fatou Matta was there washing dishes, Alieu was there eating, and Alieu asks me in Mandinka to answer Ndea (our host mom),... I was thoroughly confused, seeing how I had just gotten outside... and Fatou M. just started laughing, so I just thought... uh.. I don't understand, and now they are laughing at me,..(albeit a familiar situation here in this different culture and language).. I just thought they were all a little coookie this morning. But then Fatou M. said, "April Fools" I'm sure I gave her a puzzled look before I realized, oh yeah! Today is April Fools day! Wait,...! How did you know about it? But before they could answer they asked if Ansumana was in the house, and went to knock on the door. When he came out they told him his co-worker came by and said he needed to get to work right now! (which wasn't true) but they are amateurs at this April fools thing so give them a break. Of course he didn't really understand what was going on, but figured it out when I was smirking when we came in to eat breakfast. So during breakfast we were rapidly contemplating a turn it around on them joke. After getting shot down a few times, Andy finally agreed on one that we could do.
I am always making "strange" things to eat that I give to the family to try, and most of the time, they smile pleasantly and I'm sure feed it to the goats! I was sipping my tea when I got inspiration, and said that we should put some water in a mug like mine, and then spice it up with some Gambian style hot pepper sauce. But then I had to get over my giggles before taking it over. I first started looking for Fatou M. because I was a little scared of giving it to our host mom,, but when I was carrying around the mugs (mine with real tea in it and the "joke" mug) looking for her, Ndea saw me, and I took the opportunity to play the joke on her instead. So I said, oh, I was looking for Fatou M. to let her try some of this tea,.. do you want to try it? and gave it to her to sip, sipping on my own tea cup for encouragement. hehe. And I watched her take a drink of the cold hot pepper water, her face instantly contorted then immediately she put it into a pleasant look, but I could tell that she was just thinking,"Another one of Borry's crazy creations!", So I started laughing and called out April Fools!" and she burst out laughing. Meanwhile Ansumana is watching the whole thing through the front window, and comes out where everyone is laughing some more. It was great! But now I'm on the lookout for any jokesters out there! hehe
Well, this morning I had gotten dressed and gathered our buckets to get water and went outside to the tap. My host mom was there washing clothes, Fatou Matta was there washing dishes, Alieu was there eating, and Alieu asks me in Mandinka to answer Ndea (our host mom),... I was thoroughly confused, seeing how I had just gotten outside... and Fatou M. just started laughing, so I just thought... uh.. I don't understand, and now they are laughing at me,..(albeit a familiar situation here in this different culture and language).. I just thought they were all a little coookie this morning. But then Fatou M. said, "April Fools" I'm sure I gave her a puzzled look before I realized, oh yeah! Today is April Fools day! Wait,...! How did you know about it? But before they could answer they asked if Ansumana was in the house, and went to knock on the door. When he came out they told him his co-worker came by and said he needed to get to work right now! (which wasn't true) but they are amateurs at this April fools thing so give them a break. Of course he didn't really understand what was going on, but figured it out when I was smirking when we came in to eat breakfast. So during breakfast we were rapidly contemplating a turn it around on them joke. After getting shot down a few times, Andy finally agreed on one that we could do.
I am always making "strange" things to eat that I give to the family to try, and most of the time, they smile pleasantly and I'm sure feed it to the goats! I was sipping my tea when I got inspiration, and said that we should put some water in a mug like mine, and then spice it up with some Gambian style hot pepper sauce. But then I had to get over my giggles before taking it over. I first started looking for Fatou M. because I was a little scared of giving it to our host mom,, but when I was carrying around the mugs (mine with real tea in it and the "joke" mug) looking for her, Ndea saw me, and I took the opportunity to play the joke on her instead. So I said, oh, I was looking for Fatou M. to let her try some of this tea,.. do you want to try it? and gave it to her to sip, sipping on my own tea cup for encouragement. hehe. And I watched her take a drink of the cold hot pepper water, her face instantly contorted then immediately she put it into a pleasant look, but I could tell that she was just thinking,"Another one of Borry's crazy creations!", So I started laughing and called out April Fools!" and she burst out laughing. Meanwhile Ansumana is watching the whole thing through the front window, and comes out where everyone is laughing some more. It was great! But now I'm on the lookout for any jokesters out there! hehe
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Happy Anniversary of We Got Married Date
Just wanted to say, this is our official "marriage date" and yeah for us. 2 years... (plus the other 6 before hand being official on paper)
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