Christmas!

Merry Belated Christmas!!!

I hope all of you out there in Toubobadu (any place that isn’t Africa or the Middle East) had a great Christmas. Maybe you could comment and tell me how it went? Often people feel a bit glum for having to spend their Christmas in Gambia with its heat and lack of Christmas spirit. Everyone misses their family, friends, dark beer, and having to wear the layers and layers of clothes to keep warm. I missed all these things of course but I also had a really good time this Christmas.

In a reminiscence of high school I found myself playing Christmas music in a jazz band. We only had a couple days to practice but to my surprise I was able to channel my inner music nerd and was able to play pretty fluently. It was an eclectic group. I played bass, a professional musician named Dave led and played the piano, a man from Senegal played the guitar, and an ex-pat Brit who runs a lodge played the bongos. We were the back-up band for the American School’s Christmas Show. The kids sang and did a great job.

The pictures are Ian cooking pancakes, the rest of the crew making breakfast, and the actual breakfast.

A couple days before Christmas was carolling at the Scottish Embassy. A bunch of PC and ex-pats got together for some beer and holiday cheer. Dave played the piano and we all sang along. We weren’t a professional choir by any means and some lines were lost in a mumble but it was really fun.

Christmas Eve was spent playing poker then going to Mass. Quite opposite things, I know. I hadn’t played poker in a long time but I made Nevada proud. Maybe all Nevadans are good at poker but since we often only get to play each other we have really high standards? I played well but another volunteer was a lot of competition. I’m sure if we would have played till the end it would have been just like those poker shows, but more fun.

We stopped poker early so I could go to Mass. I’m not Catholic and even though I have always gone to a protestant version of a midnight mass I was still semi awkward at the night’s events. I of course wasn’t totally out of place though and in our PC group of 6 or 7 there were 2 other semi lost protestants. The two and a half hours included lots of prayer, a lot of hymns, some drumming songs in Wollof, tossing holy water 2x’s, shaking hands, and a little bit of critique from the priest to his staff. I swear I saw a fake hair model there! Just wait till I tell my host family that one.

Christmas morning! After just a couple hours of sleep due to mass and a debrief “Is there always that much incense at a mass? I mean, it’s all the same just acted out differently really” conversation, we were ready for breakfast. There was a huge 50+ person breakfast with pancakes, bacon, fruit salad, and frittata. We left nothing. That food didn’t stand a chance.

Breakfast was followed with Christmas movies.

That evening 3 of us got together and made a big dinner. We had stew, pasta salad, mashed potatoes, and cookies. There was a gift exchange and we finished off the night watching CSI.The picture is of Ian opening the gifts his family sent him. He really liked them.

It was a great Christmas.

Bike Trek

A couple months ago PC The Gam did a huge bike trek for HIV education. There were 3 teams, two starting from opposite sides going towards Farafeni and one that trekked around FF. I was on the Janjanbureh to FF team which ended up being about 117k (72 miles) of biking over 5 days.

We taught in teams with a 4 hour lesson then biked in the evenings and slept at the schools. Here are some high and low lights from each day.

Day 0- We biked to ____ (insert village name here, I can’t remember). We were met with song and drumming. We wanted to do a movie showing but the generator was a terrible flop.

For dinner we ate bikit bread, canned meat, onion, mayo, and mustard. Sleeping was freezing for some and the showering “area” was just a spot between trees behind a building. Good thing it was a moon-less night.

Day 1- We taught out first lesson. Trial by fire really. My class was a little silent but I’m sure some people learned a bit. Kevin and I partnered up and dropped some knowledge. We biked over to Wassu, ate a ton of domada (tomato, peanut butter, rice), then set up camp in the computer room of Wassu’s upper basic school. We had foam mats this time around. Win!

Day 2- Second day of teaching the lesson.

We were more on our game but the students were basically mute. It was half painful during the last lesson when the kids had to toss red string to each other and say something they learned. We had the PVC who lives there help us and she was really great with keeping the kids in line and just making us feel good. The ride to Nyanga Bantang was nice but I was lacking some optimism after the kids at Wassu.

But then!

We were met in Nyanga Bantang by a happy head teacher, great food, and a shower area that actually covered us. Moral was getting better and we had a “romantic” dinner by candle light in the big room at the school.

