LOve YOU GUYS

I haven't had a chance to say how much I love everybody. I really love everybody and miss you guys It is still very early in the scheme of things, but I know that I wouldn't have gotten here without everybody encouraging me and getting together to say bye. You guys are all in my thoughts all the time.

Foods

I have been really lucky so far with my food. Every morning in training village the four of us in my group all get our breakfast brought to us by our families after school has started. I am the only one whose food is ready each morning before I leave. Its kind of like my oatmeal in high school. Some people get white ricer porridge and a bag of sugar, most Gambian people would put the sugar in right away, but our families have been instructed to keep it on the side for us. I personally dont get rice, I get a late season millet called coos, or locally called noo, when its cooked its called mono. Its healthier than rice and has more fiber, plus it creates a little diversity in my diet. At training we all gave money so that we could eat a big lunch together. It is presented as a huge bowl of rice, and then the second bowl about half as big is full of vegetables and maybe chicken meat. Our main vegetables are squash, which is kind of an indulgence, and potatos, onions, and a very starchy fiber called cassaba, or namboo. Things are all cooked by boiling them, and then they are left to simmer in an oil sauce with chopped onions and a bouillion spice packet called Jimbo. We put the meat and veggies in the middle of the huge bowl of rice, and then thee four students and our teacher sit around the bowl. We all dig in with our right hands. The method is kind of whatever you find best for you, some people take big handfuls and squeeze the food into balls, I personally just use my first three fingers to take a small helping from the bowl to my mouth. I lost too much rice and veggies when I had a big handful. It was like seeing an 18 wheeler full of hay go down the highway and you think about all the lost product blowing away. That's how  I felt when I saw all the rice on my ankles that fell out of my hand. For dinner in Kaif every night I get a bowl of white rice with peanut sause, fish sauce, or sometimes a leaf sauce, either Jamboo, or Kucha. Jamboo is potato leaves and kucha is wild sorrel. It is pounded into a pesto like paste and put right on top of the rice. Wether in a communal bowl or your own personal bowl the idea is to take just enough sauce from the middle to flavor your bite. You dont want to ravage the bowl and mix everrything up, because if you dont eat it all your plate will be handed over to someone else, and just think if you were second in line you wouldnt want some rice and beans and enchiladas all mixed up in the middle, you would like things still seperate as they were presented so that you could make your own judgements about what to eat. When you eat communally it is very nice manners to reach into the middle, take something large and mash it between your fingers and then distribute it to other people. Its the equivalent of being the barbecuer at a cookout, your handing out the sausage, and in a group meal you are just serving every one.

Site Visit

Hey,
so this week has been a pretty big week for all of us trainees. on monday we went from our training villages to the big training center in Jenoi. waiting for us there were representatives from each of our villages. For two days we got to know our reps, and then on Wednesday they took us via public transport to our permanent sites. My site is a four to five hour bus ride from Soma up to Basse, then  a van ride for the remaining 25 miles over dirt road. I got to my new house, a cylindrical thatched roof hut a little after dark, but my family was all awake to greet me. I am living in a former volunteers house, so he already made some key investments, like building an outdoor bed and a structure for exercising. He also came to introduce me and catch up with his former family. On Thursday my represenative came over in the morning, and we walked around to meet the alikaloo, or village cheif, the alimamo, or spiritual leader, and the heads of the village development committee, womens group, teachers, nurses, and other important people. The tradition is to buy Kola nuts and then when you greet someone you hand them some kola nuts as a way of saying you are coming in peace and happy to be there. Alot of people were already off working in the fields by the time we walked through the village, so walking went pretty quick. Normally, when there are people out you greet each one and stop to chat. This is how you get to know people and become, slowly, slowly, a friend and then a member of the community. Friday morning I did the same thing in Same Kuda, which means new Sami, its the new part of the same village, but they have their own groups so I met them all as well. This morning I left in order to get back to Jenoi by tomorrow night for some more training.

My home is Kaif

Hey,
Well the deal is... we are in training.When we left Banjul, we came to Jenoi agricultural Training center for some basic orientation stuff. we spent three nights there and then moved to what is called our training villages. My training village is Kaif and I live in the village with seven other Americans. Four of them live in a different part of the village, and me and three others are live close to each other. Everyday we go to language class with our teacher. we learn and then go home with our host families to just get the hang of living, the lifestyle, the language and the pace. I really like my host family, There are three sisters and three brothers that I know are mine for sure. There are a million kids at any given moment so there could be some others related to me that I just dont remember their names. My mom and sisters make millet flour every night. They take the millet off the plant and beat it down in a large pot by hand. Its like a huge mortar and pestil system. Then my mom takes the flower and makes little flour balls, which gets cooked in the morning into pouridge. Rice for lunch and rice for dinner. I normally spend the first few hours after dark just sitting on the porch on a mat. My little sister is really good about speaking to me slowly and using simple words, so me and her talk, and she also translates for everybody else. It cools off at night so thats good hanging out time. the language lessons are really useful, for example one day this week we did transportation language, so today our assignment was to ride the bus to the city. I found out that I will be permanently going to a place called Sami Koto, which is way up the country on the other side of Basse. We visit there in a couple of weeks so I should have more to report. I feel like it is so beautiful and great that I havent been able to describe any of it adequately in words. In December, when training is over, hopefully I can give some pictures and a better representation.I got everyones emails and thanks so much. I thought it would be easier to write this though.If you have any questions please email me and i will try and tell you all about it next time.Miss you guys and love you alot. Things are good!