Holy Dalasi!

Ok. My last 48 hours in The Gambia started this afternoon. The adventures, however are never ending. Today we toured the Royal Victoria Hospital. No Canadians should ever complain about health care. It's official. We have nothing to complain about. Then Vanessa and I spent the afternoon in a pool at a resort on Cape Point. We are lucky gals. It's exactly what we wanted to do.

Tomorrow we have stuff going on at the NSGA and an evening out at Ngala Lodge planned. Won't be the same without the other gals. But, T, I'll have a Harvey Wallbanger for you. I started packing this afternoon :( If we put all our things together, we gals could open our own booth at the market. I spent my last dalasi on a last minute b-day present for my sister. But soooo nice! I guess I will also add "Go to bank" to my to-do list for tomorrow.

Because of the terrorist plot in Britain, they won't let us take carry-on baggage. Unfortunately this means that bringing JulBrew (the Gambian beer) is no longer an option. Unfortunate indeed.


Oh, a tale from the weekend. On Saturday we held the First Ever Canada vs. Gambia Football Match at the beach. It was great! Melanie and me against Bakary and Almamo. I scored two goals and Mel got two too. We may have cheated a tiny bit but I warned our opponents so I figure that's fair. Canadians are allowed to cheat in football. It's under Rule 12, Subsection 3 in the rule book. Look it up. Unfortunately, Gambians appear to be better than Canadians and pulled off a 5-4 victory. Beginner's luck. We swam in the ocean during half-time. I can think of no better way to spend a Saturday.

I guess this may be my last post... I'm going to miss my new friends and my new neighbourhood and my new home away from home. So long Gambia :(

Wedding Blues

So we've reached our final week. I left home 7 weeks ago today! Crazy. Allison and I just had 3 days off and are teaching our final 8 hours today and tomorrow. Weee hoooo!

Yesterday we went to our friend Inna's wedding. Gambians are not so prompt but the wedding was an experience. Invitations and all reports from other Gambians said the wedding was at 5pm. So like good toubabs we show up right at 5 o'clock dressed in our new Gambian outfits. Except we're the only 4 people there. Hmmm. We're missing a football match for this??? After several games of "Thumbs", a MacLean family favorite, and some rounds of other passing-time games like "Hi my name is Ramatoulie and I like radishes", a few other people make an appearance. When the football game ENDS and there is still no sign of the bride, we toubabs were starting to get a little, well, annoyed (to say the least). The football stadium was across the street from the wedding venue and we could HEAR the cheers when Gambia got a goal. So so sad. Then we watched all the fans leave the stadium. Then we watched the sun set. Then we said goodbye to some wedding-goers who decided they waited too long. Then we watched the bats fly around. Then Vanessa had to pee in the bushes. Then a group of guys with drums and whistles came. Then a few more guests. THEN the bride. At 8 o'clock. Oh dear. She had to be lit up by a huge spotlight so everyone could see her in the dark. Oh, the wedding was outside in an area with no lights. Indeed. It was an experience for sure.

Ok, so the internet cafe has officially closed and we should probably let Sainey go home since he's just keeping it open for us now. We're spoiled.

See you all soon!

Heyyyyy youuuuu guyyyyys!!!!

So I haven't blogged lately. Dang. Too busy. We taught our last classes to the students this week and graduation was on Thursday. Aside from the rain storm in the middle of the ceremony, it was fabulous! 6 of us from Canada got up and sang "Down at the School" to the tune of Down by the Bay. hahaha. We changed the words and it was a hit. Our Gambian colleagues are trying to learn it now and we may slowly all be going crazy because it's been stuck in our heads.

A quick run down of what else we've been up to:
* Yesterday was another football game. This time we sat by the fan club and I wore my new Gambia football t-shirt. The game was a draw (0-0) against Egypt but it was an exciting match anyway!


* Last week one of our neighbours lost his shoe on our roof (a football kick gone wrong?) and we had to patch him up after he scraped his arm climbing up our house.

* We had African clothing made at our friend Inna's tailor and I got all kinds of compliments at the graduation. I'm also going to wear it to Inna's wedding tomorrow. Pic of me at Sheikh Omar's (the tailor) below...


* We went to a national park last week too and saw tons of monkeys. They would come right up and take peanuts from our hands. Very cute.


Otherwise, school was busy and we're busy spending all our money at the market. They know us by name there! Well, turns out we've just become part of the neighbourhood. We get calls from our internet cafe guy, calls from our favorite lady at the market, and the cashier and stockboy at the supermarket even know our names. It's so great! We're going to miss them all!

Time's up so I have to motor. Back in town next Saturday!
xo, b