Roosters, Prayer Calls, and Footballs

This will be my last post for at least 8 weeks. On Saturday we're leaving the Banjul area, and I'll be going to a Wolof village to live and learn. The village I'm going to according to many volunteers is "the best in the country." It was given the "Cleanest Village in the Country Award" by President Jammeh, but he also announced in a speech the other day that "The Gambia is a Superpower." It was in reference to successfully holding the African Union Summit here the other week. It's been a nice change lately waking up in the morning to roosters and Muslim prayer calls. It's a relaxing alternative to the unpleasant buzzing of alarm clocks. The Muslims and Christians here live very peacefully amongst each other. They live side by side, go to each other's funerals and ceremonies, and work together all in harmony. Gambians are very accepting of other people, religions, and cultures. But they're also very set in their own. The beach was wonderful the other day. We were throwing around a frisbee for a while, and then some boys came over to us and kicked a soccer ball at us because they wanted us to play with them. So they showed us a few things about soccer, and I tried to teach them how to throw a frisbee. Great cross-cultural experience. Well, once again there are many people waiting to use the internet, so I have to keep this short. I have a lot more to say, and that time will come when I get more of it down. Here's a picture from the beach.. it was also The World Cup Championship Day.. lots of footballers out.

Jamma rek!

I have arrived! Either I'm in Africa, or I'm hallucinating from my malaria medication again. Wow, it's only been a few days since I've gotten here, but it seems like much longer with all these new experiences. Sometimes you get so used to your daily routine time just flies by. Definitely not the case right now. The Gambia has been great so far, but training has been fairly busy and time consuming. Today is the first day I've really had any free time at all. We will be around the Banjul area until Friday and then we will be going to our training village. I am learning the Wolof language, so I will be going to a Wolof village and live with a host family. Wolof is primarily spoken in certain areas of The Gambia and much of Senegal. It has been fairly hot and humid these past few days. The rainy season has begun, but we haven't seen any rain yet. It will go through October/November or so. I've been taking bucket showers since the first day I've gotten here. They're surprisingly mildly refreshing.

The trip over wasn't too bad for the most part. It felt good to be back in Brussels for a couple hours after my 22 year absence. After we arrived in Dakar, a plane crashed (nothing too serious) on the runway shortly after we landed, so there was a slight delay before we flew to Banjul. We sat at the terminal in the airplane for well over an hour. I thought it was rather bold of Brussels Airlines to play "Brokeback Mountain" for the very Muslim Gambians while we waited. They eventually decided that we could get off the airplane while we were supposed to wait 2 more hours. In actuality.. we got off the plane, took a bus to the terminal, got screened to get IN to the airport, and then they turned us around to get back on the plane. No one seemed to care about how it was handled because things are much more laid back and relaxed here. Definitely a different mindset. Well I have to keep this kind of short because there are many people waiting to use the computers, but I will post much more eventually. And I'm going to the beach soon! The picture here I posted is of a giant mango tree we have training sessions under and we relax/study there when we have time. Oh, by the way, Philly was great during the 4th. Do it sometime.

So Long!

It just dawned on me this evening as to what I'm actually doing. I'm moving to bleeping Africa in a few days. I'm sure it won't even sink in that much until after I'm there for a while. I'm ready for the next stage in my life to begin. The other day I even busted out one of those "one time back in college" stories. They called me out and pointed out that that was only 3 months ago.

I've been taking great care to appreciate certain things today such as turning on my faucet and thinking "Wow, thanks pretty amazing and convenient how that works," and flushing the toilet and thinking "Huh, what a good idea," and going to my room and flicking on the light and thinking "Pure genius! What will they come up with next?"

Packing went pretty well. I went and got everything weighed, and it was only 60 lbs! 20 lbs to spare surprisingly. The hardest part about packing was probably deciding which CD's I'm going to bring (iPod schmipod) out of my 500+ collection. Tomorrow I'm off to Philly for a few days for staging. Then we fly out of JFK on the 5th for Brussels, Belgium and then we head down to Africa. 3 continents in a day!

A few of you were interested in what CD's I'm bringing. I went for variety in case I'm in the mood for something in particular. Here they are:

The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium, Dead Can Dance - Spirit Chaser, John Denver - Favourites, John Scofield - Plays Ray Charles, Reggae Masters v3, Sigur Ros - ( ), Mofro - Southern Fried v4, Mastodon - Leviathan, Umphrey's - Covers the World v1, Widespread Panic - Ball, Opeth - Still Life, Rush - 1974-1980, Black Label Society - Hangover Music v6, Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Yonder Mountain String Band - Town by Town, Orphaned Land - Mabool, The Bad Plus - 10/7/05, Enya - A Day Without Rain, Bela Fleck/Edgar Meyer - Music for Two, Leo Kottke - Essential, Umphrey's McGee - Safety in Numbers, Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days, Devin Townsend - Terria

Well friends, it's been a good few years. I leave you with this quote that I enjoy (thanks Becca!)

“Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger in the long run is no safer that outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing." - Helen Keller