Maybe the Dingo Ate Your Bushbaby

My last night...

2009-12-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

We took this picture the night before I left...

And now it's my last night in the Gambia.

I don't even know what to write because it hasn't really sunk in yet that I'm leaving. I gotta think about this...

Crayons + Rum = Magic

2009-11-29T15:45:00.000-08:00

I was very productive while drinking, I made them all beautiful cards...

5 days left. I'm dreading the trip to Senegal. Hauling my drum around is going to be a pain in the a**.

bye bye sheep

2009-11-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

My Tobaski outfit. Hard to walk up stairs in it, I did a lot more shuffling than usual.
Making french fries.
...blooood...Most people work really hard before Tobaski to get one sheep to sacrifice, Musa's house had four.

She was the one that clothed me.

Tobaski Time

2009-11-27T00:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the TMI but this is all I can think about right now:

I will personally slaughter three rams today if Allah let's me poop soon.

My friend's mom had a formal Gambian outfit made for me so I can wear proper clothing on Tobaski. I didn't know she was doing that for me and I have no idea what to give her as a gift. And all the stores are closed today. Oops. I'm being picked up very soon so I can go to Musa's house and watch 4 sheep be slaughtered. Then I'm going to sit around and talk for many many hours and feel bad because I can't speak Wolof.

My outfit.

Let sorrowful longing dwell in your heart.

never give up, never lose hope.

Allah says, "The broken ones are my beloved."

Crush your heart. Be broken.

-Shaikh Abu Saeed Abil Kheir

Cookies.

2009-11-25T01:21:00.001-08:00

Balti and me on the balcony at Wow, watching the President. At about 2:00 AM the presidential convey started driving down Senegambia. It took about 20 - 25 minutes for all the cars, vans, trucks, and hummers to pass. Even though it was so late the president still stood up out of his sunroof and threw entire boxes of cookies into the street. I'm sure the tourists were bemused. A guy almost got hit by a car running out into the street trying to get one of the packages. One of Musa's friends came into the club about 10 minutes later with a huge roll of vanilla cookies. They were actually pretty good.
The best 40 cent sandwich you will ever eat. Tapalapa, spicy beans, and noodles.

Abraham and Isaac

2009-11-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

Friday is Tobaski, a Muslim holiday. In preparation for Friday most families are purchasing sheep, which means sheep with X's spraypainted on their backs are EVERYWHERE. They are being herded up and down Kairaba Ave. I'm going to be hearing a lot of screaming sheep in three days.

http://www.accessgambia.com/information/tobaski-feast-festival.html:

Tobaski Day - Sacrificial Feast
The public holiday is also known Eid Al Adha when families throughout the Gambia slaughter mostly sheep in ritual sacrifice. Tobaski is to commemorate Abrahams willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to God. It coincides with the end of the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca.

"Every married man or head of household is expected to buy a sheep or other suitable animal such as a cow, goat or even chicken if they can. After the animal is slaughtered large portions of the meat should be given to the needy so that nobody misses out on the celebrations to follow. The rest of the meat is given as gifts to friends and relatives and the rest is reserved for the family. Indeed, the idea of sharing is the essence of feast.

What follows is essentially one nationwide massive barbecue and celebrations throughout the day. Gambians should wear their finest clothes and if possible brand new. You are also expected to do a thorough spring clean throughout your compound. You are expected at sometime during the day to visit your parents, other family members and friends."

Where I eat most of my meals. Sultan Sweet.
Aysha, my club buddy.

It's the African Boy Sickness

2009-11-24T00:47:00.000-08:00

Lamin made us dinner! I didn't believe he actually cooked because he's a boy but I was wrong. He made beans, cassava, and fish.

Eating Gambian style.
My dinner.

you are my miss

2009-11-22T01:29:00.000-08:00

I only have 14 days left in the Gambia. As Hatab would say "Sucks mannn."

But then I do get to see some of these peoples:

I'm going to miss a lot of things...

1. Beef shwarmas from Nada's Fast Food.

2. Being handed strangers' babies on public transportation.

3. Knowing people in the Senegambia craft market, taking home what I want even if I don't have money, and having them trust me enough to believe I'll pay later.

4. Having the Monkey Man give me ataya before and after work at Bijilo.

5. The ocean.

6. 20 cent taxi rides.

7. Walking into Sultan Sweet and not having to order because they already know I want a vegetarian pizza and a coke.

8. Watching bumsters have push-up competitions on the beach for the viewing pleasure of old tubabs.

9. Listening to A LOT of Busy Signal, Akon, and Vybz Kartel.

10. The fact that food is communal.

11. Benachin & wonjo juice.

12. Baby goats.

13. Seeing kingfishers, hornbills, and bee-eaters at work.

14. Watching monkeys wrassle.

15. Tormenting Christy with "bad" music choices/ Having her make me watch Lost.

16. Having it take half an hour to walk down one street because so many people know/recognize me and want to talk.

17. Climbing trees at Abuko when I can't find monkeys.

18. Listening to Christy and Lamin say "Sheezy Breeze" and "Umsicleeee."

19. The shrimp guys.

20. My ongoing battle with the night guards.

21. Looking at all the beautiful outfits on Fridays.

22. "Yangi kuul?" "Boi, Mangi kuul."

