Okay, so hopefully this sending a post by e-mail works, and hopefullly
blogger doesn't decide to post it in some ridiculously unreadable font
and some horrid color. We haven't had a session yet on what is and is
not appropriate for posting on our blog, but I think mangos are fairly
safe. Oh! Unless you have an allergic reaction to their skin, which
some people do (in the US the skins are washed and waxed).
Anyway, mangoes are delicious.
Also: I have a new name! Binta Bah! I'm named after one of my host
sisters. I was secretly hoping to be named Binta. Now that I have a
Gambian name, all the children love to shout "Binta Bah!" And my
family loves to call my name too.
I've been eating bean sandwiches for breakfast, which are
fantastically delicious. It comes wrapped in a sheet of newspaper. In
German. I do not know who in my village reads German newspapers, but I
am intrigued.
I'm being immunized against loads of stuff, but I'm most excited about
being vaccinated against rabies. That's not sarcasm. No more fear of
squirrels or raccoons or oppossums, or scraggly, flea-bitten dogs with
foam dripping from their mouth! Not that I've seen any of the above.
I'm not sure I'll ever figure out how to post pictures, and I'm not
sure it would be worth the long wait on this slower connection. So
here are the photos on my camera so far:
3 pictures of a push-up lizard, which was sitting on a wall. Push-up
lizards have a more scientific name, but I do not know what it is.
They're large (maybe a little larger than my hand, excluding the tail)
and blue, with a yellow head. And sometimes they do push-ups.
1 picture of the vultures that were hanging out on a roof while I was
staying at Yuna Village Garden Resort, an eco village we were staying
at (with a pool!) for the first few days of training.
Unknown number of pictures taken of our naming ceremony. Someone else
had my camera and was taking pictures for me. I haven't looked through
the photos because I'm conserving battery power.
3 pictures of the sky at night. The stars are amazing, but
unfortunately, none of them appeared on my camera. On the bright side,
this means you can visualize these three photos exactly just by taking
a picture of a piece of black paper. But seriously, seriously, even if
everything became a complete disaster, I would stay for the sky, and
the chance to take bucket baths at night.
The bus is beeping for us.
Haa yeeso!
