Never work with children and animals

The kids here love to shout out to the white visitors. They call us Toubabs. It's done in the most friendly way with a big toothy smile and a wave. There are little ones everywhere and as in most countries they love football. The smallest piece of land and a deflated ball is all they need.

One thing I am finding difficult is watching the many stray dogs on the streets. Some are in pretty good condition but others are obviously struggling. I made the mistake of making eye contact with one last week and he now follows me whenever we meet up. He's a good looking black and tan mongrel with half his tail missing. He looks up at me with his bright eyes and wags his stump as if to say "you'll look after me won't you??" I try to ignore him but as in true dog style he is loyal and looks out for me every day. The Gambians can't understand this relationship and find it outrageous that Westerners will spend £100s on their pooches and moggies. I can't help but agree with them here but I so miss having a cuddle with Dilly on the Sofa! Think I might have to bring one or two back with me.

Transport

Very few people in The Gambia own their own cars - just as well that the public transport system is affordable and efficient.



If you want to get around in Banjul you have two options. You can take the yellow and green taxis or the gelli gellis both of which act more like buses. The taxis cruise up and down the main roads picking up and dropping off passengers as they go. You can hail a taxi at any point and your journey will cost about 5 delasi ( around 10p) . You can share your journey with up to four other people.



The gelli gellis run the same kind of system but cover longer journeys. These are Volkswagen campers or similar with a selection of bench type seats fixed into the back - room for about 12 people. Both are quick and cheap. Cool ehh???

This is the class of 2010 who arrived from London on 12th August. We're mainly involved in primary teaching and will shortly be going our separate ways. Some staying in The Kombos which is the Western region and some more intrepid VSO vols heading up country. Good luck guys.

Internet access is proving to be quite a problem. I takes 20 minutes or so to get to the internet cafe from home and there may be little or no signal. The connection is also very slow - each click of the mouse can take 30 seconds. So I apologise for not replying to everyone individually. Might be sorting this out soon with a super dooper new phone.

Otherwise, West Africa is still vibrant and amazing. My mandinka is coming along nicely

Wollaroo be naadi? Wollaroo be jan.

How is the evening? The evening is here.

Learning to ride a motor bike next week. Should be interesting.

Settled in but not organised

Have arrived safely in West Africa but can't really say that I am organised. For instance, have just found this lovely internet cafe with connection after settling in at two others where the WiFi wasn't working. Was about to cut and paste my carefully worded blog but it is saved on my laptop which I don't have with me. So for now - The Gambia is colourful, noisy, hot and humid. Gambians are friendly, happy, helpful and in the main very, very poor.

I promise to be a good blogger and will try to work out how to add pictures next time.