So tomorrow morning, we’re going to head upcountry to our training villages. Some of us are heading to Mandinka villages, some to Wolof, and some to Fula villages. I’m going to a Wolof village on the southern Gambia / Senegal border. The idea is that we’ll spend about a week at the village and get a chance to integrate into the village community, and then we’ll spend about a week at a centralized training village where we’ll have seminars and whatnot. Over the next ten weeks, we’ll swap back and forth between the centralized village, and my training village. Incidentally, I’ll be in this village with about five other trainees, and a local PC official to assist in the integration and to provide language classes.

On another note, last night it was really hot and muggy. There wasn’t any breeze either, and getting to sleep was almost impossible. Then at some point late into the night, a thunderstorm rolled through the area and cooled everything off. Then I could sleep. I understand that it’s quite a bit warmer upcountry, and muggier too, so I suppose that this sort of climate is something I’ll need to get used to - Vermont summers have prepared me well!

Anyway, we’re heading up there early tomorrow; it’s about a five hour drive as I understand it. I won’t be updating this site for a while unless I can find an internet cafe somewhere, sooo… we’ll see.

Take care -

Matt

I’ve been in The Gambia now for five days, and there are some definite things I’ve had to get used to. The first is the heat and humidity: It’s pretty well constant. I find myself taking three or four baths a day to keep clean, and to prevent heat rash. Heat rash occurs when sweat clogs pores on your skin, and you develop a rash. Go figure. Cleaning does the job. So everyone cleans all the time - it’s not uncommon for people who live in these climates to bathe three or four times a day. Gambians - and I expect most West Africans - are very clean people. Their clothes, their bodies, everything - clean. It’s a bit of a change from being in America where people can go and be grubs and get away with it. Here, you really can’t, it’s a health issue much, much more here than it is back home.

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Yesterday, in our language class, we learned a bunch of different phrases and terms that would come in useful in the Serekunda market, just around the bend from where I’m staying. Stuff like, “lii nyaata la?” (how much is this?) and “buga naa jenda saabu” (I want to buy soap). It was interesting to go there and see the dramatic differences between markets ( e.g., supermarkets, malls, etc.) back home, and this place.

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So, this is cool… I was talking with Evan (another trainee) earlier tonight while watching the fruit bats swoop and screech around the mango tree, and it appears he’s a Phi! Very slick stuff. He was at North Dakota Alpha when he was in college, joined in ‘02 if I recall correctly. He mentioned that he’d seen my tattoo (my fraternity’s letters) the other day - which is one of the reasons I got that tattoo in the first place, so it’s good! (Always wearing your letters makes it easier for other Phis to recognize you and connect).

Anyway, more cool Bonds.

Peace -

Matt

Just so you know, I’m going to try to post some pictures up here, but I’m running into some roadblocks with getting my camera recognized by the computes here in the PC office. Apparently, drivers for my camera aren’t installed, and I can’t install any myself, so what I’m going to need to do is back up the photos to my backup device (the Jobo Giga Mini, see my packing list), which is nothing more than a portable hard drive, and then connect that up to this computer. While it’s understandable that this system can’t recognize a particular kind of digital camera, it should definitely be able to recognize an external USB hard drive. So, here’s hoping.

Okay, so I’ve been in The Gambia now since Thursday night. The flight here was LONG - all in all, about 27 hours… I think. It was definitely more than a day. I didn’t sleep much Wednesday night on the plane, for whatever reason, but we touched down in Brussels sometime on Thursday morning. We waited for a little bit, then got onto a Brussels-based airliner down to Banjul, via Dakar. Dakar was an interesting welcoming-in to West Africa, ’cause after we landed - they were supposed to take about 45 minutes to do a headcount and luggage check, then we were supposed to be back in the air. it’s only about 30 minutes flight from Dakar to Banjul. Except that after we landed, another plane landed, and their front landing gear failed, and the nose of the plane skidded along the tarmac to a stop on the runway. At least, that’s the story we were told. Everyone was okay from that “crash,” but it tied up the runway for hours. Really problematic. So we had to wait about 3 hours to get back in the air while they fixed the situation. whoopee! didn’t get into Banjul until about 7:30, 8:00 PM. By then, all of us were so grimey and tired and sick of travelling… we were a pretty grim crew at that point.

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Hey -

Quick update from Philly. We’re going to go to JFK in a few hours to board a plane to Brussels (with a couple hour layover), and then on to The Gambia.

This morning at 7:30, we stopped over to a big federal building to get our first round of immunizations - Polio, MMR, and Yellow Fever. Wasn’t too bad - very pokey. Fortunately, I didn’t have an allergic reaction to the shots, which can medically separate you from the Peace Corps before you even set foot in the country. That happens with a small number of people, from what I understand.

Last night, we went to see the fireworks by the art museum. Lionel Richie was playing, but we were about 3/4ths of a mile from the stage, and it was almost impossible to hear. Aside from that, it was raining a little - there was thunderstorm activity overhead, and bolts of lightning made for a pretty cool addition to the man-made light shows below.

Another PCT, Evan, and I, went back a little early to avoid what was shaping up to be a downpour - neither of us wanted to get soaked quite yet - and wound up at a small irish bar near the hotel. We ended up talking for a couple hours about all sorts of things, from music, to eastern religion, our backgrounds, and all kinds of other stuff. Didn’t get back to the hotel until two in the morning, and even then I didn’t get to sleep until about three. So I’m running on about 3.5 hours of sleep right now - I’ll sleep on the plane.

I’ve got some photos to upload from yesterday, but that will probably have to wait until I arrive in Banjul.

‘Til then,

Matt

Hey -

  Just got into Philly yesterday afternoon to start Staging for PC service.  We’re all put up in a nice hotel here, and are going out to see the fireworks this evening (Lionel Richie is playing in the park where the fireworks will be too, which is cool … I … guess.  Well heck, it’s free).  Everyone seems really cool, people are really sharp and easy-going - I think the PC really looks for those types for service.

We’ve been doing a whole lot of sessions, cross-culture activities and whatnot, learning about PC policies and procedures, but those are really the nuts and bolts of it.  The bulk is very interactive, which makes the time fly.

Anyway, tomorrow morning we’re taking a bus up to JFK in NYC, and from there we’ll be boarding a flight, finally destined for The Gambia.

I’ll try to post again before I leave, but if I don’t, well, next one will be from TG!

Adios -

Matt