roosters at dawn ...

... have become my daily alarm clock. they start around 5:30 and really pick up the pace around 6:30 ... so that by 6:45, it becomes nearly impossible to sleep any longer. which is just as well because my bed sags in the middle and i think it's rather bad for my back anyway. plus the early morning is one of my favorite times in the gambia because it's cool and the sky is shades of pinks and oranges. as i think i've said before, i'm trying to establish a routine ... which now includes 1/2 hour of yoga in my 'parlour' room, strawberry jam on the tapalapa bread and a ripe green orange to wash it down. the french could learn a thing or two from the bread here, it's absolutely amazing!

i've come into fajara this morning because the ride was leaving the village so i left when he did. i had planned to spend a nice morning cleaning my rooms and relaxing on the compound, but when the ride goes, you go! i've spent the last three mornigs waiting at least an hour and a half each time to get to brikama, so i didn't want to risk waiting around. actually, yesterday, as i was waiting, there was a naming ceremony taking place (they do this on the 7th day of life). there were loads of people gathered at the alkalo's house (the village chief, who coincidentally, looks a lot like our family friend chuck, only black, obviously). i think i was probably expected to give a present (one woman tugged at my sarong-come-scarf saying it would be a nice gift for the mother) but since i wasn't really expecting to attend, i didn't have anything to give. they gave me a piece of white, chalk-like candy (?) that looked a bit like the soap they throw into their laundry. but i say candy because it had a vaguely sweet taste, i have no idea what it was. only that everyone was eating it and seemed to enjoy it. i split mine up when i got back to the 'bus stop' (the log under the in the village center) and shared it with the ladies who were also hoping to get to brikama some time that day.

the center of the village has a market every morning. though to call it market makes it sound more elaborate than it is. in reality, it's 10-12 stalls, and by stalls, i mean women with a cloth spread on the ground with piles of tomatoes, or hot peppers (the really firey ones that they sell in brixton market, can't recall their names), okra, miniature eggplant, onions, spices in plastic bags, and fish (both fresh and dried) swarming with flies. i'm still trying to get my head around their economy. they are all selling identical wares, i'm not sure how i would know who to buy from, or what it would mean if i bought from one and not the other. or should i take turns?

the same goes for the sellers in the brikama taxi garage where i sit at the end of the days waiting to return to makumbaya. they walk around with fake rolex watches, plastic toys, mirrors, racks of cheap earrings and necklaces, generic toothbrushes, hair picks. and there are at least a dozen guys with the same exact stuff wandering from bush taxi to bush taxi, hoping that someone will buy through the window. but really, who buys this stuff? they are selling to each other, it's not as if there are many out-of-towners waiting in the stands. i definitely give them credit for the entrepreneurial spirit - because at least they are doing SOMETHING to make a living. but it seems a little odd. you'd think that one guy might think it clever to think of something ORIGINAL to sell - to position himself slightly different than his comrades. it's amusing.

but luckily the boys with 1 dalasi fresh coconut pieces come by every so often, and the girls with bags of purified water for 2 dalasi also wander between the taxis. (you're meant to bite the end and sip). and the tapalapa at 4 dalasi/stick. those are my daily treasures.

other random things:
* sleeping with dust is not so bad
* i thought i had mice, i think they are actually lizards and i'm getting used to their sounds at night.
* the sound as i lay reading at night is actually a call to prayer by the mosque and NOT a mosquito buzzing around my net, as i first thought.
* conversation is everywhere if i open myself up to it.
* yesterday i learned how to say 'my name is NOT toubab, my name is meagan' - and now the kids call me meagan.
* thank you to jason for the headlamp and lynne for the sheets!
* a jul brew (beer) is 25 dalasi and tastes very good on a hot day!
* rice pudding for dinner is not so bad

i am going to sign off now because i want to enjoy a REAL coffee at the only place i've found in the gambia that serves filter coffee and not nescafe ... but if i wait too much longer, it'll be too hot to appreciate. it's 10.42am on saturday! i'm treating myself to a night at a hotel tonight and 2 days on the beach in the shade to read and relax. (as if life is stressful, ha!)

enjoy the weekend!