Snack Time

This was my snack out at the university. Peach juice (with peach pieces!) from South Korea and a chocolate cookie thing from Pakistan. Yum.

Then for dinner tonight we went to a restaurant called Emirates Circle. The food was amazing. I got a great marinated chicken, chips, and a salad. We split a banana and chocolate crepe for dessert. When it was time to pay, we walked inside and the staff added up our bill on their cell phones.

Oh Dear

While I was running, I decided to take the long way down Kairaba Avenue, the main drag through town. Across from the Africell building, a bunch of kids were playing with machetes...Oh Gambia. Then, I walked into the American Corner, a project of the US Embassy where they hold talks for the community about "American things". Well, I walked, sweaty and dirty, right into the presentation about jazz, where, of course, all the The Gambians were maintaining jazz originated in The Gambia...Then, I was running back home and was in Old Jeshwang and I saw my African Drama professor sitting outside of the compound three up from ours. He yelled my name and I walked over and asked him what he was doing there. "Oh, I live here." Oh really...me too.

Dinner Time

A bit of pasta with marinara.

Cheesy garlic bread.

Study Abroad in a Third-World Country: Not For the Weak of Stomach

Today, I spent the better part of my day being quite sick. Sadly, this is a reality for most Westerners when they come to a third-world country and stay for a few days or a few months. The worst part is, tomorrow I have to get back out there again and eat the food...or I'll starve (or at least be perpetually hungry). My advice: grin and bear it and imagine the Blizzards and Berks Fiesta Franks awaiting me in the good ole' USA.

"Heeeeeey JC!"

Our beautiful friend Haddy sporting a Juniata College hat during our visit to her village on Sunday. We brought a lot of clothing, hats, and shoes to give as gifts to the villagers and saved this special item for Haddy.

Poolside

5 (technically 6) required items for a fun pool day in The Gambia:


Apple crepes and a banana split. Check.

Poolside acrobatics. Check.

A kitty and a funny British read on your lounge chair. Check.

Drinks that taste like coconut and cucumber at the same time. Check.

Sandals with the face of the POTUS on them. Check.

The Commute

I took a regular taxi out to class today instead of a bushtaxi (the big vans that are like public buses). First, the driver and the passenger in the front seat were having a serious, intellectual debate about Islam. Second, American country music was playing out of the radio...didn't hear a station call name though. Third, at an intersection we were attempting to turn left into oncoming traffic 4 abreast with other taxis. I'm not sure how all 4 taxis managed the turn into a two-lane highway all at the same time. But manage they did, without a bump or a scratch.

Some pictures I didn't think you guys would want to miss:


Little Bastard is a little too cute.

Making the dinner for tonight!

Chicken parmesan...how I have missed you!

Burned

It was so hot today that I could not put my hand out of the window of my bushtaxi because my silver bracelet would heat up in about a minute and burn my skin. Apparently, it's going to heat up here even more because the winds shift at this time of year: up until now the winds came off the ocean with a cool breeze. Now, the winds come off the Sahara and bring heat, dust and more heat.

Ringling Bros.

Friends! A little sheep and a little bird hanging out at the university.

This poor sheep is tied to the top of a bushtaxi...this is the preferred mode of livestock transportation in The Gambia.

Surprise!

When I put my right foot into my Asic before I went running, I felt something strange in the toe of the shoe. I peered inside and a huge purple frog jumped out! Needless to say, I shrieked really loud and everyone came running out to see what was the matter...and made enormous fun of me when they realized a frog freaked me out so much.

Sunday Brunch

Today we went to The Butcher's Shop for Sunday Brunch....and that is a cup of cafe au lait I am holding...mmmm. As you can read on the menu board, they served crepes, pancakes, omelettes, BACON, sausages, roast chicken and beef, quiches, pasta and potato salad, a really good carrot salad, stuffed peppers, latkes, chocolate carrot cake (which was fabulously moist and chocolately) and ice tea and lemonade. All for 250 dalasis (which is a little less than 10 dollars)!

The Scene at Dinner Tonight

Apparently, having a PhD brings a lot of maturity.

