http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Gambia en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:00:48 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:00:48 BST A few of my groupies and myself felt like taking a little weekend getaway up country so I opened the travel book flicked a page and so we went. Bintang is a small little village primarily Mandinka on the south bank of Gambia. We all had a blast in our little bungalows on the bolong. I thought it might be a good idea to jump into the water straight from my porch and it was a good idea until http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-290846.html One day I was hanging out at my friend Irisrsquos compound and a pathetic looking little street cat wondered in looking for food and love. He was tiny probably not more than 3 weeks old scruffy and terribly bug infested. I wanted to take him home and rehabilitate him give him a bath and some food and so I did. He hid under my kitchen counter for quite a long time. After my friends and I pu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-290845.html Notice I write my postings in the comfort of my own home so I donrsquot have to watch 20 year old bumsters talk to their 70 year old tourist girlfriends through Skype at the internet caf. Also the internet is too slow and frustrating to stay on it for very long. Thus you may have noticed I post several entries at one time they are not necessarily tothedaycurrent. My life isnrsquot THAT http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-267414.html My students were being naughty stubborn children this week. It doesnrsquot help that they have a hard time understanding me but they never listenhellipto anybody. This does not surprise me as they are 5th graders and are in the prime time for weird behavior. Lord knows I was a disobedient little hell raiser when I was that age. I gave them a spelling test this week their only homework was th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-267410.html Itrsquos two orsquoclock in the morning and instead of being in a sweet little slumber after a long day Irsquom awake. Why you ask At approximately 130am I jolted out of my bed after watching an episode of Roseanne to a bitterly disturbing sound coming from my window. Previous to this incident my friends and I were scared out of our minds when 1 my cat made the sound that incredibly r http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-267407.html I live in the Tower of Babble. With multiple different local languages mixed with some form of English and a bit of French it is a sure fire way to get lost in a sea of translation confusion. As Bill Murray and Scarlet Johnason were I too am lost in translation. Take last week for example. I went to Sukuta a village about half on hour from where I live to visit friends. Most of them speak Ma http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-267405.html Working in a school that is not in your culture is a sure fire way to get some good times out of life. Sure it is difficult and proves to be challenging everyday but the shear hilarity I get from it surpasses all trials. Take for example when I was in the middle of a lesson and a boy comes to me taps me on the shoulder and says ldquoteacher can I urinaterdquo I didnrsquot understand http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-267404.html A few weeks ago my school participated in the Commonwealth a federation of formerly British Colonies. Each grade was assigned to give a small performance about their designated country. My fifth graders were assigned Jamaica. Because I am ldquounbiasedrdquo in the school I was picked to judge the competition. We all gathered in the open sand area and I had a desk set up for the serious judgi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-264044.html Some of you may know already that I have taken up teaching English for grade 5 at a primary school here. If you didnrsquot know that now you do. Itrsquos a pretty interesting experience. I thought this portion of my life would come much later. I also thought that me wearing gaudy gold jewelry to look hot would come later in my life as wellhellipbut Irsquom living in West Africa and the t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-264043.html I am seriously hungry right now and have been for the past week. Itrsquos a pretty viable assumption that I probably have a tropical parasite in my tummy eating all my food and giving me the runs. My friend had this problem while living in Mexico and the local solution for her was to not eat for 2 days to starve the little critters and then drink vodka to get them drunk and confused and kil http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Serrekunda/blog-264042.html After one night in Ziguinchor where a large spider in the bathroom had me awake most of the night we made our way to Kafountine in the northern Casamance. We checked into another paradise this time 'Le Paradise'. We were the only travellers staying here and a couple of local fellows who we saw only briefly. It was like having the whole place to ourselves The owner Eve claimed that the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Serrekunda/blog-262015.html When I get in a funky mood and feel pissed about something I like to write a list of things I love. Itrsquos a nice way to appreciate the simple things in life that make you happy. I wrote this last week1. my current fingernail polish adds a little sparkle to my writing routine2. my family and my home girls3. Seeing old couples who wear matching outfits and hold hands.4. When my cat sits on http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-261256.html I live in a compound with two other families. There are 3 houses one being mine and the otherrsquos belong to Gambianshellipvery domestic and traditional Gambians. Pretty much the day I moved in they expressed their concerns to me and my roommate Julia that we were not fit to clean an African house and urged us to hire a maid ASAP. These people are very lovely but are completely up in o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-261255.html I spent my long holiday weekend in Kartung a village about one hour from where I live. Every year around this time there is a brilliant arts festival in this village. Itrsquos four days long and performers and spectators come from all over to be apart of the event. The art community isnrsquot very large in Gambia so itrsquos great to be apart of a festival that is trying to promote it. