Well, once again things changed from the last time I wrote. I have now moved houses; I live much closer to work now, it is only a 5-10 minute walk so that is definately nice! The new place is nice; only one bedroom but it has a nice sitting room, the kitchen is inside the house and the shower/tub is interesting to say the least! The place needs a little work but now that I know I am not moving again I can finally start to settle in. The compound is very nice, they have a maid who will apparently clean my house on occassion and she does my laundry which is very convienent! But I think my favorite part about the house is how close I am to the beach! It is a little bit of a walk but I always go with Ahmad, my landlords son, so we go through all the back roads which is nice to see because I would never walk them myself for fear of getting lost. The beach is definately my favorite place so far; we have gone twice in the last couple of days and I would probably spend every waking minute there if I could. It is soo beautiful; not like any other beach I have ever seen and if you walk in the opposite direction of the hotels which are further down the beach, it is soo quiet. You might see one or two people walking along but for a long time we were the only ones there; I'm not sure I've ever seen a beach like that before. Definately a good place to go and relax; I got some good pictures yesterday so I will possibly try and post them on facebook soon...but we'll see...no promises.
Things on the work front are not too exciting at the moment; I spend a good portion of my day playing cards on the computer; I'm sure that's not what they intended the computer for but when you won't give me anything else to do, what else can you expect. Apparently I arrived during the slow time of year so there isn't much going on and people have been out of the office alot, especially this week. People occassionly give me things to do when I harass them but it usually doesn't take very long and they are always amazed at how quickly I finish. Let's just say the Gambian work ethic is MUCH slower than in North America; everything must be democratic, 12 people have to approve everything that goes out and if one thing related to a project cannot be completed, all other work seems to stop but I have been told that they are much more efficient than many other NGOs in The Gambia so I guess that is just something I will have to get used to. I also love how everyone just shows up when they please; the work day is supposed to start at 8am and finish around 4, people usually show up around 9ish, something that would NEVER fly in Canada! Apparently there is a VSO volunteer that will be coming at the end of September so it will be nice to have some company around the office and I guess we will be able to start some of the joint projects when she arrives.
It's been kind of a slow week; it's been raining alot and the power keeps going out which is why I haven't been bothering with the internet. But it's sunny today so hopefully that is a sign of good things to come! Well I guess that's about it for me.
From the Smiling Coast of Africa,
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