Thus Far...

So I have been in Gambia for a little over two weeks now. Surprisingly not that much has happened. The trip here was an experience in itself though. The flight from JFK was delayed for a few hours because of ice and snow, so we pretty much just sat on the plane while it was deiced. The flight itself wasn't too bad, and I slept for most of it. When we arrived in Dakar we were all bombarded by people wanting to carry our luggage, for money of course. Femi told us not to let them take it, so we had to pry all of our stuff away from them and drag it through security or something like it. We went out to meet the van and were again surrounded by people. This time they wanted us to give them money or buy stuff. A lot of people just wanted to say "welcome to the Gambia." The bus ride was a bit insane. It lasted about 12 hours and consisted of roads that weren't really roads, lots of police stops, and very few bathroom breaks. The driver seemed to have the hang of it though and often just went off the road and through salt flats which was pretty terrifying. People also just ignore what side of the road they are supposed to drive on and play chicken as they swerve around all the pot holes. The police stops were interesting and we usually had to pay people so that we could pass. They would say it was for all the luggage on the top of our van, but that was questionable considering at one we had to drive to a random house and pay the people there. We had an interesting stop at the border of Senegal and Gambia. Femi and the driver went out to let the guards look at out passports and our van was slowly surrounded by children begging for various things- makeup, pens, candy, money. Someone gave a few pens to the kids which turned out to be a very bad idea. We were soon completely surrounded and unable to open the doors or windows because little hands were grabbing at us. So we fried in the van until Femi and the driver returned and we crossed over into Gambia. We then had a few more hours of horrible roads until the ferry. When we got to the ferry we were greeted by lots of people. Mostly young boys who wanted us to tell them about America and talk to all of the girls. Femi was quick to call them out, but not before we had the pleasure of meeting Adam Gaye (Marvin's cousin) and the legendary 2Pac who even rapped for us. The ferry ride was interesting and apparently there are no such things as weight restrictions here. Cars, trucks, and people all just pile on within inches of each other until there is not the slightest bit of space left. The ferry ride lasted about an hour and we finally drove to the house, ate dinner, and went to sleep.
Besides the journey here, the first two weeks have been filled up with various orientation activities-mostly lectures. We had language class everyday for the first two weeks and usually a few lectures every day. The lectures were interesting, but a bit overwhelming for the first week here. We were all still adjusting to the time difference and found it difficult to stay awake. Lectures were usually about politics or culture, and we had some pretty interesting and important people come to the house. We were usually unaware of their importance until after the fact but one person was the candidate who ran against the current president. We also had a few drum lessons which annoyed the neighbors as Liz was told over ataya recently. It was pretty cool even though I am not very good, and we all even got our own drums. Last weekend we went on a trip to Tumani Tenda. We spent Friday night at the village which is completely supported by the ecotourism. It was pretty interesting to see the village and we met a traditional healer, saw the gardens that everyone worked on, looked at the school/helped move some blocks for a fence, and met the oldest woman in the village. Recently we have just been working at getting our internships. I met with the director of the the Fisheries Department and he spoke to me about the department. Of course he was late though- I just have to remember WAIT (west African international time). There wasn't anyone at the National Environmental Agency to talk to me (surprise surprise) so the secretary just gave me a book. Not so helpful. So I guess I will work at the Fisheries Department if all goes as planned, which never happens in Africa. Classes also started this week (sort of) so that was pretty interesting. I have only actually had Physics so far. Andrea, Liz, and I all have the class and we can't understand a single thing the professor says. He might as well not even be speaking English, but hopefully it will get better. Lucy and Seth got food poisoning earlier this week from some food called Chakrey (spelling) that we had at a naming ceremony with Awa's family. Its made with sour milk and some type of grain and just sounds like a bad idea. Most of us only had a bite, but Seth and Lucy had about half a plate. We ended up spending the rest of the day at the beach which probably didn't help out the situation. I went with them to the hospital which was pretty interesting. We were glad we had toured it before so it wasn't such a shock, but lets just say that I wouldn't want to end up there. Everything is outdated, stained, or seems to be broken and the nurses were all just sitting around. There were about 10 million mosquitoes in the room we were in so I probably contracted Malaria just by sitting there. Thankfully the doctor was able to come in and they could be treated without having to stay overnight. Lets just say I don't want to ever get food poisoning. Shots in the butt don't sound very fun. So I should really try to update this blog more often so I don't have to talk about a million things at once. I will try to add more later. I am sure I forgot tons. Here are some pictures from things so far:





gecko in the bathroom








walking to visit a school and Le Bato Beach (lots of Bumsters here)

























Becca and Liz D. building sandcastles with some kids








Oh and I almost forgot. We had a naming ceremony where we all got Gambian names. They come in handy when you don't want to give people your real name or when they can't pronounce it. Mine is Yameh Secka. I will put up some pictures later.