Journal Post 12/28

I haven't written in the past couple of days. AHHH it's happening, it's starting to stave off! I think mostly because I was just tired as hell and I should stop trying to be so hooked on routine. Let me do a quick recap...

Woke up at 5 and got ready to leave my door by 5:45 AM. I was just about ready to wait outside my compound when one of my older brothers told me that SURPRISE the gele gele was not going to stop there. Good thing I woke up early, so then I walked all the way to where the parking place was and got there at good time - 6:05 AM on the dot. I think it was easier because there were less people to greet me and still dark, so just less people in general save the ones going to pray. I was the first to get there when a gele gele rolled up - a beat up 16 passenger van and it took awhile, but sure enough it was filled up! I greeted some people, Ceedee's mom came and I love that woman so I enjoyed her presence and felt much more at ease. She was on her way to a meeting in Basse. I really want to get to know her more, on my to-do list. By 6:30 we were off! We saw the sun rise, a car on the road broke down, and were finally in Basse by 7:30-7:45 ish. Unfortunately they took another route to Basse so it dropped me off closer in the town than the transit house. I walked a good 30 minutes back to the transit house with 80 million pounds on my back because I decided to drop off some stuff in Basse in case I ever needed to spend the night. I packed some back up kitchen supplies, toiletries, and a CRAP ton of clothes. Speaking of which, I didn't want to get charged for an extra large bag so I wore 6 skirts, 3 shirts, and my big UMass hoodie and fit all my other stuff in my backpack, hahaha. I looked very frumpy but it worked! Good all the clothes I have are bigger than my frame. ALSO good thing that it's freezing in the mornings so I didn't burst into a flame walking back to the transit house.

There, I went straight to the locker room, threw everything in, stripped down my 80 layers, and finally was ready to surprise my friends!!! Beth and Elizabeth were there sleeping and I had all the intention to roll into bed with them but by the time I went back into the main room they were already awake and talking. EEK! Love them so much AND they had cookies so I had two delicious chocolate ones. Apparently everyone munched on them all the night prior... dammit. Either way, it was delicious. Elizabeth gave me money to buy breakfast sammiches for everyone so I ran as fast as I could to get all those orders while Beth got the water started for tea and coffee. We spent the entire morning catching up because Elizabeth doesn't get cellphone service at her site! Good thing she's the next town over from Basse - she can literally walk her and if she had her bike, she could get here in under thirty minutes. PLUS the road is good, so I'm thankful. She has two missionaries at her site who have been living in The Gambia for a WHILE (15 years?) and that makes me feel better. She was able to go to Christmas mass the night before and was drained because she didn't get back to the transit house until 1 AM! Beth was still feeling a bit icky from her sickness last week but she was able to get in a run and even bike to Basse. Look at these women. I haven't even breathed in the direction of running yet. Could be because I don't have sneakers... Anyways, we caught up and I couldn't stop smiling because I love them and of all the people I'm so glad it was us three ladies. I miss Elizabeth so much, it's so different not being able to talk to her. I texted her ALL the time during training village and she makes me happy. Beth is also the nicest creature ever and, ugh. I was just very content that morning.

Elizabeth wanted to go to sleep some more so she gave us money to go grocery shopping. Beth and I got all our stuff ready and headed out... unfortunately in the middle of the day. We went to the bank first, thinking that since no one really celebrates Christmas it would be open... wrong, closed. SO I was really stuck in Basse for another day because I used the last of my cash to get there! Beth wanted to rest for a bit so we made our little camp in front of the bank's doorsteps and laid down. We called a couple of people to wish them Merry Christmas to be productive :) I also had to tell my family that I would be staying the night. Luckily they understood me. After we were all rested up, we braved the markets on our own and bought everything we needed for our Christmas brunch. It was tough walking back in the heat and I was definitely drenched in sweat so as soon as we arrived, I had to change out of everything. And let me tell you. Wearing shorts and seeing my knees is so liberating. I helped Beth in the kitchen while she did all the hard work (and I ... washed lettuce so as to not mess anything up) and we feasted like champions. It was a simple salad with spaghetti and sauce. We also bought a watermelon but didn't get to it because everyone was stuffed. We chatted a bit, John (a third year who is stationed in Basse), Albert (an older, Ag/Fo volunteer who lives near by and is a frequent visitor to the Basse transit house), and Josh (my site mate/education volunteer and fellow Serehule speaker) came and it was a nice small group. Elizabeth headed home soon after and Beth and I walked her to her car park. We continued onwards to the Internet Cafe and vegged out there for awhile. We were both able to Skype back home and it was everything we could ask for <3

