How to cut 3 days of travel to 1.5...

Note: I started this post in the airport last Friday. I am finishing it today (Thursday) from my office at The University of The Gambia. To find out how my travel between that time and this time went please continue to read, otherwise do not.

So I heard on Wednesday that I would be headed back to Africa on Friday (Today. Right now. I am actually sitting in DTW starting this post). My trip goes as far as Dakar, with travel to The Gambia still unplanned...

Without much notice I got my stuff together pretty fast and called a few people to let them know I was leaving. I have mixed feeling about all of this, but I know I need to go back for at least a little while. I left so suddenly and still have somewhat of a life there. I’m worried about how everything will go. Oh. Also. It is seriously depressing to move home and do absolutely nothing. I feel like a jerky/poor teenage punk kid. Not cool.

Fri 9:32 AM - Currently sitting in Detroit airport. Woke up at 630AM, got ready, finished packing and said goodbye to my Mother (told her I would not leave until she stopped crying) and bratty Sister (tried to make her cry by hitting her but failed. Ok not really but I wanted to). Dad drove me to the airport, we had some good chats and he made me coffee one last time, and now I am sitting here preparing for the next unknown number of hours of travel.

Fri 9:38 AM - BOARDING first flight... and my sister is being a jerk online. Also just found out that Peace Corps booked me a ticket to depart Dakar at 0055AM on Sunday and arrive into The Gambia at 2AM. Not sure about what airline they booked, or the 20 hour layover I will have in Dakar, or how I will get home at 2AM, but it sounds like I might have some rides waiting. We shall see.

Fri 3:40 PM - Sitting in a Chili's Too and just ordered a margarita. Yum... dinner? We will see how quickly I fall asleep on the plane to Dakar which departs at 550PM. Hellooooooo ambien. I am one classy American. I must say.

My Detroit plane took off with no issues and I made it to sunny Baltimore (that’s a lie bc it was shitty outside) on time. Ate some Potbelly's and tried to memorize as much of the meal as possible to save for later.

Have also started buying as many small items (i.e. candy) that I can fit in the extra small places in my bags. Starting to miss America already.

Also, some of you may have heard about this, BUT if not, I got bangs. They look hot. I was thinking at first that the combination of bangs and sad must look good on me because so many people are checking me out at the airport. Then I realized that I am a 26 year old carrying around a panda pillow pal and they are probably just judging me. Far less sweet. Just wait until I am in Africa introducing the pillow pal punk asses, and NOT sleeping with an African pillow! That’s all I have to say about that.

Yes I did carry this all the way back to Africa. And no, my sister Allen did not buy it for me for Christmas.

Fri 4:08 PM UPDATE on travel from Dakar to Banjul status. Have flight booked on KNOWN airline. Departing at 00:55 Sunday and arriving at 01:55 on Sunday. Hanging out in Dakar from 06:00 Saturday - 00:0 Sunday. Seems like I will be picked up in Dakar and taken to the Dakar transit house and then taken back to the airport and also picked up in Banjul and taken home. Yay! Wish me luck!

Sat 6:28 AM (1:28AM EST) Made it to the Dakar transit house…. But barely. Apparently you need to be on flights to Africa really really early. I showed up at 4:30 for a 5:50 departure and was the last person on the plane. They were literally in the process of taking my bags off the plane. Apparently I had seven minutes left to show up. Who knew?

I did however get to choose where I wanted to sit because the flight was so empty. I got three empty seats right at the front! I read some, ate dinner, passed out for the majority of the flight, woke up with about an hour left and read some more. Overall not bad at all.

Once in Dakar my ride was waiting for me with a sign and I got to the Senegalese transit house in record time. Now I am here and everyone is sleeping and it’s still dark so I might try to sleep some more. I am really gross though so a shower is also possible.

It made me really happy to get off the plane and be back in Africa. Even at 5AM it was 75, humid and smelled like the ocean. Not so terrible.

Hello Dakar Airport (I obv. did not take this as I arrived really really early in the morning)

Sat 6:40 AM Surprised at how happy I am to hear the call to prayer again :] Time to go back to bed.

Sat 11:23 AM Was a hot mess when I woke up. Now showered and clean. Should I go back to sleep?

Note: Some time after writing the last note I dropped my computer at the Dakar PC Office and the screen stopped working!!! I was not happy to say the very least. I now have to connect my computer to an external monitor to see what is going on. I was only able to do this once I got to The Gambia. Everything from this point forward is an accurate reflection of the events in question, but the times might be approximations….

Sat 3:30 PM: Went back to sleep and just woke up again. Time to walk around and look for food.

Sat 7:00 PM: F’ing A I dropped my computer as soon as I land on the only continent where Best Buy does not exist. Can’t think about this right now.

Sat 10:00 PM: Have been reading for hours in the Dakar office. Nobody is here and it is really dark and not sweet. Now waiting for PC to come pick me up and take me to Dakar Airport. I hope they did not forget me….

Sat 12:00 AM: PC got me around 10:30. Dakar airport was a nightmare. How are there so many people awake and at the airport at that time???? Not loading the plane

This is where I got to wait in the airport!! I, however, also did not take this picture. Nobody was this happy.

Sun 4:00 AM: Just arrived to The Gambia!!!! Plane was delayed an hour because the seat assignment software just stopped working and about half the plane could not get through security in time so we had to wait for them. Punks. THEN I got stopped by customs and was stopped by health inspection who wanted to see my WHO card. Bah.

Samanka (my American Toma, which means namesake), also known as Sam the driver, was waiting with a car so I didn’t have to walk home. Yay!

Sun 6:00 AM: Finally showered and going to bed. 1.5 days later I made it back :] Now all I have to do is adjust….

To bring this full circle. I have been back at work the past few days and trying to get everything here in order. Slowly Slowly. Maybe I will even have time for another picture filled post instead of all this boring text!

All of the emails below have been copied directly from my University email address, and have not been altered in any way other than to remove names and contact information. These are emails from staff and students only.

Of course these are a few of the more interesting(?) examples... there are definitely some that slip through which are not riddled with errors and religious blessings... but what fun are those to read!?!?

Every email I open has potential to be hilarious, sigh, and/or somewhat sad. Though I must say, I have never received so many blessings in my life, and it doesn't feel to bad. I would almost say that it is very thoughtful. What do you think?

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a zillion thanks for them wishes. an acada community is what we are in, hence my wishes would be as academic as possible.

may the good god of academics, (who i imagine must be a heavy weight, high-horsepower professor with an infinite amount of publications and worth his weight in academic gold), guide us in the coming calendar year.

my personal advice to all members of the utg community is to cheat on their fears, break up with their doubts, get engaged to their faith and get married to their dreams. (dont contemplate divorce!)

and always remember this story:

dr. pride said it's impossible.

''it's risky,'' said prof. experience.

prof. reason said it's pointless,

and the heart wispered: ''give it a try.''

try everything try-able in the coming year. my supervisor, (who nearly won a nobel prize in chemistry in 1990), used to tell me that one should learn to be stubborn about what he wants in life.

chemically yours,

XXXXX

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Dear Lecturer

am trying to login in the class website but indicates that it found and error. what can i do next

thanks

XXXXX

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hi miss jaiteh,

was there any lectures last on tuesday 19th october at 2:30-5:30 for cps111? if yes, then what is our faith now, because we surpose to submit our home work 2 and i was not in school on that day. we where told that there was no lectures and just now i saw an email that there should not be lectures from last wednesday to this saturday which is a very big suprise to me.

also in question 4 you ask us to write the name and the mat# of our group members, but you also said if the group submitted their list that means they have answered the question. does that meanes that we should jump question 4 if we have submitted our list, and if it will affect all the group members?

hear from you soon

thanks

XXXXX

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Wishing you and your entire family a very blessed Tobaski/Eid-UL-Adha! Ndewenati! May Allah forgive us all and continue to shower us with his mercies and bless us with great virtues of deeds. We pray that He continue to bless and uplift The UTG and her community!

Best regards,

XXXXX

Response 1:

Amen!!!! May the divine blessing remain upon the entire UTG and upon all who work and study in this National Institution.

O Lord God almighty, bless and protect The University of The Gambia. In it there may be health, victory over sin, strength, humility, goodness of heart and gentleness, observance of your law and gratefulness to God.

Response 2:

Ameen. May Allah the Almighty accept our prayers and forgive our sins

Response 3:

Amin! I am tempted to think that some of these "prayers" and "sins"

are very academic in nature.

Academically yours,

XXXXX

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hello ms jaiteh this is our group project that we manage as group to present. although we did not meet all the requirements because we are not used to such works. but anyway this is our little that we do... and we want to thank you so much for all the knowledge that you inculcate in us in this short period. you are really appreciated. we thank you so much... and we wish you all the best in your endeavors.

THANKS

XXXXX

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hi ms jaiteh,

attached are the three files of our group project. in order to watch the powerpoint presentation, continuously click on every slide to view show. tnx

yours

XXXXX

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Dear miss jaiteh,

i want to know if i should come in the morning for my pratical exam at 9am tomorrow morning or not. i wrote my name under 9am shlot. so help me.

my student id number is 12110811

thanks

XXXXX

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New year as comes, life is short, forgive quickly, love truly. I wish u 12 months of happiness, 52 weeks of fun, 365 days of laughter, 8760 hours of favour, 5256,000 minutes of joy, 31536,000 seconds of success. I wish you the best. May the wind be always at your back, mat the sun shine warm on your face , the raunfall softly on your fields, may Allah give u long life and a amicable newyear I wish u love is the best.

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NOTE: In this email I did not hide the name of the sender because the purpose of including this is to highlight the audacity of the female students referenced in the email. Please read my response to the question that Acquah has sent.

Hi Fatou,

There was a student of your class that came to me that she did not do the exmas cuz you said she should not... that was cuz her name was not yet entered for registeration but then it later entered and now she is registerd for the course but did not do the exams.

Her name is XXXXX XXXXX. she said she was in your class. please verify that and we find what to do about that.

