A day at the beach

Sunday, February 21, 2009

This week has been a pretty relaxing week if I do say so myself. Well…maybe I shouldn’t say relaxing, just a bit out of the routine of the way things normally are.
February 18th in the Gambia is “independence day” (just like July 1st in Canada and July 4th in the USA). One thing that is different that they do here is that each school in the Gambia is chosen to send a few representatives to travel to Banjul (to the football stadium) to march in what is called the “Independence Day March Past” The reason they call it this is because each school lines up with their banner and all dressed up in their school uniform and they “march past” the President – Yaya Jammeh. He basically sits there watching the kids just march past where he is sitting. I’m not sure exactly why they do this but it seems a bit strange to me. I’m sure they have good reason. We didn’t take part in it because the nursery and primary schools are too young to stand in the sun all day waiting for all the high school and upper basic schools to go. The nursery and primary schools have theirs later on, I guess. So I only heard about it but I hope to go when the other kids have theirs.
We (the community and I) spent the day at the beach! And…as many of you know, if there is one thing I love…it’s the beach. On wed we got up early for mass and then when we got home we cooked the food that we were going to take with us to eat. We made many different things since each community brings whatever they would like to feed the people in their house and then we all share. We made meat pies, nan borom ( which is rice that is pounded and made into balls and then mixed into baobob juice. I probably spelled that the wrong way but I don’t know how else to spell it) and a few other things. There is always PLENTY of food around this community and I enjoy all of the different foods I get to try. Sister Cecile and I looked through the games that they had at the house so that we could bring them and we ended up bringing a few decks of cards and some familiar board games. As we were all packing up and almost ready to go, the girls in the hostel were sad to see that they were not making the trip but they were all hanging around the house and it seemed like they were waiting for something to happen. I didn’t know why that is until the young sisters started all coming out with random “beach attire”. Sister Josaphine came out with a bright blue beach dress and a straw hat along with her beach bag, sunglasses, etc. Sister Catherine had another style of beach dress and a brimmed hat that kinda looked African. And Sister Bernadette came out wearing her head tie and a different kind of ball cap on her head, along with a t-shirt and a beach skirt. All the girls started yelling and laughing and I was in the truck at the time so I had to RUN to see what was going on. I’m not sure if that is a tradition when the sisters go to the beach or if it was a one time deal but we all had a good laugh over it all. We all packed into the truck- and I mean PACKED into the truck – and were on our way to the beach. We went to a lodge which was just north of Sr. Catherine’s home village of Kartung. I can’t remember the name of the lodge but it was really nice, very African looking. The had a really big round hall area where people could have gatherings and parties at the top of the hill just off the beach side. you can see the beach from the windows. From there, there was a path that lead down the hill to a little gate just off the side of the beach. Just before the gate, the beautiful but hot sand started. As we walked through the gate we noticed that the other sisters had already arrived and they were all sitting under a little palm hut. I was over taken with the beauty of the ocean. It was the first time I had really seen the ocean here (beside the time I went to the fish market – and it was so busy and loud). What I loved most about it was that it wasn’t busy at all. We were close to the only ones on the beach. We had miles and miles of beach all to ourselves. Well I shouldn’t say to “ourselves” since there was a herd of cattle around 100 meters away from us enjoying the beach. I’ve seen dogs, horses, and maybe even a cat or two on the beach but cows?! That’s a new one for me. We unpacked our things and the two postulants that had come – Ellen and Harriet wanted to play a little bit of football. So we took the football down to the water and we kicked it around for a bit. The sun was hot but the nice thing about being by the ocean is that there is always a cool breeze. The down side…you don’t realize that you’re getting sun burnt. I even put 50 sunblock on and at the end of the day – I was really red. I didn’t realize it until I had gone to shower and I was pretty sore. We had an awesome day. After we played football we had a bit of lunch and I saw a few new foods that I haven’t tried yet. I guess in Ghana, they make these balls – what look like dough to me – made of rice or corn and they eat it with palm oil. The sisters all love them and I tired them but for me I didn’t really enjoy it all that much. Maybe later if I try it again. There was a ton of food a we ate desert and snacked all day. The sisters played a few games and as much as I enjoy all of their company, I kinda felt like sitting by myself, so I took my book and I went out by the water to read. I spent a bit of time reading and then Sr. Gladys came to read her book as well. I’m not sure if many of you know who Sr. Gladys is but she spent 3 years in Canada – in Prince Albert to be exact. The funny thing is that I didn’t realize who she was when I first got here but she used to come to the Pharmacy in PA. After we both figured out who one another was, I could recall the times she had come into the Pharmacy. What a small world. So Sr. Gladys and I talked for a bit and enjoyed the sun and our books. It was nice to just sit and chat with her. One thing I really liked about Sr. Gladys is that I could understand her when I first got here. Since she had spent time in Canada, she knew how to say words that I understood. And it’s always good to be able to relate to someone who knows close to home.
We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and then the wind started to pick up a little bit later in the day. So we packed up our things and headed up the hill to make a bit of supper. The sisters had brought their little charcoal grill so Sr. Bibian and Sr. Bernadette grilled fish that we ate with lime and onions.
There was a group of Anne Marie Rivier Associates women who had gathered in the hall area on top of the hill who had music playing and were enjoying dancing. They invited us to go and enjoy the music and we did for a little bit. But as it got dark we decided to pack up and go home.
On our way home it started raining! We couldn’t believe it. It was the first time I had seen it rain since I got here and it was really refreshing. We unpacked the truck and since it had been such a long day I took a shower and went to bed.
They way it works in the Gambia, is that if you have a government holiday the president will declare the day after a holiday as well. The sisters all laugh and mention that we need a holiday from the holiday. But since this year it wasn’t clear because the president didn’t say anything on the news we weren’t sure if many of the students were going to come to school. So we all got up and went to mass and when we got to the school there were no children! So Sr. Odile declared that it would be a midterm break. So we took Thursday and Friday (since none of the kids would probably come since we usually only have half a day of school on Fridays). So when we got home we had some breakfast and then for some reason Sr. Odile, Sr. Cecile and I got talking about skipping and Sr. Cecile reminded me that she had a skipping video for “double dutch”. Do any of you remember what Double Dutch skipping is? I remember doing it when I was a kid, but the people on this video were experts! We watched it and tried to take a few pointers as to how to get into the ropes and then how to just skip. After we watched we went out to try…and trying is about as far as we got. Boy, it’s a lot harder than it looks! I forgot how to do it and when I went to try my memory didn’t remind me. The girls from the hostel came out and wanted to try but they hadn’t watched the video and most of them hadn’t seen Double Dutch before so they all piled into the living room and watched the video. When they first saw the people skipping faster than anyone they’d ever seen skip, there were many, “woah..”, “ah….”, “woah…”’s and it was hilarious to see their reaction. When the video finished they all got up and were so excited to see if they could double dutch and of course all of them wanted to get into the ropes at the same time. So it took some time to get organized. FatouBintou was the closest to getting in but she couldn’t do the skipping part. And none of the other girls were able to do it either. So at one point we all just gave up and skipped with one rope. I got it on video, so it’ll be interesting to watch all of them.
Other than that, I washed clothes a bit and then Saturday evening is my night to go out to Kembojeh. I always enjoy it since there is usually a good crowd and they enjoy when I come. I love that the kids all jump in the back of the truck to just ride for maybe a block. It’s not much but the excitement that they get in their voices is priceless.

I hope all is well with all of you!

In Jesus and Mary,


Jennifer