What We Did On Our Winter Vacation

Written on April 1st, 2011 A special guest blog by Mam Lamin Cham aka David Green aka My Dad Most importantly, we made it. Three months and three attempts, but it worked. It did actually snow the morning we left but only flurries and we arrived on schedule to find Lindsey at the airport. We were all too excited for words. Then the fun really started. What does one do in the Gambia--The Smiling Coast of Africa? Settling In PCVs are given a chance to "settle in" so that's what we did. Three nights at Mama's--a typical local hotel run by a expatriate, with lots of walking and talking and meeting friends, and visiting Lindsey's haunts, both professional (the Peace Corps office, the bank) and personal (a local bar called with great irony, The Scottish Embassy). It was great fun to be a PCV again. Within 24 hours we were drinking beer (Julbrew) and talking about Gambian customs, digestion and food. From there we moved up country, local transport, to Lindsey's village--Kerr Jarga Jobe. Language and Culture In KJJ we were at Lindsey's mercy. There, she is Ramatoulie, and she speaks Wolof 24/7. It's amazing. She waggles her finger, shakes her pony tail and her butt , and makes jokes. The kids giggle as she tickles them, the teenagers demand to borrow her lotions and ointments, the old ladies joke about everything, and the moms correct her. Everyone chatters and joke. We spend hours--literally--walking about the dusty village, greeting everyone. Lindsey patiently explains culture, custom, language, good, agriculture and trades, while translating. We are in awe. Its hot, really hot, from 11 to 5 so we sit and chase spots of shade around the compound, drinking "attaya", green tea boiled, reboiled, and poured over and over again so it gets foamy and cool. Everyone welcomes us very warmly and naturally. They are honored to have us but treat us like family, just like they treat Ramatoulie. They take care of her in every way and she reciprocates. The kids are great--handsome and fun--and the Dad, Baay Waly, watches out for her and respects her at the same time. The whole trip is great but the four days in KJJ are really amazing. Culture and Development Being in KJJ with Lindsey we are reminded of so much, including the difficulties of cross-cultural understanding. She tells us of how she works with the skills center on planning, meetings, agendas, and organization. Then she walked in one day to find the staff cutting the meeting tables in half so they could use them for the sewing machines. She went home to read a book. A sensible reaction from all parties. This isn't easy stuff, but we keep trying to understand one another and that's what counts. Moving and Waiting Patience is key--we move, and wait, and wait and move. Everything is late and takes longer than anticipated. We leave KJJ to ride boats up and down the river. We look at birds which are incredible even for non-birders like us. Peggy and Lindsey catch up on girl time, which poor Peggy has surely missed for a year and a half. And we all think about Casey and we're sorry it didn't work out for him to come, but we think about him tearing it up in Peru and we know he'd be happy for us. Then She Ate What??? We spend quite a bit of time talking about, planning for, and eating food. Lindsey is decidedly no longer a vegetarian. She now renounces it completely and totally. She eats great quantities of everything and with great relish. She has dreams about bacon. Day-old goat is not an issue. She claims to have a super amoeba that trumps all the lesser amoebas. Even David blanches at the story about the monitor lizard--we are not making this up. And We Laughed and Laughed Most importantly, we had fun, and we laughed because ultimately that's what its all about. We got a brief but telling glimpse into another world and it was a lot of fun. We are grateful. The Gambians say good things are "nice-nice" and "its nice to be nice." Healthy sentiments. Jerejef--Thank you!