My Response:

Hi Acquah,

Thanks for following up with me on this issue. I do remember this discussion and I actually specifically told her that she should come to the exam, even if she was not registered. I would never tell a student not to come to the exam and then let them take it at a later date as that would be very unfair to all other students in the class. Unfortunately it is far too late for her to take any makeup exam (Note to reader: This request came about a month after the exam was given). Did the University let her register for the class after it was already ended or is she registered for next semester? If she is registered for last semester she will not pass the class, and if she is registered for next semester she will need to take it again.

Cheers,

Fatou

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So my Mother started to lose her hair yesterday from the Radiation treatment she just completed. Her hair was not falling out in small pieces so she decided to take control of the situation and throw a head shaving party this evening... and less than 24 hours later she is bald. Oh my! BUT she looks surprisingly good, which gives me hope for how I will look if I ever decide to bic it. Lets hope that doesnt happen.

Sadly she would not let anyone else shave their heads so it was a solo act, but we all got a chance to help! I think the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy... I know I did!

Thanks for your consideration!!!

I have officially been a Peace Corps volunteer in The Gambia, West Africa for six months of the typical two year service. Not a ridiculously significant amount of time, but not trivial either. So far my experience has been everything that I expected, and I love it. Almost everyone who has been involved in the Peace Corps says that it is life changing, and after only six months I have to agree. That is the best summary I can give at this point without getting into entirely too much detail.

However, experiences such as this do not come easy or free. Being a Peace Corps volunteer is difficult. You are thrown into a culture that is completely different from your own, in a climate that your body will probably try to reject, away from most things and people you know and love. You miss your friends and family, American food, electricity, easily accessible clean water… the list goes on and on and on. Volunteers have to deal with all of these difficulties and I am no exception.

One difficulty that I did not list above, but have recently had to deal with, is what happens when you have a family crisis? What do you do when something goes wrong with the people you care about most, and you and thousands of miles away? This is pretty much every volunteers worst nightmare. It is something that we all know can happen over the course of two years, but you just hope and pray that it does not happen to you or your family. Unfortunately this is exactly what happened to me and my family only a few weeks ago.

On December 9th my mother went to the hospital because of her persistent neck, shoulder and back pain and on the 14th she was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung cancer. Specifically, she has a type of non small cell lung cancer called Adenocarcinoma, and the cancer has metastasized to several areas of her skeletal system and her brain. She started radiation treatment on December 30th and will start chemotherapy shortly after her radiation treatments are completed next week. The doctors are very hopeful that she will respond well to both the radiation and the chemo, but we will have to wait for at least a month before the results are tested.

She was very upset at the original diagnosis (of course), but is feeling better now that she is receiving treatment. Waiting to do something was probably the worst part for her. The radiation also seems to be helping reduce her neck and back pain slightly and that makes her quite happy, and hopeful. Thus far she has not been sick from the radiation treatments and is not expected to get sick from the chemo either. She is feeling a little fatigued, but for her it has been manageable. Also, all of her friends, family and co-workers have been extremely supportive and I think this has had a large impact.

The worst week and a half I have spent in The Gambia was after her diagnosis and before I flew back to America. Trying to decide when to come back, and finding the an affordable way to travel from Africa to America with only a few days notice, is not anywhere close to my definition of fun. In the end it worked out and I have been in America since December 21st.

Now the big decision is "What is next?"… I am scheduled to return to The Gambia on January 14th, and the new academic semester starts shortly thereafter. I am still planning to take that flight back, but I don’t know what will happen in the long run. We are in another waiting period before we know how she is reacting to the treatment and I have commitments, and a lot left to learn, in The Gambia. I also have a year and a half left in my service and that seems like so much longer than it used to.

I am writing this blog for several reasons. First is to let people know what is going on with my mother. Second is to let friends and family know what is happening with my situation and my Peace Corps service. And lastly I am writing this to offer an additional perspective on the Peace Corps experience for current and prospective Peace Corps volunteers. My intention is not to deter future volunteers, or to scare current volunteers, but instead to possibly give additional consideration to situations such as mine, and to offer some small sort of support.

Situations like this, and worse, have happened to past volunteers and will happen to other volunteers in the future. Sadly it is inevitable. It is not something that we can change, but it is something we can handle. The hardest question is how do you handle it and, like I said before, what do you do next? For now I do not have the answer to these questions, but I’ll try to keep you posted…

As you may have noticed, or heard, I am in America for a short time. Trip length December 12st to January 15th or sometime close to that hopefully.

When in Africa we all talk about what we miss, what we want to eat right now and what we will do first when we get back to America. I am writing this blog to remind me, and maybe a few other people, of a few of the not so amazing things that we left behind. Maybe this will also help to make the holidays away a little better.

Enjoy!

1) It is SO SO cold and my feet do NOT like sneakers anymore.

Stephen is sporting the latest winter fashion trend to sweep Michigan. As many layers as possible...

2) As soon as I got off the plane my skirt was already sticking to my legs from static. I couldn't wear my hair down in The Gambia because of my sweat and I can't in America because of the static. Nothing has changed.

3) My nose hurts and my lips are so chapped from the dry weather. My Dad had to buy a humidifier because it is too dry for me to sleep :(

4) It may only cost $0.02 to skype America from The Gambia, but it costs $0.45 to skype The Gambia from America. Totally not fair.

5) My Starbucks, although delicious, cost > $5.00 at JFK airport. WTF.

These Starbucks drinks were not quite as much, but that is because it is Michigan

6) There are about 5 hours of sunlight in the day, if we are lucky.

7) Texting is NOT free

8) Commercials are SO loud

9) You HAVE to drive and taxis cost way more than 5 dalasi or are not available in the Michigan country. What this means is that all those drinks you wanted to try are not so easily available :(

Don't get me wrong America it is pretty awesome, but when you are really sad think twice about all the not so amazing things you left behind. Maybe it will help. Mostly I wanted to vent.

I also took some pictures to help you remember:

And lastly, this is my friend Stephen posing for a depressing Michigan weather picture. He was pretty sad that the sun had been missing for several days now.

Soooooo…. You want to travel from The Gambia to Dakar? For one reason or another I have gone back to The Americas and because it is WAY to expensive to travel directly from Banul I booked a ticket out of Dakar. Here is a step by step of the awesome, very short and very comfortable journey…

PS I found out at the airport that you might be able to get a ticket to fly from Banjul to Dakar for $80 - $100 USD so if you don't like the outline below then consider this option.

Summary:

Trip Itinerary: From Brikama, The Gambia to Hotel Du Phare, Dakar, Senegal

Total Time: 530AM to 3PM

Cost: Approximately $20USD, 10,000 XOF or 550 dalasi

Modes of transportation: 6

Exchange Rates (you will never actually get these of course):

1 USD = 497 XOF

1 Dalasi =18 XOF

1 USD = 28 Dalasi

General Costs (Just what I saw quick fast):

Food: 2500 – 4000 XOF

Nice Dinner: 6000 – 10000 XOF

Local Beer: 2500 XOF

Shot of Alcohol: 3000 – 4000 XOF

Juice: 2000 XOF

Step 1: Exchange your dalasi to XOF. If you decide to do this at the border KNOW how much you should get back and triple check your money. It is a notoriously terrible spot to exchange money. You will not get a good deal to begin with and they will probably try to steal some anyway.

As an alternative I would suggest asking Alpha for the number of the guy that he knows who will exchange for you. I got a rate of 3,000 dalasi for 50,000 XOF. The guy was able to meet on Kairaba about a ten minute walk from the office right after we called him. Very convenient.

Step 2: Wake up at 530AM. Drink copious amounts of coffee, get ready and finish packing

Step 3: Leave house at 6AM. Walk to road where gele will pass. Get ride to Ferry terminal. It was free more me to get to the ferry terminal in Banjul, but usually you will need to take a gele which is around 8 – 18 dalasi depending on where you start (Brikama vs. Fajara)

Step 4: Take the first ferry from Banjul to Barra (unless you are already on the north bank of course)! The first ferry is at 7AM and can take anywhere from 1 – 2 hours to cross. Cost is 10 dalasi.

Still dark upon ferry departure:

Step 5: Look for ferry cakes on your walk to the Barra car park. Find a gele going to the border. Gele cost is 30 dalasi. My big backpack may have been 10 more dalasi.

Step 6: Drop at the border, eat a bean sandwich and get a departure stamp from The Gambia (I never got a stamp in my passport when I arrived to The Gambia so this was a small issue. Eventually they just gave me a departure stamp and let me cross). Cost is nothing

Step 7: Get an entry stamp into Senegal. Easy. Cost is nothing.

Step 8: Approx time is now 10AM. Grab a donkey cart to the Senegal car park. Cost is 5 dalasi each person. MUCH cheaper than a taxi or a scooter. Avoid these and go for the donkeys. Promise.

Sweet Donkey Cart Ride:

Step 9: In the car park get a “set-plas” headed to Dakar (this is a car that goes from one point to another without stopping so it is much faster. It fits about seven people). Cost is 6000 XOF and my big bag was 1000 XOF additional.

Note: For an additional 1000 XOF you might be able to buy the front seat. TOTALLY worth it. I got stuck in the middle in the back and was curled in a small ball the whole time. I was literally almost crying by the time we arrived because my but hurt so badly.

See how crunched I am!:

SOME people can read in the car... others cannot :(

Step 10: Sit in “set-plas” forever. We finally left the car park around 1030. It was still a little chilly because it was December, but by the end I was a puddle of sweat as usual. The first part of the road is ok, but it quickly disappears. There are a ton of pot holes and swerving and eventually the road turns to some strange dirt path. This lasts for about 45minutes and there is a TON of dust. After the dirt path the road magically appears once more and is pretty ok from that point forward.

Awesome road that did not make my dusty AT ALL:

Warning: There are a lot of police stops but they didn’t actually stop to let us out at all. I had to ask to pull over and pee so watch out for this. I hear that sometimes they let you out in Kaolack, but not during my trip.

Also, at some points people will start putting rolls, tangerines, lemons and other goods through the windows to sell. These are all 200 to 500 XOF for a bag and the rolls are delicious. You will need food at some point.

Step 11: Arrival to Dakar’s Banjul car park at 230PM (There are a lot of car parks so make sure you know where to get out. We took it all the way into Dakar and got out at the last car park.). There will be a few taxis sitting by the road and they started at 6,000 XOF to take us to the Hostel. Ha! We got them down to 3,000 XOF but just ended up walking across the main road and flagging a taxi down who agreed to 2,500 XOF right away (still prob too much but when you are so tired who cares).