23. The community center school in Bakau.

24. Saying, "I'm not Peace Corps! I'm a biologist."

25. The students. My friends. Everyone.

2009-11-19T10:04:00.000-08:00

what i'm listening to while i read about baboons and crop raiding:

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

Bob Dylan

It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It don't matter, anyhow
An' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If you don't know by now
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
Look out your window and I'll be gone
You're the reason I'm trav'lin' on
Don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
That light I never knowed
An' it ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
I'm on the dark side of the road
Still I wish there was somethin' you would do or say
To try and make me change my mind and stay
We never did too much talkin' anyway
So don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
Like you never did before
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
I can't hear you any more
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all the way down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don't think twice, it's all right

I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road, babe
Where I'm bound, I can't tell
But goodbye's too good a word, gal
So I'll just say fare thee well
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don't mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don't think twice, it's all right

the best hat ever.

2009-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

"Bling Bling"

Africa has turned me into a G.

Ballin.

WWF

2009-11-18T02:50:00.000-08:00

YAY! I got a package full of crossword puzzles. Jerrejeff Mom!

Yesterday, Christy and I walked into the WWF, World Wildlife Fund, office right next to our house and she basically said, 'We are highly trained biologists that don't want to go back to the States. What can we do.' She told the boss about our primate research and he talked about how they need people to do baboon censuses in Kiang West and work on the primate/human conflict out there. Then he said "Can we pay you?" UM YES please. And they are finalizing a mangrove project with the Ministry of Forestry that I would love to work on. Every day something wacky takes place and I don't have time to process it before something cooler happens.

Family Photos.

2009-11-17T08:51:00.000-08:00

Double trouble.
Huzzah.
It's his juju baby.
We love Lamin.
Smoosh.
B*tch please.
La familia.

A little bit of sheezy breeze

2009-11-16T01:54:00.000-08:00

The couple, the mom, the tubab, and the sister. (Lamin, Christy, Mrs. Sanyang, & Yai)
Hilarity.
Banjul soccer.
Reggae night at Pope John Paul II Parish Hall. Yes that is an aerosol can torch in front of the God mural.

Marcus Garvey

2009-11-16T01:36:00.000-08:00

I finally saw a swallow tailed bee eater! I've been waiting so long to see one and yesterday during lab I saw a bunch diving in and out of a cabbage tree.

The soccer game on saturday was such a bizarre experience. I traveled with three guys to Banjul by bushtaxi and walked into a madhouse. There's no way I can really describe what goes on at a gambian soccer match, because I would get in trouble and because you really just have to be there. It was the final game so everyone was extra excited. When our team finally made a goal everyone rushed the field in the middle of the game to celebrate. We ended up winning and people started flooding the streets, shouting, dancing, jumping on moving cars. Everyone in the neighborhood was out all night partying. Musa made me eat dinner during all of this and bought a corn beef sandwich from one of the shops. It was tapalapa bread, mayo, and canned corn beef, but somehow it was one of the most delicious sandwiches I've ever had.

Lamin and Christy showed up in Banjul when everyone was outside celebrating the win and after an impromtu DJ booth had been setup. We all went down the road to the Pope John Paul II Parish Hall that had been turned into a temporary reggae night club. I was dancing on the stage and behind me there was a mural of a really mean looking white God looking down on all of his black followers. It was strange...

Yesterday night we went to meet Christy's fiance's family for the first time. She is a vegetarian atheist and when we asked our friend what we should bring her future mother-in-law they said to bring meat or a prayer scarf. I laughed for a very very long time.

Balah Balah Balah

2009-11-14T06:43:00.001-08:00

We found this at Bijilo and don't know what it is!
Having fun at Abuko, I love carrying that recorder....
I don't remember if I put this picture up but it's the view from my apartment. Kanifing.

* Going to a soccer game in Banjul today. I'll probably be the only female there. And the only white person. This should be interesting.

* Christy: "For such a little person you eat an impressive amount of food."

I'm always hungry here. I need an IV of food straight to my stomach.

text from last night:

(847): so i am drinking whiskey and watching home alone 2 by myself. it turns out moving to a foreign country isn't all that different after all.

...aahhahaaaa...this may have happened to me too

You mean my visa doesn't renew itself?

2009-11-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

Remember that time I went to bed at 6:30 AM and then got a phone call at 9:30 AM telling me to come to Banjul immediately because I had forgotten to renew my visa and the people at the State House wanted to see me in person. Gotta love traveling dehydrated in the blinding sun on three hours of sleep to go meet with official peoples. Poor Christy had to go with me because I've never been to Banjul before. It's all good though, I'm not getting kicked out.

Reggae night. The DJ on the left used to live in Wheaton! We talked about Georgia Ave.

I love that Reggae really does = Weed

2009-11-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

Coming home at 5 AM, after five hours of dancing, to a cold lemon fanta in the fridge is the best thing in the entire world.

My Gambian name is Umi and Christy turned it into "Umsicle." I like it.

Gambian women are gorgeous. The end.

Pictures from Bob & Mary's visit

2009-11-12T05:15:00.000-08:00

In the field
Class
Katchikali

uh huh uh huh; uh huh uh huh

2009-11-11T18:00:00.004-08:00

Tried to get a tattoo last night and today. Yeah, I know it probably sounds like a horrible idea. And it was a horrible idea last night because Easy Time Tattoos consisted of a doctor's chair, a sheet hanging from the ceiling, a tray, and that's about it. Today we went to the tattoo shop in the tourist strip and the place looked straight until I started looking at picture's of the tattoos and I realized that they freehand all the tattoos; even though I had been told they have stencils. SOooooo then they told me that the girl who draws the tattoos on people left at 6 even though my appointment was at 9pm because she can't be out after dark....because she's female and a muslim. It's just crazy. They also wanted to charge me a buttload so I'll probably just wait to get it at home not because I'm scared of African tattoos but because I'm cheap. Actually the place isn't sketchy at all, the woman is from Germany and splits her year between there and here. She did give me the name and place of an American embassy school that needs American teachers for kindergarten to 8th grade and I'm going to the school this week to check it out. I need a paying job.

this pic is terrible but really encompasses every aspect of our relationship.

