12/24/04
FRIDAY
DECEMBER 24, 2004
Christmas Eve!
Cheeta was playing her Christmas music in the background while breakfast was being served. Kharafi hired a local Gambian to cool for them while they were at the compound. If visitors arrive the cook just needed to know how many to cook for. For breakfast were eggs, bacon, and sausage. The first time I’ve had that good of a breakfast in a long time! Most time my breakfast consists of a bean sandwich or an egg-and-potato sandwich at the local bidick.
After breakfast Matt Selinske, Kelly Stephenson, and I left to go to Georgetown; a small island just a five-minute walk away to the river. As we approached the ferry terminal we had a choice of either waiting for a ferry, which could take upwards of an hour but it’ll only be D2 each, or pay for an entire canoe at D25 and leave immediately. We chose the latter and quickly found a captain to take us across. Matt paid the D25 for all of us.
The ride across is only a ten-minute ride, if that; and this is the longer of the two sides. The south bank side you have a rope going across so you could pull yourself across in case the engine breaks. Total time to cross the south bank: two minutes max. Across the ferry and onto the island there were two places to dock the boat. The main terminal was just for the ferry, or the occasional tourist boat, and the second terminal was for the local canoes. That is where we docked.
To our immediate left was a small restaurant and coke stand. We sat down and ordered half a sandwich and a drink while we relaxed at the table. The sandwich is what they call ñeebe, or bean, sandwich. We each liked it so much that we ordered another half each. Total bill was D25, which Kelly paid this time.
Kelly and Matt were on two separate missions for why going to the island. Matt needed to make a phone call concerning his parents arriving the next month and the nearest phone to us was on the island. Kelly’s mission: obtain some palm wine.
As we walked down the main street in town we saw the German Forestry Department. A former volunteer, Sean, worked for the German Forestry Department for a year. With his influence, and other volunteer’s locations and willingness, we now have a partnership with them. Matt had worked with them on a few occasions. During that two-minute walk down Main Street Matt got into a conversation with the locals and it was up to Kelly and I to introduce ourselves to the Gambians working with the Germans and ask for palm wine. Getting palm wine is not like going to a business in the US and asking where’s the nearest place to buy a beer. It’s a little bit more looked down upon then that, as it is quite potent and you see drunken Gambians passed out under its influence. As such, palm wine had a reputation and had to be asked about in small circles. Nonetheless it is easily obtainable if you wish to search and ask around a bit. We didn’t have much luck before Matt showed up and began speaking to his friends. Mission accomplished: come back later tonight and there will be two bottles ready for us.
After that mission accomplished we thought of a secondary mission, a baseball bat. This bat, which belonged to Sam, was in Vickie’s house just two blocks away. She wasn’t in town but her combination was written in roman numerals on the side. Gambians aren’t taught roman numerals and so it is the usual practice for volunteers to write their combinations to their houses in that manner near the lock so other volunteers can get in either if they get stuck in transport; to visit; drop off mail; or, in our case, to get a baseball bat.
We walked into her compound, greeted her family, and asked how they were. Then Matt opened up her door, went inside her house, and got the bat. It wasn’t unusual for the family to see this. In fact, in the process of breaking into her house her host brother showed us the skin of a rodent he had caught, killed, skinned, and cooked.
While walking down the street we now attracted every kid in sight since we were now probably the only people on the island with a baseball bat. Everyone wanted to see it, hold it, or use it. We didn’t give it up to anyone, but instead made a game out of it:
“Toubob, give me your bat!”
I smiled and jokingly said back, “You call me ‘toubob’ again I will beat you with this bat!”
“Toubob, give me your bat!”
I raised the bat up as if I was going to swing at them. Their faces quickly changed from smiles to fear as they ran away from fear, with their parents laughing in the background. As we passed the parents we greeted them, some by name, smiled, and continued on our way.