Two notes:

One – Change is still a problem. Try to get change and never expect any taxi for person walking around selling food to have it. Eventually they will just take all your money. Also if you spent a lot of time bargaining and don’t have proper change the taxi may just not give you your change and tell you to get out. At this point you are screwed. Don’t put your luggage in the trunk if you can help it. This does not help your situation.

Two – Very few people speak English. French or Wolof helps a ton.

Step 12: Know where your hotel is and be able to convey this information to the taxi driver (i.e. street, neighborhood, main roads, etc). Arrival at hotel around 3PM. Took almost an hour to check in. First order of business was to wash layers of red dust of self and personal possessions. Second order of business to nap.

On the way to the hotel. Looks a little like a war zone:

Yay! Made it to the hotel finally. Clean and cute. About $20 per person for a private room with a shared bathroom.

Sweet roof deck:

Sad Baobob tree :(

Walking down the Cornish:

Yes my friends we are still in Africa. A taxi passing a donkey cart on the main highway with some billowing black smoke in the background. So safe.

The Senegalese coast:

O. M. G. A supermarket!!! I view this a stepping stone on my trip back to America. It softened the blow.

Got to love all the African barbies.... of wait... they are all white. So weird. Hello business opportunity.

Dinner on the roof deck. Brie. Salami. Crackers. Mimosas with mango juice. Amazing.

Tuesday November 16th (or Wednesday November 17th depending on your area)

Tabaski! aka Slaughter-livestock Festival (…in Chinese) … aka Eid al-Adha or "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is an extremely important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead.

Gambians celebrate this historical event by sacrificing and eating a Ram of their very own (or whatever animal they can afford), getting new Tabaski outfits to wear, eating a lot of delicious food, walking around talking and sitting with neighbors and the kids go out and ask for Salibo (a Dalasi or a candy or a prayer etc.). It is sort of a Muslim version of both Thanksgiving and Halloween, but carries the weight of Christmas. Sadly there are no sweet decorations.

Also, the meat of the Ram is divided into three parts to be distributed to others. The family retains one third of the share, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors, and the other third is given to the poor & needy. This is how I got my hands on some!

For several weeks before the actual day of Tabaski rams and goats and such start appearing out of what seems like the middle of nowhere (I think a lot actually come from Senegal). Everybody is getting ready to buy their sacrifice...

Me passing a goat/ram farm while in a Gele riding from Brikama to Fajara. These literally do not exist any other time of the year.

Typical butcher shops…. Oh my…

… that is a dead goat hanging in the front of the shop in case you want to pick up some dinner as well as your live goat

Goats taking over one of the Fajara car park - Westfield - Usually this is filled with cabs, Geles, people and vendors. Not goats.

All of the goats and people leave a little trash behind... not sweet

Leaving West Field. It looks better while walking away for sure.

To get the goats home sometimes they put them in the trunks of cabs... Obviously.

Fitting in goat number two. These people MUST be ballers to afford such an extravagance.

Can they get it shut????

Day of Tabaski! This is my new Tabaski outfit. I bought all the fabric and had it made at the tailor in Fajara. The tailors are jam packed before the holiday.

Black Fabric: 2 meters for D100

Pants: D150 for sewing

Color Fabric: 2 meters for D50

Shirt: D200 for sewing

Total Cost: D500 (aka $18USD) -- I went to a more expensive tailor because I wanted to make sure it turned out

Wearing asobe (outfits made with the same fabric) with my kitten!

Tobaski celebration at my house

So cute that I am making myself sick

Again with the level of cute leading to sickness

Even I am cooking something on Tabaski. I heart Chole (Indian dish).

Now time for the real fun… leading the Ram to the sacrificial hole in the ground

Making the hole deeper to hold all the blood…. With a machete!

Cute Ram! ...Yum?!

Getting the knife ready

Pinning him down so he is facing East

The cut happens quickly and they hide the knife from the Ram so it is more humane.

Now bleeding him into the hole in the ground. And I DID take some of these pictures.

Me and Mbosse staying a safe distance away from the blood

Hanging him to butcher

Butchering… or something like it

Im not the biggest fan, but don’t want to miss everything

Muhammed is not scared

They keep going

An hour or so later they and dividing the organs from the meat and blood etc.

It does not seem like they should put the head on top of the legs. Poor guy.

Lol. He actually called me out of my house to take this picture.

Cooking begins

Apparently the first thing you are supposed to eat on Tabaski is the liver of the Ram you slaughtered. Mbosse gave this to me and Kane to participate. Oh god.

Hes not happy…

I am not happy…

But we try it anyway…

Sigh…

Sitting outside and brewing Attaya with the neighbors

Also grilling up some of the goat meat while we wait for lunch

After lunch all the kids get dressed up and walk around asking neighbors and friends for salibo (A few dalasi or some mintys or you can give them a prayer which is hilarious because they can’t say anything but you know they are so sad that they didn’t get money or candy)

Foolay (one of the neighbor girls) getting her hair done before going out

Foolay all ready

Muhammad all ready (Mbosses son)

Im giving mintys to the girls

And Kane gives them to the boys

Taking surprise pictures of more kids. Most of them were too scared to talk to the white toobobs sitting outside even though they have no problem screaming for mintys every other day of the year. Go figure.

So Tabaski is only supposed to be a one day holiday, but there is some disagreement on which day it should actually occur. Half of the Muslims here want to celebrate on the same day as Mecca and they other half base the day off of the moon somehow. The reason that these two days differ is because Mecca sees the moon differently than The Gambia due to location… so when we start counting down to Tabaski and when Mecca starts counting down is not exactly the same.

My part of Brikama celebrated on Tuesday, but they other half celebrated on Wednesday. Because Kane and I could not eat anymore goat and we were pretty much stranded due to the unavailability of transportation we rode our bikes to the Tanji (A small fishing village on the water). It was about 25 miles total. It was fun… but now my legs hurt :( Here are some pretty pictures.

Not sure if you know this, but I happen to live by one of the MOST famous Gambian musicians around. His name is Jaliba Kuyateh and all Gambians seem to love and praise him.

http://www.gambia.dk/jalibaku.html

He plays a traditional Gambian instrument called the Kora (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kora_(instrument))

and sings crazy lyrics, mostly in Mandinka and Wolof. He is SO famous that he even had a concert in Seattle a few weeks back, though I hear most people in attendance were Gambians. He lives in a “mansion” around the corner from my place (about 2.5 blocks away to be exact). The Mother of one of his several wives lives next door to me, and she likes to remind me of this connection frequently. I, on the other hand, like to smile and laugh and sound surprised every time she tells me.

I walk by his house every day to go to work. Lots of people hang out there, and sometimes there are strange promotional events (I actually won a bucket once). I also hear that sometimes he even puts on free concerts in his backyard. I will let you know if this is strictly rumor or if one of these free shows happens. This is an example of what his house looks like versus a normal Brikama house.

Approaching the back of the mansion on my way to work

Side view of house with woman sweeping the dirt road

Getting closer…three stories! WTF is going on!

Three stories AND nice paint

The gate to his yard/garage

Continuing on my way, but if you look closely you can see two cars in the yard. One of which is an SUV. Good lord.

His house is attached Bitik... of course

Some of his neighbors…

And their fence/yard…

For a long time this whole thing did not mean very much to me because I had no idea who this guy was or what his music sounded like. However, now I can officially say that I know who Jaliba is AND…. Blog post part II… that his was the first concert I attended in the country (Not free in his yard, but a paid for Aids charity concert and Jokers in Brikama which was partially organized by Lucia, a PC health volunteer and fellow Brikama sorority sister). Although living next to him still does not mean much to me, I do feel more culturally well rounded for being able to say all of this.

The actual concert itself was a pretty great time. Gambians were dressed to the nines and some hilarious dancing and singing ensued. If there is one thing Gambians are not shy about it is the quality of their singing voice. I have yet to meet somebody in country who is shy to sing in public. Although I support self confidence to the fullest this particular trait can sometimes be very painful. There were several ladies who decided to dance their way onto the stage and sing a few versus into the microphone, and let me tell you, they made the Collette voice sound similar to that of angels. Good lord. I, and a few others, literally had to plug our ears it was so bad. If anything it made me appreciate Jaliba’s music even more than I obviously already had.

Recently I realized that I have become terribly addicted to several Gambian dishes. At the same time I also realized that it will be near impossible to fill these cravings once I am back in America. As a result, I am trying to learn to cook a few of the easier ones. My first conquest is Domoda. A groundnut sauce served over rice… it is also ridiculously delicious with garlic bread, as was discovered while eating the leftovers.

My neighbor, Mbosse, taught me and Kane how to cook the dish a few weeks ago and now we are making our first unassisted attempt. I am always looking to spread cross cultural addictions so please DO try this at home and let me know how it goes.

Domada requirements:

1) 4-6 small and very ripe tomatoes

2) 1-2 onions depending in size

3) 1oz or so of tomato paste

4) 1 package of tomato Maggie (tomato flavored and MSG filled bullion powder, but probably any bullion could substitute)

5) Approx. 1 cup of ground peanuts (aka natural/freshly ground peanut butter)

6) 1 liter or so of water (3 medium drinking glasses full)

7) 1-2 hot peppers to taste

8) Salt to taste

9) One cap full of vinegar (apple cider or white or whatever, just probably not balsamic)

10) Any vegetables or meat that you want to add

Rice requirements:

1) 2 cups of uncooked rice

2) Enough water to cover the rice

3) Salt to taste

Step 1: Gather Ingredients (picture includes all non-liquid necessities)

Top row: Salt, Maggie, onions, hot pepper, potatoes

Bottom row: Peanut butter, tomato paste, carrots, tomatoes, bag of rice

Close up: Rice, salt, Maggie, peanut butter, tomato paste

Close up: Hot pepper, onions, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes

Step 2: Dice onions and tomatoes

Step 3: Add onions, tomatoes, peanut butter, tomato paste and Maggie to a large pot

Step 4: Add water (about three of these cups full is close to one liter... I think)

Step 5: Stir well

Step 6: Add hot pepper

Step 7: Place on stove (we had to settle for the Bunsen burner)

Step 8: Cut carrots into bite size chunks and put into pot (do this pretty much right after you put the Domada on the stove because they take a long time to cook. Our chunks were also a little too big so you could cut them smaller than this)

Step 9: Let boil while stirring occasionally

Step 10: While Domada is cooking pick all non rice particles out of the rice

Step 11: Rinse the rice to wash away additional non rice particles and generally clean rice

Step 12: Add rice to pot and cover so that water is just above rice, also add salt and bring to boil. Once boiling stir rice and then add cover and reduce heat. Let cook for a while until water is gone and then let sit. The rice should not have smoke in the pot as seen in the picture. Turns out Bunsen burners are not good for rice.