Day3- 3^rd day of the lesson and it went TERRIFIC! The students already knew so much, were way more talkative, and they actually understood some English. I was really impressed by this school. Since Wassu wasn’t too good I thought this more rural school would be the same or worse, but their students were exactly how we hoped students would be. We biked to Panchar and met up with another PVC. We hung out at her compound, took showers, ate Nyatikon (re-cooked rice with msg spice, and dried fish. It sounds gross but its actually really good), and had attaya. When we got back to the school we got to eat Chicken Yassa (chicken, onion, spices, and extra veggies) which was delicious. We were more like a travelling zoo to these kids because every other minute someone was looking in at us. We were met with a really great dancing and drumming kids club as our welcome.

Day 4- Class went even better! Kevin and I had a huge class but the kids already knew SO much! I was able to do a condom demo at each school but this village had a little bit of debate about if it was culturally appropriate to do so. Their health teacher basically said “I already did one, so why not another?” In the end I got to do one. During this whole trip there were many memorable quotes but this is one that, when said, I had to walk out of the class to laugh. “Oral sex is when a man puts his mouth on a man’s vagina”. I had to leave, I had to laugh, but you know, still wanted to seem professional. We biked to our last school, had some more great dinner, and spent the night listening to listening music and sitting on sporadically placed desks outside.

Day 5- We were at a Senior Secondary which meant the kids already knew almost everything and were a lot more active with their questions. Our class was bulging with people and we were asked every sensitive subject under the sun. From homosexuality, to female condoms, to “the cure” which is a governmental program to cure people with HIV. Our students put on a drama and even made their own song. It was really well done.

Then, we biked, and biked, and biked. We had to bike 37k to FF. It took a while but wasn’t horrible. The last 5k dragged but when we got there we were met by the FF team, chicken dinner, and free sodas.

We had a celebratory party, then, my team and the Barra to JJB team stayed in the hospital. It was a little creepy but at least we had somewhere to sleep. Plastic covered beds and bad lighting in a 3^rd world hospital are the things of nightmares but having 4 people in my 10ft by 7ft room made it hard to be creeped out.

21 Things I didn't know

Since there is a new group coming it made me think of last October as I packed away, sold everything I owned, and took off to a place I really didn’t know much about. Thinking of that made me think of all the things I didn’t know about TG before I came here. Here are some of those things.

1. 1:Children are allowed to go #2 basically ANYWHERE outside.

2: 2:Koos is a grain that isn’t actually like koos koos at all and generally is met with dissatisfaction but eventually grows on you.

3.The love of dogs and animals isn’t an inherent human trait. Gambian’s aren’t overly kind to their “pets”.

4.4:Jelibah is a superstar. HOW could I not know who he is?

5.5:There is polygamy in the TG,

6:Rope and wire are perfectly normal things to use in the engine of a car.

7.7:Everyone wakes up at 6AM, so why wouldn’t they yell, bang pots, work on cars at 6:15AM?

8. 8:80 degrees is almost chilly.

9.9:No matter what you think, you can learn a language. You might sound like a 3 year old, but you get your point across eventually.

10.10:1/3^rd of you the year you will sleep outside because it’s just a little colder outside than in your scorching hut.

11.11:People pick their nose’s in public.

12.12:Boss lady will become your second name in the capital.

13.13:Getting clothes tailored is cheaper than buying used.

14.14:All those donated to Africa clothes end up being sold, and not cheaply.

15.15:Everyone gets Malaria, I thought it would be a big deal but people act pretty casually about it.

16.16:Chocolate in a wrapper will melt and the glue from the wrapper will mix with it and make it taste bad.

17.17:Drink your tea as fast as possible! Other people are waiting for that cup!

18.18:Children love sticks.

19.19:Termites will eat your books, fence, door, roof, ect.

20.20:You can eat rice and dry fish sauce every day and life. You won’t be made of muscle, but you won’t die either.

21.21:Mayonnaise and ketchup make good spaghetti toppings.

Villager Profile

Name: Mama Ami (Ami Darboe)

Age: Old

Marital Status: Widow

Hobbies: Gardening, cracking peanuts, looking cute, praying.

Pet Peeve: Children chasing the goats with a stick.

Quote: Saying to the infant while laughing “Be buuti la! =I will beat you!” “Fanta mang saa faa no = Fanta (Me) doesn’t know how to kill a snake”. I told her the kids at school were driving me crazy and she said “i naata, i be i la muro samba karangbungo to? =You came back, are you going to take your knife to the school?”

