I got nothing
Man I don't know what it is lately but I just can't come up with good stuff to write about. For weeks I have been trying to come up with something but no luck. Luckily Lydia has been covering for me by keeping you entertained and informed with her blog. Now for some random thoughts...
The other day one of our neighbors slaughtered a goat and gave us some of the meat. This is pretty cool since we don't get real meat that often so I was pretty excited. They guy gave Lydia the meat in the morning just before she left for work and she put it in a marinade to soak for the day. When we got around to cooking it that night Lydia was trying to cut up the meat into smaller chunks and I was sitting in the chair just laughing because she get so freaked out by raw meat. In addition to regular meat they gave us a little bit of every part, intestine, heart, liver, etc., this didn't seem to help her disgust with raw meat any and at one point as she stared down into the bowl poking a piece of meat with her knife she says "Dude, there's like a ventricle or something."
Yesterday our host mothers "sister" got married. I say "sister" because the definition of sister, brother, mother, father, etc. are much different here than in America. For instance there are about 5 different relatives or non-relatives that could be considered your sister. Anyway there were about 30 women singing and dancing in our compound during the afternoon and evening. The part that was held in our compound is pretty much a woman only affair so I just sat under the mango tree with the other guys drinking attaya (tea), eating mangos, and trying to keep a low profile. The wedding last two days so there will be more going on today although not in our compound. Lydia was more involved and went to all the proceedings yesterday so she will probably have to fill you in on the details a bit more.
Work has been going about the same. At the college we have been doing a lot of work at our other campus in the capitol which is good but also a pain in ass because it takes us about an hour and a half get there if we can even get a vehicle then we have to rush through our work to get things done. But its coming along well and we should be pretty much wrapped up with things there in the next month or so. The beekeepers is going well. We finally started our tree nursery which some cashew trees and soon some citrus trees. Construction continues on the buildings at our main site and also at the two rural honey processing centers that are being build for rural farmers to use. We hope to spruce things up once the construction is complete and hopefully attract some of the tourist market as a kind of eco-tourism stop.
Our compound is getting bigger and bigger. We now have neighbors living in the rooms on either side of us which just about fills all the empty rooms up. I would say there are about 50 people living there now. It takes some adjustment when each new family comes but mostly we live in amazing harmony considering the number of people and the close quarters. My tree planting project in the compound is going OK is suppose. I have had about a 50% success rate up to this point which is ok I suppose. There are a lot of obstacle to getting from seeds to full grown trees that you probably wouldn't have in the states. First off is the Chickens. We don't have any goats right now and their the worst but I wasn't expecting the chickens to be a big problem but they like to dig in the dirt looking for bugs and stuff so they have destroyed a few trees that way. The other problem is the small kids that don't appreciate that a portion - however small - of their former play area is now a tree nursery. Not the end of the world. I figure if a few of them live to maturity I'll be happy. At least I'm teaching my host brothers some discipline by having them water everyday. HaHa
You never would have guessed but the about half way through that last paragraph the power went out for four hours. Have you ever tried to run an IT shop with no power? Surprise, its not possible. We always have some magazines or books on hand for just such occasions. Lydia was here waiting for it to come back so she could send some emails. She stuck it out almost the whole time but decided it wasn't going to come back so she headed home and about 10 minuets after she left it came back on. Needless to say after riding here and back in the heat and not getting any work done only to have the power come on just after she left she didn't see the humor in the situation.
Random meats are quite interesting and usually tasty in my experience. In addition to the more usual fare of goat, sheep and beef since living in The Gambia I have had a chance to eat some rather unusual meats from a western perspective. Mongoose - delicious, pidgin - had a lot of salt but seemed pretty good, Giant bush rat - delicious, funny looking sea snail thing - a bit strong tasting but OK. As a side note I have been devouring oysters like crazy lately. There so good and you can get them super cheep. These ladies sit on the side for the road at the waters edge where the shuck oysters. There are huge piles of oyster shells all around them. The oysters are a small variety and they are delicious when you cook them up with some butter and garlic.