Psh. A little bit of smoke never hurt some rice!

Step 12: Once Domada starts to thicken (maybe after 15 min) dice potatoes, add to Domada and stir.

Step 13: Secret step not pictured here. Add one cap full of vinegar and salt to taste (maybe 1 tablespoon or so). The Domada will taste a little bland until this point, so don’t worry. For some reason this makes a huge difference so don’t forget it!

Step 14: Let cook while stirring occasionally until Domada becomes a thick sauce and potatoes and carrots are fully cooked. Maybe 20 minutes.

Final product – Some rice is edible and the Domada is delicious/addictive!:

And serve...

Ok, so I am about to devote an entire blog post to my cat AND post a crap load of pictures. BUT. Don’t worry too much. I am not about to devote my entire blog to my cat… even though it would probably be more interesting :D Apparently this is what Africa does to people.

Sooooo, anyway… SOMEBODY convinced me that it would be super cute and fun to have a kitten around the house. I, being the trusting person that I am, remembered how much I LOVE cats and was talked into agreeing to this crazy idea. Too bad for me that over the past week or so I have come to realize that, in addition to turning into my Mother, I am apparently also turning into my Father. I am definitely not a pet person any longer. At least not while in Africa.

I tried to be nice and keep the cat inside and make him a cute bed and feed him good food and play with him, but he refused to cooperate and instead peed and pooped all over. Not adorable. He also seems to think it’s a fun idea to chew on power cords, so I could not even leave him alone any time there was power. Definitely annoying. Long story short the kitten now resides outside in the extra storage room. He is not allowed inside. Problem solved. I assume once he is big enough to get over my back walls he is free to do as he wants.

Oh yea, its name is Pixel. I thought this was nerdy and cute and smart. It no longer seems appropriate. I think that I will be happy when it gets older and becomes fat and slow. That is how all pets should be.

Also, don’t feel so bad for him being outside. He has his own room and everything. Kane even felt bad for him and made a cute bed for him out of a box and old t-shirt and what did the cat do? He pooped all over it. No more bed for him. AND. Even though it annoys the crap out of me most of the time Pixel still loves me. He follows me everywhere when I am in the back and I constantly trip over him. Also, whenever I sit down it climbs all over me. I am starting to think it might be broken because it never stops purring. I’m not sure why it likes me so much. Another indication that it is broken.

Here are some pictures that will make you think I am a jerk for being annoyed by an animal that is so damn adorable.

OF COURSE alcohol was involved in taking all these cat pictures. Who do you think I am?

First... proof that he does have a house outside AND it is a nice one.

Second...Pixel!

And again... Pixel!

He likes to lay in the drain ditch on the ground. Very clean.

Then he likes to go into my kitchen and jump all over everything. Even cleaner!

Hes climbing into my lap. Typical man...

Now hes confused about what to do...

So he decides to roll around and bite his own tail

The fun goes on...

And on...

Now hes done...

It likes to climb on people and hang out around their neck and face.

Eck! What is this thing? It smells...

What the hell am I supposed to do with it?

Can I eat it? Probably not..

Ok, so I don't totally hate it...

*Fill in the blank* is a problem --> sadly this is a very common phrase around these parts. Most often I hear the following:

Change is a problem (i.e. coins and small bills)

Current is a problem (i.e. electricity)

Travel is a problem

Going to school is a problem

And the one that I have become most familiar with as of late is “Petty theft is a problem”.

I think I did a decent job of ranting to my family about this a few days ago so I will insert my email here (I added a few edits for your benefit):

****Start of email to family****

Hey Mom and Dad and Alex,

I think my phone got lifted from my house last night. I leave my front door open a lot (typical here otherwise people think you are kind of mean) and I had been reading in my room using the light on my phone for additional brightness (my bulbs suck). I left to go to the kitchen and shower and now I cannot find the phone anywhere! I literally spent over two hours looking. Also, when I call it says it is off. So sad. Ill let you know when I get a new one and if my number changes. I think I will have it on Wed. Just wanted to let you know.

Also, I forgot to tell you but my iPod got lifted like a month ago, but I don't know where. Also sad. It just went missing from my backpack.

Finally, I caught a guy trying to pick pocket my purse at the Bitik about a week ago. He was standing super close and pushing up on me like he was trying to reach over me to pay the guy behind the counter. I had to push him away and shove around him and I saw his hand trying to get into my purse. Good thing I had it zipped closed. I was too surprised to say anything at the time. I just gave him an evil look and went to make sure he didn't actually get anything. He took off pretty fast. The guy behind the counter just rolled his eyes and laughed. Not at me but at the stupid pick pocket.

I am getting sick of my stuff being taken. also thinks their host family is taking money from them when they are away. They keep all of their money hidden in the house and started dividing it into weekly piles because they kept coming up short at the end of the month so they wanted to start a weekly budget. They recounted the other day and a few piles were short. They thought it was their own mistake and re divided the piles. When they came back from this past weekend the piles were short again! They are scheming to see if it is the host family or not, but either way it is sad.

Just needed to rant for a minute.

****End of email to family****

The email goes on for another second, but nothing big. It was confirmed that my phone was taken when I tried to call it the next day and somebody answered! but did not say anything. Jerks. I am so ready for the next person that I catch trying to take something from me. I am going to get pissed and am looking forward to making a scene.

It is however very frustrating that petty theft/burglary IS such an issue here at times. I do not want to give the impression that every person or every place in The Gambia is like this, because they definitely are not… which is part of what is so frustrating. So many people go completely out of their way to help you when they can, but you still always have to be cautious. Most all Gambians also find this to be extremely frustrating.

On the whole I have found The Gambia to be a very safe place. I don’t walk around at night by myself, but that is just common sense in any poor city where there is little to no electricity. There are very few incidents of assault or anything worse. Most of the problems are definitely petty theft and burglary.

At this point there is nothing I can do about my iPod. Regarding my phone, because it was taken from inside my home, I have to write up an incident report and file to get reimbursed for the new phone I had to purchase (though I am happy to say I get to keep my same number). Apparently my neighbors to the left have had phones taken from inside their home twice already! From now on I will continue to leave my front door open when I am home, but I will always put the pad lock on the gate to my porch so everyone can see I am there, but nobody will be able to come inside unless I let them. I will also no longer but valuable items by my living room window because I have found my screen moved a few times and know people that have had computers (and other items) taken through their window (even with the metal work that I have).

We are also pretty sure that the other volunteers host family is taking money from them when they are gone. It is still unclear what is going to happen about this. It is pretty shocking and something like this is rarely an issue. My host family is great so far, and most other volunteers feel the same way. I don’t want this post to give the wrong impression, but sadly, as stated above, petty theft is a problem. I will let you know what happens.

So, Gambians already think we (all people whose skin color is white, also known as toobobs) are crazy. Want to know how to really freak them out? Dress up in costume and parade around town in the middle of the day… One comment we received literally was “Wow, you guys look really freaky today”. Lol. All said with the amazing Gambenglish accent. Little did he know how spot on he actually was. Oh yea. I forgot to mention that they do not celebrate Halloween in The Gambia so most people really have no clue what is going on.

Recap of my Halloween weekend:

One month prior: Decide to go to Janjanburgh for Halloween! PC volunteers are having a few parties at different locations in the country, but I decide with a few other people that it will be fun to travel for a bit.

Two weeks prior: Still not sure what my costume should be. Not really a Halloween person. Ask Kristen. She knows alllllll about this.

One week prior: Give in and deicide to be Zombie Apparente. Had joked about this previously, but have not come up with anything better so joke becomes reality. PS The “apparante” is the apprentice that assists the driver in a gele gele (a public bus like system, but actually dented and run down vans are used instead of buses, and no schedule actually exists, so more like a cross between a taxi and bus system). The apparante collects the trip fair (aka pass), tells the driver when to stop and let people out, advertises the final destination of the gele by yelling and making weird hand gestures out the window, tells the driver when to pick people up, loads baggage as needed and makes change.

Oh, and my story is that I was on top of the gele when we got hit by another gele. I fell off and was killed. I have now come back from the dead to collect the rest of my pass.

Five days prior: Decide to wear the amazilgly cool visor provided by my lovely younger sister (both of which I love), an old shirt left behind by another volunteer and some board shorts that I found in the PC free pile as my costume. The key word to all of this is cheap! My make-up will consist of baby powder, actual legit make-up that I have from The Americas and some red paint provided by Caroline. Materials are sparse.

Two days prior (Thursday): Last minute house cleaning and departure preparation to try and minimize bug infestations. Pack. Toss the kitten in the back with a ton of food and water. Head to Fajara and stay the night because we have to get up really really early to catch the first ferry across the river.

