aaah!

I'm near a computer again in an office that's set up like an office (the kind that I'm, you know, used to. With staplers, even!). Back in Kombo for PC Thanksgiving/all-vol meetings/general hoo-ha, and I've posted all of 5 more pictures on Flickr (see right).
Lots of things going on in my island fastness--or island slowness, depending on the time of day, my energy level and that of others. Lots of other things just being. I'll write more when I'm not impinging on someone else's computer time - bottom line, I'm still figuring out my job at the Regional Education Directorate, meeting people, getting geared up to do my first training next week and then work at the face-to-face training program for teacher trainees over the winter holidays. That means, in practice, for the past few weeks, this is what I do: I go to the office from 9:00-12:00, when the power shuts off until the evening; I hang out, see if anyone is there, maybe read something with a title like "Rural Community Resource Centers," "The Gambia Handbook on Early Grade Reading Abilities (EGRA)" or "Where There Is No Artist" (thanks, mom!) and wait for something on the printer or one of the computers to break. Then I go to the other room, swear at the computer or the printer or both, try to coach the secretaries who are posted there for a few weeks through fixing it, and go back to my book. Or maybe send some text messages about getting more books. Or going on school visits. Or what bitiks on the island have cheese (currently, two!)
In the afternoons, I hang out with my family and complain about the heat--it's cool at night, but plenty sweaty in the afternoons still--have lunch, then retreat to my front room to read and make teaching aids - including an alphabet book that I'll post when I get a clean copy on my usb key, and some other things that I'll try to take pictures of at all-vol. (We're trying for a teaching aid show-and-tell, oh dorky joy!) Also, projects like...my Halloween costume. Which I've already posted pictures of. Priorities, much? Again, thanks mom, this time for the Sharpies, and I promise that I've also used them for things that will benefit Gambian children more directly. Although the costume seems to have brightened some local Gambians' lives considerably, judging from the laughter when I went out the door in it.
Last week I was out and about a lot, visiting schools for the All-Gambia Tree Nursery Competition, looking for seedlings that hadn't been eaten by goats and were reasonably well-protected against further attacks. Didn't get to see too many classrooms, but I did get the luxury of a ride in a Forestry Department 4x4, which at least let me see the outside, and the administrators, of some of the remoter places in Region 5. I'm starting slow. But I think I'm feeling my way. And I'm definitely enjoying myself. Maybe a little too much when it comes to the Sharpies.

Almost gone, again

I'm heading out to my permanent site on the Island of Janjanbureh (!) tomorrow, and I've put lots of pictures on flickr (link at right). Some text too. Enjoy!
I've got to be short here, but I think I'll have some internet access up country, so keep tuning in.
PS-I'm now an official volunteer. Nice!

Back from training village

...where a lot happened, but I was not eaten by goats. Or by anything else, except the odd mosquito and (for pretend) my favorite small child, with whom I had the following daily conversation:


Me: Mmm, I am hungry!
Fanta: I am Very hungry!
Me: Where is Fanta??
Fanta: Where is Mamjara?? [that's me, here, now]
Me: Here she is! [Pretend eating.] Mmm, Fanta and rice.
Fanta: [Pretend eating.] Mamjara meat is verrry tasty.
Both: mnam mnam mnam


Um, yes. You have to take what language practice you can get, and all I have to say is, the people of Bumari are remarkably patient with their bumbling Americans.


Anyway, pictures!



At the local football field



My friend Becca on our group's marathon walk




More marathon walk





My house in village (the end with the tie-dye, not the Pokemon.)

I'm back in the capital for the last week of training, so watch this space for updates on the last couple of months.

This little toubab went to market...

...and the crocodile pool, and the Saint Theresa Upper and Lower Basic School, and the Come Inn (favored PCV hangout) for a genuine Gambian lager - JulBrew, to call it by its brand name. Our group is out of control with the self-chronicling, so you may have read it all already elsewhere, but yes. I was there too.
Yesterday was a busy day, with Saint Theresa's, more lessons in gastrointestinal upset (both in and out of the classroom!)*, a water-filtration how-to, and a tour of the local hot spots of peril with our Safety and Security coordinator. If all goes according to plan, I will never go out on my own, ever, and will never leave my compound after dark, period. So mom and dad, put your minds at ease. I will be well cloistered.
We're leaving tomorrow for our training villages, and I don't think I'll have much (or any) email access for the next 10 weeks, so if you want to hear of my adventures by the village well, learn my Gambian name, and find out the current bush-rat death toll, please do send a regular letter (address at right).
I was going to try for a grand summing up of my First Week in Africa, Ever, but...what can I say? It's strange. Things look very dreamlike here sometimes. Half a block of tourist-strip restaurants gives way suddenly and completely to pockmarked concrete, sand, and little kids playing soccer. The light is different, especially with a storm coming on. All the dogs look kind of the same. Things like that. Plus, every single interaction here is slightly different from how it would be back home - whether you're talking to a shopkeeper or a random adorable little kid or another American. We're learning the rules, but it's all just different.
Anyway. I'll get back to you once I learn some of the rules. Hope you, my home people, are all there. And all well, too.

*don't worry - I don't have "bad diarrhea," according to the medical officer. But if you have some extra Emergen-C...

Now I am here (behind the camera)

Welcome to Club Peace Corps, eh? These are some of my fellow Education trainees trying to remember where we're supposed to go next/how to say "How are the home people?" in Mandinka/shooting the breeze.

