I'm back in the Kombo area again for a week or so and wanted to send out a quick update from my side of the pond. First of all, THANK YOU all so very much for the amazing birthday wishes, cards, packages, letters, emails and even facebook posts! They are all very, very greatly appreciated! And I am pleased to say I had a great, and memorable 24th birthday here in Gambia.
Village life has slowed down a bit lately. The crops are planted. The weeding is mostly finished. And the rains are starting to clear out again. These past few months have been slower days, as we are now basically just waiting to harvest the crops. We should be harvesting the corn any time now, the coos in October, the rice in November, and the groundnuts after that. Lately we have just been hanging out in the shade under trees with sling-shots to keep the birds, goats and monkeys out of the crops. It's been a cool experience, and I'm not THAT bad at the sling-shots! (the bigger animals are easier to hit)
But despite the slower pace of work and life-in-general lately, I suppose it should be able to go without saying that I am truly having a blast in village with my host family and friends! Each day brings something totally new and random. Something worth getting out of bed and opening the door for. (hence... not too many blog updates lately. I hope this one will suffice for my more avid and regular readers, and make up for lost time.)
Right now is the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, where they do not eat from sun-up to sun-down. It's also been very interesting, as we get up for breakfast at 4:45 or 5am, and then don't eat or drink anything until about 7 in the evening. But to answer your immediate question, no, I'm not fasting. The compound was really polite and asked me if I wanted to fast with them, but I explained to them that if it was a cultural holiday, something specific to the Fula or Mandinka people, I would be tempted to try it for a while. But it's a Muslim holiday, and I'm not Muslim. And it works out that the children in the compound don't fast, and neither does Fatou, one of my host-moms who is EXTREMELY pregnant. So since they are already cooking lunch for half the people in the compound anyway, it's not a big deal for them to prepare some food for me as well. But it has been an interesting experience, and a good time to learn about Islam. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Lawo, my host dad, is the assistant Imam in the village (the leader of the Mosque in the community), and it is great to have conversations with him about Islam, and how it differs between West Africa and other parts of the world.
And for my birthday itself I got together with a few friends on the 29th in the town of Basse, where Peace Corps has a house we can use when to go to Basse for banking and such. We cooked a nice dinner, I got to chat with my family a bit, and was even surprised by my friends with a brownie cake after dinner! The day was topped off with a great thunderstorm. It was like getting fireworks for my bitrhday! Someone up-above must really like me!
The next day, on my birthday itself, I was traveling back to village with my friend Alicia when our gele-gele broke down. And as, of course, the gele-gele didn't have a spare tire, I spent much of my 24th birthday hanging out on the side of the road, waiting for another vehicle to come along. But it really was beautiful, and definately memorable! I topped off my birthday hitching a free ride to Bansang. And since the sun was setting and I wouldn't get to my site before dark, Alicia and I ended up catching another ride to get back to her place. (Vehicles don't go to my village, except, of course, Peace Corps vehicles.) I got back to my site the next morning. And yes, at 24 I do actually feel older than I did at 23. Perhaps it's the new experiences, refreshed outlook on life, or just the fact that 24is an even number... But I do feel more mature and older.
Yesterday I met up with a bunch of my friends here in Kombo. There is a new education group swearing in on the 12th, so many of us are coming back down to the city to welcome them to Gambia. I spent the day with my friends at the beach, then went out for pizza and topped the day off at a nice outside moon-lit bar, where my friends surprised Alicia and myself with a joint-birthday cake! (as her birthday was September 8th) And we brought the day to a close singing and dancing to the Jackson 5. A successful day, indeed.
So now I will be around for a few days, or maybe up to a week, working on paper work and such. Yes, even when working out in the bush I'm required to come in every three months and fill out TONS of paper work about my projects. I'm still not exactly sure how we are supposed to "quantify" much of the work we are doing, such as working in rice fields with women, planting tree nurseries, or teaching English phrases to children. But, I suppose if Peace Corps wants to keep getting a budget from Congress, they will keep having us fill out arbitrary paper work. In some ways it does make me feel more "professional," other than the fact that all my statistics and "quantifying" numbers are still completely arbitrary.
In other news:
For October I'm looking forward to leading big bee-keeping and rabbit-production trainings. I've been organizing these with several men in my village, and I'm hoping for (but wise enough not to expect) a good event. I'll keep you updated!
For November: I'm looking forward to taking a week-long trip to Guinea (Conakry) with five other friends in November. It should be a fun hiking trip through mountains and waterfalls. Well, not "through" waterfalls, but you know what I mean. I'm REALLY excited for it. Then around Thanksgiving we will be having our annual all-volunteer conference, which should be a nice time with friends working in parts of the country I don't get to visit often.
And for December: I'm coming home for Christmas! All I can say is, if you want to make sure to have lots of extra time to hang out with me while I'm back, contact my parents to arrange some kind of schedule. I plan to just enjoy, rest and EAT all the time.
