Tomorrow is the big day

Okay, honestly right now I am starting to get really nervous!!! Tomorrow we are being dropped off in our training villages where no one speaks english. When meet with our instructors we will be able to speak in english, but other than that, I have to try to remember any Mandinka that I've managed to pick up over the past couple of days. Out of the 16 of us (one person has already dropped) 11 of us will be speaking Mandinka in our permanent villages. There are three of us going to my training village, and we like to call ourselves the "slow learning" group. Basically we are the people that rate ourselves the lowest, and we clearly have the most problems memorizing the language. I will be staying in Karif (or something like that) for my training. It will not be too bad because we are only staying there for like 2 0r 3 weeks, and then we are traveling to a tourist spot for a couple of weeks. Then later in March we will do the same thing again. (I know that I am missing a "we" between when and meet, but the computer would not let me add one.)

This morning we went to a farm and learned about gardening. I'm not sure how well I will do, but everyone keeps telling us that the whole process is very relaxing. We visited the Gambain National Archieves, in Banjul, the country capital. I tried to read and see as much as I could, but we really did not have a lot of time. I got a kick out of the fact that The Gambia has also managed to completely destroy their land as well. (or at least the settlers I guess.) We then visited the marketplace which there are no words for. Immediately we were swamped, and everything was really dirty. Females are supposed to wear wraps in the villages, so we all had to pick up some fabric. I ended up getting enough for four skirts (which will probably make me look like a huge jerk since I'll probably have more than most people). I'll have extra fabric, so I should be able to make some sort of bag or something like that. I also was followed by a man that kept announcing that he was my husband. We spent most of our time hiding in the fabric tent, but when we all gathered to get on the bus, things got horrible!!! We were attacked by the "bumsters" (aka men that try to sell items, and sometimes even themselves.) They all thought that we were from Europe or on vacation, and they were really annoying. One of the girls in my group gave the "nasty finger" by mistake ( when you are shaking hands with someone and you tough their palm you are basically giving them an invitation for other things), and the guy started stroking her arms until one of the older PCVs who is almost done with his two years knocked the guy's arm away. Everything was really dirty, and I really prefer the city environment where the PC office and transit house is located. It's still a city, but things are actually a lot cleaner, and the people are way less scary. The PC office is also right down the street from the American Ambassey (not spelled right).

I'm going to charge up both of my camera batteries tonight, so I can take a lot of good pictures. Get my numbers from my mom, and call me sometime if you can afford the phone card. (make sure that she gives you the AfriCell number, which is the number that I gave her when she called me on the GamCell number the other night).

I cannot believe that I've been in Africa for like six days now!!! Things are so much different than back home. Sometimes I get really nervous, but then I just think about the fact that this whole experience is so much fun and really life-changing. I got some really great pictures today in Banjul, but I did not have a chance to get to my computer to put them on a thumb drive. I wanted to make sure that I got a good spot in the computer line, so I jumped out of "the coaster" with some of the other people in my group. (The coaster is this huge, 26 passenger bus/van vehicle that the PC uses to transport us until we are out on our own.)

I'm guessing that I will be able to get to a computer when we reach Tenanbum in a couple of weeks, but I'm not 100-percent sure. This may be my last time writing for a while, so good luck to everyone. Things are going to be insane, but I'll be okay. Most of the volunteers have said that they just started to cry when they were dropped off in village for the first time, but sooner or later, things start to work out. Bye, and look for letters in the mail if you gave me your address (or if my mom did).