Christmas is coming. It being hot makes it hard to feel the Christmas spirit. A friend living in the capital has Christmas lights which help but walking out to the 90 degree afternoon to buy presents isn’t quite the same. The lack of appropriate weather and home town family and friends won’t stop this from being a nice holiday. Most people are wrapping up presents with the PC newsletter and jumping in gelis across the country to travel down to Kombo for some comrodery. I’m sure you will hear all about but. Merry (happy) Christmas! If you spill your drink make sure to donate some to your hommies in Africa. And please, eat some pie for me.

Horoscope: more and more!

I'm going to update this thing soon. Real soon.
Here are some things to look forward to.

Bike Trek

Travel

Characters and Awkward Events

More Awkward Things (It's constant)

The Sad, The Bad, The Ugly

Return of My Inner Orch Dork

Silence of th Rams

Tobaski
Caution:Lots of dead ram in the blog post

Holidays here just don’t do it for me. I’m all about eating ram and putting on a fancy outfit, but other than that there isn’t much else. That doesn’t mean it’s all boring but it lacks something that American holidays have. Maybe its Christmas lights, family and friends, dark beer, whatever it is I can’t put my finger on it.

Today (November 17^th) was Tobaski. It is a Muslim holiday to celebrate Abraham being so devoted to God (AKA Allah over here) that he was willing to sacrifice his son. What’s that?! Muslims and Christians sharing the same background of their religions?! You don’t say! Hey Nigeria (and world), you can stop fighting each other now. I digress. I woke up early, got on my kompleto, and walked out to the bush with my host grandma (Mama Ami). A year ago in training village people prayed outside of the mosque. Here at my site people go to the eastern most part of the village, in a field, and pray. It was really beautiful actually. It was a bright blue day with a slight breeze. We sat under Mango Trees in a clearing surrounded by tall green grass that slides up to a large hillside, and it was quiet since we were outside of village.

The men (old and young) come and sat on mats in lines towards the front. The women (only older women allowed, and me) sat in the back. Everyone gets up and does the prayer, then a group of elderly men gather in a huddle with a sheet on their heads and pray for the village. I wish I had a picture of this because it’s hard to describe and even at the time I thought it seemed odd. There is a tall stick with a large sheet draped over it. Men (maybe 4-7) stand up under it and loudly pray for things. Everyone else sits and listens. Then it’s done and people leave a different way than they came.

When I got home my host family had already killed the ram, well, it was in the process of dying. I’m not sad for this ram because he had a thing for ramming small children whenever they got around him. I seriously once saw a 2 year old fly 3 feet after a head butt to the chest (yes, in hind sight I should have noticed him being close to the ram and moved him, but....what can I say, I’m just going to be a terrible parent some day).

Everyone walks around and says prayers for each other. When they do, the receiver is supposed to tap their forehead and say "ammin". Of course I can't recognize a prayer to save my life so I'm sure lots of well meaning old men and women walked out of my compound a little confused with me.

After an hour ram meat starts flowing through the village. People are giving ram to each other left and right. My host brother was hacking bits of meat behind me with a machetti and eventually my host dad handed me a huge handful of bone and meat. I don’t really have any previous experience with meat butchering but I managed to make ram strips with soy sauce and garlic. I walked around different compounds and gave it away. People looked at my plate of meat with varying reactions. One woman tossed it around with her hand while glaring and saying “what is this?” while others just smiled bravely and threw a piece in their mouths.

Lunch comes late but it’s well worth it. It’s bennechin with meat, potato, eggplan, and squash. I’m still in a food comma. Holidays and parties are the only time I get food that resembles the lunches that PC used to put on for us. The more veggies the better but in real life that hardly happens.

Towards the end of the day I put on my red and gold sparkling kompleto (thanks Ousman) and walked around and greeted people. It is more of a thing the kids and teens do. They dress up and walk compound to compound asking for “Salibo”, which just means money. It ends up being like Halloween but instead of costumes it’s nice clothes and instead of candy its money. This evening greeting party goes on for a couple nights and fizzles out after a couple days.

My "epic" kompleto. Many a' ladies were jealous about this one.

This is me cutting up my handful of ram.

This is the ram who we ate. I later saw this head boiled and put on top of my host dad's dinner. I was surprised to say the least.

This is my host grandmother praying for my neighbor. He is tapping his head and saying "ammin"

This is ngebbe. I think there is tomato in it....I don't really know but we only have it on special occasions. Its a bit slimy but not too bad.

These are some ladies from my compound in their Kompletos. People like to wear the same thing to show they are in a group so that is why some are dress the same. Most are extended family. The woman holding an infant and the one to the right of her are my host moms.

This is a picture of my school, teachers, and the students.