Buying Bracelets

Going to the market is always interesting.  You never know what you're going up against.  Maybe you'll be followed by a flock of young girls attempting to "help" you, maybe you'll get kicked in the shin by a crazy man or maybe you'll find a friend you hadn't seen in months. Maybe you'll get what you want or you might walk around for an hour and never find what you need.  My friend Katie and I took a trip to the Serekunda market a couple of days ago.  Our mission was bracelets for a friend and 2 meters of Fula fabric for me.  At our first fabric shop/stall, Katie greeted the workers in Pulaar, picked some fabric and asked the price. They gave us a price 3 times what the fabric actually sells for.  (Because we're white. Apparently knowing a local language isn't proof enough that they shouldn't rip us off) When we told then they were crazy, and then another man from the road came up to yell at the workers for us, they reduced the price to only twice what the fabric is worth.  We walked away throwing exclamations back toward the shop about how they were just trying to cheat white people. Guy who came off the street to yell at the workers for us decided to take it upon himself to show us al kinds of places to buy honestly priced fabric and eventually escort us to the bracelets.  Conveniently enough, his wife was selling bracelets. She didn't have what we were looking for but we got some bracelets from a deaf and dumb girl.  It was really interesting. We ended up negotiating the price with another lady and then just paying that girl whatever the other lady decided on.  First goal accomplished!
Katie still wanted to look at fabric.  On that journey, I found some fabric with the president's face on it.  I'm not going to wear it when I'm in Gambia because I don't want to be associated with any political views but its one of those things i had to get because they don't have anything remotely like it in America. Along the way, we picked up another guy off the road that wanted to show us where to look for things.  This man was actually really helpful. He showed us where to get Fula fabric. There was a huge selection and they gave me a fair price.  Fula fabric is hand woven fabric made in The Gambia.  Its nice and I found the exact kind of pattern I wanted- black and white plaid with colored stripes in it.  After that, it was popsicle time; then we escaped from the market!

A Visitor

I just had my dad in to visit. It was really fun having him here and doing all the Gambian stuff (the great and the less than great) with him. We did a lot, ate a lot, walked a lot, saw a lot of animals, rode in a lot of vehicles, and survived a lot of nights without air conditioning.  And I know I had a lot of fun.
We did a bit of traveling around the country. We spent a few days in the city going to the monkey park, the beach and the nature reserve. During this time, Dad and I saw tons of monkeys both wild and too tame, found out how big hayenas really are and Dad got to encounter his first bumsters (boys whose "job" is to hang out on the beach and try to make any unwitting tourist, especially older white women, their ticket to a new life in Europe. Next we traveled to my village. We were welcomed by all the children, who still managed to really like Dad even though none of them could understand anything he ever said.  Dad picked up a few words of Jola in our time in Saliyaa, so he could at least greet people and by the end he even got some "na jamjam"s meaning "he can hear the language."  We went to see the river and all the cool trees of the area. I took him to the school, so he got to see what a day of school-based confusion/work looks like.  He even got to help in the garden a little.  Mostly though, we just hung around the village so he could get to know the people I'm with all the time.  We took a break from village to go to Janjangburreh (JJB), where we took a boat trip to spot hippos and got to spend some time with the monkeys at our hotel. We even got part of our breakfast stolen by one highly skilled monkey.  On the JJB trip, Dad got a good taste of gelly riding.  Its a rough and dusty off-roading with sheep on top of your car experience and we made it through.  We even made it home on time.  The last leg of our trip was Kartong. We hung out on the beach a lot. We happened to be there for Tobaski, the biggest Muslim holiday of the year, so we spent the day with the family of a friend in the village.  It was a nice experience, and the food was great.  We had so much beef: chunks of beef and onions, beef and rice, and beef sandwiches. It was unbelievable. Then the next day we went on a long walk on the beach to walk off some of the excess food from the previous day of gluttony.  Then, all too soon, it was time to go to the airport again.

One Year!

I can't believe that one year ago today, I was arriving in Philadelphia, getting ready to start Peace Corps The Gambia. Eating my last American meal, making my last phone calls, meeting lots of new people... It's one of those times where you feel like you've been at it forever, but also like you just started.
This year has been really great, and I can't believe that I'm almost halfway through my service.  In fact its a little terrifying- I'm still just getting started!!!
So, lots of love to everyone I said goodbye to a year ago. Thanks for the support. And again thanks for not crying in front of me!