im back in brikama for a day of errands. yesterday was quite possibly the hottest day ive ever sat through and it made me realize that i need a game plan every day so as NOT to be at the compound from 1-5, the hottest hours of the day, lest i toil away under the tree dripping with sweat and boredom. so i got into a strangers car this morning, hopped out at the main street and hailed a gellah gellah to brikama for 5 dalasi. turns out, i am misisng a committee meeting at CCF for the nursery school, but he did not tell me about it until just now, and rushing back only to sit in the taxi garage while the gellah gellah back to makumbaya fills up is futile. so iĺl stay here inside the cool-ish internet cafe.
yesterday ebrima took me into banjul to see the independence day celebrations. it was a big football field-like stadium where the president rode in in a hummer-limo, as well as the president of zambia and the president of cape verde (gave an extra clap for him in a shout out to my man sean williams...booyakaashaaahh!) after the president arrived, the army, marines, police and firefighters marched, did some sort of salute with guns, then hundreds of children from different schools all over the gambia marched, then the cultural parade of womenś groups, health groups, and other charities/ngos marched by. we left at that point because it was so hot i couldnt really take the heat. so we got home, i ate lunch (you guessed it, fish and rice!) and then collapsed on my bed listening to podcasts.
i´ve become a huge fan of NPRs ´this american life´ and i only bummed i didnt record the entire history as im nearly finished with the 8 hours i did bring. itś onto news and science and marketplace stories next, but those are likely to be dated. ah well.
a lot of things make me laugh here in africa. for example, walking through the dusty streets of lamin, the nearby inland village, asking for ćucumbers´ and NO ONE having any idea what im talking about. and then me talking to myself out loud on the same streets asking myself ´cucumber, a cucumber?´ (as in, ´i carried a watermelon?´ - girls from the 80s should get the reference).
and saturday night i was out with the girl id met on the plane who is from canada and also volunteerings. hers is a much more urban experience and she lives in a proper house with tile floors, a shower and toilet, electricity and running water. i discovered in the course of the day that sheś 22. and she referred to saturday night as her night out with a cougar. HA. that REALLY made me laugh. who knew i was a cougar at 32? brilliant! though very un-cougar like, we were in bed by 9:30, not trolling the cougar dens.
speaking of cougars (sort of) ... the grandmother of the compound came into jeneba´s living room yesterday to show us the new fabric she bought the girls for some new clothes ... and she was topless. completely topless. i tried to think of how my guests might react if MY grandmother walked into a room topless at my house, but decided that wasnt a thought i really wanted to be having (no disrespect to my grandmother!) and today, on the gellah gellah, the woman next to me pulled her top off to nurse her son, then called for the taxi to stop, and piled out of the car and onto the side of the road, still with her top around her shoulders and her sagging globe-like breasts hanging. which was just as well by me because she kept scooting closer to me and i was afraid i was going to get slapped with one of them the way her son kept jumping around on her legs and stomach. he too, was naked.
i bought some fabric this morning to make an outfit. hopefully jeneba will come with me to lamin to find the tailor who can make something nice. he started at 600 dalasi for 4 meters and then quickly settled for 200, so i have a feeling i could have gotten it down even more. next time. ebrima has a project with women who are making tie dye to support themselves so i may buy some of that as well. (nothing haight-ashbury like though - thankfully theyve not discovered rainbow).
nothing much more exciting to report as things seem to be getting on and im continuing to settle into my routine. unlikely to be back to an internet cafe until the weekend as wed-fri are my school days. appreciating the luxury of my time and the choice i have with it (´hmmm...feel like an omelet and coffee for breakfast today? i think iĺl head into brikama´)
hope you find the time to enjoy your omelet today!
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2 comments:
Hey Meagan,
Carol N here from London. Just spent a very enjoyable half hour reading of your African adventures. Laughed out loud at the mounting goat description of a few days ago. Your evocation of Africa is fantastic. I spent a holiday in Senegal and the Gambia a few years ago, and have been to Africa a couple of other times, so it's wonderful to have a sense of what you are talking about but to have you place me so vividly in your world. I'm really envious of your adventure -- hang on to every minute as the time will fly! Hope to see you if you come back through London -- have lunched with Joe a couple of times of late. Cxxxx
I carried a watermelon, I'm sitting by myself at your parents house watching that movie as I write. We are connected...Love you and looking forward to hearing more about your travels. I will try and think of games.
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