One day prior (Friday): Wake up at 5:30AM. Have a very large cup of coffee. Catch a gele found in the middle of nowhere (so lucky for us) to Banjul at 6:15AM for the 7AM ferry. Me, Kane, Caroline, Kris, Whitney and Katie all travel together across the river to Barra. Caoline and I split from the rest because we are heading to Jimbala to stay the night with Lily. We found a truck while on the ferry that agreed to drive us to Kauur direct for D100 and we end up with a pretty quick, and excellent, ride. Here are some pics from part 1:

Views from the Ferry leaving Banjul to Barra:

Crazy Peace Corps Kids heading across the river really early in the morning:

Once we arrive to Kauur (around 1015AM) we meet with Lily and grab a few gifts from the shop for her family (cookies, juice mix, sugar and Attaya). Sadly there are not very many cars that go to Jimbala because the road is so bad so we plan to take a donkey cart. However, after 2.5 – 3 hours of waiting we realize that a donkey cart is not going to happen today. Who knows why this is. We have to walk. It is a killer walk. Along the way several Gambians try to charge us extremely huge sums of money to take us the rest of the way, but we are poor PC volunteers and must refuse. Here are some pics from part two:

The start of our long walk through the African Desert (Caroline and Lily):

Woman working in the rice fields:

More rice fields:

Random donkey cart (not one that tried to rip us off):

Groundnut field after harvesting (if you have ever wondered where peanuts came from!):

One of the four villages we passed before Lilys:

Though the landscape was beautiful, after TWO HOURS of walking in the African sun with all of our baggage for the weekend we are quite happy to reach Lily’s village to say the least. We were all sad to have walked so far, but I know Lily felt worse than she needed to. We all immediately washed our hands and feet, drank a Nalgene full of lemonade each and ate lunch provided by Lily’s family. After that we got to spend some time with her family in the village. It is pretty amazing to see how other volunteers live and the differences and similarities in our services. We ended the evening by eating dinner (also provided by Lilys family), Oreos and M&Ms and watching Anastasia. Definite win! Pics from part three:

Caroline cuts Lilys hair in her "backyard" (Good thing she was not too upset about all the walking!):

Day of Halloween Party! (Saturday): We are not sure if today is setsatol (spelling?) or not. This is supposed to be the last Saturday of every month, but it often changes, and is never announced officially until the day before, or the day of. Setsatol is a day where the whole country is supposed to spend from 9AM – 1PM cleaning their house, work and yard. It is actually illegal to operate a business or drive a car or really do anything other than clean during this time (unless you have a special permit). It is also pretty strictly enforced. You can imagine how difficult (aka physically impossible) this makes travel. You would think that people would need to know well in advance if they were going to be unable to travel for the majority of the day, but apparently not because nobody ever knows what is going on, or at least they are never told.

Anyway, we wake up at Lily’s around 630AM because we need to get to Janjanburgh before 9AM if it is setsatol. We have arranged a gele to stop and pick us up from her hut around 7AM to take us to Kauur (no way in hell we are walking again). The cost for the gele from Jimbala to Kauur is 10 dalasi (for reference the donkey carts were trying to charge us 400D – 500D! on the way to Lilys the day before). In Kauur we have arranged for another gele to wait for us and take us the rest of the way to Janjanburgh (75D). We arrive in Janjanburgh around 9 or 10AM. It was not setsatol by the way. All that early travel for nothing! We spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out with people as they arrive, getting rooms and napping.

Party starts around 5PM. Everybody is getting into their costume. Drinking begins. Overall have a great time and everybody has a fabulous costume. We have rented out a bar for the evening and we have all relocated outdoors. Sadly dinner is not served until around 930 after everyone has been drinking for a bit and is pretty much starving. We devour the Chicken Yassa and Benechin in about 15 minutes, but sadly this makes me quite tired. Kane and I decide to head back to the rooms around 11 to drop a few things off and we maybe accidentally fall asleep in full costume until midnight. I know, lame. Anyway, when I wake up I just decide to wash my makeup off and head back to sleep. No crazy Halloween stories this year. Tomorrow is another early morning full of travel. See pics:

Three soccer players for The Jawayata Bakke team:

Nathan is proud of the make-up he and Eve did for me:

Kane as a Mexican Gangsta:

Nathan:

Bakari (our host for the evening) dancing as a Gambian woman. Amazing:

Watermelon. The Gambian Pumpkin:

Im attacking Kane. He did not pay pass:

Now I am attacking the Vodka Caroline and I are sharing:

Everyone getting tired after eating a ton. If there is one thing that Peace Corps volunteers in Africa know how to do its eat as much as you can when you have the chance. The PC binge. Not a healthy habit:

One day after (Time to head home): Nobody is hung over. The food knocked us all out. We have arranged for a setplas (small car that sits about seven and only goes from one destination to another direct) to pick seven of us up from Janjanburgh direct and take us all the way to the Barra ferry. Four hours later we are in Barra buying "ferry cakes" and heading to Banjul on the ferry. Long story short I make it back to Brikama around five. The house is still standing. The kitten is still alive. Only one ant infestation in my kitchen and I BOP the shit out of them (BOP is the poison that I use which smells like flowers. Such a terrible idea. You should never make a spray poison that smells good. That is just asking for trouble). I am very very tired. Overall a very long weekend full of travel, but a lot of fun :) A few last minute pics:

We stop for a minute and I take a picture of this huge tree on the way home:

Cows are getting in our way. Typical stupid cows:

Leaving Barra and headed back to Banjul:

Bored on the slow slow ferry (Kane):

Arrival back to Banjul:

One week after: Stupid baby powder and acrylic paint all over my face has caused me to have skin problems. Shocking… but also not cool.

PS Carolines blog also has some really good pics http://carolineingambia.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-in-janjanbury.html

I finally was able to move out of the Peace Corps transit house in Fajara and into my new house in Brikama two weeks ago as of this past Wednesday. It was a bit of an ordeal trying to actually get into my place (had to wait outside with all my stuff in a pile for about two hours until the land lady came to let me in), but once it was all worked out it was totally worth the wait. So my new place is kind of amazing. The University definitely did an excellent job finding me a place… and it might be the poshest Peace Corps house in the country… I actually feel a little guilty…

When I was in training village I was in a small hut with no water or electricity in this small village, and now I am in Brikama working at the University and living in this much bigger apartment which has running water about 80 of the time % (still not sure why it goes away on occasion) and electricity about 40% of the time (Usually it is better but the electric company has been having a lot of issues recently. I think one of the generators went out so they are only supplying electricity to certain areas during certain times of the day. That is a totally different story.).

I have taken a few pics so you can see where I live! As a heads up, I don’t really have any furniture so there is a ton of empty space. I am however working with UTG to provide me with some couches and chairs and shelves etc. When I get these, one way or another, I will take a few more pictures so you can see how it all turns out… Here goes…

This is the road outside of the entrance of my renters compound (the entrance is to the left). There is a bitik (general store) at the end of the road where I can get bread, onions, pop drink, soap etc. That is where everyone is hanging around outside.

This is the actual entrance to the renters compound. So much pink!

This is the inside of the compound. There are three total and mine is in the middle. To the right is the house of the host family that makes my dinner and washes some clothes for me. They are who I go to with any issues or questions etc. PS That is a grapefruit tree to the right.

This is the first entrance of my apartment and a few trouble making kids that like to dance for me and try on my shoes when I am not looking. This is also my veranda…

This is the second door of my house.

Welcome to my living room. Lots of space. Oh, that is my second bed frame that I want to move into my second bedroom when I get another mattress and some shelves. This way I can host visitors :)

The rest of my living room. Potential dance floor? Who knows….

The entrance to bedroom one and bedroom two. To the left of the living room.

Bedroom two. Where I keep all my stuff right now.

Bedroom one. Where I sleep.

My bed and mosquito net in bedroom one.

My wall of pictures and drawings that I receive/brought from The Americas. Made me sad at first but now it makes me happy. If you send me something it will end up on this wall.

My bathroom. Sooooo amazing. We even had cash power when I was taking the pics! It of course went out as soon as it got dark.

The rest of my bathroom. Still need a mirror.

The door out to the back of my house.

My back yard. To the left. To the left.

My back yard. To the right. Take note of the water pump where I do my laundry outside and the laundry line where I hang my clothes to dry. The window looks into my kitchen.

My back yard. Further to the right and on the way to the kitchen (the door that is open leads to my kitchen).

The inside of the kitchen. Please note my double burner stove, propane tank and water filter.

My kitchen to the left with my amazing sink and moldy cupboards. I am hoping the mold will go away in the dry season. It makes my kitchen smell funny which makes me sad.

Leaving my kitchen and looking back towards my “yard”. Entrance to the house is to the left and water pump is to the right.

The entrance back into my house. I sit out here A LOT after work and when eating dinner and hanging out etc. It’s really amazing.

I would like to emphasize that this is NOT how most Peace Corps volunteers live in their villages. I am a special case because I am working through the University so they provide me with housing as opposed to Peace Corps providing it directly. When I travel around to visit some friends you will see how the other 95% of PC lives…

Soooo….. Quick note. Yesterday (actually day before yesterday, but I wrote all of this yesterday and was not able to post until today) was my first African birthday :D and now I am officially 26. Oh good lord. Not sure when that happened, but it certainly is not happening any slower.

My birthday was however very amazing. I was able to talk to my Father, Mother, little Sista, Grandma, Aunt Christine and Emma on the phone! I love phone calls to The Americas (Though the delay is a little strange and it is always a sort of difficult to figure out what to talk about because there is so much to say you can’t really decide what is most important). I got a lot of texts from my Peace Corps friends and I even had a small birthday party… I was also really productive at work for the first part of the day. Less cool, but still very nice.

The birthday party was extra amazing because several of the Brikama ladies came over to help celebrate AND Lily, Erin and Kim coordinated their trip down from up country to be able to surprise me for my party :) Caroline coordinated with them and I definitely had no idea. They even put together a birthday card in the gele gele on the way down (see exhibit below). Talk about crafty! Speaking of birthday cards… Caroline not only coordinated with Lily, Kim and Erin she also painted me an awesome bday card and gave me some delicious sour life savers…. Which I am saving for a rainy day when I will eat them all at once and be super happy about it (see exhibits below). A few additional highlights were 1) Kane came over early and had a drink with me (made with some supplies provided in the mail by my lovely Mother) while I made guacamole in country for the first time (It was not bad. The avocados were sub par. Not my best showing.) 2) Mbosse, one of my neighbors, came over and sang Happy Birthday to me (Fatou)! and 3) We made a delicious spaghetti dinner with garlic bread at my house when everyone arrived.

Birthday card painted by Caroline… we always get lost together as we both have a terrible terrible sense of direction. Not a good pairing. Often times when we are lost we get stuck in the rain. It is not sweet.

Birthday gifts from Caroline. Please note the wrapping paper that she has reused and that I also plan to reuse at a later date.

This is the card from Erin and Lily. It was craftily made on the gele gele on their way down from up country. I am told them also made a birthday crown, but forgot it at home. Maybe next year?