My roommate in our room at Gambia Pastoral institute - check out all the indoor plumbing! Personally, I like how they put us in the kiddie pool for a week before sending us out to village-based training. It's surprisingly reassuring to be able to brush your teeth from the tap.
Our feet, on the other hand, get washed in the bucket (bottom left). No rains yet, and there's lots of dust. Mmm, gritty toes.

I am here (see below)

Us on the bus from the airport -with bags of water (tasty!)

From the airplane yesterday...the outskirts of Banjul, with The Gambia's eponymous and large river.

Staging Event

That's what they call it - 2 days (more or less) in Washington, D.C. to meet our group, get our shots, and learn juust enough about the PC and our role therein to get on the plane. So far, I count 3 pillars of success, a triangle of support related to our VSSS (which has 5 components), and a wedge (within a Venn diagram) where we will do our most productive work.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but right now I'm focused on repacking--it's probably not such a hot idea to put all my toiletries in my carry-on--and gearing up for departure. Tomorrow! Yowza!

That's not til the evening, though. In the morning we have vaccinations. Which are exciting too, in their way.

Anyway, there are 20 of us, about evenly split between secondary math and science teachers, IT trainers, and primary teacher trainers like me. To give you an idea: 14 women, 6 men; 1 married couple; some kids fresh out of college, a couple of middle-aged types, and the rest of us somewhere in between. My roommate Kristy brought her mandolin, which came in handy for our final presentation - a song about The Importance of Integrating into One's Host Community. Sounds cumbersome, but know that another group was assigned an interpretive dance that expresses the Peace Corps Approach to Development. No kidding. Herewith, the lyrics:

To the tune of "Rocky Top," best sung high and lonesome

Integrate into your community

Do as the Gambians do

Eat their food and belch politely

If that's what they say you should do

Gambia, you may not be

Home sweet home to me

But we will integrate

Into your community

[note the clever/thrifty line recycling! I think we're going to take this on the road.]

You may find the customs surprising

The heat really hard to bear

Just remember to dress professional

Bring something cool to wear

Gambia, some day you'll be

Home sweet home to me

Good ole Gambia

Be our community

Good ole Gambia...

Be our community.

Words to live by.

Peace Corps Fashion Show

"Dress modestly," they tell you in the welcome book. What does that even mean? Can I show my arms? Ankles? Do I need to invest in a burquini? Thankfully, returned PC volunteer and classmate Ingrid gave me more specifics:

• Collarbone okay; cleavage, no.
• Sleeveless okay; spaghetti straps, no.
• Anything above mid-calf = whorish.

Please note how well the dress at left adheres to those guidelines! It is, in fact, my favorite thrift-store teacher-lady purchase. I'm a little worried about the length--will they be able to see the"Western Slut" tattoo on my upper calf?--but too pleased with its other qualities to leave it at home. Besides concealing at least 4 cumulative inches of neck-to-shoulder skin, it is also:

• Breathable
• Patterned (good for hiding stains!)
• Generally shapeless (good for hiding other things, including my bike shorts)

Those of you with eagle eyes have no doubt already spotted the coordinating Sensible Sandals. Hey, I just want to be in with the in crowd.

I dream in lists

Some things I am concerned about:

1. Packing too much
2. Packing too much and still leaving out some crucial thing
3. Packing too much and then losing it
4. Losing it
5. Bush rats
6. Gastrointestinal illness
7. Hollow and aching loneliness
8. General incompetence
   
9. Not being able to handle the above

On the other hand, I am far less concerned about:

1. Parking tickets
2. Whether it's okay to eat cheese fries
3. Whether it's okay to use the last remaining cheese fry to try to scoop up all the remaining cheez in the container, and if this does not work, to use a fork and/or fingers
4. Shaving

All in all, I think it's a wash. Stay tuned for the thrilling resumes of: Things I Ate on the East Coast, and: Personal-Care Items Recently Acquired (Or, How Many Kinds of Soap Can I Bring to the Developing World?)

PS

In case you were wondering, I bought plenty of underwear. Also Ziploc bags.

all packed up (in Boston, anyway)

The winter clothes are in one duffel, the Gambia clothes are in another; enough other stuff is in bags and boxes to fill the mighty Taupe Subaru Wagon pretty much to the brim; Cat B is lying at my feet, unaware of the indignities to which she is about to be subjected; and I am just about ready to head down to NJ*. Stopping off in New Haven to have lunch with my uncle and see where I can stick a (mewling) cat carrier for an hour or so...oh, Cat B. We're going to have so much fun together!
Watch out, eastern seaboard - I can't see out my rear window.

*then DC, then Baltimore, then (I hope) down the shore and Philly. Holla if you're around any of those places.

I am live and online

All the kids (even the ones in the Peace Corps) seem to be on the Interweb these days, so I figured it was time to jump on the bandwagon. Especially since I'm all finished up with my jobs - no more office, library, or standardized-testing duties to get in the way of goofing off - that is, preparing for departure. I'm only about 15 minutes into it, but so far the 21st century is beating microfilm hands down. Next up: errands.

Staging Event (ie, shots and How Not to Get Assaulted on the Plane): June 11.
Leaving the Country: June 13
Arriving in Country: June 14

Holy crap - I'd better buy some more underwear.