The sound of a donkey

I have heard a noise for weeks, and I could not understand what it was. At first I thought it was a bird (as Gambia is famous for all its species of birds), then I thought it was a machine or a big tap or something. Finally I heard the sound when I was at Sambas place, and he told me that it was a donkey! It was unbelievable, I had to hear and see it on youtube before I really believed him. I haven't seen any donkey making the sound yet, but hopefully I will. It is legendary! I see the possibility of this being more fun if you did not actually knew it was a donkey in the first place.. Anyway, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWS4Eu8E2z4

I am sorry for the complains in my last update. I regained some perspective yesterday and I am now positive minded again! I believe I have learned to tackle the things that were bothering me, so there will be no more complains. And the possibility of feeling a bit down while sitting in a room all day by my self, working on a computer is high no matter where I am positioned. I am going to enjoy my last weeks and not waste the time wishing to be home. I celebrated my new mood by a run this morning and I will be doing that every day from now on, which will put me in a positive circle! It also seems like I function as an entertainer for the locals when I run past them :)

Enjoy your weekend!

Data entry

There is not much going on these days actually. Wesnic and Samba do the interviews, I spend most of the time with my computer and the statistics program. Data entry is boring. I spend some time at Sambas place every day though, which I really enjoy. I have an American peace corps friend in the town and we are movie buddies as we share the interest in Hollywood movies, and not Nigerian movies which is the hit here. And I have my weekend friends in Kerewan and Soma which I really appreciate!

I have had my hair plaited. It wasn't as painful as I have been told. But I had to sit on a concrete floor for two whole days and that was painful. 

It seems like we can close the data collection in four weeks. Then Maiken will come for a week, then I will have one week in Banjul before the last group comes.  I have changed the ticket home so I will be in Norway the 6th of December :) I am still having a good time, but I can't hide that I am missing Norway and I am counting down the days. 48 days until I a am home, to be specific! Being with family&and friends, being able to cook my own food, being independent and invisible are pressuring needs at the moment. I have to say that I struggle a bit with all the attention I get. I am very happy that I will get to travel around the country with Maiken, Trond & compmany before I return home though! Binu and I have been doing some planning today and our days as tourists will be awesome! So I am really only counting down to Maiken gets here, which is in 23 short days :)

I have spent the last weekend by the coast and it was fantastic. I went with Vicky and Marcus, and we stayed with Courtney and Paul. (All are VSO's) My goal for the weekend was to eat and bring back with me, loads of western food (no rice and palm oil) and enjoy the company, which I did!

Here we have lunch at a 5 star hotel. The price for a plate was about 40 NOK, which was surprisingly cheap compared to the prize of the rooms..

Yesterday I had Vicky working full time and Courtney part time to remove the braids. Even though I washed the hair it had a weird and bad smell and I am now very happy that I only have my own hair. Thanks girls, for a great job! Especially Vicky, you're patience was amazing!

A selection of the food (and some luxury toilet paper) I brought back. The assortment in the shop here is so far away from our supermarkets at home, and also from the capital of this country. Even the variety of fruits and vegetables is limited in this part of the country, which is a pity cause in the capital part they have loads of mangoes, papaya, watermelon and everything I can imagine. I don't have fridge and no possibility to cook which makes the selection restrictive. That is how haribo as Saturday sweet, porridge for breakfast with normal milk (instead of water and milk powder), some chewing gum, soup, apples, oranges, jelly and musli bars will be my luxury for the next four weeks!

I hope everyone are having a good time! Thanks for comments on the blog and elsewhere, it makes me very happy!