Annoying Cricket

For the last two nights we have heard a chirping coming from somewhere in the kitchen, Paul finally found the culprit a small cricket hid near the stove. Unable to catch it we are hoping it will make its own way outside. We also had a frog in the house at the weekend Paul saw it in the kitchen then the following night when I went to the toilet here it was sat looking at me we managed to catch it in a shovel placing it back outside.

Before going to La Parisiene I called at the butchers and ordered some beef to pick up later. Arriving at La Parisiene they have had a change of furniture very retro orange, red blue and green seating however the internet was very slow again very frustrating. The rain has started yet again; the last two days have been unbearably hot so hopefully it will cool down a bit. On leaving La Parisiene the rain was just a drizzle which I was pleased about as I had forgotten to bring my umbrella, I picked up Bradley and by the time we had picked up the meat and got home we were very wet. Awa had been unable to peg out the washing due to the rain; Bradley was happy playing with Louise whilst I picked up Abigail. Awa then showed me her recipe for Beef Domada which was not as greasy as others we have tried.

On arriving home Paul commented on where his other flip flop was as he had one blue and one damaged yellow flip flop outside on the steps, I had noticed but thought they were Awa’s. Paul went for a run before dinner and whilst he was in the bath Abu, the neighbour and a young lad came to our door Abu was arguing with the young lad and pointing at the step. I went outside and realised this young lad was wearing Paul’s other flip flop he took it off replacing his own damaged one as if he had just borrowed it for the day.

We were sat in candle light this evening as our electric meter had ran out of credit and not knowing where the meter was located at least we know for next time.

Hot Hot Hot!!

Abigail had been given some money by the tooth fairy so she was busy deciding what to spend it on. No tears this morning, Paul took them off to school as his meeting wasn’t until 10.00am. Meanwhile I set about making kofta patties out of green lentils, onions, garlic, cumin, chilli powder and flour I ended up in a right sticky mess but they looked okay.

I then set about cutting and taking up my skirt as it had snagged on a nail which had made a small hole. Suddenly realising we had no tape measure I had to use a bit of initiative so using a bit of paper with a pen mark as a guide I quickly followed it to draw dashes on my skirt before cutting it. I decided to sit on the step in the sun gosh it was very hot the sweat was dripping of my chin and arms as I sat sewing. I finally gave up when the needle just kept slipping from my grip and took shelter inside only to find the electric was off so couldn’t even put the fan on. I made myself a sandwich then had a quick shower before setting off to pick up Bradley, who was in a very happy mood, then back out again to pick up Abigail. I am certainly getting plenty of exercise with all this walking to and from school as well as the shops and beach it can only do me some good.

Paul arrived home at 4.00pm telling me about his 10.00am meeting which didn’t start until 11.00am which is not unusual as nothing starts on time. He was laughing because the meeting started with about twenty people and by the time they had finished at 2.30pm the meeting had doubled in size as more people arrived. The principal has asked Paul to help set up some sports activities as she had noticed on his CV that he is keen on sport. Paul was very happy to do this so after the meeting he got together with the team leader and they went through a list of activities noting any extra equipment they will require.

We ate the kofta patties with some couscous both myself and Paul enjoying them a bit like a spicy burger with the lentils replacing the meat as protein, however they were a bit too spicy for Abigail and Bradley.

First Day at Brikama College

We were up early as it was Paul’s first day at the college l took the children off to school with a few tears and Paul left for college. Abigail had lost a bottom tooth this morning we thought it would have been her top tooth as it has been loose for some time. I spent the morning ironing and downloading photos onto the computer and renaming them. I was pleased that on picking Bradley up there were no tears and he was quite happy, he had been playing with a little boy called Patrick who had brought in some spidermen pencils. When we arrived home Paul was just pulling up in the car apparently the meeting which had been planned had been changed to Tuesday morning.

On his way home Paul had stopped to give some people a lift as their gelleh gelleh had broken down, he ended up with three men and a woman squashed in the back seat and a woman with a young baby in the front. He told the woman she needed to put on her seat belt as you can get a fine if not wearing it, so he tried discreetly to help her, only to find as they set off she wiped out her boob and started to feed her baby in true African style.

When Abigail arrived home she was excited that another bottom tooth had come out whilst eating her apple so the tooth fairy is going to be busy tonight. We went to the bank to withdraw some money and check that the money we had transferred from England had arrived which it had. Its ironic that on leaving England we checked with all the banks to see if they had connections in The Gambia which non of them did, however the GT Bank which we have chosen is all so linked to the HSBC bank.

Paul went off with Abigail to give the guy who is doing our Batik some money for materials, whilst I and Bradley went to buy some bread. We walked past the American Embassy choosing the pavement closest to the gates rather than waking right next to the busy road, we were suddenly stopped by a security guard saying we couldn’t walk there, I had quite a few choice words to say ridiculous being one of them. Even Paul and Max were moved on when they had stopped to talk on the opposite side of the road from the embassy.