2009-11-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

lupa lupa lab

2009-11-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

Garab

2009-11-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

Goat in a tree! Tendaba
Me carrying a baby gambian style at Baro's compound
Giant tree at Tendaba

Phalanges!

2009-11-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

Me shaking a croc's hand at Katchikali.

I went to Tendaba Camp for the weekend and loved it! Chirsty brought the UTG and SMCM students there so that they could do a butterfly mark and recapture lab, get field experience and just mingle. Tendaba Camp is upcountry in a village right on the water near Kiang National Park. The camp was beautiful with docks, gazebos, mangroves, mudskippers, golden orioles, starlings, and of course lupa lupas. Everyone got a swanky room with their own shower. And for one night I didn't have to sleep on the floor. I had such a great time with the UTG students- drinking ataya with them, listening to music, talking about religion as usual, watching a really terrible Nigerian movie...My favorite thing is that one of the guys high fives me now by shouting "PHALANGES!"

At night Christy, the Abuko guys, the UTG students, and I went on a walk in the bush at Kiang Park. It was so dark at night in the country so the stars were beautiful. A lot of the students hadn't walked in the bush at night before and were scared; one of them was even carrying around a log so he could defend himself from hyenas. We didn't see the animals because they heard us coming but we heard the hyenas calling and the guinea baboons throwing a fit. I think they were mad that we bothering them so they were SCREAMING. It was such a crazy sound to hear while you are standing in the dark. When we got back on the bus to go back to camp they all thanked Christy for the wonderful experience and said that they have been learning so much. <3>

A lot of the students would like us to stay and they told me that they are going to find me a job and a place to live = ) One boy even told me he's going to get me a goat.

Went to Senegambia last night with some people after we got back from the field trip. Hung out on the beach, went to Reggae night, stood in the ocean at 1 AM with all the stars out and thought about how awesome Africa is.

Hi Mary & Bob aka Maryama & Babukar

2009-11-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

Mary and Bob (from Switzerland) are here visiting for work but Bob got to come drumming with us yesterday. -And Bob you caught on quite quickly. After drumming we went to Katchikali ("sacred place") Crocodile Pond where I got to pet and shake hands with a crocodile. People go to Katchikali to bathe in the water of the crocodile pond because they believe if women do this they will be blessed with a baby or if you are a man you will have success in your business.....I did not want to go anywhere near that water.

"A sacred pool in Gambia's tourist town of Bakau has become a major attraction for foreign visitors to the West African country. The pool, discovered hundreds of years ago by the natives of Bakau some 14km (8 miles) from the capital Banjul, is home to more than 100 crocodiles"

http://www.odyssei.com/travel-tips/3276.html

I told their driver, Baro, that they should try ataya so we went to his friend's compound along the coastal road and he brewed ataya on the roof. The stars were out. Of course he told me that his ataya was the best - he is a supporter of adding the sugar off of the heat. He added a lot of mint and it was really good. One of the women there had an adorable baby, Binta, and I asked if I could try carrying her gambian-style. You lean forward, put the baby on your upper back and tie a knot under the arms and under the butt. The babies here always look really happy and peaceful tied back there, and it WAS really comfy. Strollers seem ridiculous now.

yangi kuul?

2009-11-05T02:33:00.000-08:00

Just hangin' around Abuko, hard at work.

woot

2009-11-04T16:21:00.003-08:00

The best pizza in the Gambia. Made by Danielo.

Vampire monkey.

That's why I get it in 'til the sun rise

2009-11-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Christy continued to use the story that we were from Bhutan and I was dating the prince. Therefore my favorite part of last night was walking around Senegambia and having guys call me Princess.

We were very productive last night and went to

The Green Mamba (I cheered Christy on while she played pool.)

The Wild Monkey (Drumming & free vodka!)

Joanna's (French fries.)

and Wow (Dancing, DJ friend, dancing......)

^ Christy, Lamin & Me in Wow

At the Wild Monkey there were some guys drumming and doing traditional dances for the tourists. I really really wanted to drum so I walked up to the guys during a lull and they gave me a drum, showed me the beats, and then I played with them.
^ A really blurry picture of me learning the rhythm before everyone performed.

I just got free pistachio ice cream. YAY

Bhutan is for lovers

2009-11-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

Creepy guys in the Gambia usually keep talking to us if they find out we are from the US. So Christy and I have started telling guys who yell out "Where are you from" that we are from Bhutan. More specifically, the royal mountain kingdom of Bhutan. They have no idea where or what Bhutan is, so it pretty much ends the conversation and it amuses me EVERY time. Chirsty and I have attempted to learn as much as possible about this country and everything we learn makes us want to go there even more. First of all, it looks like Rivendell (the elf city), it has snow leopards, it's pretty much untouched by the outside world, and the people draw 6 foot penises on their houses to keep evil spirits away. AND it's the Land of the Thunder Dragons.

We went to Happy Camp's Halloween party last night and Christy convinced a guy that we were visiting from Bhutan and that I was actually dating the prince but we were having problems at the moment because the king didn't approve of me. The guy got really upset and said something like "How can the king not like her!? She's very pretty!" I laughed. A lot.

