Crocodile

Today we made enquiries about visiting Jinack Island which is just across the river Gambia on the north bank, we were told to call at Calypso bar which is at Cape Point. We took the car and arrived at the bar where we made arrangements to stay at the Island for New Years evening. Whilst Paul was making the arrangements myself and the children looked around the little lagoon watching the fish darting in and out of the rocks, Abigail then pointed to the other side and sat on the grass bank there was a small crocodile. The lagoon is the same one we walked to from the Sand Plover and is feet away from the beach and sea as you can see from the picture.

Where the guy is walking is actually the beach!

I woke up feeling very tired as I had a restless night with aches, pains and sweating. I have been suffering for a week with cold and flu symptoms and because I am not any better I thought it would be advisable to get it checked out at Africmed. Meanwhile Bradley woke up with no rash and in a good mood so Paul took him off to school so I could get to Africmed early. They did some blood and urine tests as my symptoms are very much like Malaria however they couldn’t find any malarial parasites in my blood. The Doctor decided to still give me the anti malarial drug Co-tesunate which I take over three days as he was still concerned about my symptoms. On arriving home Paul was just getting ready to leave for Brikama I told him the outcome he was concerned that I had been prescribed the drugs when not showing signs of any malarial parasites. He decided to look in our Travellers Health Guide which we have brought with us, he was happier when he read that not always do the malarial parasites show up in your blood it sometimes needs a return visit and test carrying out so I took the tablets as prescribed.

When I picked Bradley and Abigail up they sat and finished off painting the spots and stripes onto their butterfly’s ready to be stuck up on their bedroom wall. At about 8.00pm Adam arrived from the craft market he wanted to drop some gifts off for us Bradley a tie dyed shirt and shorts and a Giraffe Batik for us, we thanked him and made sure he took some money for his taxi fare home.

Batik's

I had a bad nights sleep last night and for the first time had the cotton sheet pulled up over me and I appear to have come down with a head cold. Paul, Abigail and Bradley called at the VSO Office this morning to report the broken fridge/freezer, whilst I was trying to freeze some water in carrier bags yesterday they leaked so don’t know if it has fused something Op’s. I set about washing the settee throws and then called at the shops to get some plates and forks etc for Abigail’s party. On my way home Paul phoned to say a new fridge was getting delivered at 10.00am and he was calling into Safari Garden to invite Maurice and Gerrie to Abigail’s party. When Paul arrived home the VSO driver was just arriving with a new fridge for us, so he helped carry it in then we quickly transferred our food across to the new fridge. On the evening Paul hung up the Batiks I am very pleased with how they look the bamboo has made them hang much better.

I had a strange conversation with a guy when I went to pick up Bradley from school today. I could hear him singing behind me and when he was next to me he asked are you picking the children up from school to which I replied yes. He continued to walk with me asking my name and saying he was Nigerian and called Steven. He then asked me if I was a Christian and if I go to church. He then started talking about religion and asked me to tell him something uplifting about the bible. He then quoted a psalm from one of the chapters of the bible he was definitely trying to spread the word.

On arriving home Bradley practised some of his letter formations from his jolly phonics workbook before picking Abigail up from School. When we arrived home Abigail practiced some spellings on Space as we know this is what Westgarth have been learning about this term. We also plan to call at Timbooktu some time next week to see if there are any children’s books about space.

Senegal Coucal

Whist sat in the compound updating my blog, I heard a couple of bird sounds which I didn’t recognise on investigating it was a pair of Senegal Coucal’s I did manage to get a photo however not very good as you can see as they were too far in the trees.

Paul had another strange experience on his way to work this morning, he decided to use the Gelleh Gelleh he found a seat next to a young girl. He then started to read a book about the history of The Gambia as he was about to turn the page the girl stopped him by holding down the page of the book so she could finish reading it. Paul then turned over and continued reading and got to the end of the page and went to turn back to the previous page to recap only to have the book taken from him by the girl who then finished reading the page. She passed the book back to Paul saying it was a good book and asking him if she could have it. Paul explained to her it wasn’t his to give away as it was VSO property and she would be able to get it from the identification no on the cover. After a lot of confusion she finally accepted that Paul wasn’t going to give her the book and she jotted down the number of the book.

Batik's

Here goes back to Kariba shopping centre, no problems today got on the correct Gelleh Gelleh and managed to get off just opposite the centre. I had a good look around and managed to get most things when I came out Georgia was just visiting the bank next door we had a quick chat. I jumped in a five, five taxi back to the traffic lights, basically you pay five dalasi each and people jump in and out on route. I unloaded the shopping then called to pick up the Batik’s, Abigail’s and Bradley’s jungle Batik’s have come out very well. However I don’t think Ebrima quite grasped what we wanted as we picked out three pictures to go onto one piece of cloth. Ebrima has made the three pictures into one village scene which has resulted in there being three suns in the one picture oh well never mind, I suppose it’s a talking point.

