Tuesday, May 29, 2007

No two days alike



I have often thought that living here has spoiled me for "normal" life. Every day is different here with strange things happening or just funny things. For example, I go to work every day at the Literacy Center. The office is located in a Gambian compound so there are cows, goats, chickens, sheep, horses, ducks and of course children that wander in the yard around the building. The occasional curious goat or chicken (or child!) will venture into my office just to see what I'm doing. Yesterday our entertainment was provided by a goat that got its head caught in the handle of a bucket. The goat was jumping and running trying to get away from this thing that was chasing it, but of course, the bucket continued to chase the poor goat. One of my employees took pity on the it and removed the bucket.

One day a monkey came racing through the office yard and all of my male employees took off chasing it along with all the men in the neighborhood. Monkeys don't normally come into the village, so they thought this one was probably sick and should be killed. A few minutes later one of my employees emerges victorious holding up the body of the monkey for all to see. So how many of you have adventures like this at your work place?

Yal na leen Yalla barkeel. (May God bless you.)

Aji

4 comments:

Dusty Penguin said...

I'm so glad you started a blog! My sister in Niger has one, and even though she can only update it once a month when they go to the capital, it really helps keep us up to date. She is very creative, so we really look forward to her stories, thoughts, etc. I know yours will be the same! Her husband is more philosophical, so his are interesting in a different way. I have a blog, but haven't had time to update it since Dec....I really need to catch it up! I could picture the goat and the monkey. Great news about the books being finished!!

Dusty Penguin said...

Actually, you probably have no clue who just posted! It's Natalie W. (previous co-worker:). My blog is dusty-penguin.blogspot.com.

carolb said...

Hi, Aji,
It will be great to keep up with your life in The Gambia through your blog. Since you are a great writer, I expect great things!
My only question is, how can you translate books into a language you don't speak?!
Carolb

momlady said...

Hey Girl!! This is cool. I've never been to a blog before. Love it!! Miss ya bunches!!! Cara