Me, Musa, Hady, and some guy in my space invader headgear.
Me as a stegosaurus.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2009-10-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

hocus pocus

2009-10-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ugh it's only a matter of time before I get hit by a car. I can't believe I'm missing Halloween, this will be the first year that I haven't dressed up. The students are trying to have a party at their compound but Christy and I were invited to hang out on a boat at night with the Peace Corps group. I love our movie channel, they are playing all the Scream movies over and over this weekend.

Mr. Krab

Bushbuck

Oops! I inked!

2009-10-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

I was swimming in the ocean after drum lessons today and when I looked down I saw a squid! I didn't know if it was alive or not because it was floating kind of weird so I grabbed it and started to pick it up. AND THEN IT INKED! Seeing a squid ink was probably the greatest moment of my adult life.

In the last post I wrote about the school in Bakau that I was going to give supplies to because my lessons are there and my drum teacher has a shop in the community center. Well here's a picture of the school. I visited during the morning break, and the kids were really cute. They were really excited that I wanted to see their school. Some of them were learning how to multiply by 5's.
Some of the students in front of the school. Hopefully when I visit next week I'll be able to see if they are actually using the pencils and whatnot.

Mail Time

2009-10-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the package Mom! I have tootsie pops now!

She also sent me a lot of school supplies. I think I'm going to take the supplies to the community center in Bakau. Some Englishmen donated some money to the community and they build a little shed that is being used as a school. It's really depressing looking and extremely small. I don't think more than 25 people could comfortably fit inside of it but the school has over 100 students....I'll take pictures of it on Thursday

futbol

2009-10-26T13:00:00.001-07:00

On Kairaba Ave, right across the street from my apartment, the Africell cell phone company set up a HUGE screen on the front of their building and are broadcasting random music events and today's soccer game between Spain and the US. Hundreds of people are standing in the street to watch the game. It's like Gambia's version of Times Square.

I <3 Rhizophora mangle

2009-10-25T11:59:00.001-07:00

I went on a field trip with the ecology class to Tumani Tenda eco tourism camp. Tumani Tenda is a village and a good example of a community based conservation project. The whole community works together to work the farm, manage the land, build, and run the tourism projects. Everyone has a job but all the people in the community work together to complete all the tasks. People can visit the camp and go on forest walks, boat rides in the mangroves, birdwatching, even make honey. A guide told us that there are Africa manatees in the water but that the best time to see them is at night when the moon is full.

http://www.tumanitenda.co.uk/

I frickin love mangroves! So much so that when I was in Costa Rica I did my independent project on the mangroves in the Puntarenas region. This picture is of red mangroves, which have the characteristic prop roots. There were some buttonwoods, or white mangroves, there too but I learned that there are no black mangroves in the Gambia.

Spiny orb weaver spider
They're on a boat!

meh

2009-10-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

I finally had a monkey poop on me, which I guess was actually a good thing since I was out there looking for poop. Spent my Friday evening handwashing my clothes in a bucket. Fun times.

I would really like a hamburger right now. I've been surviving on easy mac, peanut butter, and potatos. Today I even got to experience the joy of eating potatos in three forms - baked, fries, and potato salad. I need a steak. Or three.

Seeray's Birthday

2009-10-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

What is junk butter fish???
It was Christy's birthday yesterday. We went to a really fancy Indian restaurant (hot towels = culture shock) for dinner and then we went to Senegambian for music, drinks, and dancing. The usual.

Had drum lessons today and after I fell asleep on the beach instead of going to the student's language class. That may have been due to the fact that I went to bed at 6AM. But also the sand was so comfy.

Tey talaata la - Today is Tuesday

2009-10-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

BYRD

Yesterday:

1. Fell into a pitfall trap.

2. Did night research.

2b. Saw zero bushbabies.

3. Swam through 6 ft tall elephant grass.

4. Stood on ant swarm.

5. Ants crawled in my pants.

5b. Took off pants.

5c. Yelled a lot.

5d. Pulled out ants.

Today:

1. Learned that it takes 1 hour to photocopy something in the Gambia.

2. Had language class.

2b. Learned how to say "If we go to Abuko on Sunday I will catch a monkey for you." = "Sunu demee Abuko dimas dinaa jaapa golo pur yow."

3. Did a pencil drawing of a malachite kingfisher for the Abuko brochure.

Nyangkongkorongmo

2009-10-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

Played with a chameleon and saw a pair of pygmy kingfishers today while doing research. I love seeing cool animals.

NOT MY PHOTO...but this is what pygmy kingfishers look like. Beautiful.
(My photo) Straight chillin'.

(My photo)

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green

FRIENDS & ATAYA!

2009-10-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

Yusman & Me. Holland tourists in the background who I gave ataya to.
Ataya is just caffeine and sugar. Delicious.
Yusman mixing the ataya. You pour it back and forth between cups so it gets frothy and mixes the sugar. You do this for a long time. Instead of "cheers" you clink the bottom of the glasses, then the top, then slide the glasses down each other while saying "lama lama idea kinding kondon lama lama idea." Which basically means something like "Enjoy, smile, and have a good time."
Seeray & Abdoul!
Abdoul & Me in his juice stand.

family allogrooming

2009-10-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Mom print this out for pre-k please

I really love Africa

2009-10-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

my purple smoothie
hornbill!!!
For the record, I was there first.

Man duma tourist. Dama jangakat.

2009-10-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend is just awesome. I love it here so much. Everyone is great.

