a Friday night
The internet is a crazy thing. It's almost like running, where you have to build up your endurance or suffer fatigue and diminishing returns. It used to be that I could sit in front of a computer, bang out code and surf for four or five hours straight if I needed to. Now, my tolerance seems to be an hour. I wonder how much of that has to do with the fact that it's painfully slow here, and how much of it is due to my fading computer skills. In any case, I'm pretty well spent less than an hour and a quarter into this evolution, and haven't gotten it all done.
Life since Basse has been a flurry of events and motion. I saw an amazing sun rise as I walked to get a vehicle out of Basse - it's remote enough that one has to get to the garage before dawn to guarantee getting to Soma that same day. They call them garages, or car parks, but what it really reminds me of is an anarchist's circus. Chaos is inadequate when describing the process of trying to make transport work in this country, and I only wish I had the energy to go on a proper rant. But I haven't, so I will leave it be.
One thing worth mentioning is that yesterday was the Muslim New Year. No school, and a cool recitation ceremony early in the morning with chanting in Arabic and a very communal feel. It was the first time I felt "I'm a normal Peace Corps Volunteer, trying to blend in or something", and a great experience under the "cultural" umbrella.
Another thing worth mentioning: A Korean woman has moved into our compound. She is volunteering at the high school for two months, working in the computer lab and trying to learn about The Gambia. She was at university in the UK with the husband of a woman who used to live in the compound, and he talked her into coming down here to check it out. Her English is pretty strong but she didn't even know the names of the local languages before she arrived. She's a trooper though, and has been doing very well adapting and taking care of herself. It's fun to have another gai-jin around (to borrow a word from another trip out of my comfort zone), and we're headed to Soma tomorrow for a little adventure.
Next week I'm headed to Kombo and then to Dakar for a softball tournament and some sightseeing. I will be doing the latter while some of my colleagues handle the former, if all goes well, and it should be a great time.
The second term is flying by, especially with surprise holidays and special events sprinkled liberally throughout. Soon it will be hot again and I will be typing with one hand as the other tries to funnel the sweat away from the keyboard.
That's it for now.
Life since Basse has been a flurry of events and motion. I saw an amazing sun rise as I walked to get a vehicle out of Basse - it's remote enough that one has to get to the garage before dawn to guarantee getting to Soma that same day. They call them garages, or car parks, but what it really reminds me of is an anarchist's circus. Chaos is inadequate when describing the process of trying to make transport work in this country, and I only wish I had the energy to go on a proper rant. But I haven't, so I will leave it be.
One thing worth mentioning is that yesterday was the Muslim New Year. No school, and a cool recitation ceremony early in the morning with chanting in Arabic and a very communal feel. It was the first time I felt "I'm a normal Peace Corps Volunteer, trying to blend in or something", and a great experience under the "cultural" umbrella.
Another thing worth mentioning: A Korean woman has moved into our compound. She is volunteering at the high school for two months, working in the computer lab and trying to learn about The Gambia. She was at university in the UK with the husband of a woman who used to live in the compound, and he talked her into coming down here to check it out. Her English is pretty strong but she didn't even know the names of the local languages before she arrived. She's a trooper though, and has been doing very well adapting and taking care of herself. It's fun to have another gai-jin around (to borrow a word from another trip out of my comfort zone), and we're headed to Soma tomorrow for a little adventure.
Next week I'm headed to Kombo and then to Dakar for a softball tournament and some sightseeing. I will be doing the latter while some of my colleagues handle the former, if all goes well, and it should be a great time.
The second term is flying by, especially with surprise holidays and special events sprinkled liberally throughout. Soon it will be hot again and I will be typing with one hand as the other tries to funnel the sweat away from the keyboard.
That's it for now.
posted by Zac at
5:43 PM
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