"How many times do I have to tell you? No machetes in the classroom."
As you can see I’ve been extremely busy building my new home. That’s why I haven’t posted in a while. No no don’t worry, that’s not my new home. It’s a datta/bantaba for shade because the hot season is on it’s way, and as I’m sure you could tell by my feeble attempt to pretend like I was building in the picture, I didn’t really build any of it, but I did help carry the wood and grass for it. It was fun to watch though. The often abided “measure twice cut once” holds no ground here. Instead, my friend did no measuring whatsoever and just climbed a tree and started hacking the crap out of branches with a machete (in a unrelated event a teacher here was recently assaulted with a machete. I've banned machetes from my classroom). Then we walked around the bush and got this plant for the rope, that plant for the roof, this branch to strengthen that, and so on. It was impressive to watch, and even more impressive that everything worked perfectly. My new compound only has young trees that are still growing, so I definitely needed some shade to relax under. Yes, I moved to another compound. My new one is much more peaceful and relaxing. It’s on the edge of the village and the backyard is the Gambian bush with a few rolling hills, so it has a nice view. I’ll get some more photos up when I get some more batteries for my camera. My new place even has a convenient garbage disposal system reminiscent to that of The Flintstones. I just scrape my food scraps outside and the neighbors’ goats, chicken, and sheep take care of the rest.
Work is going well and I’m staying busy. I’m still at the high school, and also doing a few projects at some of the government offices and a couple businesses. I will post again in a couple weeks. I’m going Dakar, Senegal for a softball tournament in 2 weeks. We will be playing different Peace Corps teams from West Africa, a couple NGO’s, and maybe a Marines team. Team Gambia shall be victorious.
And here's a picture I thought was cool of some well diggers:
posted by Evan @ 1:20 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
It was -19 degrees here this morning in the good ole GF. Been really cold lately, so enjoy your heat. Hope all is well in the African plains. Any good cuisine?
Hi Evan. You don't know me. My name is Cassie Amidon, and I'm a teacher at the American School in Fajara. I'm at home doing some school work and was looking for some 'Gambian History' pics on the internet for class and stumbled onto your page. I must say its very impressive! I've read a few of your entries and saw some of your pictures and think you are really doing an excellent job with everything! So how many books have you read so far in your Peace Corp stay?! Wow... I couldn't do it!
It looks like you are teaching in Basse?? and adjusting well to upcountry life. How long have you been here? I teach first and second grade at the American School and am about to finish my second year here and am most likely extending to a third.
Not a ton to say.... just wanted to say I thought your webpage is pretty cool, and that I enjoyed reading your entries. Best of luck with everything!
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