I am so terrible at this blogging business! Well I'm going to blame it on the hecticness of my schedule. Work has been crazy insane lately; I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. There are about a million programs all going on at the same time right now and trying to keep them all straight is just a task in itself. I have been busy organizing my training that is happening on Wednesday; overall the planning went pretty well but I have to say there were definitely a few gliches. Everything seems to have worked itself out now though so I'm just praying that Wednesday comes and goes without any major problems. Because everyone in the office is so busy people have been throwing odds and ends at me to complete. For example, on Thursday on the Programme Officers informed me that she is supposed to be attending an Annual general meeting on Friday for an AIDS Network organization but couldn't attend because she had a presentation to give at a training workshop so that somehow means I got to go and represent CPA. The organiztion is currently in the process of creating and adopting their constitution so everyone was given the constitution to read in advance and make comments on. I did this (the night before because that's when I was told about this) and was expected to go and make comments on behalf of CPA. This could mean one of two things; it could mean that they trust me a great deal to represent them appropriately or that I was the only one available to go and they didn't really care about the meeting so they weren't bothered with who they sent as long as someone attended. I'd like to think it's the first one. I have to say that it was an interesting experience; people spent ages aruging over things that didn't really matter in the least and it went on for ages!! People spent ages arguing about certain things that I thought were obvious and when I explained what i was thinking there were a lot of "ohhh's and hmmmm's and some yes I suppose people do travel don't they?" Overall it was an interesting experience but I'm really glad I didn't have to stay until the end because I had another meeting to attend. It's been a crazy couple of days! On top of all this I've been trying to get the second newsletter for the year out. I've managed to convience them to extend the deadline until tomorrow...it's nearly done but not quite there. In the midst of all this my training workshop was yesterday and it went very well; I think I did quite well for the first time. I'm just really glad it's over but now I have to write the report...god I really hate writing reports...they are the bain of my existence!!
Haven't had time for much relaxing lately so there aren't many stories to share other than other work related but on Sunday I went to the pool to spend a couple of hours relaxing; it was very nice. Hopefully there will be some good relaxing this weekend to make up for the last couple of weeks.
Anyway, I'm going to sign off before the power goes off. I actually wrote this post on Sunday but the power went off while I was in the middle of writing (surprise surprise) so I apologize if some of it doesn't make sense but I wanted to post again so nobody gets worried about me going missing! Hope all is well wherever this may find you!
Until next time,
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Welcome to Winter in The Gambia!
Well it's finally November and you can tell winter is coming!! Certainly not the winter I'm used to but definately winter for The Gambia; apparently winter starts near the end of November but it's already starting to cool right down by around 5 or 6 in the evening and I LOVE it!!! It's still hot during the day but not as hot as it used to be so I'm very happy...can you tell?!?!
Life has been moving along; work is picking up a fair bit now, money from the donors finally came in so there is actually work to do! There are so many activities on the go for November and December as well as people traveling outside The Gambia for trainings and workshops; I truly dont' know how everything is going to get accomplish....or accomplished properly I should say but I know that they will manage, they always do. There are going to be a couple of trainings upcountry as well so I'm hoping I will get taken along for the ride. There is one coming up at the end of November and it looks like I'll be spending my Birthday in Bansang (actually it will probably be spent on the road); it will be an interesting way to celebrate turning a quarter of a century!
I'm also very excited because on Friday one of the Programme Officers asked me to implement one of her trainings. Of course I won't actually be running the training but I get to do all the planning and logistics; basically everything from finding and confirming the venue and planning the activities for the day, choosing and inviting the resource persons and so on. I suppose it sounds a little crazy to be excited about such a thing consider it will probably be a lot of work considering everything else that is going on at the same time but this is the first time in 3 months that I'll actually be learning something useful!
Well enough about work, I've spent most of the weekend so far just relaxing; I will probably go to the market tomorrow to check out some fabric...I love being able to pick out fabric and take it to the tailor and make anything I want for a relatively cheap price! Then I'll probably spend the rest of the day lounging by the pool or maybe taking a stroll along the beach. Spent all last weekend at the beach; myself and a few of the VSOs went to Kartong. Kartong is a beach "town"that is just near the Senegalses border, it is approximately 2 hours from where I live by public transit. One of the girls had a couple of tents borrowed from the British High Commission so we set up the tents on the beach and camped out under the stars. Sounds a little cliche but it was beautiful; the beach certainly isn't as beautiful as some I've seen but it was very nice, you could see thousands of stars and the moon was so bright that you could walk around the beach and didn't need a flashlight. Even during the day the beach was totally deserted, it was just the four of us...and the guy who wanted to marry me but that's besides the point. It was a very nice way to spend the weekend; went back to work on Monday a little burnt but very relaxed!
Well I guess that's about it for now....I am currently working on uploading some photos onto facebook; it seems that it is a very slow process but there are a few there and I will try to add some more. Anyway, I hope this note finds everyone well.
Take Care and Until Next Time,
Life has been moving along; work is picking up a fair bit now, money from the donors finally came in so there is actually work to do! There are so many activities on the go for November and December as well as people traveling outside The Gambia for trainings and workshops; I truly dont' know how everything is going to get accomplish....or accomplished properly I should say but I know that they will manage, they always do. There are going to be a couple of trainings upcountry as well so I'm hoping I will get taken along for the ride. There is one coming up at the end of November and it looks like I'll be spending my Birthday in Bansang (actually it will probably be spent on the road); it will be an interesting way to celebrate turning a quarter of a century!
I'm also very excited because on Friday one of the Programme Officers asked me to implement one of her trainings. Of course I won't actually be running the training but I get to do all the planning and logistics; basically everything from finding and confirming the venue and planning the activities for the day, choosing and inviting the resource persons and so on. I suppose it sounds a little crazy to be excited about such a thing consider it will probably be a lot of work considering everything else that is going on at the same time but this is the first time in 3 months that I'll actually be learning something useful!
Well enough about work, I've spent most of the weekend so far just relaxing; I will probably go to the market tomorrow to check out some fabric...I love being able to pick out fabric and take it to the tailor and make anything I want for a relatively cheap price! Then I'll probably spend the rest of the day lounging by the pool or maybe taking a stroll along the beach. Spent all last weekend at the beach; myself and a few of the VSOs went to Kartong. Kartong is a beach "town"that is just near the Senegalses border, it is approximately 2 hours from where I live by public transit. One of the girls had a couple of tents borrowed from the British High Commission so we set up the tents on the beach and camped out under the stars. Sounds a little cliche but it was beautiful; the beach certainly isn't as beautiful as some I've seen but it was very nice, you could see thousands of stars and the moon was so bright that you could walk around the beach and didn't need a flashlight. Even during the day the beach was totally deserted, it was just the four of us...and the guy who wanted to marry me but that's besides the point. It was a very nice way to spend the weekend; went back to work on Monday a little burnt but very relaxed!
Well I guess that's about it for now....I am currently working on uploading some photos onto facebook; it seems that it is a very slow process but there are a few there and I will try to add some more. Anyway, I hope this note finds everyone well.
Take Care and Until Next Time,
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