Dog Blog

Yesterday we adopted a dog, ok well not permanently (to my disappointment). We have offered to dog sit over Christmas for a couple that live around the corner and yesterday they brought Daffy (a lovely black lab mix) for a trial sleepover. Now it is no secret that I love dogs, especially Labradors. I still miss Poppy, the wonderful golden lab that we had until I was 12 – yes it was 11 years ago but I still think about her. However Zack is not so enthusiastic about animals, although I have to say he is coming around, our latest post-foreign service plan is to have a puppy farm in upstate New York (and an apartment in Manhattan of course). Anyway I am getting totally off track with the present story. So yesterday afternoon Max and Nola dropped off a very excitable Daffy. They had repeatedly said that Daffy was a low energy dog who preferred to spend her days sleeping (much like our cat), so I was not prepared for the next 20 hours...

3:00pm            
Daffy arrives at the house, tail wagging and tongue dripping

3:05pm            
Max and Nola manage squeeze out the door without Daffy escaping and I am left alone with the dog

3:05:02pm       
 I look down at the big slobbery wriggling pile of fur on the floor and she looks up at me with big wet eyes that just scream excitement, "hmm" I think to myself, "this should be interesting"

3:05:03pm       
 and she’s off... as fast as she can. With her paws slipping on the tiles, Daffy explores every nook and cranny of the house (she is an indoor dog that loves food and hates exercise so in reality it’s more of a lopsided waddle)

3:05:04pm        
as I stand there, wondering what to do next, a loud barking starts echoing around the house. Apparently Daffy is not content to just sniff everything, she also has to bark too... "so much for being low energy" I tell her. For the rest of her stay Daffy barks at everything... Lamin, the guard, the trucks on the road, the water filter... everything that makes a sound within a three mile radius has her barking like we’re under attack. I guess she would be a good guard dog - well that’s if the burglar was afraid of being licked. 

3:05:30pm       
 having never been in this situation and not knowing what to do I decide to chase her, my plan is to play with her until she gets tired and falls asleep

3:06 - 3:10pm 
we run laps around the house, Daffy in the lead, tongue flapping and drool flying, she thinks this is a great game "see Zack I'm great with dogs, my plan is working perfectly"

3:10:03pm       
six minutes of running prove too much for Daffy and she flops on the floor panting, seemingly exhausted. My plan has succeeded... until she spots the cat...

OK I think you get the gist. Thankfully I had already thought to keep the dog and the cat separated but that didn’t stop them from watching each other closely. They sat on either side of the glass door, staring at each other with death in their eyes (Slobs outside, Daffy inside) looking as if they were in an old western movie, ready for the shoot out. Yet despite the running, jumping, licking and barking, we all survived the night. Although at 5am this morning I was woken by a wet nose attached to a very excited dog trying to lick my face – 5am!

Will's Thanksgiving Visit

Thanksgiving week was one of the best we have had in Gambia. Our good friend Will  traveled all the way from DC to stay with us for 7 nights (although after his 10 hour delay in Dakar it was more like 6). He was our very first visitor and  I think we were more excited than Will. Unfortunately Zack had to work but I had managed to get all my work done the week before so I was completely free to show him around. The week was pretty jam packed with activities so I’ll just share with you the highlights. 

Since Will arrived at 5am on Monday morning, half of the first day was spent sleeping. When he had recovered in the afternoon we walked along the beach to my favourite place - where else but Coco Ocean! Walking on the beach has improved significantly since the resorts have cleaned up all the rubbish for the tourists and the bumsters are less persistent now they have more people to hassle. We met Zack after work and went to watch the fishermen bring in their daily catch. There is a small guesthouse where you can sit and watch the market below before braving the crowd to haggle over the fresh fish. 

One of the popular places for both tourists and locals to visit in the Kombos is the crocodile park. Locals go because crocodiles are meant to bring good luck in fertility (or something like that) and tourists go because where else can you get so close to hundreds of 6 foot crocs! Now I come from Australia where the crocs are merciless, they grab you, drag you under the water and roll on you before devouring you whole… so I think I’m justified in feeling a bit nervous when there is nothing between me and a giant croc. Lamin was nearly in hysterics when he saw how scared I was patting the sleeping croc, but in my defence Will also looked quite worried. Especially when a particularly large one started walking right towards us. 

The highlight of the week would have to be Thanksgiving day. The new ambassador hosted a wonderful dinner  (I even ate celery a real rarity here!) at her lovely residence overlooking the ocean. However, the really great part was taking the embassy speed boat out on the river. That morning Zack, Will and I met the  driver at the dock where we piled onto the boat with a large cooler of drinks. I never thought much of boats because I get seasick but this was awesome! We zoomed through the small winding rivers boarded by mangroves before entering the open water of the River Gambia, which is more than 3 miles across at the mouth. We were heading up to James Island and Juffure village where there is an old British fort and the previous heart of the Gambian slave trade. I have just finished Roots (a wonderful book which I highly recommend) and this is where much of the book is set. The island and museum was interesting and heartbreaking but set up for tourists, at one point there is an old food storage room which has obviously had fake bars attached to make it look like a slave dungeon.  We were alone on the small island so we were free to explore all the old ruins, which includes many large cannons. Although it has the sad slave history, the area was first “discovered” by the Portuguese and then the fort was used to guard the British ships and colonies from the French and many battles were fought there. How lucky we are not to live in those times. As we sped back down the river the sun was shining and the water was glistening - good friends and cold beer what else could you want!