Worked at Bijilo yesterday and watched some tourists feeding peanuts to the monkeys. It was so bad, the monkeys were sitting on this dude's shoulders. The monkeys are going to get weird parasites and not be able to forage for themselves and then get fat and die. Walked to the beach after and fell asleep on the sand in my field pants. Woke up, had some ataya with these three guys and Elena, and then walked home carrying honeysuckles. My friend Musa called me and said he was collecting me from my apartment. It's weird driving in cars after taking bush taxis everywhere. Went to C-Block with 2 students and Musa + his friends where we bought a $3 box of wine from this guy who sells alcohol out of his compound and sat in the street drinking with the other customers. Then we drove to Senegambia in a presidential car and got waved through all the highway checkpoints. We listened to some live music and danced at WOW a whole lot. Drove to Musa's friend's house at 3 am. I fell asleep on a random mattress and was woken up only to see three large dudes eating a huge pot of ramen noodles and rocking out to Celine Dion. Then I was handed a banana they had just picked off their banana tree. It was delicious.

I can't explain today but it was really nice. I went swimming, walked the beach with Christy and just met cool people who I would actually want to hang out with later. They work the beach juice stands and we had some ataya with them. We found out that they make baobab milkshakes.

This post seems really incoherent. Oh well.

Slaughter

2009-10-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

I went to a naming ceremony at Awa's compound today because they always name the baby on the eigth day. First some of the baby's hair is cut off and oats and kola nuts are put in a bowl with water. Then there are prayers and blessings. Everyone is named after someone already in the family. One of the guys asked if we wanted to see a slaughter. So I went back and watched them kill the goat. Then he asked me to help him so I stood there and held the goat's legs apart while he skinned and de-organed. They found out that I was never officially named so I had a mini ceremony. They cut a piece of my pony tail off and said the prayers and now I am 'Umi Njie.' Awa let us try sour milk, which is actually a delicious yogurt type thing, and a dish that is rice and groundnuts pound together and then cooked together for a very long time.

After the ceremony I had drums lessons on the beach with Lamin. My drum is great. He carved a giraffe onto my drum and edged it in dark black goat hair.

My drum!

The baby with Kelly before the naming ceremony.
The other pictures are way too graphic and would make some of you hate me if I posted them.
Beautiful.
I'm helping!
Cutting my hair for my naming ceremony.
The mom of the baby.

FOOD. CIBO. COMIDA.

2009-10-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

About an hour ago I smelled the worst I have ever smelled.

It was really surprising that I could smell that bad. Crazy forest.

After dinner, Christy and I went to La Parisienne, a cafe that sells desserts, and I had the best ice cream in all of the Gambia. It was $1 a scoop but it was so delicious. I went up to the owner guy (this was before I had a shower) and thanked him for making such wonderful ice cream and making my day better. I'm going back tomorrow. On the third visit Im going to ask if I can learn how to make it because I found out that they make the ice cream in the back of the cafe. Hopefully I don't scare him.

Going to a baby naming ceremony tomorrow at 8 AM. I don't want to wake up that early but they will probably be serving gambian doughnuts...

“In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil...and I will go on with my drawing" Van Gogh

2009-10-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

D the Sea Cow
Wolof class notes. Obvi.

la la la.

I naan

2009-10-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Water bags! They save us from drinking fecal coliforms. Mmmmm water bags.

Went to Fajara beach today by myself. It was lovely. Now re-learning coastal ecology for Christy's lecture about aquifers, dunes, beaches, and erosion. I get to draw diagrams on the board tomorrow!

Rock the Calabash

2009-10-12T02:16:00.001-07:00

My awesome calabash bowl/wall hanging.

Wiki: "Hollowed out and dried calabashes are a very typical utensil in households across West Africa. They are used to clean rice, carry water and also as food containers. Smaller sizes are used as bowls to drink palm-wine. Calabashes are used by some musicians in making the kora (a harp-lute), xalam/ngoni (a lute) and the goje (a traditional fiddle)."

best day evahhhhhhh

2009-10-11T10:55:00.005-07:00

Went to Bijilo Forest Park in the morning because the Ecology class had to do a lab there. Bijilo is known for its monkeys that come right up to you and basically search you for food because they are used to having tourists feed them. Which is bad. So don't do it. While the students were filling out their sheets I walked straight to the beach. As soon as I got to the sand this girl sees me from about 40 meters away and starts walking towards me. She sits down next to me and just stares and then talks about how pretty my hair and face are for about 10 minutes. She pet my head. Then she wrote "Megan is a pretty lady" in the sand. She gave me her Gambian name, Fatima, so that we would be twins. I was trying not to think about SWF so I was happy when some other students showed up. When they finished their lab they took off on the bus and the SMCM kids stayed behind. Christy and I got separated from them going to the beach which was probably the best thing that ever happened because we ended up in an African hotel oasis. We charmed our way...okay..we asked nicely, if we could go buy a drink from the restaurant inside this super swanky resort full of white people who think they are visiting Africa but really they just stay in this tourist bubble of palm trees and cabana boys.

I think I about died when I saw the poolS and fountains and cabanas and fruity drinks and delicious french fries. We had our fantas and then said "well....can we swim and then order lunch after........." And in this way we infiltrated the tubabs. We were so obviously not supposed to be there because 1. We were in field pants and sweating our asses off. 2. We were hauling a shit ton of stuff around 3. I kept squealing, Christy kept saying "this is AWESOME," and I took about 50 pictures of the pool. There was a swim up bar. If Jesus designed pools he would have designed this one. We just did a 5 hour rotation of read, tan, swim, (eat pineapple pizza) read, tan, swim. I also purchased many sweet craft items from a guy who also named me Fatu (short for Fatuma); I've been named Fatu three times now so I think it's official. On the way home I got a normally 75 dalasis taxi ride for 20 D's because I talked to the driver and his friend about clubbing at WOW. Win.

