The Gambia Highlights so far

Not much has happened since my last post so I thought I'd put down some observations to let you know what it is like over here.

The first thing that you really have to get use to the thick heavy sand over here - it is everywhere!!!! It gets all over your feet and at the end of the day you have bright orange feet. You get used to the feel.

One of the cuter things (though I'm sure it will get tiring) is when you walk past a group of school kids - the younger ones get the brightest smile on their face and call out taubab (white person). Yesterday Lucy and i walked past as school was comming out and we were surrounded by kids wanting to shake our taubab hands. I was walking past a little girl in Banjul and she just couldn't resist putting her hand out to touch me. It is very cute because they don't mean it in a bad way. I really hate it when a taxi driver calls out Taubab why don't you get a lift with me - or muso do you want a life (which is woman, though my language trainer says this is not ever intended as an insult).

The traffic is absolutely crazy. I nearly get hit about 4 times a minute as cars just pull off and on the side of the road or drive along the sides to avoid the traffic jams. They don't indicate and prefer to beep, although the taxi drivers also beep at every person walking along the side of the road to let them know they have a free seat, so all you ever hear is beeping because the roads are packed either side with people walking. At times it can get on your nerves, especially if a taxi driver likes to lean on the horn.

I am really surprised that not more people get hit - even though the traffic is slow, people just duck in between traffic to cross the road, especially the children. One of my favourite moments has been watching a nanny goat and her kid who wanted to cross the road, look from left to right, left to right and waited until a clear bit to cross. The animals have more traffic sense than the people!

The people are very friendly and love it when we try out our new mandinka on them. It is a bit tricky though because a lot of the people around where we are staying speak only Wolof and English so have no idea what we are saying. The people who speak Mandinka go so fast that we can't understand them anyway!

It is a lot of fun!

The kanifeng house is interesting. We are all taking it in turns to cook, which is very intimidating as Kanti, the indian lady, and Pete are very good cooks. My turn wasn't terrible but wasn't at their standard either. The others are yet to have a go.

The most interesting part is the water pressure. It is so slow that my definition of a good shower is now a cold shower with four consistent drips. I have to put a bucket under the shower to collect water when it comes - just in case it cuts off before I wash the soap off. There is no hot water.

Altogether though it is a pretty good house.