Arriving back home at 5.00pm I set about making Chicken Yassa for dinner, we then had a couple of games of Uno as Abigail and Bradley are really starting to enjoy the game. We put them to bed not forgetting Abigail’s two teeth wrapped up in some toilet paper ready for the tooth fairy.

Spent the day at home we made some lemonade with the lemons out of the compound as they were starting to go off. Paul took himself off to have a quick dip in the sea before eating an early dinner of mince and dumplings. At 5.00pm we set off to La Parisiene to make some phone calls, Paul spoke to Jenny and Dale, whilst the children tucked into ice-cream and I managed to answer a few e mails. Then I spoke to Mum, my sister Lynne who is missing Abigail and Bradley and my brother Alan all of whom seem to be well. It was very hot when I left the air conditioned La Parisiene, Paul stayed to catch up on his e mails whilst I wanted to get the children in the bath and to bed, I quickly looked at the thermometer it was 35 degrees at 7.00pm very hot.

Cleaning the Nation Day

We woke up early expecting to make phone calls to family at La Parisiene, Paul set of with Bradley whilst me and Abi hung out some washing to dry. We set off and bumped into Paul coming back saying La Parisiene was closed.

We headed out for an early morning walk instead and decided to walk to Kotu Point, saying hello to Lamin on the way. Further along the beach one of the fishermen joined us trying to practice his English which was very good even though he hadn’t gone to school. He told us today was cleaning the nation day, we had completely forgotten that the last Saturday of every month you were expected to stay at home and clean and if you were caught out by the police you could be arrested as it is a crime. When we arrived at Kotu Point we had a good view of the next bay and the Senegambia Hotel in the distance at Kololi. I took some photos whilst our guide was stopped by a couple of police officers patrolling the beach we then turned a round and headed back.

Senegambia Hotel in Distance at Kololi

Kankurang Dancers

Our guide left us as we crossed Kotu Stream and we were approached by a couple of other guys trying to sell us juice. Suddenly we noticed three Kankurang Dancers and a group of young boys all with their heads covered. The juice sellers told us they had been circumcised and were celebrating their return after three months away from home. However now a days in the Kombo area they usually are kept in their own compound and are frequently visited upon by their parents, they said circumcision is carried out in hospital between the ages of five and twelve years old. As we stood watching I tried to get a photo but thought they might be offended, then one of the dancers started coming towards us banging two machete knife blades together which is to ward off evil Abi and Bradley were a bit scarred so one of the juice sellers shouted to him and he backed off. The Kankurang Dancers have a crucial role in traditional rites and also entertain at major festivals; I can only describe their costumes as a cloth haystack with a mask to cover the face, not someone you would want to meet on a dark night.

Kankurang Dancer

When we arrived at home we quickly went to get some bread passing the fruit stalls which were all covered and the shops which were closed, when we asked the girl at the bakers she told us they will re open at 1.00pm after cleaning day.

On the afternoon we decided to take a look at the Batiks where John had got his from we finally found the guy and were taken into his house they were so different. We picked out two different prints of village life and asked him if he could make it into one larger Batik in orange colours he said he could. We then picked out a print of an Elephant and Baby for Abigail and a Jungle scene for Bradley they choose blue colours, we agreed a price and he said they would be ready in about a week.

We called at the shops for some flour and bought some fruit and vegetables from the market then I set about making pizza on the stove. I was really please with the end result and we all enjoyed it with homemade coleslaw and salad, Abigail and Bradley have already asked for it again.

Batik Factory

Paul took the children off to school wrapped up in there cagoules, Abigail in her new uniform and Bradley in his wellies as it was raining quite heavy. Whilst I set about tidying the house Paul went to La Parisiene to finish of some work and also put a post on Abigail’s school learning platform which they had written together last night.

When we picked up the children we ate lunch then decided to visit the Batik Factory at Serrekunda. We set off and arrived at the big tree as described on the map we continued on and suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the market. We pulled up at a sign saying diversion right, which was the road we had just passed. On starting to reverse we suddenly had two traffic police officers at our windows one of which was very aggressive saying we had committed an offence by not diverting off to the right and mentioning police station to us. Paul trying to keep cool explained he had missed the sign as the people in the road were obscuring it, by this time one of the police men had left but the aggressive one was asking us to reverse and pull over he was obviously wanting us to bribe him, however a man from the street started talking to him which fortunately resulted in us being sent on our way.

We continued down the pot holed diverted road and pulled over as we decided to find the factory on foot. A young lad immediately asked us where we were going and on telling him he took us back through the market towards the big tree to the first of two Batik Factory’s. They were very good but didn’t quite have what we were looking for, so we headed back through the market thanking the young lad and went home.