Gav the Rav

I haven’t written for ages and as I look at the last thing I posted I realise that recently, time has gotten away from me. Despite appearances, I haven’t forgotten about my blog and I intend to continue writing about our experiences in Gambia whether anybody is reading it or not - well at least I know my mum and dad are. The past two weeks have been consumed by uni work as I have been desperatly trying to finish my end of semester essays. I know it is my own fault, I have had weeks to work on the assignments and I left it to the last minute… it’s not like moving to Africa has been much of a distraction! Anyway, they're in, my marks are surprisingly good and now lets move on to more exciting activities…

Our beloved car - Gav the Rav - has finally arrived and we are excited to explore the country (we just have to dodge the roads that turn to rivers with all the rain). A couple of weeks ago we went for a drive. As most roads don't seem to have names and those that do lack signs, I'm not quite sure where exactly it is that we drove... so lets just say we went exploring. Following our noses - and the lonely planet guide - we went to visit some villages south east of the Kombos (where we live). There were many amazing vege gardens, lots of baby goats (which I would like to adopt) and lots of mud. Despite being poor, people keep their living compounds exceptionally neat. Grass is scarce but the packed dirt is swept clean and everything is tidy. This made us feel a bi3t guilty because our yard is the opposite. We have different guards at our house every night who insist on sweeping and tidying for us - we have given up telling them they don't have to. One guard explained that if the yard is dirty he also feels dirty - we think this is a muslim belief. So we are hiring a gardener this week and hopefully the guards and whoever else comes to our house, will feel more comfortable.

To celebrate my recent birthday, distract Zack from work and celebrate surviving our first month in deepest darkest Africa, we have just spent a very relaxing weekend at an eco-retreat on the Senegalese boarder (courtesy of my parents). We stayed in these funny looking eco-cabins complete with solar energy, turbine pumped water, composting toilets and NO air conditioning!! We spent 2 days lying on the beach, reading, walking (zack had a bit of trouble with the fences), drinking beer, eating too much food and playing with snakes - yes that is a photo of Zack cuddling up to a rather large python! We visited a reptile park next door where we saw many large dangerous snakes in not so large and flimsy looking enclosures. In fact our hosts informed us that the giant python of 4 meters had recently escaped (I made sure to check under the bed before going to sleep). Despite growing up with very poisonous snakes right in my backyard I am slightly uncomfortable around them… OK I am very uncomfortable around them and I choose to take the photos. I did however love the terrapins, I wanted to take the baby home - well that was before I heard about the salmonella… yuck!

In other news, the rainy season is really starting to set in and there have been a couple of great storms. The best part is the lead up... this shot was taken just as last nights thunder was rolling in and the camera isn't exagerating, the light really was as orange as it looks! The last photos were taken the other morning, it looks so dark that it is hard to believe it was only 8:30am. The wind was huge and the photo doesn't do it justice. Slobs, terrified of the wind, tried to escape inside but got stuck in the door as it blew closed... in his distressed state I tried not to laugh at him too much!

My First African Brithday

This is a blog I wrote last week but both our computers have being playing up so I haven’t been able to post it until now. It also means that I have had trouble studying from home so as you can see from the photo I have been working hard by the pool/beach at the Sheraton (jealous?). Anyway, I will write a new post very soon but in the mean time...

Our entire kitchen smells like fish. Last weekend we bought some fresh fish from a guy on the beach with great intensions to make it a regular purchase. It was only after the fish was frying in the pan that we realized the kitchen has no fan. With the help of lots of windows and air-conditioners we managed to get the smoke out but the smell seems to have attached to everything, particularly in the fridge. The fish was delicious and the abundance of seafood here is wonderful but perhaps we are doing something wrong in the storage, does anyone have any ideas? My mango smoothy this morning had a definite fishy odour, along with the butter, the milk and all the veges... good thing we like fish! This wasn’t helped by the fact that Slobs got the left overs and for the past week has been breathing fishy cat breath all over us.

We have been meeting some lovely people since moving to Gambia and everyone has been very warm and welcoming but I'm beginning to realise that some of the people don’t have a great attitude. We went out to dinner on Wednesday to celebrate my birthday and invited some of Zack’s colleagues. The Indian restaurant was beautiful (one of the best I’ve ever been to) but it upset me that we spent a good deal of time listening to some of the company complain about Gambia and count the days/hours until they leave for the US. It put a bit of a damper on both my birthday celebration and our excitement of moving here. I hope we don’t sound like that after 2 years. I have to wonder why people choose this line of work when they obviously love the comforts of home so much. I hope we don’t ever sound like that and if we do I hope we have the thought not to share it with people who are new and enthusiastic. However, I still have a great birthday. Zack and I are very lucky because my wonderful parents have bought us a night in a highly reccomended eco-lodge down near the Sengal boarder - we are planning to go next weekend and I can't wait... just have to get these essays finnished first!