Inside of card from Lily and Erin… looking forward to my Gambian gift on the beach….

Literally translating to – Oh man… my work is teaching.

We are now successfully ending the third week of classes at The University of The Gambia Fall semester 2010. Before I pick up where I left off last time (explaining how school could have already started yet I did not know for sure what I was teaching), I would like to update you on the actual status of my schedule.

Turns out I am NOT teaching a Pre Calculus class… or a calculus class for that matter. Now I am supposed to be starting a College Algebra class! Yay! Still exciting… except that I don’t yet have a book with which I can teach (We are however working on remedying that fact through several different avenues. It is a small problem at this time compared to the fact that I do not really have students). Moving on.

So what happened was that first the University decided they did not need another teacher to cover Calculus at this time so that class was out for me. Second, we received an entirely new teacher to help where needed, in BOTH the math and computer science departments. This new teacher was going to take a College Algebra class, but then he heard of my Pre Calculus class and preferred it to College Algebra. I actually have no real preference so I took the College Algebra to make the whole situation easier. And all of this could happen after the semester had started because neither of these specific classes had actually started.

So right about now you should be thinking that it is great that I, and the University, got two whole new class so quickly!… but, among other things, you should also be wondering why I do not have any students. Well let me tell you. Until now the lowest level math class offered at UTG was calculus. All students started at the calculus level directly from high school (maybe it was different a few years ago, but I actually have no idea). Theoretically, this semester, they have an option.

Now UTG is offering both College Algebra and Pre Calculus classes for students who do not feel that there math foundation is strong enough to start at the calculus level. However, these two lower level math classes are not offered as credit classes. Any student who takes these courses takes them as a result of their own desire to be better in math and ultimately pass calculus. In the future the ideal situation would be for UTG to recommend certain students start in specific math classes, but at this time that process has not been developed. Anyway… so the reason that I have no students at this time is because A) the class was only listed day before yesterday and B) most students have not realized they should even take the class and have instead jumped into calculus. I am hoping that in a week or so several students will drop calculus and come down to my class, but overall I am thinking of College Algebra as an “experiment class” for the semester. Now that I know what needs to happen, and when, I will be in a better position to recruit students for next semester! I think this still counts as a win.

Another change! So. Most of the teaching assistants that I thought would be helping me teach CPS 111 a few weeks back are now no longer my assistants. UTG decided they could not afford to pay fourth year assistants when they had graduate assistants who were not fully utilized. I think that this makes complete sense; sadly it just occurred a little late in the semester which threw me off for a moment. As a result I am now working with two graduate assistants and one other teacher (the same one that is teaching pre calc) to teach 8, 3 hour long, CPS 111 lab sections. We are each covering two sections per week (I teach on Tuesday from 9AM – 12PM and 2:30PM – 5:30PM) and I am still directing the syllabus, course content, final exam etc. My slides for the first class were pretty awesome. Not going to lie. I know the students can’t wait for next weeks lecture on hardware, software and networks.

So, best question yet… why, and how, do instances such as these happen in the first place? Well here are only a few reasons that I have picked up on thus far:

1) UTG is still new (established only ten years ago) so they are working to get all of the processes sorted out. At this time they literally just do not have the systems in place to complete class lists and registration in time for the start of the semester. There are no class lists and descriptions, and no online systems for students to reference. The lists of available classes are actually posted outside on the walls on pieces of paper.

2) There are not enough professors. Historically, in order to receive a masters degree or higher, a Gambian would need to leave the country and eventually return to teach… or take a different position such as banking etc. which would also probably be much higher paying. At the end of the day there just are not enough people….yet.

3) UTG started classes during Ramadan. Many students and teachers will just NOT come to class during this time. End of story.

4) UTG is trying to grow in almost every direction. Every year they are creating new classes (e.g. Pre Calculus and College Algebra), departments (e.g. Management Information Systems is a new department they are creating this year) and process (e.g. they are in the process of creating a master list of courses and course descriptions for students to reference) all at the same time. Everyone is very busy.

Overall, I still must say that I very much enjoy the work that I have been doing and the environment within UTG. It is very exciting to see all the new developments in such a short period of time. I also have much more flexibility when it comes to the work that I want to do, I have a lot of freedom to start new classes or change existing classes and I have the opportunity to make in impact in so many different areas if I choose (though I am still worried about the whole “long term sustainability” issue).

I think from reading about my current situation at the start of this post you can see that there are definitely a few frustrations that come with working in an unstructured and ever changing environment such as this, but I think in the long run the investment will definitely be worth the return. And if anything, at the end of the day if I get stressed out I think my cell phone display says it best “Don’t worry, be happy!!”.

Love,

Samantha

PS I am writing this blog from the comfort of my desk in my air conditioned office which still blows my mind. It is SO cold in here :D Pics to come soon.

So a few people that love me for some crazy reason have been asking what they can send me way over here in Africa. As a result I have decided to create what, in really lame circles, is known as a “living document”. I will update this list as time goes on so that it will always be pretty much up to date and can always be used as reference.

Before reading this list, please know that these are only suggestions. I am sure that you have many creative ideas for things that I would love, but have not thought of. Additionally, I would be happy to receive pretty much ANYTHING. If you want to send me an envelope full of sour patch kids I am alright with that (but I would recommend a zip lock bag to keep the ants away).

Also, the reason that it is so great to send me things is because a lot of the stuff that is sold in America is either A) Not sold here at all so I really miss it a lot or B) Sold here, but only in Banjul and is really expensive and C) Because I really really like getting stuff in the mail and it makes me extremely happy…

Finally, the best way to send things is to buy one of those standard rate boxes and to ship it via airmail. You can also buy smaller padded envelopes to be sent via airmail. The main point is that you really should send using airmail or I may never see it :(

Alright, here goes –

• Crystal light drink packets are amazing (or any other brand really)

• Starbucks instant coffee!

• Pens

• Spices (I do have cinnamon and red pepper!)

• Vanilla extract

• Combination lock

• Can opener

• Bobby pins

• Head bands and braclets

• Fly swatter

• Aveeno face wash

• Tooth paste, floss, Listerine

• Knives and other cooking utensils such as spoons and spatulas

• Tupperware is a good way to store things

• Pictures!

• Small speakers for my computer to play music

• Dry erase markers

• American food such as (I would really love some of this right about now):

­ - Refried beans and black beans (Why don’t they have these here? I have no idea)

­ - Taco seasoning

­ - Thai peanut sauce

­ - Stir fry sauce

­ - Fried rice seasoning

­ - Velveeta macaroni and cheese

­ - Falafel mix

­ - Lipton rice and noodle packets

­ - Dried Fruit – Cranberries, pineapple, blueberries

­ - Granola

­ - Granola bars

­ - Cheese! – If you can find a type that makes it in the mail :D

­ - Crackers

­ - Sour candies! I love these :)

­ - Any other type of dry foods that can last in the mail

A tip on sending boxes of food is to remove the contents of the box and put it into a plastic bag instead so that it takes up less space.

Finally, school supplies such as markers, note cards, pens, folders, staplers, paper clips, tape, books are really hard to come by in this country. If you want to send some specifically to me or if you would like to send something and have me make a donation on your behalf please do so. On that note, if you want to send anything and have me donate it on your behalf please do, you don’t even have to include anything for me. The only item that you cannot send to me for purposes of donation is money! Please do not send money to donate to an organization or school etc. If you want to do so you need to go directly through Peace Corps.

Abaraka bake! Jere jef!

(Mandinka and Wolof)

Love,

Samantha

Alright, this is a question that I have been receiving quite a bit recently from the very few people that still talk to me :D … and the answer is a little long, and I will probably ramble a lot, but here is my best attempt at an explanation, with a bunch of additional information that you did not ask for ---

For the next three months I am in what PC (Peace Corps) calls “The three month challenge”. These three months are the months directly following our swearing in as volunteers, and are also expected to be some of our most difficult in country. During this time we are all separated as a group and sent to our permanent sites all over the country (mine is Brikama). There is also the additional rule that we are NOT allowed to leave country or travel overnight away from our sites for any reason other than banking and for holidays (e.g. Thanksgiving). This means that most of us will not see each other for quite some time.

Once at site we first need to start turning our new houses/huts/shacks into homes. We also must become part of our new host families and integrate our selves into our new communities. On top of all these settling in tasks and, of course, more paperwork, we do start our actual work… but not totally start actual work. What we really do is begin going to the schools to which we were assigned to work, but it is up to us to determine what we want to do, and where we would be of most use, for our remaining time in country. So the majority of these next three months will be spent trying to determine what is going on and setting the foundation for our next years of service.

I would like to caveat all of this by saying that because we are volunteers we are extremely self directed, and can do pretty much anything that we want (assuming it is beneficial to the community obviously). Although we are “assigned” to a school at the start we are definitely expected to perform additional work outside of that “assignment”. We could start community groups, create community gardens or libraries etc., build a fence, work in a hospital, hold classes/training sessions for the public, work with local business, work at other school etc. etc. etc. We do not even have to stay at our original assignment if we do not think that there is enough support or work available.

Most of MY time will be spent working at the University of The Gambia (UTG). Thus far I am very interested in what is happening here, so I am not sure how much time I will spend on outside organizations as time goes on. I need to get my feet on the ground at UTG and see what else is out there before making that decision.

Now here is some really interesting stuff. A little background on UTG… UTG is the first University in The Gambia, and graduated its first class of students in 2004 (yes, that officially makes UTG only ten years old). It is still important to note that there are three other colleges in country (Gambia College, GTTI and MDI).

Currently UTG does not have its own campus. It is sharing a campus with Gambia College and has another smaller campus in Kanifing. They are however, in the process of building a new, sustainable, campus which will be able to hold 15,000 students, not exactly, only approximately. The construction of this new campus seems to be heavily focused on “sustainability” and “setting new environmental standards”. The architectural plan even includes “a solar park for generating energy, a waste management center and locally done water harvesting”. I am very interested to see how quickly construction work begins, and how much the end product resembles the original intention. In addition to building this new campus UTG is in the process of merging with the three aforementioned colleges (Gambia College, GTTI and MDI) to create one much larger educational system which will run under the same over arching administration. I am not totally clear as to how or when this will happen/be complete, but I plan to learn more in the near future.