(This is my professor)

"I HAVE NO MONEY"

I was riding to class today in the bushtaxi, already running a half-hour late due to Harry Potter and the excessive heat. We were halfway to Brikama, where the university is, when the driver asked for everyone's money to pay the fare. I started digging around in my bookbag for my wallet and I couldn't find it. I searched everywhere for it and then remembered I had taken it out of my bookbag and put it in my purse to go to the Western Union this morning. Then I started rummaging around for any loose bills or change that I might have stuck in my bookbag when I was too lazy to put them away in my wallet. Nothing. No luck. I called my professor and asked him what to do. I said, "Ok. I'm on the bushtaxi and I can't find my wallet, I left it at home and I have no money. What should I do?" And I had to say this pretty loudly because, on average, bushtaxis are very loud. Of course, the one time I scream "I have no money" in English on a bushtaxi, the driver speaks and understands perfect English. He pulls over and asks me nicely to get out, since I can't pay. By this point in the ride, we're still only halfway into the 45 minute ride to the university. I couldn't really argue with the driver because I absolutely had no way to pay him. So I got out, started walking and called my professor back and said, "Well, they kicked me off the bushtaxi because they heard me say I had no money." Turns out, I was in luck because Professor Nagengast was already on his way to class and could backtrack a little and pick me up. So I arrived to my Drama and Society class about an hour late and the professor asked me to stand up and give a dramatic speech with a point and a benefit to the class. Well...never get on a bushtaxi without some money...

3 Good Things

1. I took the easiest midterm exam ever in my life today.
2. I had a fried egg sandwich on toast for lunch.
3. My English student is making great improvements in Speaking and Writing.

And one funny thing:

This sign was attached to a gas pump. Apparently the gas they have in The Gambia is highly INflammable...

Nacho Night

Blair spotted some tortilla chips, pinto beans, and cheddar cheese at the RightChoice supermarket today, so we decided to make a little post-dinner snack tonight.


Blair heating up the beans...and throwing some hot pepper sauce in!

Laying the cheese on thick.

Oh, yeah.

First bite.

Blair and Michelle digging in.

I'm A Survivor

My family and I spent a few days around town in Banjul. Then on Saturday, we went on an excursion upriver to Tendaba and Janjanbureh, two towns in the rural up-country region of The Gambia. We saw chimpanzees, hippos, huge monitor lizards, red and green monkeys and lots and lots and lots of birds. We traveled to Tendaba and Janjanbureh by road (dirt and paved) and also by the River Gambia. So we spent a lot of time on the water this week. We also spent some time in the river water...something I was not planning on. While we were at Janjanbureh, we went on a bird-watching, wildlife-spotting expedition on the river. We got on the Lady Hippo, our double-decker river boat, and set out. Our British and Scottish companions were very helpful in spotting birds. They got quite excited when they saw the African Darter and the Great Eagle Owl. I got excited when I saw goats on the riverbank. About 20 minutes into our journey, we hit a snag. The boat became stuck on a mudbar. Our captain revved and revved the engine, but the Lady Hippo just would not budge. So, he jumped in to investigate and see exactly what we were stuck on. Whatever he saw must have convinced him that pushing the boat would help un-budge us. He pushed and all we did was start leaning from side to side; I think he must have been trying to rock us off the mudbar. He kept shouting for us to stand on strategic points around the boat to distibute the weight evenly to balance the boat...or to help him rock it more...we weren't really sure. After a few unsuccessful minutes of this activity, all the men on the boat jumped ship to give the captain a bit more muscle. So my dad and the two Brits, Clive and Tim, got into the river, pushed a bit more, and proceeded to spin us around in 360 degree circles. Then Clive's wife Alison decided she'd like to help also and tossed herself out of the Lady Hippo. And then Jessica jumped out, even though my mom would have rather Jess stayed on the boat. Even with all those people out in the river pushing us around in circles, the boat still would not budge. The captain then got out his cell phone (or mobile, as they call them here) and called the captain of another boat out on the river that day. When we saw the other boat coming toward us, it looked a bit like a pirate ship coming to get us, so I called them the Somalian pirates. All the Somalian pirates jumped out of their ship and swam over to our ship and began to push in an attempt to free the Lady Hippo from the mudbar. What actually happened was we spun around in a circle much faster now because we had more muscle. The captain must have wrote it off as a lost cause because he started motioning for the people still on the boat to jump off and swim over to the pirate ship. So we packed the cameras, binoculars and phones into plastic buckets to be carried/floated to the pirate ship, plopped the coolers of beer and soda into the river, and jumped into an African freshwater river....exactly what the travel doctor at the Reading Hospital said not to do. We swam over, dragged ourselves over the bow of the pirate ship and managed to get lots of little bruises and scratches in the process. Once everyone had made it onto the pirate ship safely, it was complimentary beer and soda for the survivors while the captain of the stuck Lady Hippo had to wait for the tide to come in and free him.

Back To The States

Today was the last day of my family's trip. They got onto the plane for Brussels at 8 pm and now it's back to real life for them and me. Stay tuned for stories and pictures from the trip...right now I've actually got a paper to write.

I Love The Nature