Matt needed to use the phone so Kelly and I went to the bidick. After the bidick we walked back near the ferry terminal where the local market was. Kelly was looking for different vegetables to put in tonight’s dinner while I was responsible for the bat. I just sat down on an overhang and whenever a kid came close I raised the bat up a bit as if to hit them. The kids soon got the joke and we smiled over it.
After a few minutes Matt came back:
“Sorry for taken a while. You know, I went to the bathroom before leaving this morning thinking that would be my only dump of the day. Nope. Didn’t have any toilet paper and so had to use my notebook paper”
We thought nothing of it. We all have been in that boat as mine was in Guinea where I was forced to use torn-out pages of the Newsweek magazine for toilet paper.
With Kelly and Matt already paid their fair share I paid the D25 to have us cross the river to get back to Kharafi.
Shortly after we arrived there was a commotion outside. It seemed as if Kharafi was getting their Christmas present as well. They ordered new furniture three months ago and it was just arriving. In the back of the truck there was, covered in dust, one couch and three comfortable seats. We had to slap each cushion to get all the dust off that fell upon it during its trip. Some of the guys helped out by carrying the sofa, chairs, and cushions. We had a fun time trying to rotate the sofa in such a way that it would fit in the door! We rearranged the whole living room so it actually looked like a living room. The couches were across from the chairs with both right angles from the TV. Made for some neck-bending times to watch the TV, but casual times when we just sat and talked the day away.
Throughout the day more and more people were showed up. One surprise was Alexei and his visitors. His father and sister were visiting from the US and were celebrating Christmas at Kharafi before heading out for New Years Eve from Dakar. Alexei introduced me to his father, Tom, and his sister, Toni. Their family is half Greek. A few months back Alexei even went to Greece to visit his extended family.
One interesting note about his family is that they all go by shortened names. Alexei is short for Alexander and Toni short for Antonia. His father immigrated to the US when he was nine and has been going by Tom ever since. Tom’s real Greek name was Athenasios, but no one ever called him that. He was fun to hang out with, and being a retired high school science teacher I could talk science with him! I also felt sorry for Toni a little bit. Although she was still in High School and this was a great experience for her to be in Africa, she was on Winter Break and had to bring her homework with her on her vacation!
Later that day Alexei, Matt, and Braam (one of the South Africans) went out behind back to play some baseball. I joined them later on and didn’t hit a single ball. So much for practicing for WAIST! After the pseudo-game we came inside to the girls putting more decorations up, Christmas music playing in the background, and a Poker game being played at the table. Shortly thereafter the Christmas music turned into dance music, the poker game ended and people started dancing.
One disadvantage of reading a good book is that you can’t put it down! The book that was supposed to last me the two weeks of traveling was not even lasting me two days. I had fifty pages to go and I wanted to finish that night. Stupid me, while the girls were dancing around I’m in the chair reading my book.
Even Brom came up to me, “Mike, For f---’s sake! Put that book away! It’s Christmas Eve!”
“I’m almost done!”
“I don’t care if you’re on the last f---ing page!” as he swiped the book from my hands and placed in on the table.
One thing is true about these South Africans. When they speak to each other they speak Afrikaan, but when they speak English they sure do swear a lot! The phrase ‘for f---’s sake!’ is heard a lot when hanging out with them.
I got up to get my book again and continued reading. He took my book away but wasn’t expecting I would jump over the chair after him to get it back. We both had a good laugh about that and the outcome was that I was free to read my book, but I went outside anyway.
The cooks were preparing our dinner, half-chicken and chips. As they were cooking it over a grill I sat in the corner near the house-light to get enough light to read. After another hour or so, roughly the same time that dinner was being set to start, around nine, I finished ALIVE.
I ate my dinner, put the finished book away, and joined the party. I was actually in bed before midnight. The room contained two beds and two mattresses on the floor. Cheeta and Jessica obtained the beds, since they were the first to arrive, as Thao and I got the floor. Bed or not, it’s air-conditioned!
