Paul on the other hand has had a very tiring week as he has been up country doing his teacher observations. He was picked up on Sunday at 1 o’clock (should have been 10.30am) and they then drove to pick up a few more lecturers before then heading to Brikama. Once there the journey was delayed due to a problem with the truck and the offering of a food bowl of domada. Finally at 4 o’clock their journey along the south bank began (or so Paul thought) only to have the truck stop at the market where the lecturers jumped out to then buy food. All back in the truck they continued on stopping for a guy at the side of the road who jumped into the back with a cylinder of gas, he was then taken about thirty miles up country. After five hitchhikers, many pit stops and a ferry across to the north bank they finally arrived at the village of Karantarba at around 10.30pm just west of Basse. With a very long day on a dusty road it was rounded off when Paul’s bed for the night was the floor and the joy of a bucket bath in the morning.
On the Monday they started their day of observations then stopped for what we would call a late breakfast or early lunch. His day finished at the village of Diabugu where they stayed within the school grounds in the teacher’s accommodation. This proved to be very comfortable and he had the luxury of a hot shower in the morning. On arrival they were told they could have either corned beef sandwiches for dinner or if they give some money they would kill a chicken. The chicken lost and became dinner for the night with rice.
On Tuesday Paul’s rash had got worse and was very itchy, before leaving on Sunday he had developed a rash on his arms and chest, I had given him some antihistamine tablets thinking it may be prickly heat. He decided to seek out a doctor so headed to Basse as this was the nearest large village. He was pushed to the front of the queue (being white) to see the doctor where he had to give urine and stool samples to rule out malaria. This proved to be a bad experience as the toilets were a hole in the ground outside and very dirty. Two hours later he received the analysis luckily he didn’t have malaria however the doctor thought he may have scabies urgh yuk, (on arriving back home Doc Emily doesn’t think it is good job otherwise we would have all got it.) After paying fifty dalasi for his consultation he was given some lotion which he had to apply once after bathing, when he sent me a text to tell me it resulted in me itching for the rest of the night. As he was in Basse he spent the night at Tom and Lynne’s and they ate at the only restaurant in town, chicken and chips.
The rest of his week consisted of being driven around various schools to do his observations, staying in different villages some of which benefited the driver (lots of girl friends) and eating at some dodgy food. Paul also phoned me with some bad news on Thursday our friend Adama from the craft market his twin sister had died of malaria. On Friday I received a text to say he would be home earlier than expected so would be able to celebrate Bradley’s birthday. He arrived at around 5 o’clock very fed up with the days events. He had been up at 7.30am waiting to set off for home. The other lecturers dragged their feet eating breakfast so they finally set off at 11 o’clock. Bradley was pleased to see daddy so early, we then ate fish and chips followed by jelly which Bradley had requested. Bradley then set about opening his presents some of which Jenny had brought out with her. He was very pleased with his toys Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Nintendo games and lego set which he managed to play with before bed.
