Looking around

After all this time here, where in some ways life seems slower, it now completely feels to be rushing. Not that time hasn't flown by, but now things are changing and I need to be more active in choosing the direction of my own life again. As all of that dawns on me, how I have to go back to what I probably used to consider a normal amount of decision making, I also realize that my chances to look around this crazy place where I live are not for long, that opportunity is ending.

And, as I struggle to write, I understand that there are trade-offs for all these things. I miss reading the New York Times now. In four months or whenever, I will miss the endless greetings that are the start of every day in Fara Fenni. It's my favorite part of the day - the early time, before the heat is too oppresive, before everyone is fully awake and into their day. I even want to get up early so that I have plenty of time to take a couple of buckets to the water tap. I greet the women, some as they wait around the tap for their own buckets to have a chance to fill, some as they sweep the compound or do whatever they are busy doing. I also sweep my hut, and often clean my solar panel. Sometimes I carry water for the women, or do some washing if I have a few things. The most important part is just checking in with everyone, asking if they had a peaceful night, if they slept well. Questions that we might ask back home, but not of every person we saw in the morning. The simple routines, the daily beauty of this life, that's what I will miss the most.

I put up a few new pictures (from Amy's trip) on the flickr page. Hope everyone is well and having good adventures of their own...

Language test, airplane tickets, taxes

Signs that I'm leaving here soon. Departure seems to be the big theme of my life, as I bid farewell to friends who have left just now (I think I've taken on some of the Gambian sense of time, meaning that "now" means the time from the recent past into the near future, with those recent and near adjectives being extremely flexible), and prepare for what's next.

And even though I'd have to deal with my yearly IRS burden if I weren't leaving, somehow it reminds me of the awful relative complexity of life in the US, as compared to this life here. And, all of my efforts of late have been down here in Kombo, which is not the simple thing that life in Fara Fenni is. Hrmmm...

I have put up a couple of pictures, and intend to put up a few more just as soon as I remember to bring my flash drive with me. I'm a forgetful geek today.

The language test consisted of a half hour conversation in Mandinka with one of the instructors and a tape recorder. Sort of fun, except for the ongoing voice in the back of my head saying that I should be serious and all that as it was my final evaluation. But, it's there, completed and on record. If I'm happy with my score, maybe I'll report it. So that all future employers can know of my precise proficiency in a language of which they've never heard.

Goodbyes

So my last guest has gone - Amy caught a flight on Tuesday night, and as far as I know is now back in Chicago. I know I promised pictures from her trip and particularly Makasutu, and I have them, but they aren't resized so uploading them is a bear. I'm putting up one that in some way symbolizing a lot of what Amy talked about when she was here, and perhaps my mother as well...

Two of my best friends here are departing today, one after three years of service. And my close of service conference starts on Monday. The group of people I arrived and trained with are going down the coast to Kartong for the weekend to begin the end. I guess it's a bit sad, but it seems so long, the whole process, that I don't really feel much at the moment.

We get to stay in a nice hotel for the conference, so I'll not complain...