DECEMBER 24, 2004
Christmas Eve!
Cheeta was playing her Christmas music in the background while breakfast was being served. Kharafi hired a local Gambian to cool for them while they were at the compound. If visitors arrive the cook just needed to know how many to cook for. For breakfast were eggs, bacon, and sausage. The first time I’ve had that good of a breakfast in a long time! Most time my breakfast consists of a bean sandwich or an egg-and-potato sandwich at the local bidick.
After breakfast Matt Selinske, Kelly Stephenson, and I left to go to Georgetown; a small island just a five-minute walk away to the river. As we approached the ferry terminal we had a choice of either waiting for a ferry, which could take upwards of an hour but it’ll only be D2 each, or pay for an entire canoe at D25 and leave immediately. We chose the latter and quickly found a captain to take us across. Matt paid the D25 for all of us.
The ride across is only a ten-minute ride, if that; and this is the longer of the two sides. The south bank side you have a rope going across so you could pull yourself across in case the engine breaks. Total time to cross the south bank: two minutes max. Across the ferry and onto the island there were two places to dock the boat. The main terminal was just for the ferry, or the occasional tourist boat, and the second terminal was for the local canoes. That is where we docked.
To our immediate left was a small restaurant and coke stand. We sat down and ordered half a sandwich and a drink while we relaxed at the table. The sandwich is what they call ñeebe, or bean, sandwich. We each liked it so much that we ordered another half each. Total bill was D25, which Kelly paid this time.
Kelly and Matt were on two separate missions for why going to the island. Matt needed to make a phone call concerning his parents arriving the next month and the nearest phone to us was on the island. Kelly’s mission: obtain some palm wine.
As we walked down the main street in town we saw the German Forestry Department. A former volunteer, Sean, worked for the German Forestry Department for a year. With his influence, and other volunteer’s locations and willingness, we now have a partnership with them. Matt had worked with them on a few occasions. During that two-minute walk down Main Street Matt got into a conversation with the locals and it was up to Kelly and I to introduce ourselves to the Gambians working with the Germans and ask for palm wine. Getting palm wine is not like going to a business in the US and asking where’s the nearest place to buy a beer. It’s a little bit more looked down upon then that, as it is quite potent and you see drunken Gambians passed out under its influence. As such, palm wine had a reputation and had to be asked about in small circles. Nonetheless it is easily obtainable if you wish to search and ask around a bit. We didn’t have much luck before Matt showed up and began speaking to his friends. Mission accomplished: come back later tonight and there will be two bottles ready for us.
After that mission accomplished we thought of a secondary mission, a baseball bat. This bat, which belonged to Sam, was in Vickie’s house just two blocks away. She wasn’t in town but her combination was written in roman numerals on the side. Gambians aren’t taught roman numerals and so it is the usual practice for volunteers to write their combinations to their houses in that manner near the lock so other volunteers can get in either if they get stuck in transport; to visit; drop off mail; or, in our case, to get a baseball bat.
We walked into her compound, greeted her family, and asked how they were. Then Matt opened up her door, went inside her house, and got the bat. It wasn’t unusual for the family to see this. In fact, in the process of breaking into her house her host brother showed us the skin of a rodent he had caught, killed, skinned, and cooked.
While walking down the street we now attracted every kid in sight since we were now probably the only people on the island with a baseball bat. Everyone wanted to see it, hold it, or use it. We didn’t give it up to anyone, but instead made a game out of it:
“Toubob, give me your bat!”
I smiled and jokingly said back, “You call me ‘toubob’ again I will beat you with this bat!”
“Toubob, give me your bat!”
I raised the bat up as if I was going to swing at them. Their faces quickly changed from smiles to fear as they ran away from fear, with their parents laughing in the background. As we passed the parents we greeted them, some by name, smiled, and continued on our way.
