woodland kingfisher video

OK so here is the video of the woodland (also know as Senegalese) kingfisher... a whole blog post just for this is a bit much but I know you will all be very disappointed to miss it!



I was just reading back over some of my last posts and I must apologise for all the typos and grammatical errors. I am usually in a hurry to post and the editing goes out the window!

Zack is finally done with consular work (visas etc.) - he was filling in while the consular officer was on holiday - and now we are hoping to actually have a life together! The past three weeks have been crazy with Zack working harder than usual... wake up, work, work, work, come home, eat, watch telly, sleep, wake up, work... you get the drift... anyway I spend a lot of time studying, swimming, doing yoga and fabric shopping with my new friend Jen but I have missed my husband. We are looking forward to having time for more adventures (starting this weekend), but for now we're off to play tennis.

Oh wait... I just noticed Zack is asleep on the couch!

Quick duck....

With a guilty look on his face Zack hunches over the package and tries to look innocent... "is she coming... can they see me?" he says in an urgent whisper. I glance around but I think they have gone, the coast is clear and we hastily reach down to grab some more before they see. Then my heart stops "quick, Zack hide it... pretend nothing is happening" I yell as his hand shoves the bag under the chair and out of sight. The Lady approaches casually and I rack my brain for some cleaver quip. "More peanuts?" she asks casually before strolling back... "phew that was close" I say letting out my breath. Zack nods his mouth already full.

Don't worry Dad we haven't joined a drug cartel smuggling cocaine to Europe. This is just a typical weekend at the Sheraton. After a particularly grueling workout in which I thought I might collapse we have retreated to the lovely hotel pool. Our gym membership allows us free access to the pool but unfortunately it does not supply us with free food and drinks which are out of our price range. We split a 100D coke (about $4 USD!) but at $15 for a cheese and tomato sandwich, the food is just too much. We get around this by bringing our own sandwiches but of course the hotel staff are not impressed with this... hence the secret stash under the seat.... anyone would think are smuggling drugs - perhaps then we could afford to eat at the Sheraton!

Well we didn't make it to Bintang Bolong last weekend as we planned due to a going away party for a friend who is going back to the states. The plan is to go tomorrow instead. However, we did go to one of our favourite places... Abuko Bird Reserve, I've poster photos of it before. I thought I would share this one with you because it was a particularly good visit. Zack filmed this great video of a woodland kingfisher catching fish in the crocodile pool. That boring photo of a log in the water is actually one of the resident crocs!

We also made a great brunch one morning - nutella crepes yum! But I mainly wanted to post this picture for Maddy and Beccy so they can see the country road mugs in good use!

I better go... I'm really late for French. Every morning I go to french classes at the Franco-Gambiene Alliance which is a bit like being back in high school - although now I think of it the class room is a little different from being at Toorak, over 30 students stinking hot, minimal resources and the power goes off all the time. I can't say I'm loving the classes but I do really enjoy learning French. I also have great plans to learn the two dominant tribal languages Wolof and Mendinka.

OK the video is taking forever (have I mentioned my annoyance for the internet?) and now I am really really late for French and I can see Lamin pacing around outside so I better go and post the video when I can, here is a photo instead...

Qcell is much like Verizon

Every week… actually I think every second day… something in the house breaks (I feel like I’ve mentioned this). Today it was the power in the living room and as a consequence the internet went down too. I know I’m not meant to complain and I can tell you are all thinking “gee, what does she expect living in some country no-one has ever hear of”… and it wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t just started second semester and still trying to organize my classes. I knew that getting the power back on was really simple, I just didn’t know exactly how to do it. Eight hours and numerous phone calls later the workman finally shows up, it takes him less that a second and the internet is back on! Great, good to go… oh wait not quite. Despite the fact that Qcell (the Gambian equivalent of Verizon) insist that there is nothing wrong, our internet is 80% of the time out of service. In case you’re wondering, Verizon’s terrible, frustrating service is not unique, apparently they are qualities that can be applied to any internet/phone provider anywhere! After a Qell representative came out to tell me there was nothing wrong with the internet we were hit with a 3000 Dalasi (about $120) bill. OK, are you sick of me yet? I think I am, I’ll stop complaining and just hope that one day I’ll be able to sort out my classes.

This Thursday in Gambian National Day and it marks the 16th anniversary of the current government. That is it has been 16 years since President Jemmeh took over power in a coup and is yet to be succeeded by anyone. Anyway, the main thing is that we get the day off on Thursday (no French for me and no work for Zack) and Friday may or may not be a holiday… apparently the president will decide on Thursday, interesting system. Despite the fact that it is raining nearly every day I am trying to convince Zack to go away this weekend. We have managed to get out and about for day trips but I would like to go and stay somewhere… not sure exactly where but I promise to let you know if we do anything exciting… it will make a nice change from the recent blogs about nothing!

