The market makes me ill....who would've thought

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Today was a great day. It’s actually one of the first times since I’ve been here that I’ve kinda felt like I belonged here. Don’t get me wrong…I’m far from feeling as if I fit in in Africa but I felt like it was a step in the right direction. I’m going to be honest, this past week and a half has been the most stretching experiencing in my life. Oh, there definitely has been a few experiences in my life over the last few years where I’ve felt the Lord “stretch” me and call me to a greater holiness. As much as those times were hard, this one should definitely be marked on the calendar. I know I had a romanticized version of what I thought it would be like here, but lets be honest…are things ever the way you imagine them to be? And I’m not sure why I thought I could skip that part of the equation. But, thank the Lord for His wonderful mercy and grace. Over the past week I’ve been suffering from a lot of homesickness. It’s been very hard to be away from home and its been hard thinking, “I should be experiencing this with Kim and Heather”, knowing that they would love being here just as much as I would love having them here with me. But I know the Lord has called me here alone for a specific reason.

Today the sisters gave me the day to go with Sr. Sue to go to deliver eggs. I seriously enjoy doing it. My day started out early once again, waking up at 6 am for mass at 7am. After mass, we drove everyone to school and Sr. Bernadette and I went to the Brikama market. I’m not even sure what to say about it. One thing you have to know about Sr. Bernadette is that she’s a skilled market shopper. We got out of the truck and headed toward the Market….fast. I will admit that I can be someone who walks very fast, but that’s not in a crowded room and I find that my Canadian politeness gets me no where in the market. Sr. Bernadette took off weaving in and out of people, not saying a word but just walking…walking….walking…walking and I was wondering when the market was going to end. Its like it just keeps going…around this corner and around that corner. A few times I found myself having to look up and around people to see her so far in front of me because I had stopped to let others pass infront of me. I guess I thought that since I would do that in Canada, people would be polite enough to let me pass afterwards. I’ve come to the understanding that it’s kinda fend for yourself in the market. I soon caught up to her and she was buying peanuts that they grind for you so you can make sauces. Next we went on to buy some fish that was smoked and a few other things. I’ve been to other countries where you have to go to the market but I can’t say that I’ve ever been to something like this. It’s like everyone just “parks” themselves anywhere. It’s so weird it’s actually uncomfortable. At least for me. I prefer going to the grocerie store. Now, Tourist markets…that’s my style. J I enjoy buying crafts and fabrics from places that I travel to. But the “food market”, as I like to call it, is so crowded and I guess I’m not used to having fresh meat out in the open like that. But that is how people around here make their living. When we got back to the truck, I sat down and said, “wow…that was interesting. Are there always that many people?” and Sr. Bernadette laughed and said, “what? There is no one at the market today. You should see it on a feast day.” “What?!” is all I said back. I guess I’ll never get used to the amount of people that are always around. It was very uncomfortable for me.

We got home and ate some breakfast before we started getting ready to leave. Breakfast was the same as usual but we had purchased what they call “pancakes” on our way from the school. Pancakes to us are flat and fried in a frying pan but to them pancakes are what we would call a round fried donut. It’s made out of flour and a bit of salt rolled in a ball and then fried. It’s amazing. J I really enjoy it and it was a nice change from the bread that we’ve been eating.

Before we left the guys (Sarjo and Gil – two of the helpers for the poultry farm) were just finishing up packing the eggs in the truck so I went to help. It’s been my goal since I’ve been here to go and pick eggs with the guys and today I had the opportunity. I’ve never done it before and I really enjoyed myself. I went with Sarjo, and he showed me how to do it. And of course, the first hen I came to was sitting right on her egg and he said…”you just put your hand under there and get it.” Oh yeah….just like that I thought. And of course, the hen pecked at my hand. After that I thought well I know what it feels like now so there’s no need to be worried. So we collected all the eggs from 5 rooms and I really enjoyed myself! I hope I can help out a bit more.