Matt needed to use the phone so Kelly and I went to the bidick. After the bidick we walked back near the ferry terminal where the local market was. Kelly was looking for different vegetables to put in tonight’s dinner while I was responsible for the bat. I just sat down on an overhang and whenever a kid came close I raised the bat up a bit as if to hit them. The kids soon got the joke and we smiled over it.
After a few minutes Matt came back:
“Sorry for taken a while. You know, I went to the bathroom before leaving this morning thinking that would be my only dump of the day. Nope. Didn’t have any toilet paper and so had to use my notebook paper”
We thought nothing of it. We all have been in that boat as mine was in Guinea where I was forced to use torn-out pages of the Newsweek magazine for toilet paper.
With Kelly and Matt already paid their fair share I paid the D25 to have us cross the river to get back to Kharafi.
Shortly after we arrived there was a commotion outside. It seemed as if Kharafi was getting their Christmas present as well. They ordered new furniture three months ago and it was just arriving. In the back of the truck there was, covered in dust, one couch and three comfortable seats. We had to slap each cushion to get all the dust off that fell upon it during its trip. Some of the guys helped out by carrying the sofa, chairs, and cushions. We had a fun time trying to rotate the sofa in such a way that it would fit in the door! We rearranged the whole living room so it actually looked like a living room. The couches were across from the chairs with both right angles from the TV. Made for some neck-bending times to watch the TV, but casual times when we just sat and talked the day away.
Throughout the day more and more people were showed up. One surprise was Alexei and his visitors. His father and sister were visiting from the US and were celebrating Christmas at Kharafi before heading out for New Years Eve from Dakar. Alexei introduced me to his father, Tom, and his sister, Toni. Their family is half Greek. A few months back Alexei even went to Greece to visit his extended family.
One interesting note about his family is that they all go by shortened names. Alexei is short for Alexander and Toni short for Antonia. His father immigrated to the US when he was nine and has been going by Tom ever since. Tom’s real Greek name was Athenasios, but no one ever called him that. He was fun to hang out with, and being a retired high school science teacher I could talk science with him! I also felt sorry for Toni a little bit. Although she was still in High School and this was a great experience for her to be in Africa, she was on Winter Break and had to bring her homework with her on her vacation!
Later that day Alexei, Matt, and Braam (one of the South Africans) went out behind back to play some baseball. I joined them later on and didn’t hit a single ball. So much for practicing for WAIST! After the pseudo-game we came inside to the girls putting more decorations up, Christmas music playing in the background, and a Poker game being played at the table. Shortly thereafter the Christmas music turned into dance music, the poker game ended and people started dancing.
One disadvantage of reading a good book is that you can’t put it down! The book that was supposed to last me the two weeks of traveling was not even lasting me two days. I had fifty pages to go and I wanted to finish that night. Stupid me, while the girls were dancing around I’m in the chair reading my book.
Even Brom came up to me, “Mike, For f---’s sake! Put that book away! It’s Christmas Eve!”
“I’m almost done!”
“I don’t care if you’re on the last f---ing page!” as he swiped the book from my hands and placed in on the table.
One thing is true about these South Africans. When they speak to each other they speak Afrikaan, but when they speak English they sure do swear a lot! The phrase ‘for f---’s sake!’ is heard a lot when hanging out with them.
I got up to get my book again and continued reading. He took my book away but wasn’t expecting I would jump over the chair after him to get it back. We both had a good laugh about that and the outcome was that I was free to read my book, but I went outside anyway.
The cooks were preparing our dinner, half-chicken and chips. As they were cooking it over a grill I sat in the corner near the house-light to get enough light to read. After another hour or so, roughly the same time that dinner was being set to start, around nine, I finished ALIVE.
I ate my dinner, put the finished book away, and joined the party. I was actually in bed before midnight. The room contained two beds and two mattresses on the floor. Cheeta and Jessica obtained the beds, since they were the first to arrive, as Thao and I got the floor. Bed or not, it’s air-conditioned!
posted by Mike | 5:24 PM
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