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Central-River/Sukuta/blog-260611.html For some queer reason I have been frequently getting the ldquoWhat do you want to do with your life what are your career goalsrdquo question lately. I usually stare at the person with glazed over eyes and drool hanging off my chin in response. I usually donrsquot have much to say and when I do say something people look at me like Irsquom not ambitious enough that I wonrsquot amount t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Serrekunda/blog-260609.html I am reading a wonderful book at the current called ldquoThe White Manrsquos Burden Why The Westrsquos Efforts to Aid The Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Goodrdquo written by William Easterly. Irsquod like to share an excerpt from his book that I found to be particularly moving in my world and hopefully yours.ldquoI am driving out of Addis Ababa Ethiopia to the countrysid http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Serrekunda/blog-260608.html The electricity went out Sunday night surprise surprise. In my time of busy work in my house and trying to turn a paper in I lit candles in my room to see. Not thinking about the wind I put the candle on the table next to my bed like I always do. I turn around to put a shirt on and the next thing I know my curtains and my window screen were engulfed in a fiery mess. I screamed to my roommate http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-257083.html Irsquove been putting a lot of thought recently into the Gambian bumster situation. Allow me to pause and explain bumsters for your full enjoyment. A bumster is a young Gambian man typically with ldquorastardquo hair who hangs out on the beach or on the street and tries to make friends with white people in the hopes of earning a living. These are the people that are relentless in their eff http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-257082.html im not one forwriting much only to ones i miss so much and my yearly excursion to the hot countryfelt better this time.so on this forteenth visit i ended up in kessering at a place far to expensive for me as i had a trusted friend of 10 years to find me a place i always go flight only and pick the cheapest dates for going and return to manchester. i was to have a room in manji for 250quid or n http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-253452.html I got to thinking about communication and if understanding every part of language is really vital. Could fluent communication perhaps take away some beauty that lies in body language eye contact and understanding a person in other ways I live in the modern day tower of babble. English is Gambiarsquos official language because it was forced that way from colonialization thumbs down. Howeve http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Serrekunda/blog-252764.html It happened. The very pinnacle point of your life where you invariably see the bright light at the end of the dark tunnel and crawl to it in an incoherent stupor. It happened. Itrsquos called malaria. Despite the high fevers and cold chills projectile vomit and diarrhea abdominal and back pains headaches and hallucinationdizzy spells it was quite an amazing experience. Although I looked lik http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-251614.html Currently I am in my home with my eyes transfixed on my ecommerce book. With all the beauty that lies right out my door it is terrible nauseating to force myself to contemplate which is the preferable web template. It is true that I signed up for this class however why do I give a rip about ecommerce. Props to those of you who get high off of HTML customer acquisitions and web marketing http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-251611.html If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me ldquoWhat drives you why do you want to live in Africa why do you love it so muchrdquo I would be a rich woman. If I had a nickel for every strange face smartass remark glazed over look I received when I tell people about my life in Africa I would be an even richer woman. To answer the first question and to potentially put an end to t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-247997.html Itrsquos been a whirlwind week. Between working and school work bouts of the runs and fevers cleaning and trying to find my kitten he ran away for two days Irsquom glad for the long weekend. Dad I know yoursquore reading these since yoursquore a rock star and subscribed to my blog so donrsquot worry I donrsquot have malaria. Also my iPod blew up. As an aside let me just say http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-247994.html I got to thinking about religion the other day. My life here is saturated with religion all around me. 95 of the Gambian population is Muslim about 4 are Christian and about 1 practice traditional religions such as animism. It is not uncommon for someone to ask me upon our first meeting ldquoAre you a Christianrdquo Christianity here is different than the traditional Christian living we http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-245507.html The internet has been out for several day and the electricity has been on and off which is why these two posts are back to back. There is about a weekrsquos time in between them.I went down to Gunjur again this weekend with my friend Babadingding and his sister Kaddi. Time spent in Gunjur is always appreciated. Both by the people I stay with there and by me. It is a nice getaway from th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Brikama/blog-244886.html Perhaps one of the primary reasons I am not interested in having children is because I know Irsquom going to have ldquoembarrassing parent syndromerdquohellipall the time. I got a kitty yesterday his name is 3pac. Like 2pac the martyr rapper who is still alive like Elvis only with a 3. He is gorgeous white with grey splotches and big Yoda ears. Anyway I was chasing him all over the h http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-244885.html I feel like an African woman. Although my strength and fortitude is in no parallel I'm beginning to relive my life as on a white less strong version of one. I have been very domestic lately which is fairly unlike me. Especially in the department of cleaning. Because of all the bugs and sand and little critters that get into your home it is essential that you scrub the floors BOP spray inse http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-240730.html I'm only going to put a quote in this posting. I'm tired and hot and hungry and I haven't showered in four days. And besides sometimes people can say things better than I can. So today I will gladly let them.Quote of the day ldquoDonrsquot ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.rdquoHoward Thurm http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-239085.html I had a most tremendous productive day. I met my friends Kelly and Greg at Come In for a little lunch and then Kelly took me to her internship sight. She works at the Center for street child and child trafficking. The director Mr. Louis has such a great passion for getting Gambian kids off the streets and into schools. And I felt that passion I really did. He offered me work there and opportu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Kololi/blog-238688.html