So right now, given my PC responsibilities and my lack of understanding all that is really going on, I am only teaching two classes. The first is CPS 111 Introduction to Information Communication Technology which falls within the computer department. Another name for this is “computer literacy”. The class covers everything from the basic parts of a computer, how to turn one on, how to type, how to use Windows and Microsoft Office etc. The class is also required for all students at UTG, so the size this semester is expected to be approx. 200. Each student is required to have access to a computer and each lab has only about 20 computers. To handle all the students I have 6 teaching assistants and the classes are broken into three hour labs that each meet once a week. My role will be to lead the teaching assistants, teach my own sections, own the syllabus and content of the class, create exams, and finalize grades and such.

My second class is still TBD (which is interesting because classes technically started last week, but I will get to that later). I believe it will either be to start a pre calculus class, which they have never had before, or to take a section of the calculus class. Because enrollment was unexpectedly high this semester they are not sure they have enough lecturers. I should find out in the next day or two.

Either way I am looking forward to becoming more involved with both the computer and math departments as time permits. I am sharing my office with Kathy Lewis, an American woman who just returned to teach permanently in the Math department at UTG. She has been a huge help thus far from the math perspective. From the computer department perspective I am trying to become more involved in advanced Excel / VBA programming classes. Not sure if this will be through the university or another professional organization.

So that is, generally speaking, what is keeping me busy on the whole, settling in, learning about the University, starting my two classes and trying to identify other work opportunities. There is however ONE last point on which I would like to elaborate. Why did classes “start” last week but I still have so many fundamental questions that are unanswered? Why do I still not really know what I am teaching, or who my students are, or if there will even be a pre calc class this semester, or if we have enough teachers to teach calculus? Turns out…this is not a surprise and everyone told me it would happen, and it happens for many legitimate reasons. These many reasons are ones that I will elaborate on further in my next posting….

Happy Korite (aka Eid Al Fitr aka Festival of Sacrifice)!!!

.. and I have decided to start writing post about current events as opposed to constantly trying to catch up on the past.

So for those of you who are not aware today is Korite! Yay! Sooooo what the hell does that mean? Well, here goes. Please feel free to elaborate where I am lacking –

The past 29/30 days (depending on when the individual started) have been Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar AND is the month of fasting. It is also one of the five pillars of Islam (generally speaking the other four would be prayer five times per day, pilgrimage to Mecca, giving of alms and there is no god but Allah). The intention of fasting is to teach Muslims about patience, humility, and spirituality and to practice self-discipline, self-control, sacrifice, and empathy for those who are less fortunate; thus encouraging actions of generosity and charity. This means that all Muslims have not been eating or drinking ANYTHING from sun up to sun down. You can imagine how difficult this can be in such a hot country. You are not even allowed to brush your teeth! Oh, and one must also refrain from “sexual relations” during this same part of the day. Double ouch… To help elaborate, this is a potential schedule for a Gambian Woman in the village during Ramadan (I am not totally sure that these prayer times are correct, but you get the idea):

4:30 – 5:45AM Wake up and cook and eat breakfast

5:45 – 6:00AM Pray

6:00 – 12:00PM Clean and feed children, clean house and laundry, watch children, go to market, garden, get water from pump, general work

12:00 – 2:00PM Rest with no food or water since before dawn

2:00 – 2:15PM Pray

2:15 – 4:00PM Continue to rest… and still no eating or drinking

4:00 – 7:00PM Begin preparing dinner, iron clothing, general work

7:00 – 7:15PM Pray

7:15 – 7:30PM Wait until Imam announces break fast and potentially walk in circles to not think about eating or drinking

7:30 – 8:00PM Yay! Break fast (usually with tea and bread or dates and juice)

8:00 – 8:15PM Pray

8:15 – 9:00PM Finish preparing and eat dinner and clean children

9:00 – 9:15PM Pray

9:15 – 11:00PM Continue to eat more and hang out with friends and family outside and put children to bed

11:00PM – 4:30AM Sleep

Side note: Their day is NOT easy. Think about doing all of these things without electricity OR running water. Cooking alone is a chore

There are however, a few exceptions to the fasting rule. The elderly and the sick can abstain for obvious reasons. Children are not required to fast until their teenage years, and may only fast for half a day before being required to follow the fasting rules completely. Also, menstruating women are not required to fast, but the best explanation I have for this is that they just are not required to do so. I believe it is stated in the Qur’an, but why this is, I am not sure.

You can imagine that as a result of this fasting everything moves a bit slower. It is also MUCH harder to get work done because everyone is so damn tired during the day.

Back to where I started. Korite. Korite is the celebration that occurs the day after Ramadan. So yesterday was the last day of fasting and thus today is Korite. All Muslims go to pray at the Mosque from 9:30 – 10:30 (or around there) in the morning and they are dressed in their Gambian finest. They will also sacrifice a goat, or something similar, and cook an extremely large celebration lunch to eat with family, friends, neighbors and villagers. Oh, and this is definitely like the second biggest day on the Muslim calendar and it TOTALLY messes up the start of the academic year (to be complained about at a later date).

Since I am still stuck at the stodge with a few others I was sadly unable to celebrate Korite with my future host family. However, the head guy here (don’t know his official title, but his name is Lamin) invited us to go to the Mosque with him this morning! Excellent! So about seven of us dressed nice and conservative and headed over to the Fajara Mosque to pray with several hundred other Muslims for a little less than an hour. I got a few funny looks, BUT I also received a compliment on my head wrap (a scarf that I loosely wrapped to cover my hair). I was being very respectful and fashionable I must say.

Lamin also invited us back to his house for the lunch celebration; however, I had a work meeting at 11:30 so I could not join. Instead I headed back with Caroline after prayers… and we obviously got lost/caught in the pouring rain... once again. I am only slightly embarrassed to admit that this has now happened multiple times. We are not a good pair when it comes to directions. This will make our time together in Brikama extra extra interesting.

A few pictures for your enjoyment ---

Washing hands and feet and face before entering the Mosque and praying

The empty Mosque as a few people begin to arrive

Praying from my place outside on the mat. Women sit outside and upstairs. Most of the men are inside or around the other side of the Mosque.

Part of the crown finishing prayers as I am leaving

Looking back on it now Yuna Village Resort was pretty damn awesome. It is this hostel meets eco lodge place a little off the path of Yuna village. Upon arrival we were given wonjo juice (also called sour juice - it is a dark purple juice, made from boiling the dark red flower from the sorrel plant and adding pounds and pounds and pounds of sugar – typical of Gambian ways), partnered with a roommate (mine was Sonja) and sent to our rooms to unpack a little. The rooms were already fixed with mosquito nets. Amazing! This is also the first time I was introduced to the tuck and sleep method. Even better! Apparently you cannot just hang your mosquito net over the sides of your bed. Oh no. That method only keeps out mosquitoes. To keep out ants and spiders and termites and roaches and bed bugs etc. etc. you must also securely tuck all sides of the net under your mattress at all times of the day. I would hands down marry the person who invented mosquito nets and here is only a small part of the reason why --

When we arrived the bugs were a little frightening. Okay. Seriously frightening. And it wasn’t the size or the look of the bugs. I am okay with that. It is the shear quantity of bugs. Swarms of anything have always freaked me out and there were literally hundreds and hundreds of what look like dragon flies crossed with may flies buzzing around every light source. These things burrow out of the ground and fly around for one night. Then they lose their wings (so there are these nasty wings covering everything the next day) and they burrow back into the ground…. I think. Id rather they died but sadly I do not think that is what happens. The worst part is that the bastards cannot even fly well so they constantly get stuck in my hair and my food and run into me in unfortunate places such as my sticky back and neck. Eck! There are also termite hills that could engulf several small children. I have never gone close enough to one to touch it for fear of being attacked, but suffice it to say they frighten me….. in later posts I will describe how these creatures have become the bane of my existence.

Also, Sonja may or may not have gone through the trouble of taping up all the holes in the bathroom and main room screen windows to keep the bugs out. I of course thought this was an awesome idea … only to discover several days later that the hall window had zero screen. The entire screen was missing. Lol, our efforts were totally effective right? The part that makes me the saddest about that story now is actually not the complete lack of effectiveness of our efforts, but the tape that was wasted in the “repair” process. It was good tape.

Anyway… we did not have too much time to start adjusting to the new time zone and climate because we began classes the next day. Classes were the same old same old in general (culture, security, paper work, PC rules and so many more classes), but one interesting event was the welcoming ceremony that they took us to attend at the house of the Country Director of the Peace Corps (Jeffry Cornish).

They took all 16 of us to the Cornish’s backyard where they had a circle of chairs arranged and an African drumming group with dancers situated on one side. The drummers did an awesome! job (though I could have done without the addition of the whistles as I highly doubt they used those damn plastic things twenty years ago) and the dancers (some of which were costumed) were even better... The only slightly awkward part was that we were all completely jet lagged and had no idea what was going on. We definitely looked like zombies… and we felt a little bad because we did not know when to clap or how to dance etc. It the end we all managed to stay awake and embarrass ourselves with attempted dancing and clapping (at least that is what mine should be considered).

One of the costumed dancers

Our fearless PCVL Leader - Ian -- Pretty much our savior during training

To wrap this post up because it is getting a bit long, during out time at Yuna we were also interviewed to discuss where we wanted to live and what we saw ourselves doing during the next two years. This was called out placement interview. Although they were going to wait another month to tell us our final placement PC needed to make the decision now to determine which language we were to learn and to divide us into training villages. For my interview I drew a picture of myself teaching math/computers at a university or large school building (and yes my drawing was in crayon) and let the rest of the pieces fall where they may.

A few days later I was told that I would be learning Mandinka in Mariama Kunda and that Nathan and Jay would be my classmates -- of course out of 16 people, only four of which are guys, I end up in village with these two fools :D We also learned that Erin, Lilly and Josh would be on the other side of Mariama Kunda learning Wolof. These are the 5 Americans that I would be spending a very significant about of time with over the next month and a half….

Samantha Jarema, PCV

U.S. Peace Corps

PO Box 582

Banjul, The Gambia

West Africa

Woo Hoo! I will be living in Brikama but everything goes into the PC office and they do a mail run across the country one or twice a month... I think it takes them 5 days for each run.

