Nearly Time to Go!

It's less than a week to go now! I still have lots to do, but all I really want to do is spend time with my family and Nic.

I have done a trial pack and it looks like I might even meet the luggage limits. I am taking very few clothes - as they say it is cheap to get the locals in Gambia to copy the items of clothes that you bring - so just a few skirts, shirts, tank tops, shorts and some bathers have made their way in. I have packed a tent - because I have been told the volunteers sometimes have 'time out' time by camping near the beach and you can't buy a tent in the Gambia (my tent only weighs 1.65kg so it will be easy to carry). I have also bought a self inflating mattress as I am unsure if I will get a bed and I know that I won't get a couch or anything to relax on. I have got a solar/wind-up torch for power outs, a wind up head torch and a rechargable light. And lots and lots of medications.

My luxury has been to buy an external hard drive that I have downloaded my DVD and CD collection onto. I will be taking my laptop as the university only has one computer for the staff to share. I have been busy buyin relevant ebooks and scanning parts of textbooks to assist me - as there won't be many resources over there.

Nic and I have just finished watching 'Roots' a mini-series made in the 70s about slaves taken from the Gambia and sold in South America. It is a very difficult series to watch because of the cruelty - it is a true story. I would still recommend watching it.

Thank you to all the well wishers and for the gorgeous going away gifts people gave me to use while I am away. Thank you to Nic, Sara and Mum and Dad for all the help with packing and moving as it is an enormous job!

Next post should be from the Gambia!

New Addition to the Family

Time is ticking away until I leave and there is still so much to do.
I have to do a lot of reading on the Gambia - I just bought the DVD the Roots which is about the slave trading that happened in the Gambia in the 1700s and 1800s. This should help me learn about the history of the people (which will relate to the way they might react to Westerners).
I have to contact returned volunteers to check that the gear I am taking to the Gambia is relevant and necessary.
I am in the middle of packing up house and moving all my stuff (or junk as Nic calls it) to Nic's house.
And I still have to do the boring stuff like my tax, insurance, my will, legal matters and filling out forms so the Victorian Teaching Institution doesn't deregister me (yes that organisation is so rigid that if I don't fill out a certain form in a few months whilst I'm away, I will lose my registration - they won't let me fill it out before I go).
But the most important thing to be done is to spend time with family and friends and Nic!!! I am very lucky to have a new niece born on the 29th of December, Eliza Jane, she must have known she wasn't going to get to spend much time with me so she came early!!! Here are some pics of the new bub with me and her brothers and Grandma.