Us at the pool bar
The dead squid I found on the beach
This is class time. You are jealous of our classroom.

Fatima & me. She said "Awww black and white...it's so beautiful"

2009-10-10T16:10:00.002-07:00

I ate pizza today.

That's pretty much the only significant thing I did.

OH! And I picked up my skirts from the tailor. It costs $4 for one wrap skirt. Sweet deal.

Must take pictures.

TIA

2009-10-09T10:49:00.001-07:00

I went to Abuko today with the intention of doing vegetation surveys with Katie. Christy went ahead to the Darwin Center and called 20 minutes later telling us that Malang, the director, was feeling really ill and was going to be helped over to the accomodations where we were sitting. One of the 2 workers at Abuko shows up to the "house" and we stand up to look for Malang. He was sitting crumpled on the ground at the edge of the forest in his best clothes (Friday is the holy day). Yusman unlocked the house and then went back and helped lift Malang off the ground. He collasped onto the concrete floor right after he got inside. Katie and I got an air mattress and Malang could barely crawl onto it. He had all the symptoms of malaria. Yusman even said it's malaria and he knows about every animal and plant in that forest so I believe him when he says something. It's really hard to watch a grown man writhe in pain. He didn't want to tell his family he was sick, just as he didn't tell them he felt bad that morning, because he didn't want to worry his kids. But Katie called his wife so that someone could bring his medical forms over to the park. While the kids were bringing the forms, Yusman walked out to the main highway to try and convince a taxi to drive up to the park on the unpaved sand roads. Three of Malang's kids showed up and they looked scared and it was terrible because the girls were trying not to cry. Malaria sucks. He told his kids just to go back home but they wouldn't leave or say anything. When a cab came we walked Malang out to the brick wall and helped him over it and got him in the taxi. But then the taxi wouldn't start so Yusman and the four of us tubabs were trying to push this taxi out of the sand. We kept pushing and pushing and finally it started. We gave him money for the cab ride and the clinic because otherwise I don't think he would be able to get treatment. All the money he makes from St. Mary's goes to his kids' education and he doesn't really have any left over after that.

After the whole two hour ordeal the four of us were just sitting there so exhausted in every way. We just locked everything up and went home without doing any research. Hopefully he gets better soon.

Ahaha I miss this <3333333

2009-10-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

2009-10-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

The President Doctor Professor

2009-10-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't work today. I went to the stadium with everyone else to see the presentation of the World Cup. The preparations started at 11AM and we got there at 2:30. The stadium was swarming with all the vendors, school kids, and the entire army walking around. We got some good seats and proceeded to sit there for three hours while a "deejay," some music acts, and kids with soccer balls performed to keep up entertained. They played one popular song on repeat for half an hour. Ice cream bags and ground nuts were purchased. It was probably around 110 degrees and as I sat there melting into myself I kept having really vivid daydreams of clubbing in Adams Morgan during winter. I think it made me less hot for about 3 minutes. At 5:30 the President's posse finally rolled up. A huge group of dancers/cheerers entered first, followed by army trucks, his stretch Hummer, and some more army trucks. The whole group circled the track three times while the President stuck his head out of the Hummer sun roof and threw biscuits to people in the stands. The "cheerers" had to keep running the whole time and eventually some of them started to faint. Quite a few had to be carried off the track by the medics. When the President actually approaching the stage, huge clouds rolled in and it became really dark. Rainy season is not over. Then the wind came and blew away the red carpet, balloons, people. So after three hours of waiting we dipped out before even seeing the cup. We got caught in a dust storm - trash hitting you in the face, glasses flying, sand in mouth. Then we got caught in the rain so I was just mud colored by the time I got to Happy Camp. Lamine did pass us as we were walking in the rain though and we fit 10 people in his 5 person jeep.

It was neat to experience how excited the country was today. Sitting in the stands listening to drums and weird performers with thousands of Gambians was kind of surreal. And running in the dust storm was actually entertaining/thrilling because one minute I was sitting there preparing myself for a boring presidential speech and then I'm running barefoot, blinded by sand, and covered in trashbags.

School Time

2009-10-07T02:48:00.000-07:00

The Cup is Here

2009-10-07T02:44:00.000-07:00

This afternoon is a government holiday and classes are cancelled because the World Cup is in the country. Just the actual cup...This is why nothing gets done here.

Hmm what a coincidence. Yesterday during language class I learned how to say "Where is the cup?" in Wolof - "Ana kaas bi?"

ANA KAAS BI!?

Also:

Yangi rafet: You are beautiful.

Mangi feebar: I am sick.

Going to do more poop collection today

picture box

2009-10-06T16:28:00.001-07:00

Arabian TV is the weirdest shit I have ever seen.

BUT I found a channel called "Infinity" that plays American sitcoms! Friends, Scrubs, and Gilmore Girls so far.

Mangi cool

2009-10-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Before I got sick, Christy and I had dinner with the other tenants in the apartment owner's home because it was the 1st birthday of Cherry, the son of our Indian neighbors. He is so cute and loves Pringles...that's pretty much all I know about him. But his mom, Modu, cooked for everyone and we got to eat it in the owner's air conditioned house and drink bottled water which was amazing. I like that she calls me Auntie. I met one of the other younger tenants who works at a casino (i have no idea where there is a casino), and he had just gotten back from his first visit to the United States to go to a wedding in Minnesota. yay Minnesota?