Please send all packages via airmail no matter what the post office tells you. I have heard horror stories of people not getting boxes for four months! Not kidding.

Thanks!!!

Love,

Samantha

16 totally different people from completely different areas and backgrounds, but with some of the strangest things in common. -- These pictures are kind of cheating because they were taken after we had been in country for a while... but they are the best group shots I have right now damn it

So I have been in country almost two months and obviously have some catching up to do. The thought of writing about what has happened thus far is daunting at best but I guess I have to start somewhere. Over the next few weeks I am going to try and write a few longer posts about training and such. Now that training is almost over I should have more time to actually keep up to date on this damn thing. Why is it so hard to learn new habits sometimes? Anyway….

I am going to go back to before I even left MI. I spent my last night with my family in Ann Arbor at my Aunt Jennifer’s house. It was me, Mother, my sister, Aunt Jennifer and Gracie. I had Whole Foods sushi for dinner and it was AMAZING. God I miss sushi so much. I stayed up on the phone pretty late trying to talk to the last few people before I left and went to bed around 1 or 2. Of course I had an early flight so I had been planning to get up at like 5AM but sadly the phone I was using died :( Instead Mom comes in a wakes me up when I am actually supposed to be leaving the house! So it was kind of a disaster getting out with everything, but we moved quickly and I was kind of a wreck and we made it anyway. We had a quick teary eyed goodbye (but not too terrible or that would have sucked) and I made it to the plane right on time. I, of course, am so tired and totally out of it, but as I’m literally stepping to get on the plane the guy in front of me turns around and says “Hey, you are Samantha aren’t you?” Turns out that Nathan, another trainee that I facebook friended, is also from MI and was on the same flight as me and even recognized me. I was so scatterbrained that I couldn’t even make a complete sentence. Small world, and certainly an interesting start to my trip.

So 16 of us met in Philly about two months ago to meet for a few days and fly to Gambia together (I know it sounds like Real World meets Road Rules and sometimes that is exactly how it feels). It was actually pretty great. I really liked everybody in my group and we all had a shit ton of luggage etc. It was however very strange to know that I would be spending the next 27 months with all of these strangers in a country that I probably did not know enough about. In Philly they just debriefed us on what was going to happen when we arrived in country and we talked about safety and security and our worries and goals and such. We also did some MORE medical stuff and paper work. Our last night in the US we all went out to dinner and then went to a few bars. Most people went back a little earlier but 4 or 5 of us stayed until about 2. Nothing too crazy happened, but we all said our goodbyes and started to become friends.

The next day they packed us on a bus with all of our important documents and luggage and shipped us to the airport. As you can probably imagine 16 kids with huge bags of luggage trying to get to Africa can be a pain in the ass and Newark did not make it very easy on us. It took about 1.5hrs to get us checked in and our luggage situated. Because I was the one coordinating all the boarding passes and passports and such I was the last one to leave with Nathan (the other trainee that was coordinating stuff). After everyone was gone we grab our stuff and do one last check and that is when I realize that I do not have my WHO card (verifies all my immunizations). This piece of paper is literally like one of three things they told us we absolutely had to have AND they told us all these horror stories of trainees forgetting important things last minute and not being able to leave with everybody etc. So of course I’m super stressed for a variety of reasons and I panic and start thinking worst case scenario stuff. I started calling all of these people who are supposed to be able to help but are not answering their phones and eventually I just start crying in the airport. Poor Nathan had to awkwardly deal with me and talk me down for a minute but in the end somebody finally did answer their phone and told me to just wing it and go anyway (worst case they would have to give me multiple shots AT the airport in Banjul). Of course nobody ever asked for anything and it wasn’t an issue, but I think that is still the one crying episode I have had thus far. Once we got through security we got some sushi, ice cream and a drink and that helped a ton.

The actual trip to Africa was not very eventful. I slept and read pretty much all the way to Brussels. During our Brussels layover I got my last Starbucks (so sad) and stocked up on candy. Then we had a quick layover in Dakar where we did not even leave the plane and, not kidding, half the plane was still walking around when we took off again.

I officially arrived in Banjul around 5:30PM on July 1st, 2010. Several Peace Corps members met us at the airport and we got through security and were shuffled onto a van/bus pretty quickly. A few of the current Education volunteers were on the bus as well and were answering the questions that we had but it was all a little surreal. We knew that these people knew so much about what was going on and we knew how clueless we were, but I felt like I did not even know where to start. With two months of training ahead I assumed most of my questions would be answered eventually.

The bus took us through some of the city but more of the country and we got our first view of Gambia. Eventually we arrived at Yuna were we spent our first week of training…

Ok, so I have a few more minutes to write. I just wanted to let you know that I made it alive and that I will have very very limited internet time from what I can tell.

Everything is pretty good so far, but definitely overwhelming. There are a lot of things that you would expect (kids running after your car and colorful clothing etc.) and also other things that are surprising (the termites and the thunder storms etc). I am still trying to adjust after the long traveling, but nothing too dramatic has happened. The thing that makes me most sad at this point is that there are 12 girls and only 4 guys! My chances of coming back married are looking slim.

Overall though everybody is pretty nice and there havent been any real issues. They are treating us great to gradually get us used to the change I suppose. We will be in the training compound for another week I think and then they will move us to villages in groups of three or four to start more intense language training. After a week or so of that we come back and its more of the same. Overall though, I find out where I will be for good on July 20th and will move there in early August.

Love,

Samantha

PS You can text me at 022 788 0517 - Its really cheap for me, but I dont know what it will cost you :( You can also call in emergencies or if you want to talk, but its like $3 per minute (free me me I believe). I should always have service :D

Ok, so I have a few more minutes to write. I just wanted to let you know that I made it alive and that I will have very very limited internet time from what I can tell.

Everything is pretty good so far, but definitely overwhelming. There are a lot of things that you would expect (kids running after your car and colorful clothing etc.) and also other things that are surprising (the termites and the thunder storms etc). I am still trying to adjust after the long traveling, but nothing too dramatic has happened. The thing that makes me most sad at this point is that there are 12 girls and only 4 guys! My chances of coming back married are looking slim.

Overall though everybody is pretty nice and there havent been any real issues. They are treating us great to gradually get us used to the change I suppose. We will be in the training compound for another week I think and then they will move us to villages in groups of three or four to start more intense language training. After a week or so of that we come back and its more of the same. Overall though, I find out where I will be for good on July 20th and will move there in early August.

Love,

Samantha

PS You can text me at 022 788 0517 - Its really cheap for me, but I dont know what it will cost you :( You can also call in emergencies or if you want to talk, but its like $3 per minute (free me me I believe). I should always have service :D

So I head to Philly on Tuesday for a 1.5 day staging event where I will meet the other 15 volunteers headed to The Gambia to participate in the Education program (not sure if they are also Math/Science specific, but I think so). I am scheduled to arrive in Philly on the 29th, leave for Africa on the 30th and arrive in The Gambia on the 1st of July.

I have been spending most of my time packing, taking care of loose ends, eating at any place that I might miss and saying goodbye to as many people as possible. I had a great going away party this past weekend so thanks again to all the people that came to visit! I am still way more excited than I am nervous and I hope I don't forget anything important :)

-- Samantha

When sending letters and such, for the first three months (July - September) please address everything to Samantha Jarema, PCT. The PCT is very important! It means that my mail will be tracked and is more likely to reach me.

However, After September address everything to Samantha Jarema, PCV (I move from training to actual volunteer).

Thanks!

Samantha

July - September

Samantha Jarema, PCT

U.S. Peace Corps

PO Box 582

Banjul, The Gambia

West Africa

After September

Samantha Jarema, PCV

U.S. Peace Corps

PO Box 582

Banjul, The Gambia

West Africa

Turns out I am not very good at keeping up to date with my blogging. Maybe once I am gone I will get better... at least that is the hope.

I am officially back in MI until I leave for Gambia. I am scheduled to fly to Philly on June 29th and I leave Philly for the Gambia on June 30th.

For anybody who wants to write me letters I have included my address below. You should write! It would be very very much appreciated :D

Cheers,

Samantha

Samantha Jarema, PCV

U.S. Peace Corps

PO Box 582

Banjul, The Gambia

West Africa

Also, Here are a few suggestions for writing from previous volunteers. They are pretty good:

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With mail, “patience” is the watchword. The mail service in The Gambia is not as efficient as the U.S. Postal Service. It can take approximately three to four weeks for mail coming from a Volunteer’s post in The Gambia to arrive in the United States via the local postal system. Sometimes mail is hand carried to the States by a traveler and then mailed through the US postal system. This leg of the trip can take another several weeks as it is also dependent on the frequency of travelers to the U.S.

The following suggestions may be helpful:

-- Determine, in your first letters, an estimate of how long it takes for transit and establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other.

-- Number your letters so that the Volunteer knows if he/she has missed one.

-- Send postcards in envelopes, as they tend to get lost or stolen.

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So I have officially been unemployed for over a week. Even after the marathon 24hr packing and moving trip from Boston to Michigan it still does not exactly feel real. I keep expecting to head back to my apartment in Cambridge and then to the ZS Boston office. Knowing you can do something and then actually doing it are two totally different feelings. However, I am just as happy as I expected and then some.

I arrived to Brazil this morning and the start of this trip has been something totally unexpected. I had a 1 in 100 million encounter that makes me think these next few months will be very interesting.

The weather here is perfect and the beaches are amazing though I wish that I knew how to speak Portuguese. I feel so rude talking to everybody in English.

I suppose I should learn how to post pictures on this thing... That is my next task.

-- Samantha

PS I am very unhappy that the Christ statue is under construction. The major landmark of Brazil... can I still cross Rio off my list of places to visit if I cannot this statue? That is TBD.

Yay! Medical and legal Peace Corps clearance granted finally… though Mother is decidedly less excited than I am.

Now moving on to the placement process :D Hopefully this will go a bit faster.

Friends and family,

I have decided to start a blog to document my travels and experiences over the next few years. Feel free to read from time to time if you have any interest.

However, I will add the caveat that I am an engineer, and not a writer. In no way do I claim to actually have any writing ability :D ... but I will do my best to keep things interesting and semi up to date.

Love,

Samantha