We are having ‘new friends’ over for dinner tomorrow night… still deciding what to cook for dinner but I am very happy that my cookbooks (along with all our other things) have now arrived. I had fun last week unpacking all our things, many of which I haven’t seen since out apartment in Washington. It was a bit like Christmas! Well I’m off to the gym… yep that’s right I have actually joined a gym, something that I have always been morally against. I always thought that the best way to exercise was in the fresh air but given the fresh air here is like hitting a brick wall of heat and humidity I am retreating to the lovely lovely air conditioned exercise haven (sorry global warming). Plus going to the gym means going to the Sheraton which is like going on holiday! So Tuesday night is becoming Gym night.. To follow Monday’s ice-cream night. Oh and speaking of which, last night as we were eating our ice creams on the beach we watched the best sun set yet… although there was still a bit of haze the clouds were lit up in warm tones and the palm trees swayed to the gentle breeze (jealous?). I didn’t take any photos but I found this photo of the same beach online so you get the gist…

Well looks like the internet is working again so I better post this before it drops out again.

Gambian Toubab

This photo has nothing to do with my blog today but I thought I would upload it anyway because I don't have much else to show you. This is the beach that we walk along near our house. The photo was taken on a particular peaceful morning when all the bumpsters were still asleep so we weren't hassled. I apologise for the uneventful blog posts recently... the lack of adventure stories can be blamed on my back. Most of this past week lying has been spent lying on the floor watching Friends episodes.

I am worried I am turning into a rude person. As I have mentioned before, wherever I go people try to talk to me. When we first moved here I would talk to everyone who called out to me on the street... I didn't want to be rude... now I am perfecting the art of "Oh, were you talking to me? Sorry I don't speak English". In my defense the conversations are usually pointless and more often than not result in somebody wanting money or my address, both of which I don't hand around. However, sometimes it can be amusing. Today I walked to the supermarket wearing... picture this... a purple, slob hair covered tank, capris that I love so much they no longer look clean even when I wash them and my green spotty gumboots (it had been raining and there is mud everywhere). I forgot to put socks on so I was hobbling from blisters and need I mention the humidity which meant I was hot, sweaty and my hair was a little crazy. Yet as I was walking along a very kind gentleman (OK, perhaps he was more sleazy than kind) said "hey lovely lady, you're looking very smart today"... is he blind? I think he honestly expected me to talk to him because it was followed by the predictable "I just want to say hello, this is Gambia, it's nice to be nice!". I kept walking. However, I felt better on the way home when the man at the cigarette stand on the corner said "hello Gambian Toubab.. how are you?"... I smiled at him. Toubab is usually yelled at us by giggling school kids before they ask for mints - it means white person - however, in this case, I took it as a compliment, I guess now that he sees me walk past every day he knows I live here - or perhaps not, people just like to talk.


OK, so to finish off this exciting blog in which I have just told you pretty much nothing - and because Lang asked for a picture of the house - I will show you a photo of our new roof leak. So here is our lounge room, yes, I know we need to decorate more. Although they (they being the various workmen who are always here) fixed the entire roof, it still leaks right onto the only small patch of carpet in the entire house - smells like wet dog now!

May I please use your cardboard as a prayer mat?

I'm going to start this blog by showing you the basket I bought from a market on Sunday. Zack laughed at me for being so happy with myself but I bargained hard for it so I'm going to show it off... plus I think Slobs looks cute. Although, I don't think he appreciated being put in a basket, it reminds him of dreaded trips to the vet. Well on to topics that don't involve the cat...

Life in Gambia is unexpectedly different. The country and the people surprise us in ways we didn't expect. When it was announced at the flag day ceremony, that Zack was being posted to "Banjul, The Gambia", I had no idea what or where it was. I needed my friend Kate to reassure me that we were headed to a good place and not a war torn, famine ridden, far flung country. Even after extensive googling I still had no idea what we were getting ourselves in to. Gambia is a fairly unknown country (except to the thousands of Brits and northern Europeans who flock here every winter so I should rephrase that by saying it is fairly unknown to Americans and Australians) and I expected to be living with poisonous spiders and eating rice and stew for 2 years. Turns out that Australia has more poisonous spiders than here and there are so many wonderful restaurants to try that we are never at a loss for where to eat (although our bank account may suffer). So the lifestyle change is big but we were surprised at how easy living is here - well for those who have money.