Friday night we invited new friends over for dinner. We are trying to get to know more people in the area. We lucked out because they even offered to cook for us! It was a lovely, we spent hours, cooking, talking and playing basketbal. The evening was much more relaxed than my birthday dinner.

We are happy to be making some real friends but guess what they cooked... fresh fish... guess I should just get used to the smell!!!

A cat, a mango tree and a ladder

I get home and I'm dripping. I just walked to the supermarket and back but I feel as though I walked through an oven - a humid oven. The heat here is deceptive, sitting in the shade on the back porch it is beautiful, warm with a slight cool breeze. Out in the sun is completely different. I was forced out this morning when I saw that there was no coffee and my favourite cafe across the road was closed. At the time I thought it would be a good idea to check out the larger supermarket - a longer walk along the road (pictured) but more choice, plus I am in desperate need of exercise. Needless to say by the time I made it there and back I was soaked with sweat and dust - but feeling OK because I had found Milo and awardl winning, free trade coffee... yum!

I stagger back into the house - which isn't that cool by the way - and put on the jug in anticipation of this highly recommended coffee. As I was looking at the mango tree, thinking about making some mango chutney, I realise that Slobs has been MIA for quite a while. I'm not cat expert but I think that it is normal for them to disappear for hours so I wasn't too concerned but I thought I'd call him anyway. In reply I could hear this faint 'meow' in the direction of the backyard. I go to investigate and there is the silly cat stuck up on the fence. Normally this would not be a problem but our fence is not of the white picket type, it consists of an 18 foot cement wall, topped by coils of barbed wire (very pretty!) and slobs had managed to climb up it (using the tree I imagine) but could not get down, he looked pathetic. Unfortunately I have never been much of a tree climber and after a few pitiful attempts I gave up, I needed a new plan.

Thankfully the men who had been fixing our roof had left a (fairly sturdy) ladder lying around. So, placing it against the fence I gingerly climbed up to coax Slobs into my arms. It didn't go exactly to plan. Halfway up I remembered the giant tree pythons (we had just been to the museum and apparently there are quite a few) and then the ladder started to wobble and I realised that if I fell nobody would save me. I think Slobs must have guessed my uncertainty because he did not trust me and was very hesitant to let me hold him. However, we finally made it down, with Slobs wriggling in my arms and me trying not to kill us both. I defiantly needed a cup of coffee (which Slobs then tried to drink). As I was making it the water filter starting making a very strange clunkling noise - I decided to ignore it. The coffee was delicious!

Well I'm off to make some chutney.

6 Months in a Leaky House

Last night the rain came. We were woken at 3:30am by high winds, dripping ceilings and our cat (Slobs) going crazy. We have arrived in The Gambia just in time for the rainy season. Having grown up in a dry Australian environment I am used to long hot summers and skiing in the winter. The tropics is a new experience and living my first few African months through rain is going to be.... well different.

Zack and I moved to this tiny West African coastal nation 12 days ago. Washington DC already feels like a distant memory and our new house is wonderful. Although I should mention that we didn't think so right away. Coming from a 1 bedroom apartment in Arlington, VA, we felt a little uncomfortable in a large open house. But with 2 mango trees and a basketball hoop in the backyard what's not to love! Now (despite the leaky roof) we feel right at home in our new neighbourhood where both the climate and the people are very warm (was that too cheesy?).

So every morning Zack heads off to work and I... well I'm not quite sure what I do yet. I've spent the past week battling with two end of semester essays for my masters degree and making a half-hearted attempt at unpacking. To be honest I spend most of my time playing with our newly adopted cat, drinking coffee, reading and exploring the area.

This is my first attempt at a blog and after many friends have asked if we will be keeping one I am going to give it a go. So please bear with my bad grammar, poor photography skills and lack of IT comprehension and I promise I will try to improve.

So welcome to my new blog and as we spend 6 months in a leaky house (to draw a little inspiration from Crowded House)... I will continue blogging my way through my new Gambian life.

As the beach bumpsters say (when I'm ignoring them and they want to sell me something):

"It's nice to be nice in Gambia!"