Well damn, this is the 1 month anniversary of my coming to The Gambia. Lots of stuff happened today but the best gift of all was the weather. It was super cloudy all day and sprinkled for a bit in the morning. Overall, it was very mild and comfortable. When I got up it was even cold! What is this fantastic feeling. Those of you who know me would never imagine those words coming out of my mouth.
Anyways, I started off the day with washing millions of clothes and my bed sheet so that's always special. Luckily, they all dried but I did this at like 8 in the morning, they all better damn well dry. For my PC homework I was suppose to shadow a Gambian of the opposite sex but everyone went to the bush to pick groundnuts before I even got time to eat breakfast soooo I went to the women's community garden with my mom instead. She first brought me through her own compound where she grew up - which is literally across the street - and I said hi to all her family members. We then went towards the back where it opened up into a sprawl/web of other compounds and weirdly enough everyone knew my name - even the kids - and I've never been there before. I spent a good three hours at the garden with just my mom and I (and the goats). Between the weather light conversation with my mom (successful in that I conversed with her and we both understood each other), it was an awesome experience. We didn't speak much but we exchanged vocabulary in Serehule and English, we talked about my site mates, she teased me, and she even understood when I explained why I didn't like having too many kids. It was all just very pleasant. It started raining a little and I was arguing/begging/kooing/bartering with the sky to cut the shit and keep it cloudy because I was in a garden field in the middle of NO where and my clothes were drying. The community garden hasn't gotten to the planting stage yet, they are still clearing fields. Every woman had a plot of land where they were charged to clear and take care of and it's just them, a hatchet, they go to down with the weeds, and then they burn it. It's ridiculous work, lots of repetition and callouses involved and lots of just thick sticks and stuff, ugh. I can't believe this is what they do every day. It drizzled for all of 20 minutes but stopped and we went back by 11:30ish. I said "Hi," to my cousin (who is my joke mate, all cousin relations are), at the market who wanted to see me, went back home to pack for my site visit, and left to go to lunch.
On the way, I literally walked into a parade led by an elderly woman carrying a chair (who greeted me and I greeted her right back). Then, all the other older women (including my mom and all of my site mates' moms) come parading along and they all greet me while I'm standing on the side really confused as to what this parade is. I got my answer right away because out of the blue, like 10-15 white people appear in the parade and then I got REALLY confused. One of them saw me look at them in consternation and I managed to stumble out a "Hi." They were from the Netherlands and were there to build a new pump or two. They were briefly touring villages and being welcomed just like we were with a welcoming ceremony. One of the men shook my hand and thanked me for being there and they were off. They were doing the very opposite of what Peace Corps does - come in without learning about the culture of bringing any entering gifts (like Cola nuts, I doubt they knew what they were), dropped off cash, gave the people things, and left. It's nice to get a tap system but damn. Not the way to do it sustainably.
Anyways, I met Ida and Elizabeth on the road because they wanted to see the parade and Ida was tired because apparently she walked a lot in the morning (with people telling her I was going to the gardens...of course. Very exciting news). We had lunch and even a watermelon and it was DELICIOUS. I tried to study but this one little girl had other plans and kept on distracting me (she's comfortable with me now), I showed the Alkaloo's daughter Rohi pics on my iTouch, went back home, and biked. I did some super fast biking too because two guys were behind me and I didn't want to put myself in a risky situation with the sun about to set. The temperature was perfect, I got my exercise in, and finally I was home to tackle a pretty hefty mission... translating the procedure to make Neem cream in Serehule. Neem cream is an organic, non harmful mosquito repellent that anyone can make here for a super cheap price and it's very simple. More info on that later when I ACTUALLY make it. Anywho, with the help of a nice set up, comfortable temperature, and a PILE of boiled peanuts, my mission was attempted.
One of the ladies in the compound who I'm close to had her friends visit me. They all wanted to see my house/room so naturally they ALL came in - all 6 of them - and greeted me. They were all very nice :) but mostly surprised this random Chinese girl can speak Serehule. It was later than I liked but I went out to teach math at 8:30 PMish. I have a commitment to them! The kids were all doing something so I chatted with the older women about my trip to Kulari/Jenoi and they were all sad and disappointed that I wouldn't make the naming ceremony for the new baby. My namesake/elder mom even got me an outfit! It's super cute, in orange, I guess that's my new color now. The outfit (completi) that they made me has a nice top but it's a pain to take off because I have a thing called boobs and I think they told the tailor to make it so that it fit my 12 year old sister. The skirt was also way too tight and long and my 12 year old sister tried putting it on me from the bottom up and from the top down to no avail. I was waddling/shifting my entire body to move - that's how tight it was. It was also way too long. So in conclusion, I found out that I am shorter than a 12 year old but I have more of an ass/chest than a 12 year old...success?
Suddenly, a car pulls up and some guests arrive - maybe 7ish. They call their guests "strangers" here. They were mostly women (some speaking in Spanish/Serehule, some speaking in Mandinka) and kids. They were relatives of my family who lived in Sekunda, a neighboring community with all the good schools. Their kids were a bit more out of control than the kids in my compound but the ladies were all very nice. I gave out what seems like 1,000 math problems for homework since I'll be gone for 9 days in Jenoi/Kulari for site visit and instructed the kids to be acting teachers. My mom called after I retreated back inside to tell me everything's okay with my grandma, she's in safe hands, so that's good. The next week will be filled with lots of big news.
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