It's That Time of Year

I find it hard to believe that I have been in The Gambia for over five months now. Time seems to go by so fast here.  Now the holiday season is upon us. I thought it would be difficult at first to be halfway around the world from my family when the holidays came around. However, this is not a new thing for me. When I was in the Marine Corps, there were times when I was not able to go home to see my family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. So being away seems much easier this time around. So here is how I spent some of the recent holidays.

For Halloween my original plan was to watch some scary movies and enjoy some of the candy that was sent from home. However, this plan fell through quickly because I was unable to charge my laptop to watch movies. So I ended up going to a place in the village to watch a football match. After returning to my house, I decided that the next best thing from watching scary movies was to read some scary stories. So I read some short stories by H.P. Lovecraft.

I also spent Thanksgiving Day in my village, which was uneventful to say the least. However, the real celebration was that Saturday in Basse. Some of the other volunteers came and we had our own Thanksgiving feast. We all prepared a dish to contribute. I teamed up with another volunteer and we made fruit salads. We first cut a watermelon in half and cut up the insides into chunks. Then we filled our now made watermelon bowls with oranges, apples, pineapple, bananas, and of course the watermelon chunks. Other prepared dishes included yams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, dibbled eggs, fried okra, garlic bread, pasta salad, and corn. And for dessert we had no-bake cheesecake and peanut butter and chocolate pie. All of this along with the company of the other volunteers made for a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!

My birthday also passed recently. Two volunteers from nearby villages rode their bikes in to celebrate it with me. My language partner was one of them and she surprised me with a poster that she made. It said “Happy First Gambian Birthday, Bakary!” and it had some of her artwork on it. The three of us made lunch and visited for a while. We also went to a nearby bitik and got some cold sodas. It was great having them both there for my birthday. I also received a call from my mother and father, wishing me a happy birthday. It was brief, but it felt great to hear from them.

Next up is Christmas, which I have no definite plans for at the moment. I will be in the capital with the group of volunteers that I came to The Gambia with. So I am sure that we will be putting together something spectacular to celebrate.

Not a day goes by where I do not think about my family and friends back home. Yet I cannot really say that I have had any feelings of homesickness. I think a lot of it is because of the other volunteers. In a way we have become our own family. We do things together and we look out for each other. They are wonderful people and it is great to celebrate holidays with them. I cannot wait until our next celebration together.

Happy Holidays Everyone!