Training's almost over!

I'm considering writing this post with actual sentences. But I'll start off with some bullet points that I want to get in before, I don't know, I get trampled by a stampede of goats or something. Not that I've ever seen stampeding goats. And not that stampeding goats would be coordinated enough to open doors, but anyway:

• I'm actually writing this post after logging in to blogger, so I actually got to read people's comments! So thanks for all your comments!
• I can't remember if I already mentioned this, but Pulaar is the language where "Jam tan" (peace only) is the response to 90% of the greetings. (but all of the languages have their version of "peace only")
• I've forgotten what this last bullet point was
• Oh! I remembered: yesterday I went to a fantastic supermarket and GUESS WHAT I FOUND. Daim candies. In America, I have to go to a furniture store (a.k.a. IKEA) to find them. Actually, the second floor of this supermarket was a furniture store, so...I guess it's the same. Oh, and I bought one, of course.

Okay, lots has been going on, of course, but like I said, I'm going to attempt real sentences. I think I'll write about Ramadaan (which I've probably spelled incorrectly, so maybe I should stick with the Pulaar "lewru korka"). Nearly everyone in my village is fasting, so everything is much quieter, and there are no more bean sandwiches. I fasted for four days (Friday to Monday) for the experience (three of those days without water). So here's what a day of fasting was like for me:

• Wake up at 4:45 am and walk over to my family's house for breakfast. I had never been inside my family's house before now (usually we'll eat breakfast outside) so it was fun seeing the inside, even if I couldn't actually see the inside on account of it being night and the candle not providing a huge amount of light. I say, "Kong kong," which is what Gambians say instead of actually knocking on the door. My family tells me to come in and lets me sit on one of the two big chairs.
• Neene (mother) boils water using one of those scary gas tanks that I have been told will not explode. Baaba (father) or Tokaro am (my namesake) spreads mayonaisse on rolls of bread bought yesterday afternoon. Neene adds tea bags to the hot water.
• Neene adds powdered milk (or sometimes canned milk) to the tea, and heaping spoonfuls of sugar. Then she hands me a cup of tea and an empty cup so that I can cool off the tea by pouring it from one cup to the other.
• After I finish my tea and bread with mayo I return to my house and sleep for a few more hours. I wake up for real at 8:30-ish and get ready for lessons.
• Go to class and learn some Pulaar. Bring a bowl of the lunch I'm not eating back home with me to eat for dinner.
• Return home and nap for an hour. Then distract myself by washing clothes, helping my family pound groundnuts (which mostly is me watching in amazement), cleaning my house, studying Pulaar, watching the kids play cards, watching the kids fetch the sheep...
• At around 7:45 it's time to break fast! My family has been breaking their fast with moni, which is a porridgy type food made with coos, I believe. It's sweet and delicious and the texture reminds me of a combination of oatmeal and tapioca pearls. One night we ate it with the soured milk, which I did not like when I first tasted it weeks ago, but was delicious after fasting.
• Then we nibble on mango, dates, or cashews.
• Then we talk. Our conversational topics have included: teaching me to count to French, teaching them to count in Spanish, bringing my host brothers and a monkey to America via my suitcase, telling them I'll be going to Serrekunda for a few days
• About an hour later they bring out my dinner. I eat from a separate bowl, and I get a spoon. Dinner's have been DELICIOUS. Usually it's rice with dried/smoked fish, but lately it's been either: benichen, meatballs and rice, and most recently, really yummy fresh fish. Oh, and the lunch that I saved. I can't finish even the normal amount I usually eat, but my siblings finish it off for me.
• Then we talk some more, then I tell them I'm tired and am going to bed.
• I go to bed.

So much for replacing bullet points with actual sentences...Oh! I remembered what I forgot to write in my initial bullet points! Go here, http://ousmancham.blogspot.net/ , the blog of our fearless leader, Ian, and you will see pictures of me. I do not think I am actually facing the camera in any of them, but I am easily recognized by my bright pink hat. On the right-hand side of my blog there should also now be a box with the link. And I've just learned that Dylan's Flickr photostream, http://www.flickr.com/photos/daltoris has some photos of me facing the camera. Dylan is a trainee in my group, so some of his photos are probably of sights I have also seen.

Bye!