Sr. Sue and I left shortly after packing the truck up and we went out selling eggs. The first place we stopped was Bijilo Hotel where our friend, Morrow works. Morrow is the manager of the hotel ( I think….if not the manager he’s high up there somewhere). I always get a kick out of going there because he considers Sr. Cecile his Canadian wife. He’s a very sincere and honest person and you can tell he enjoys the company of the sisters. He’s a very nice person. When I first met him, because Sr. Sur introduced me as Jennifer, from the same village as Sr. Cecile he’s considered me his younger Canadian wife. It’s really quite hilarious. It was Morrow’s birthday today and we didn’t even know it! But he was glad to receive eggs today, since there is such a shortage for eggs at the moment.

We went around a few other places near Fajara and Bakou and then we headed up to Banjul. We stopped at a friend of Sr. Sue’s to deliver eggs and after she – as a gift- bought me lunch. It was probably my favorite thing I’ve eaten here. It’s a fried piece of dough with fried hamburger and onions and spices. Wow…it was really good and I was trying to figure out what was all used to make it so I can make it when I get back home. It was amazing and a great change from the fish I’ve been eating. I certainly am surprised that I’m eating a lot more fried foods than I thought I would be. I guess I never thought that Africans ate that much fried foods but I being here and seeing what they cook has helped me realize how much oil they actually use when they cook. But it’s really tasty, I can say that much for sure. J

After, Sr. Sue’s friend (did I mention her name is Marie?) took me through the market. The real market this time. This market is the biggest market in the Gambia and wow was it huge. I don’t think they have much for a mall because the market is kind of set up like one except that you don’t have the store names and many vendors have the exact same thing, except not for the same prices. There are little shops that sell sports equipment, and sports apparel, shops that have women’s clothing and men’s clothing, and kitchen supplies, etc. It’s really like a very tightly spaced mall. I’m sure that Marie was glad to hand me back over to Sr. Sue after we were done since my white skin and non African clothing attracted many of the store owners trying to sell their goods to us. Store owners were literally pulling us into their stores saying “,take a look, just step inside and take a look.” Everyone wants a tourist to come and buy something at their store because they can give them an outrageous price since they are not used to how the money works. I didn’t realize that we were going to go to the market so I hadn’t brought much money with me but I wanted to see what the prices were for the next time I came. There was this beautiful carving that one man tried to sell me for 800 Dallasis. That’s like….$40 Canadian?! I guess that’s not bad but I just wanted to see. There were many ladies who were pulling us into their shops and funny enough, by the time we left the market I had 4 different bracelets and necklaces from ladies who gave them to me as a gift just to welcome me to the Gambia. It was really nice. I felt bad for Marie. She was probably wishing she hadn’t brought me since it’s very overwhelming and uncomfortable to be pushed into so many stores. That’s one thing I hate about the market, that as a white person you get targeted and everyone is yelling at you to come into their store. And I cant understand them to save my life, so I don’t know how much anything costs or if it’s even a good price. I usually enjoy markets and I enjoy looking around but I felt bad that Marie had to show me around cause she got hassled too. It was good to see what everyone had though.

We left Banjul just before 4:00pm, just in time to miss rush hour traffic on our way home. I was glad to have had the day with Sr. Sue, since she’s a pretty laid back person and it’s always an enjoyment to just sit in the truck and watch what’s going on around. On our way home she asked me if I wanted to drive. At this point, everything is still very new to me and I’m not yet used to how people drive around here since there aren’t any rules. So I kindly declined her offer and maybe I’ll try it sometime in the near future. I’ve got plenty of time to experience some road rage over the next 6 months, I may as well enjoy the sitting while I can.

We got home in time to help Sr. Cecile in making some tickets for the kids that take the bus. A bit later I was able to talk to my mom and dad for a few minutes. It’s only the second time I’ve been able to talk to them since it’s difficult finding a phone card that will allow you to call Africa, so I haven’t had much time to talk with them over the phone. We’ve been able to email back and forth but it’s just not the same as hearing someone’s voice on the phone. So I appreciated the little time I was able to talk to them.