Saturday, Will’s second last day, bought warm sunny weather, of course that’s all there ever is this time of year! We drove down the coast to have lunch on the beach near the boarder with Senegal. The beach down here is clean and empty and we spent a lovely afternoon body surfing in the waves and relaxing in the shade. Some days in Gambia can be slow and (to be honest) kind of boring but it is weeks like this that remind me of all the great things we get to do living here. Sure there are no cinemas or cocktail lounges, things move sooooo slowly it is frustrating and it is often too hot to do anything but there are also many great aspects too. Will keeps thanking us for a great week in Gambia but I need to thank Will for reminding me how much fun we have here. So in the week of Thanksgiving I am thankful for how lucky I am to have such an exiting life that I get to share it with great friends like Will and my wonderful husband Zack.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Tobaski!

Every year in November, corresponding with the time of the Hajj to Mecca, there is a big Muslim holiday called Tobaski, the Festival of Sacrifice. It celebrates the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Isma’il to Allah (however Allah intervened and gave Ibrahim a ram to sacrifice instead). Thus, husbands are expected to buy a ram (usually one for each wife). The ram is then slaughtered and the meat is divided into three parts, one part for the family, one for friends and relatives and the final to give to the needy.  In a way I suppose it is sort of the Muslim equivalent of Christmas. Most Gambians took a few days off to travel to their villages and feast on the ram with their friends and family. 

We were very privileged to be invited to spend Tobaski with the family of an embassy driver who lives in the area. We met Coolie at noon (making sure to miss the ram slaughtering which is in the morning) and he directed us to his family compound which was in the maze of small dirt roads that dominate the residential section of the Kombos. Upon arriving we were warmly greeted by Coolie’s wife, three brothers, sisters-in-law and more children than I could keep track of.  Being vegetarian I was not expecting to benefit much from the feast but Coolie’s wife very kindly prepared me some of the most delicious fish I have ever eaten. At first we felt a little awkward sitting around the small living room making small talk - which was pretty limited considering we don’t speak any Mandinka, Wolof, Jula or Fula. It was a long afternoon of sitting, eating and watching. This may not sound very interesting but once we relaxed it was very enjoyable, Coolie‘s family were very kind and they did everything they could to make us comfortable. Pulling our chairs out on the street we all sat around drinking endless cups of ataya (very strong, bitter sweet tea made out of green tea, mint and a bucketful of sugar which is served in small glasses), discussing life and greeting the people who walked by. 

Coolie’s compound is next to the local mosque so it was a busy area. A local charity had donated a cow to the community and Zack was lucky enough to watch the cow slaughtering (I stayed back and drank more ataya). We left that evening feeling content after a day of good food and good company. 

The Shocking Return

Despite the post date on this piece this is my belated post from October (post South Africa)

At 10pm on a Saturday we stepped off our Air Mauritania plane feeling quite relieved to have survived the flight down from Dakar - it may have been a short journey but in a tiny Mauritanian propeller plane it felt a lot longer than 20 minutes. We were greeted at home by a very excited Slobs and a house that had electric current running though everything, including the water…  now I know I’ve said our house has had a many minor problems but this was new. After being shocked by everything we touched I finally convinced Zack that we should go to a hotel. Having excess electricity running through the house was not fun (especially when I had two major essays due) but I’m not going to lie… four nights at Coco Ocean was awesome! Zack had to get up and go to work every day but having minimal internet connection I had no choice but to relax by the pool and read magazines (we are very grateful for our subscriptions to Vogue and National Geographic). By the end of the week they had pretty much fixed the problem, we still occasionally get shocked by the shower but I try not to think about that too much.

By this time I was way behind in my course so the rest of October was consumed by catching up on my work and preparing for our Halloween party. When we first moved to Gambia we decided we would host a party to get to know people in the area better … and let’s be honest, we were trying to win over new friends by supplying them with free booze! As the party drew nearer I started to get a little bit worried, we had been meeting people at lots of events but how many people were actually going to come to our party? Luckily there was a big Dewali party at a local Indian restaurant the night before where we ran into lots of people we knew (and made new friends) all of which were invited and actually came! So in the end we had about 40 people and I think everyone had a good time - the punch I made helped that along. The highlight would have to be the Halloween piñatas we made, they were a hit!

So with only the occasional electric shock the rest of October and the start of November passed by quickly. I somehow managed to complete all my assignments and finished out the year with pretty good marks. Previous excitements and those little Gambian idiosyncrasies  such as haggling over fabric prices, bumster encounters, avoiding crazy taxi drivers and seeing people riding pushbikes carrying a 10 foot poles and ladders (it happens more that you would think) are beginning to become daily life - Oh who am I kidding those things are always interesting (and frustrating). I think we could spend 5 years here and still be surprised by crazy occurrences every week. Finally, I am happy to report that the weather is finally starting to cool down (slightly). It hardly ever rains and the humidity has dropped significantly - don’t get me wrong it’s still really hot but at least I feel as though I can go outside again.