Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Working on Gambian time

         I have now been in The Gambia for over 2 weeks now. Although everything takes time to adjust to I think that I have adjusted rather quickly. Every day is a new experience and a test of trial and error. There are the good the bad the entertaining the strange and the down right bizzare.
        Classes for example are much different then classes that I am used to. Some aspects I like more and some I like less. It can sometimes be hard to follow what the professors are saying because even though they speak English its not easy to understand. I had to drop two classes and pick up another due to different circumstances. The one class was in a large lecture hall with about 80 students, this is a lot different from what I am used to. Because the class was so large and the room was so big I could not hear a word that the professor was saying. My other class that I dropped was one of the most boring classes I have ever sat through it was also the longest. You see, here in The Gambia maybe this is the case in all West Africa I am not sure how it goes in other universities but here the professor and students choose when a class is. If the students have a problem with the time they negotiate a different time to have class even if it messes up everyone else's classes. In this class the professor had a problem with the time so he decided he only wanted to teach it once a week and in order to meet hours requirements he could teach the class as long as he wanted to. It just so happened that this was my last class of the day and he ended up teaching half an hour later then scheduled so I ended up getting home very late because its an hour bush taxi ride away from the house.
       My other classes I enjoy very much and since I have dropped and added other classes I feel so much better about going to school. On Mondays I only have 3 classes and they are Popular Culture/A lecture in modern history, Intro to Logic, and Stress Coping and Health. On Thursdays I have all the above listed classes with the addition of Historiography.  Both of my history classes are taught by Dr. Fourshey who is my advisor form SU. It is interesting seeing how she has to adapt her teaching styles for here in The Gambia. Intro To logic is Taught by a cute old Gambian man. He is a priest so we call him father. He has a way of getting the class involved in discussions and instead of putting ideas in our head he gives us examples to debate and make our own opinions about. Its the way that Philosophy should be taught. Father also has the most adorable belly laugh ever and I quite enjoy whenever anything sets him off on a laughing fit. Stress coping and health is by far the most amazing class I have ever taken and probably the most amazing class I will ever take. Its taught by a very eccentric Scottish women. I do not yet know here whole life story but I plan to sit and hear it over drinks some night. She used to be an acrobat, an actress, and she also teaches theater. The class itself is all about finding yourself, different forms of meditation, and just being open to the world. Its a perfect class to have at the end of a long day because I always leave class feeling stress free and refreshed.
       Restaurants are very interesting in The Gambia this is where I had to start dealing with the concept of Gambian time. The first local restaurant that we went to was on our way to the beach. Myself including all my house mates walked into the building and were greeted by a man. He called his employees on the phone and when we ordered drinks he went next door to the store to get them. It took us about 30 minuets to even have our food order taken. Once we ordered food we could see that it was going to be a long time until we actually got our food because we saw the man who was making the food walk out to go get the ingredients. Once we actually got our food it was worth the wait because we knew everything was fresh. It was the best sandwich that I have had so far here and it was very cheap compared to the ones that we get at the beach. After this experience and then other that we have had at restaurants have taught us to be very patient while at restaurants.
       Bathrooms, hmmmmmm. Appreciate the bathrooms that you have. Most bathrooms here even in public buildings do not have toilet paper. I am not sure how the ritual of washings ones self goes but I have not yet tried, instead I make sure to always have toilet paper on me. If you are in a village expect to squat in a trough or hole type contraption. I had to go to the restroom at a grocery store once and that was quite the experience I went in to the room labeled toilet and it literally was a hole in the ground, a very small hole I am not quite sure how one does number two in the hole it would take some very accurate aiming skills.
      Now for more information on Gambian time and the importance of patience and stress coping. Yesterday we woke up at 7 had breakfast at 8 and left the house at 830 to get to to the school were we were supposed to bored a bus at 10 to go to the roots festival. We made it there on time which I know never to do again. The bus was not there and after about an hour we find out that it has broken down and is currently being fixed but that it should soon be done. 2 hours later we find out that it is en-route to the school so we decide to wait for it. 15 minuets later it has arrived at school but it needs to be fixed again. 2:30 rolls around and we finally leave for whats expected to be 2 hour journey to the presidents home town and place of the roots festival. an hour into the trip the bus breaks down. So we all get out of the bus and play with the village children and even join in a dance circle. About an hour after the break down we get on the bus that has been jumped started by military vehicle and continue about 15 minuets up the road where the bus breaks down again. So we all pile into the military vehicle and two Gully Gullys which are large vans and head up the road. Its a very tight squeeze and part of the drive is off road but we make it to the festival which has yet to begin but we have no way of getting back if we stay so we get in another Gully Gully and head home. All of my house mates and I had quite the bonding experience on the Gully Gully because we had to cuddle and sit on each others laps just to fit. On this Gully Gully was a man who wanted me to marry him and stay with him on his farm. I politly turned him down and 5 minuets later our tire went flat and here we were in the middle of know where with our a spare tire, so we got out played with village children again. By this time it is now dark out and we get bit by bugs. We finally get a tire get back in the vehicle and continue to overload the Gully Gully to the point where people were sitting on the floor. Just our luck the police stop us and the diver had to bribe them to let us continue. We finally get to the car park in Birkama where we must find a bush taxi to our house in Old Jeshwang but the former diver of the other car claims we didn't pay and that he wants more money so we must pay him more just so that we can get home. The Bush taxi we take decides to give us a rough time and tell us that he wont take us all the way home unless we give him more money so we do just so we can get home, eat and go to bed, which is exactly what we did.
        All these experiences have taught me not to have expectations and to just make the best out of every situation, I forgot to add that we got to hang out with the other exchange students who come from other African countries, that was a nice experience I cant wait to hang out with them again.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Culture shock

A week has passes and culture shock has set in.
Bag of water
Cats, dogs, donkeys, goats, sheep, monkeys, lizards, birds, all roam the street
Dangerous driving conditions more dangerous walking conditions, look both ways!
Everyone wants to talk to you, almost everyone wants your number, some people will tell you they love you.
Fish market, not a place you want to go, or be near, smelly
Gambia's moto Its nice to be nice
Hair,  my hair has turned into straw and I soon may have dreads weather I want them or not.
I am in love with the children
Just let it be, I got on the wrong bush taxi and was super nervous but it all worked out in the end
Kind people do exist, just have to watch out for the love diggers and gold digger.
Lamin is the name given to all first born sons in Wolof culture
My feet hurt from walking everywhere
No toilet paper you have to provide your own, mine looks and feels like pink party streamers
Pace, the pace of life his is very very slow Ndanka Ndanka.
Quiet, people speak very softly here, its hard to hear teachers in class as well.
Rest, I have gotten into the habit of going to bed early and waking up early
Trees, there are so many pretty trees here
Stacy, the name that I tell people who I dont want to know my name such as those who I hitchhike with
Universal, smiling is universal it is a way to express many different things even if you dont know the language
Vegetables are a staple as is bread, rice, and pasta
Women weren't aloud to attend school prior to the 60's
Xylaphones
Zebras, havent seen one and dont think I will