The main differences have been social and cultural. Nothing can be rushed here, patience if defiantly a virtue and sometimes there is just no explanation for why things happen in a certain way. Gambians love to talk about anything and everything. They will ask us every detail of our lives, including specific directions to where we live (which we are increasingly vague about) and I have learnt that it is polite to ask after family members even if you have never met them. Clothing above the knee is considered inappropriate yet nobody cares about shoulders, tummies or cleavage showing. The majority of Gambians are Muslim and thus they pray 5 times a day. It is not uncommon for us to open our gate at night to find our guard praying on the front step. The other day Lamin pointed to an old folded up box and asked "May I please use your cardboard as a prayer mat?"... well there's a question I had never been asked before and an example of the unexpected.

Well Zack is about to get home from work and we're off for our weekly icecream ritual - Monday is icecream night and we usually walk down to the beach and watch the sun try to set - I say try because most days is just dissapears into the haze on the horizon. However, I have been told that there is a season for beautiful sunsets so I'm looking forward to that. In the meantime I'll leave you with this charming photo I took on the weekend when we went for a walk in the monkey park near our house... looks a little like Zack after a long day at work! (Sorry Zack just kidding). Oh and by the way, he was a wonderful MC at the 4th of July party last weekend. Although, in typical Gambian style, nobody would stop talking long enough to listen to the speeches, even when the ambassador and foreign service minister spoke.

I Hate Frisbee

I mentioned in the last post that we are hiring a gardener and to the great relief of all the embassy guards and workers, we have finally done it. People can now stop asking me every time they come "where is you gardener?... it is high time your hired a gardener". His name is Lamin (along with half the population of Gambian males) and he has already made a huge difference to our yard. Having a gardener is a very foreign concept to us, especially as he will double as a driver. We feel awkward having someone work for us, but I suppose hiring a gardener here is much different to in the States or Australia. The embassy encourage it as a contribution to the local economy and it is also helpful to have someone around the house if we're out. So with a new gardener my project this week has been to start a compost. We have so many fruit scraps that get wrapped up in plastic bags and it seems ridiculous to have so much biodegradable waste. I have never started a compost heap and it is going to be interesting in this humidity and with all the rain. I tried to explain the compost heap to Lamin but I think he thought I was crazy... anyway despite us both not knowing what to do we're attempting it anyway... I'll keep you posted on the exciting developments!

In other news, we have started playing ultimate frisbee, sorry I'll rephrase that, Zack has started playing. Thursday night, in attempt to meet more people, Zack convinced me to give it a go. Who even knew that frisbee was an actual game? Now this was a bad idea from the start, I never have and never will like team sport. Therefore it was unsurprising when, just like T-ball (dad remember that?) and kickball (Taylor can vouch for that one), it turned out that I was terrible at frisbee. Zack promised me in the car that I could just watch the first game but when we arrived I was coerced into playing so the teams were even. So we arrive at the MRC fields (British medical research centre) to some stony looks from the Brits, most of who don't even bother to introduce themselves when I smiled at them (well the Gambians were friendly) This is how it went:

10 seconds - me: "Zack I don't know what to do"
Zack: "It's just like soccer"
me: "right, well that would be helpful if I knew how to play soccer"
Zack: "just run around"

This is followed by 50 seconds of me looking awkward as I follow people I don't know around the field

60 seconds - me: "Zack throw me the frisbee"
Like everyone else on the field, Zack ignores me

This is followed by me looking even more awkward

80 seconds - random guy yelling: "Katie, keep on 'that girl who I was never introduced to'"
me: "oh I'm meant to be playing defense?"
exasperated look from random guy
Zack: "just run around"
me: "OK I'm done"

I stalk off the field, find a paper and spend the next hour reading. When the game finishes people don't even stick around to chat (so much for making friends) and it's all over. Oh and should probably mention that Zack is actually really good at the game so he managed to make some friends, I managed to get some cold stares... yes I am being a sook and a whiner but I did not like it and I'm not going back (Zack do you hear me?)OK so I know that you're all reading the blog so hear about life in Africa and not playing Frisbee at MRC but that (and hiring the gardener) have been the big news this week.

Last night we did have a lovely dinner with friends - before which we watched Ghana be beaten - to the great dismay of one of our guests who was rolling around on the floor in agony (as we watch in horror as that penalty shot bounced off the top of the goal). We feel very proud that we have been having people over for dinner, as it is part of Zack's job description, but I'm not sure if it count when we only invite the people we know the best here. I suppose we should branch out, maybe invite some cold mean frisbee playing people.

This weekend is a holiday as tomorrow is 4th of July and for those of you who don't know (because I never did) it is when Americans celebrate independence from the British. The embassy is holding a cocktail party at the nicest resort in town - Coco Ocean - Zack has to MC... this should be interesting...

I'll keep you posted!!!