Swear-in is tomorrow!!!

Okay, so some how I survived my language test. I had the test on Monday, and I actually had a nervous breakdown during the test. About half-way through I literally forgot everything that I learned/memorized to say, and I just sort of sat there. My instructor kept signing for me to ask questions, but I could not remember anything to save my life. Then out of no where I just started talking about my friend Amanda and her dog Adiyata Atticus Rambo Drapcho (The two middle names where my doing... I am an awesome godmother!). I just sort of said "Ning mu teerima le ti." My instructor sort of looked at me like I was crazy, but I continued to talk all about Amanda and her stupid dog. (He's a puppy right now and all he does is bite everyone.) I felt really bad after the test, but two days later I found out that I passed, so everything worked out. I really had to learn A LOT of language for this test, because I basically failed the first two tests. In fact, all three of us in my training village did horrible on the previous tests, so we all spent the last three weeks studying Mandinka non-stop. But I totally passed, and now I get to swear-in tomorrow.

So swearing in is going to be very "interesting." The Director of the entire Peace Corps is coming to tour the country, so he will be in attendence for the swearing in. Because of this, the PC is making us put on a little dog and pony show for the Dir. All of the girls in my group had matching Gambian outfits made, and we have to put on a little song and dance show. Also, because the PC Dir heard how awesome I am, he wants to meet me personally. Okay, actually I am meeting him because he is touring the country and my village is one of the stops. The girl that I am replacing did a lot of really good things, and the PC wants to show off the site. We have swearing in in the afternoon, and then a dinner at the Ambassador's house.

Never in my life has shopping been so bad!!! Today we went shopping for items for our houses, and I've never been more annoyed in my life. First, I had to buy a propane tank and a burner for the tank. A couple of us went to the market yesterday and recieved quotes for different items, so we did some bargining, and haggling. (Everyone here in Farjara speaks English, so it wasn't too hard.) I found a place with really nice burners, and I convinced the guy to drop the price. Then today when we showed up, everyone tried to get the guy to drop more, and we basically pissed him off. In the end we lowered the price a little more, but my work yesterday got us the good price. Then I went to buy paint. At this point, things were still pretty interesting. I picked two different colors of blue paint to paint my microscopic house, along with some paint brusheds and a roller. Everyone else seemed to think that we needed to buy hammers, so I thought, why not. Then I bought some random kitchen things. My favorite buy was this really krazy hand-made broom. Just think firebolt or neimbus 3000. Next, I purchased a mattress, and I had to carry it on my head across the road, and then watch the driver attempt to stack 10+ mattresses on top of the PC bus. (Totally not street legal in the US) I also bought some fabric for my curtains, and some other random odds 'n ends. In the fabric store I made friends with the shopkeeper. I met her the day before, and then today when I came back she went on and on about how we were friends (in Mandinka). She ended up giving me her phone number, and said that we were now friends. The whole experience was a little odd, but she had really nice fabrics. It's important to have friends in the right places.

Everything here is great!!! I feel really comfortable here, and half of the time I forget that I am living in Africa. Please write me tons of letters, and don't forget about my bday on Sun!!! I will be visiting Mandinaba on Saturday to meet the Director, and then I have to take a gili-gili back here to Farjara (takes about 1 hour or so, and I only have to change cars two times.) I want to try to make another trip to the office to post again (I'll try to include swearing in) and also post the handful of pics that I have. I really didn't like Kaiaf, so I really did not take too many pics. I hope that things are going well, and look for another post soon!!!