That night, we watched Elf and I made one of those decorative holiday stars! I went to bed exhausted and woke up the next day ready to bank and get home. Good thing when I got there... it was declared a public holiday and closed down hahahahaha. Excellent, day two of no money. Beth was a doll and lent me more. I have officially over 2000 I owe to my family for rent and random volunteers who have been helping me out. She went to the internet cafe while I walked around Basse looking at what there was. I really need a current volunteer who knows their stuff to go with me just so I know if I'm getting ripped off or not! It was good window shopping and doing inventory, though. Beth and I walked back to the transit house after that and got a bean sandwich for lunch. We rested up there, I can't remember what we did, but next thing I know I'm walking Beth back to ferry crossing to drop her off since she needed to head back to site and I went to the Internet cafe. It was good to chat with some people again but I couldn't help but feel guilty that I had to stay... again while everyone was with their families and bonding with them. It's miraculous that I bought toiletries and clothes and such with me and I thank my lucky stars that I was thinking ahead. Damn, I love when you think ahead for yourself and it helps you in the future when you need it. I walked back and decided to do something productive with my time... so I made 5 more of those festivus/holiday stars out of magazine paper and chain/garland things.

THE NEXT DAY, 12/27 AKA yesterday, I wake up and go Elf-mode on the transit house. My partner in crime, Low Chair, he does not wish to let others know of his Martha Stewart side, and I went to town decorating the main living room/hang out area. It's quite beautiful and I will be taking pictures. After that occupied all of my morning, I made a quick breakfast and went to the bank. Josh met me to walk me around and show me places to buy some key things you can't find in village... and then I had to owe him money. Just digging a deeper hole... We finally went into the bank and was met with. Crazy. Ass. Lines. I told Josh to go home and that I'll give him money the next time I see him since I didn't want him to wait with me. The good news was that my phone was charged so I got to text a bunch of random people AND the AC was just turned on. The bad news was that... I waited for an hour. Ah well. I eventually got my money, met a Mariama on the road who was nice enough to walk me to the car park. She goes to school in Kombo but was up in country because her school was on break and she wanted to surprise her friend at her wedding! We went all the way to the car park and that's when I found out... the last car to Kulari left. Awesome, hahaha. It was 1:30 by the time I was there and I thought the last car left at 3 PM. The only car going near that direction was SO far away from my site. I called my Community Rep/HM to see what I should do and he said he could arrange a donkey cart to get me from where they would drop me off but Josh said that would take me hours. Josh advised to stay and I took his advice.

Went back to the computer cafe, derped, did some things I wanted like looked at dress styles I liked and decorative ideas for the transit house, went back, showered and dinnered, and decorated some more. Josh had The Amazing Spiderman on his computer so we watched that while I crafted some more. I feel super awful that I intended to stay in Basse for 9 hours and ended up staying 3 days. I feel like this is the epitome of Peace Corps but I should just learn to go with the flow, haha. It's this damn guilt feeling and my family is so cute - they were going to cook me pumpkin and rice when I got home yesterday but I wasn't able to make it back! Ugh. I bought them a bunch of onions, green onions, and beans so hopefully our meal tonight/tomorrow will be yummy.

Today, as of right now, I'm typing at the internet cafe. In another ten minutes I'm going out to the car garage to wait for the first gele back to Kulari. I honestly cannot wait to be back, and hope nothing horrible grew in my house while I was gone, but I'll write tonight. UNTIL THEN!