Thats all for now. But wait there's more...New pictures should be up later today unless the power goes out again.
The other day one of our neighbors slaughtered a goat and gave us some of the meat. This is pretty cool since we don't get real meat that often so I was pretty excited. They guy gave Lydia the meat in the morning just before she left for work and she put it in a marinade to soak for the day. When we got around to cooking it that night Lydia was trying to cut up the meat into smaller chunks and I was sitting in the chair just laughing because she get so freaked out by raw meat. In addition to regular meat they gave us a little bit of every part, intestine, heart, liver, etc., this didn't seem to help her disgust with raw meat any and at one point as she stared down into the bowl poking a piece of meat with her knife she says "Dude, there's like a ventricle or something."
Yesterday our host mothers "sister" got married. I say "sister" because the definition of sister, brother, mother, father, etc. are much different here than in America. For instance there are about 5 different relatives or non-relatives that could be considered your sister. Anyway there were about 30 women singing and dancing in our compound during the afternoon and evening. The part that was held in our compound is pretty much a woman only affair so I just sat under the mango tree with the other guys drinking attaya (tea), eating mangos, and trying to keep a low profile. The wedding last two days so there will be more going on today although not in our compound. Lydia was more involved and went to all the proceedings yesterday so she will probably have to fill you in on the details a bit more.
Work has been going about the same. At the college we have been doing a lot of work at our other campus in the capitol which is good but also a pain in ass because it takes us about an hour and a half get there if we can even get a vehicle then we have to rush through our work to get things done. But its coming along well and we should be pretty much wrapped up with things there in the next month or so. The beekeepers is going well. We finally started our tree nursery which some cashew trees and soon some citrus trees. Construction continues on the buildings at our main site and also at the two rural honey processing centers that are being build for rural farmers to use. We hope to spruce things up once the construction is complete and hopefully attract some of the tourist market as a kind of eco-tourism stop.
Our compound is getting bigger and bigger. We now have neighbors living in the rooms on either side of us which just about fills all the empty rooms up. I would say there are about 50 people living there now. It takes some adjustment when each new family comes but mostly we live in amazing harmony considering the number of people and the close quarters. My tree planting project in the compound is going OK is suppose. I have had about a 50% success rate up to this point which is ok I suppose. There are a lot of obstacle to getting from seeds to full grown trees that you probably wouldn't have in the states. First off is the Chickens. We don't have any goats right now and their the worst but I wasn't expecting the chickens to be a big problem but they like to dig in the dirt looking for bugs and stuff so they have destroyed a few trees that way. The other problem is the small kids that don't appreciate that a portion - however small - of their former play area is now a tree nursery. Not the end of the world. I figure if a few of them live to maturity I'll be happy. At least I'm teaching my host brothers some discipline by having them water everyday. HaHa
You never would have guessed but the about half way through that last paragraph the power went out for four hours. Have you ever tried to run an IT shop with no power? Surprise, its not possible. We always have some magazines or books on hand for just such occasions. Lydia was here waiting for it to come back so she could send some emails. She stuck it out almost the whole time but decided it wasn't going to come back so she headed home and about 10 minuets after she left it came back on. Needless to say after riding here and back in the heat and not getting any work done only to have the power come on just after she left she didn't see the humor in the situation.
Random meats are quite interesting and usually tasty in my experience. In addition to the more usual fare of goat, sheep and beef since living in The Gambia I have had a chance to eat some rather unusual meats from a western perspective. Mongoose - delicious, pidgin - had a lot of salt but seemed pretty good, Giant bush rat - delicious, funny looking sea snail thing - a bit strong tasting but OK. As a side note I have been devouring oysters like crazy lately. There so good and you can get them super cheep. These ladies sit on the side for the road at the waters edge where the shuck oysters. There are huge piles of oyster shells all around them. The oysters are a small variety and they are delicious when you cook them up with some butter and garlic.
Thats all for now. But wait there's more...New pictures should be up later today unless the power goes out again.
posted by Andy at
7:05 AM
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