Bintang Bolong

A few weeks ago Zack and I decided to take an overnight trip to a small village called Bintang on the river - known as a bolong. The rainy season had started but the sky looked clear (there are no weather forecasts here) and we decided to risk it - besides what's a bit of rain anyway?

So we kissed Slobs good bye and set out in Gav the Rav for another adventure. We had heard the roads up country get pretty rough in the rainy season so we were pleasantly surprised when we found a newly paved road leading all the way to the turn off down to the river. After a (very long) 5km dirt track we had managed to avoid hitting any of the kids that tried to grab hold of the car while yelling "toubab toubab" and we rolled into our lodge in time for lunch. We had booked into a small lodge on the river. The lonely planet describes Bintang Bolong as "rustic". Well I'm not sure that "rustic" aptly describes the rickety cabins that jut out into the mangroves on spindly little stilts as well as "decrepit" would have. OK so I'm exaggerating a little, they weren't all that bad. I suppose they were almost "quaint" and they at least had electricity. Lunch was served in the small open restaurant (also on stilts) that looked out over the river and it was beautiful - the food and the view. We had booked a ride in a paddle boat at 5 so after lunch we headed out for a walk around the village.

Bintang is the type of village that looks idyllic if you don't have to live there. Small dirt tracks flanked by trees and fields give way to small housing compounds where men lie under the giant mahogany trees, kids play soccer in the yard and women prepare the afternoon meal.

Of course in reality it is stinking hot, the torrential rains cause houses to collapse every year and the kids are running around barefoot, but hey who lets the truth get in the way of a good story!

So after a pleasant walk around the area... assisted by a couple of local "tour guides" who felt compelled to show us the old Portuguese church - despite our insistence that we found the mosque much more interesting - we headed back to catch our paddle boat.

It turns out that a paddle boat in Gambia is not like one of those old boats with the big water wheels that you see on the Murray... in fact it's more like a canoe. This would have been lovely except that is was paddled by a boy who looked about 11. After a very slow 30 minutes we had traveled about 100 metres and the poor kid looked exhausted. So when we stopped for a break Zack and I took over the paddling, which was much more fun anyway (only once did we run into the bank and nearly decapitate ourselves on the low hanging branches). As we floated back down the river, paddle in hand, I tried to ignore the sinister column of dark black cloud that was rising on the horizon... what's a bit of rain anyway right? Then the wind came...

We were finishing dinner when our beer was sent flying across the table by a gust of wind that felt as though it could take down a house (I suppose it does). As the staff ran around trying to prepare for the storm the power flicked out and we were left with front row seats to the biggest storm I have ever seen (and ever wish to). We huddled in our room trying to ignore the precarious swaying of our cabin and watched tensely as the storm pass right over us, willing the stilts to hold. Sheets of lighting lit up the sky and for a second we could see as if it were day before we were plunged back into darkness (well we did have one small solar lamp). Needless to say neither of us slept much that night.

Just after 5am the sun finally shed an eerie blue light on the crystal clear morning. As we walked through the fields and watched the sun rise over the mangroves I felt that being awake all night was worth it to experience this fresh dawn. I guess the weekend turned out OK... oh who am I kidding we loved it!

Plus we got to meet this really cute baby donkey..

It has been nearly 2 months since I last posted on my blog and I am starting to feel a bit guilty because I really love writing. I spend so much time writing essays for uni - which are not nearly as fun as blogging - that I forget to update you all on our exciting adventures!

As many of you know I have just returned from 3 weeks in Australia visiting my family, enjoying the cold, eating my favourite foods and drinking good coffee. Well I have left the cold wet weather of Victoria and am now back in the hot wet weather of Gambia. Zack has informed me that I missed some great rains while I was home - the evidence of which is still running down my study wall and rapidly turning to mold. I had a wonderful time at home (my original home) I am happy to be back home (my new home), despite the possible hazardous moldy wall. It is wonderful to see Zack, Slobs and the pool at Coco Ocean (the first place I went on my return!).

I have many stories to share from before my trip home and I can't possibly cram them all into this blog. So... just a short post to remind you all that I am still here and will be updating very soon!

Now I'm off to pursue my favourite activity (apart from Coco Ocean)... fabric shopping!

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!!!

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!"