Today I got to take my "sample" to the doctor, so hopefully I'll find out what I have soon enough.

sick

2009-10-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

I'm ill. Severe stomach pain and vomitting. Had to go to a clinic today with another sick student. It was the saddest looking clinic I've ever seen. I got some anti vomit pills, antibiotics, and a safe sex lecture from the only doctor working in the whole place.

So fresh and so clean clean....not

2009-10-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

I heart my birthday photo but it also makes me sad because I'm so clean and shiny. Now i'm just perpetually sweaty and gross.

Needing to take three showers a day is really bizarre.

Dancers

2009-10-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

That girl is so DANGEROUS, That girl is a bad girl, I've seen her type before She's so DANGEROUS, That girl is so DANGEROUS, That girl is a bad gi

2009-10-03T13:23:00.003-07:00

The St. Mary's Peace Program here in the Gambia gave me one of their cell phones to use so now I have a sweet cell phone with Tracy Chapman ringtones (!?!?!) and Tetris on it...The field is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Today, we had dancers and drummers come to Happy Camp for a little bit of evening entertainment.

After the first dance, they pulled some of us up to learn some moves.......

Also I remembered that I really enjoyed dancing to this song in the club last night, enjoy:

"Ohh...Bad to the bone everything locked like a two three zone
I wanted to make my black snake moan, talk a little bit and take that home
She bad and she know the deal, Thats what I can't hide when she want to conceal
I mean megan good and halle berry put together together in close to the JUBEE i see"

...

"Figure 8..good body shape

When she on the dance floor, gyal dem Irrate
When she do her thing man can't walk straight
That biscuit soak up everyTING in my plate
im tryna give homegirl sex and the city-tity
itty bitty waistline moves with the baseline
one lick of punch.. I'm fine"

OH HAI VIDEO.

2009-10-02T09:59:00.001-07:00

I was just hanging out with this dude.

My first POOP collection

2009-10-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

"TUBAB. give. me. water."

"TUBAB. give. me. bread."

"TUBAB. give. me.....SWEETS."

Tubab = White person

Instead of doing plant transects today I helped collect behavioral data on the colobus monkeys and waited for the ones napping to wake up so that we could get their poop (but only if we could ID them). Two people kept their binocs trained on the monkeys and when they started peeing I went under them and waited for their poop to fall.

I got the poop sample from Peach.

Then when we were leaving, we passed this natural dome on the ground that was formed out of all these vines and tree branches so I climbed into it. There were about a dozen callithrix just chilling in the dome so I just sat with the monkeys for about 20 minutes. They were about three feet away from me, adults, juveniles, and babies!

"Dafa Seer"

2009-10-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

One thing that is really interesting about this place is that if you introduce yourself to a person in passing they WILL remember your name. I walk down Kairaba road every day and have people say "Hello Megan" and I have no idea who they are.

Fun fact: A lot of people love that I'm from the U.S. because they love our "black man president"...and Tupac.

I went to the beach this morning and I found this awesome sand dollar.

2009-09-30T01:53:00.000-07:00

Patas

2009-09-30T01:48:00.000-07:00

Callithrix Monkey

Abuko park

2009-09-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

I work here.

take a look at dem melons

2009-09-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

ugh

2009-09-28T17:09:00.005-07:00

worked in the field from 3-10pm, got back at 11 something.

transects and bushbaby hunting.

i'm exhausted. hadn't had meat in 4 days. seriously contemplated buying Spam.

my legs are useless now.

i paid 50 D's for the shortest taxi ride ever because it was 11:30 at night and i could not walk another step.

"That kinda looks like 14 meters......"

2009-09-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

Transect lab today with the Gambian and SMCM students.......and that's all I have to say about that.....

I think I drank a lemon Fanta in about 8 seconds.

There's a hole in the butt of my field pants and in both of my boots. God bless duct tape.

The end.

you're so lime green jelloooo (i hope someone other than matthew gets this reference)

2009-09-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

Where I spent my day

I'm with the band

2009-09-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

TimBOOKtu

2009-09-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I went out with some of the kids to Senegambia. During the ride there the taxi driver named me "Ay-sha" since I didn't have a Gambian name yet. We went to Bini's and it had a lot of older European cougars and...panthers (?) getting drunk and dancing with the Gambians. There was a band there playing salsa music and singing in spanish so I got super excited. After two gin bags (gin in Go-Gurt squeeze bags for 20 cents) I was dancing and pretending to play the maracas in front of the saxaphone player so he handed me his and I rocked out with them. Then on the next song he made me stand next to him and play. Later in the night the back up singer saw me looking longingly at his tambourine so he let me play that too. I think they were seriously entertained that a Tubab wanted and could keep a beat. I also met a Swede named Alfred who is 64. He was trashed and would dance with boys and girls and took a giant warrior mask off the wall and danced with it for about 10 minutes.

Then we went to WOW where they played gambian music, old school hip hop, rap, some beyonce ...and the backstreet boys...I went to the bathroom and some girl stopped me to tell me I was pretty (girls are nice? whaaaaa) and her name actually was Aysha so she came and danced with us. Some guy asked if he could fly me to London. Everyone was kind of dancing far apart and I was confused. But it was super fun.

