Mid-Term

Well, I have been in The Gambia for over a year now. A new crop of AgFo traniees are in country. The mosquitoes are buzzing, and I am rejuvinated from my holiday.

On November 1 I came down to Kombo to pick up my Dad and Shea. THeir plane landed on November 2. We stayed in my host family's Sarakunda compound. Um...eww. Really. They have roaches. It was gross. All the people are great, I love them, but I will most likely be staying at teh Stodge in the furutre. The wife there (actualy, Ansu's brother's wife) wanted me to marry her son. Seriously wanted me to marry him. I told my dad this, that she would want to negotiate, etc, and he needed to let her down without offending her. So that night they talk a little about it. Does my dad let her down? No. She thinks that when we come back after 10 days in village that they will seriously negotiate for me. Crap.

We get to village, after a long day. Tire blows, so we are stuck in Kaur for a while. There a soldier tried to get my dad to sponcer him in school.
In Diabugu we just motly hung around. I took them to Monday clinic, Tuesday trek, the river, and just mostly chilled. It drove my dad crazy. He hates sitting. He needs to fiddle, to putter, all that stuff. But I wanted to REST, and SHea wasn't feeling well(we later discovered she had malaria). The family killed a goat, which I bought. After 10 uneventful days, we were ready to come back and go to Ireland. I gave Ansu a lot of money to pay for gas to take us down and drop us at teh airport. Last minute, he puts us on a gele. SO PISSED. He used less than half of what I gave him for that gele. We will be having a chat when I get back. Then we get to Sarakunda, and Rodrigo calls (the Santa Coloma guy in Diabugu). He is in Kombo and wanted to know if we were there yet. Apparently, he had told ANsu to bring me and my parents down in the Santa Coloma car so he could use it to get back to village. I never heard about that either. We will be having a second chat.
My dad finaly broke it to the mother that I would not be, no way, marrying her son. She was pissed. She felt like he had led her on before (he did, but he didn't see it that way). Finaly he got it through her head that I wasn't that great a catch. Owe a lot of money for school, need more money for school, PC/TG doesn't pay, etc. She still was upset, but whatever.

Ireland was awsome! COLD!! SO VERY VERY COLD!! The higest it got was 12C (53F), the coldest was 3C (37F), but teh average was 6C (42F). We went to Newgrange not as great as we thought and Dowth much cooler than we thought. Knowth was closed. We went to other monuments, stone circles, etc. Just drove around. Went and saw Jannet Farrar and Gavin Bone (very nice. Got some decent gossip. Much fun. Great people), met up with Barbara. After 5 minutes of meeting her, she said I could marry her son. He's 16, so we have to wait. But, I come back to the Gambia with a fiance, who at 16 thinks fighting is fun, so will defend my honor and all that. I told Oshen I was only keeping him until I could trade up. He seemed ok with that. Poor kid. His sister just died of liver cancer, and he and his mother are taking it hard. Of course, who wouldn't. But they made time to show us around and stuff. Very nice people.
Ireland, though, for those who are curious has an inverse relationship between sheep and yarn. It was SO FRIGGIN HARD to find yarn!! I finaly got some at the woolen mills in Clair. Even they said they had a hard time getting it. I found a store in Bray, but it was closed. Finaly, I got to one in Blackrock (I think) called This Is Knit. I highly recommend it! Nice poeple, nice selection for such a small store, nice prices.
All in all, it was a great birthday present. I don't actualy remember what we did on the 19th (all the days kind of blended), but I do remember that this year, I did not fall off the well!!. SO it was a good day. Wow, my standards for a good birthday have really dropped. No catastrophes, no personal injuries, and I am happy.

In Dublin my plane broke, so we were delayed comming back, and I missed my connecting flight in Brussels. The people at Aer Lingus were very helpful. Couldn't get me on a plane until Saturday (this was Thursday) so I got 2 nights and meals comped in Brussels. Awsome! Only problom was no money, no books, and tv was in french. So I knit alot. Working on the Irish Hiking Scarf, a personal favorite. I also have a new camera, one that works, so will hopefully be able to take and post pics now.