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.

After Paul had left to meet up with Amy and Ann at Brikama College we headed off towards the craft market with the usual warm greetings from the locals, I tried on my skirt for Fatou to make the necessary alterations. Fatou offered to plait Abi’s hair but Abigail was not taken with the idea so we headed back across the golf course seeing some more birdlife and a type of dragon fly as we went. On the evening we were invited to Jodie’s house as she is leaving on Sunday and wants to clear out some things, when we arrived Cathy and Georgia were there so we picked out a few bits and pieces such as plates, buckets, beach parasol etc then gave Cathy and Georgia a lift home with all of their gear.

Plover

Dragonfly

Unwelcome Visitor

Paul went to the VSO office this morning as they required our passports, when he got back he spent some time making resources for college. Meanwhile I set about writing my blog and downloading some photo’s from my camera ready to post onto my site on Wednesday. I was stopped in my flow when an unwelcome visitor flew in through the door, it looked like a flying ant but very large I managed to trap it between the window and the mesh as I had no intention of moving it.

I was at the school early to pick up Bradley thinking it best after the state he had got him self into yesterday, however I was pleasantly surprised when he greeted me with a big smile saying he had enjoyed today so much he skipped home telling me what he had been doing. On picking Abigail up she said a new girl from London was in her class just trying out the school and she also has a younger sister Bradley’s age, so hopefully they may join the school and be some friends for Abigail and Bradley.

We headed out in the car as we had decided to check out the prices on ovens, called at a few stores including a second hand shop with a variety of fridge freezers, microwaves and ovens. On asking the price he wanted over a hundred pounds which was the same price that we could buy a new oven for, he just laughed when we told him this saying that’s what the owner wanted for it. I noticed on leaving the store a sun glasses stand with a sign at the top saying Woolworths, so this must be where they got rid of some of their equipment to. We headed back no further on in the oven hunt, making a quick visit to Kariba Shopping Centre and Right Price to get some of the larger food items.

Paul starts Work

Paul was picked up at 10.00am by Nuha and taken to Brikama College for his first day of meeting some of the staff and for a workshop. Myself and the children decided to take a picnic to the beach, met Lamin for a quick chat and then one of the lifeguards called Midnight tried to teach me some Olof. I was glad when it started to rain so I could make a quick getaway; we took shelter in what is used as a fruit market during the tourist season. We ended up staying there for an hour chatting to the women from the craft market having already recognised Abigail and Bradley. The rain finally was much lighter so set off home only to find Paul already back. On asking him how his day went he announced that the college closes on Friday until 28th September, however he will use this time to get some lesson planning actioned.

Cooking Domada

Bradley not too bad this morning however has suddenly come down with Abigail’s cold. We set of for the local book store called Timbooktoo, it is very well stocked offering a large range of Western and Gambian books which helps keep the children amused for an hour they also have wireless internet access. Arrived just before opening at 10.00pm so we sat on the steps waiting, the manager he finally arrived at 10.10pm; nothing seems to open on time here. Had a look at some of the books and then headed upstairs to buy a coffee and load up the internet unfortunately due to yesterdays storm all connections were down they told us to come back on the afternoon as they may be on, this is getting very frustrating.

On the afternoon we headed up towards the VSO Office as there was a workshop on recipe’s and cooking. Arrived just in time to help in the cooking of the Gambian dish known as Domada which is a peanut based dish. We were all involved chopping and pounding garlic and spices in a large pestle and mortar. Paul was in charge of cooking the beef on the gas stove with Maimuna who is the receptionist supervising. Unfortunately we had to leave early before trying the dish as Bradley was unwell again; taking a different route home we saw some Red-Billed Hornbills and Red Fire Finches which are tiny little Birds, very pretty.

Cooking Domada

James pounding Garlic and Spices

Just for Peter

Red-Billed Hornbill

Purple Glossy Starling

Red Fire Finches

Banjul Capital

Second day of ICT, walked the fifteen minutes to the VSO Office, it was nice to enter the air conditioned building as I already felt hot and sweaty. We were Introduced to our language trainers and commenced the learning of the Gambian alphabet, of which there are thirteen vowel sounds. After two hours and a lot of listening and attempting to say the sounds of each letter we were tasked with writing down ten words and their meaning. The next introduction was that of the police who talked about security within the Gambia, basic common sense and what to be aware of.

With ICT finished we were dropped off at Banjul Market where we were asked to make our own way home. On exiting the car the heavens opened and we ran for shelter within the market, we were soon approached by bumsters who walked with us around the market, some areas we had to step through pools of water, and on smelling the fish section I made an exit for the main street. Once the rain had stopped we decided to head for home, crossing the road to find the best route through the pools of water and roadside drains which were gushing out water and what smelt like sewerage, with bumster in tow we found the correct bus and gave him a small tip of five dalasi. Once home I made a quick dash for the shower and gave my feet and legs a good wash, Not a very enjoyable experience.