Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Peace Corps The Gambia ABC's

Aparantes: baggy pants wearing dudes who try to rip you off when paying for public transit
Bumsters:  beach-residing men who have two hobbies: doing push ups and harassing white women.
Coco: my new kitten--he's frisky but kills things
Dogs: dirty, diseased, desperate for care. Breaks my heart.
Education:  the reason I'm here, and where so many problems in this country lie.
Family:  the structure may be different than I'm used to but I love my Gambian family and all they do for me.
Goats:  unintelligent and abused animals, good for a boost in protein intake around holidays, weddings, and naming ceremonies.
Husband: what men ask me if I have any time I leave my village
Intestinal issues: a normality here
Jujus: magical pouches tied around arms or waists to protect people from various kinds of harm
Kombo:  place where you can find Internet, ice cream, and beautiful beach resorts
Litter: it's everywhere, everyone does it
Mangoes: best thing about hot season. Only a couple more months to go!
Njie: my surname. We are the fearless lions of this part of the world.
Officers: police, security, immigration.  Always there to delay travel, demand to see IDs, and ask for your phone number.
Pit latrine: I definitely prefer this to the alternative here, broken toilets.
Questionable: the state of some meats I eat, the honesty of people selling you things, the quality of most goods here, and much more.
Rachel: my partner in crime.  We might as well have a joint service.
Sun: it's almost always there to fry your skin and drench you in sweat.
Toubab!: what children (and some adults) shout at white people, usually accompanied by these phrases: what is your name? how are you? Give me dalasis, minties, your bicycle, clothes, you or your friend as my wife, etc.
Ugly: what mothers ask you to call their babies.
Vegetables: I buy them for my family every week to spice up our food bowls.
Water: no tap in my house, compound or area of the village. I use my bike to fetch it from the hand pump while all the other women carry it impressive distances in buckets on their heads.
Xtreme: my team of 14 awesome volunteers who came here together in June.
Yaay: Wolof for mom. I have two of them here, YaJabu and YaPenda.
Zoo: what I feel like I'm in when I have 25+ kids gathered around me staring at whatever I'm doing.

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