We had some free time

I found some more free time to write on here. It's tough, because there are only 4 computers in the PC office. Anyway, I thought I could write some more.

So...we went to the beach today? What? We started the day by going to a boarding house where PCVs stay while they're in town. It's a nice clean place for volunteers to stay for a small fee. Anyway, one of the agriculture and forestry (apparently they're called "Ag Fo") volunteers showed us around the gardens that have been started all around the compound. It was really interesting. They have three pretty sizeable compost pits and gardens everywhere. Cucumber, tomatoes, brocolli, lettuce, and some local stuff. We heard a little about different ways they're trying to encourage gardening in the villages (especially with the impending food shortages due to high prices) and how we can help. We'll be learning more about this in our training villages and we'll be given handouts and other resources. I'm really excited to start a garden.

I say that, but I might be in a city for my actual placement. We still don't know.

A little about the schedule...
*Arrived Wednesday,
*Spending a week here before going to training villages,
*10 weeks in training villages where we'll be living in family compounds (which I will describe more when I get back),
*We'll be placed in our actual placements for the remainder of two years (where we have to start building relationships all over again...yay)

Oh, yeah. Back to the beach...yup. We went to the beach in Fajara. And it was beautiful and relaxing and amazing. We had some free time and we were being educated about bumsters, which are people who beg for money or are part of the sex tourism that apparently goes on. From what I hear it started with Europeans coming and asking for it, so now it is a way to make money for some people, which is really unfortunate. But we didn't see any. I actually haven't had many experiences with any people on the street. After India, The Gambia is calm. People leave you alone for the most part. You might get called "Toubab" from time to time, but whatever. I am a toubab (foreigner).

Alright, well it's dinner time. I'm trying my best to put on weight. It's not working.

Arrived

This probably won't be very long, but I wanted to let people know that I arrived and am doing great. It's not really any hotter than KY right now, so that's good. Plus, we've been spending most of our time under the mango trees (which are huge) anyway. I'm a little unclear about where exactly I am. I think it's called Kombo and it is either part of Serekunda or very near it. We'll be here until July 9 I think until we head to our training villages.

We found out today which languages we'll be speaking. I will be learning Pulaar along with 3 other people (of 15 that I am with). Apparently Pulaar is useful all over Africa, so that's exciting. We'll be in the training villages for 10 weeks. This is where we'll be having our language, cross cultural, security and safety, and technical training classes. We had a few hours of language today trying to learn greetings in the 3 main languages and then more after I found out I was learning Pulaar. "Salaamaleenkum" is useful for all languages. I like the languages a lot.

We've eaten like gods so far. We're all pretty sure they're just trying to fatten us up for when we go to the training villages. Last night there was a get together at the house of one of the associate directors' houses with great food that some other volunteers had made. There were two people from Ohio who had had Cincinnati chili mailed to them and prepared it. Cincinnati chili in Gambia. Crazy.

Alright, well I really don't know when I'll get to write anything again. Possibly no more posts for 10 weeks. But please, send mail. Apparently I'm going to be in a very small village. I'm sure I'll need something to read. This is all the time I have for now. Take care.