Evan in Africa: TIA

This is the way most people watch movies in The Gambia. Someone will bring a TV outside at night that they were able to afford because of a relative in Spain, or somewhere else in Europe or the U.S., and then sometimes dozens of people living in the compound, or neighbors, or other people in the village will gather around and sit in the bantaba (used for shade during the day) and bring any chairs, logs, or mats they can muster up. The children usually sit in the sand. Can you guess what movie they're watching in this picture? If you guessed the 1980's Indian movie “Disco Dancer” about the 1980's Indian disco scene where rival Disco gangs got into fights then you're right. No english, no subtitles. Some other popular films here include all of the Nigerian films, anything with Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, Steven Segal, Arnold (who they are well aware is the Governor of CA; they yell “Yeah Mista Governah! Blow him up!”), and B action movies with the Russian from Rocky IV. I've introduced them to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Harry Potter” and now some of them have an extremely inaccurate view of reality. “Do you have these flying brooms in American?”, “Have you ever seen any of these talking trees?”, “Does America have these Elf people?”, “I hope I never meet a spider that big” , “Africa needs one of these Wizard schools. They're fanastic!” I try explaining that most of it is done with computers, but I don't know how well they like that answer. I'll try to post some Nigerian film recommendations at some point. They're all in English and quite comical.

My final exams are completed and graded for this term now. This term went fairly smooth, and I expect next term to go even better. I keep correcting mistakes I've made as each term goes which is a great thing about teaching. It seems you can continue to refine your art and technique in teaching as you progress. It's nice to start with a clean slate during the next term if a term does end in disaster. I plan on relaxing for the next couple weeks; maybe go on a couple bike rides, explore the bush a bit, sit in the shade and read, and I'm going to start learning Pulaar, the language of the Fula people. We're beginning to enter the peak of the hot season, so it's often between 95-110 degrees, and maybe it will cool down between 80-90 degrees at night. The air-conditioned computer lab, the mango orchards, and a nice shady spot by the river are the best retreats when I need a break from the heat, but it just takes some getting used to for the most part.

Here's a picture of a huge garden near the mango orchards I recently found that I had no idea existed. It was rather surreal at first because we're in the middle of the dry season and most of the country is brown from thirst. We were walking through the mango orchards and then we came to a huge clearing with this enormous garden. The water level is very high here. They just dig wells in the ground about 4-10 feet deep all over the garden and constantly water the plants by the bucket load. In this garden they grow red peppers, potatoes, onions, lettuce, and a few other things. During the wet season it's flooded and they're grow rice.