For anyone who wants to mail me anything, my address is

Hannah Ross-Suits, PCV
US Peace Corps
PO Box 582
Banjul, The Gambia
West Africa

It's supposed to take about three weeks to get from the US to Gambia, but there's a designated week in which they pass out mail stuff. Training has been going well; we leave tomorrow for our training villages. We'll be put with host families and they'll have a naming ceremony where they give us Gambian names (they dress us up, make donut-like snacks, and pray over us).

We've gone on a few field trips--one to the local mosque and one to the crocodile pond. I can say now that I have petted a crocodile, but it was way tame so it wasn't as thrilling as I thought it would be. They're all over the park so we had to step over a couple as we were leaving. I also saw the biggest fattest and surpisingly gray spider on the wall of a museum. The body was slightly smaller than my palm and with the legs it was easily as big as my hand. Ewwwwwwww. We went to market yesterday and I bought some pretty fabric to make a Gambian outfit for myself (well, for a tailor to make one for me) complete with skirt, shirt, and headress. Unfortunately, the computers in the PC office don't recognize my camera so I can't upload photos. I may have to ask for another card later on down the road if I can't figure a way to upload pictures. Today, we went to visit one of the local schools. Oh my gosh Mom, it's so sad. The classrooms have about fifty kids in them, and the teachers aren't as well trained so they teach by writing on a chalkboard rather than doing things like labs, and there's no sort of practical application at all, so the kids just memorize. That's the kind of stuff I'll be working with.

I'm very excited to be leaving for a new place. The Gambians who have been teaching us are soooo friendly, and I'm starting to get used to being sticky all the time. I take two bucket baths a day--Gambians can take up to four. I've been washing my clothes out of a bucket as well, and mending small tears in my skirts. I feel very self-efficient. Yay! However, despite bug repellent, the mosquitos are eating my alive. I have an anklet on my right ankle of bites, and they are all over my feet. I will be surprised if I don't get sick. The Lariam they give us for malaria has given me some funky dreams, and I don't usually remember my dreams.

~Hannah :-)

My first two days in Gambia. Woot woot!

Salaammaaleekum!

I have spent only two days and three nights here, but it feels like I've been here forever, and not in a bad way. I really enjoy it here. The weather is quite warm--between 85-95 F--and muggy all the time. Surprisingly, even though this is the rainy season, it hasn't rained yet. It's been quite sunny.The plane rides from Philadelphia, then Brussels were so long (7 hours each), and I didn't sleep on either of them. When we landed in Dakar, we were held up because the small plane in front of us had crashed due to the front wheels not coming down. No one was hurt, but we spent about an hour on our plane waiting for everything to be cleaned up. After that, the pilot told us it would be another two hours so he arranged for us to at least wait in the airport. We deboard the plane, are bussed to the airport, go through security, then let back out onto the buses to board the plane because the crash has now been cleaned up. Welcome to Africa. So, we got in late, but there was a group of people welcoming us and we made it out to our current location--the Gambian Pastoral Institute (GPI)--around 9:30. They fed us then let us head to bed.

We have dorms right now with showers and sinks, a closet, two beds, and a small desk. Bathrooms are located down the hall, and there are at least three different water coolers (cold water is the most amazing thing ever). We are fed four times a day (three meals and tea time), and have sessions on diversity, Gambian and American perceptions, and good stuff like that. The days are a bit long since my roommate and I like to wake up at 6:30 and we don't usually get to bed until 10 or 11.We're located on the outside of Banjul right now, but on Friday we'll move out to our training villages. I'll be at Saare Saamba because I'm learning Wolof. The village is located very close to the Southern Senegalese border but we are not to cross the border, and it's the village furthest away from Tendaba camp, so when we go there for technical training we get to ride in a taxi rather than bike in. Saare Saamba is also the cleanest village in the entire country and receieved an award from the president because of that. We will be rotating between our villages and Tendaba on a weekly basis, so that we have time to work on our language skills as well as technical training.

Last night there was a gathering of older volunteers, so we had the chance to meet the other sectors (Health Extension and Agriculture/Forestry). The people I talked to were great, and there are gatherings of volunteers throughout the year, so I feel better about perhaps being far away from the city. Most people have cell phones (they call them mobiles), but they are a bit expensive to use for calling. They receieve calls for free, however. If I get a mobile (depending on where I am stationed), I won't get it until swearing in, which is scheduled for September 15. As I am learning Wolof, I will probably be located on the North Bank or in the Central region of the country, so I could either be quite close to Banjul, or really far away. I asked to be a village, but I also asked to be located close to another volunteer. Today we have off, so I woke up early enough to go to the Peace Corps office and get to the computers before anyone else. A bit later we will be going to the beach, and we have language homework and reading to do for training. I also need to wash clothes (in a bucket), and I'll probably take a bucket bath sometime in the afternoon (we have fully capable showers, but my roommate and I want to practice bucket baths while we still have a good source of water. Once we get to the training villages, it's wells for water and pit latrines). I'm really excited to be here--the people are very friendly and call us toubabs (too-bob, white person). The kids like to come up and touch our skin, and most people smile really big when we practice our language skills--I've gotten the "silly toubab" look I don't know how many times. Greetings are extremely important here, so the focus of our language training thus far has been directed at that.

Okay, someone else needs the computer so I'll say good-bye for now.

Be ci kanam!