Today I went to the beach and it was gorgeous. It was almost completely deserted when we got there. There were a few muslim women fully clothed, head to toe, and in jeans, happily playing catch on the beach and going in the water; while I was in a bikini sitting in a pool of my own sweat. I met a guy named Bai and in my head I did the "HAI! BAI!" thing and giggled a little bit. Then a senegalese dude gave me a Gambian name that i actually kind of dig, Maimouna - "MY MOON AH." He was a birdwatcher who wanted me to come to his house for "dinner" aka a marriage proposal. When I went back up to my hammock there was a euro woman on the hammock next to mine ass naked. And not good naked. I slowly moved to another hammock and spent the rest of the time reading/secretly spying on the euro boys in the cabana next to me.

Aww a beetle family

2009-09-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

I'm so hawt

2009-09-25T15:22:00.001-07:00

Field pants are sexyyy ...

My address is:

Megan

c/o St. Mary's College

PO Box 2185

Serrekunda

The Gambia

Hey Tubab

2009-09-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Mrs. Crowley's science classes or whoever-

I did plant transects today in Abuko National Park in order to survey the plant diversity among the different habitats within the park. Katie and I tagged distances of 100 meters along the park fence. Then we went 50 yards away from the tree line into the jungle along these tags and measured every 10 meters (till we got to 100) while tagging the closest tree to the 10 meter spot. Katie will then use a random number chart to select three points along each of these 100 meter transects. On the weekend students from the Gambia will go to these points on each transect and use the quarter/quadrant method. At each point they will walk in the four directions and stop at the first tree they reach. they will measure how far away from the original point the tree was (for plant density), identify the tree, and measure DBH- diameter at breast height. 24 transects x 3 points each = a lot of trees.

Doing only 4 transects took about 5 hours (plus the walk there and back). So I was wading through water, mud, spiders the size of my face, termites, and waist deep vegetation for a long time. It was tiring but I was handed a Gambian donut when I got to Happy Camp so it kind of makes up for how tired I was. Oh and I saw monkeys.

Salaam Alaykum

2009-09-24T16:33:00.002-07:00

Rawr big spiders everywhere.
Last night, instead of going to sleep, my professor and I took a taxi to Senegambia and went to the street with all the bars/"clubs." We ended up talking to a Nigerian guy named Johnson for 2 1/2 hours about religion and babies because he was just plain confused when we said we didn't want to get married, have kids, or follow a religion. I tried to explain that I respected the Bible's teachings but didn't take all that creation-in-seven-days jazz literally. So he started talking about Daniel and the lions and said that if I walked into a den of lions and prayed that I wouldn't be eaten and that he KNEW God made Eve from a bone. From that point on I was like "Well there's no point trying to reason with him." So I just said stuff to amuse myself, like asking him what would happen if I fell in love with another girl. I think I made his heart stop for about three seconds. After that he talked about Satan a lot and I just drank my Tom Collins.

BUT TODAY! Today was amazing. I had my first drum lesson. And I loved it so much. The other students have already had a lesson but I got everything right away and honestly I was pretty amazing. My teacher also makes drums so I'm buying one from him for about $50, and I'm going to ask him to carve elephants on it. I have another week of free lessons with the students and then he charges $3 an hour for drum lessons on the beach....awesome....

I've been eating with the students for free too and a usual meal consists of a lot of white rice, onion gravy, either chicken or fish, and then a fruit. But tonight I went with my professor to a French bistro on our street and I got the most delicious egg sandwich with a chocolate milkshake (they were out of nutella crepes). yum yum. There's also a place called McCaesar's and McFatty's, I must check them out.

Tomorrow I'm going out to do field research--transects and poop collection.

later gator

"Bedroom"

2009-09-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

I felt like an ass at the Senegal airport because everyone was dressed in a suit/fancy dress and I was wearing tye dye.

Anyway here is my mattress that doesn't really fit between the chair and the TV so it has a nice arch to it....

I've taken over the living room.

Senegal

2009-09-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

Everything's going to be okay because there is Fanta Orange
View from Dakar airport. Is that a giant ship?

I'm in Africa......

2009-09-23T08:29:00.001-07:00

The flight to Senegal was quick and easy and I arrived in Dakar at 5:30 am. I got my stuff, went to the smaller terminal and proceeded to wait 8 1/2 hours for my flight to Banjul. There is Nothing in the Senegal airport. Well there are a few metal chairs and some guys who speak French. I had to wait till 9 am before I could buy my ticket. A super nice airport employee who spoke english helped me buy my ticket, check my bags, and ran around the airport for me finding $7 in change that the cashier guy would not give me after I had to pay for my heavy luggage. He ended up taking francs from the guys who wrap your baggage in plastic. At 10:30 I moved to the gate where the chairs had cushioning! Oh and AHCers will be happy to know that Hilary's face even appears in Senegal. The flight was delayed for two hours while I slipped in and out of conscienceness. When I finally made it to Banjul it was raining and actually not that hot. I was brought to the students' compound. They all started drum lessons yesterday and I'll be joining them tomorrow for my first drum lesson on the beach : )

Then I'm off to the National Park to start helping out on some monkey research.

"Time together isn't ever quite enough, When we’re apart whatever are you thinking of? " - The Saltwater Room

2009-09-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

It was my 22nd birthday just two days ago and every time we would leave a bar I kept thinking "Holy S***, I'm going to Africa." Well it's noon, five hours before my flight, I'm "packed", Ben is sleeping downstairs before driving me to the airport, and I still can't stop thinking "Holy S***, I'm going to Africa."

Adios.

departure-eve

2009-09-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

This is what a person who is about to go on an 18 hour journey looks like.

< --------

Gambia tomorrow.