Teaching - with a side of monkeys

Ah what a great time I'm having out here.

We received a group of volunteers from the UK who were here for a week to help build the wall for the school garden. This would allow the kids in the school to learn about agriculture (agriculture is what most of the kids will end up doing so being fully educated to make the most of there crops is vital!).

I have truly enjoyed helping Musa make their stay here brilliant. We've had fabulous music sessions in the car (so many of the songs here sound almost identical), we have seen monkeys (they are awesome!), seen crocs (felt like I could be a bit like the crocodile hunter when I touched one) and two people from the group even helped out in my class which was brilliant! 

When the guys arrived on Wednesday we took them to the fish market! Now I'm not a fan of the smell of fish but while I've been here I've had barracuda, shrimp and even lobster - how fancy and adventurous of someone who wouldn't go anything fishy unless in finger form! I love the boats that line the beach. Watching and helping the boats come in with their catch is great fun. The boats are also so beautifully painted (The Gambia is not a country that lacks colour). The Portland boys also found some Gambian kids who were drawn to the sight of a football so it was a great laugh and a good start to their stay here.

Now let's talk about monkeys...Who doesn't love monkeys? As a kid I was very monkey-like as I would go to the park not to use the climbing frames but to climb the trees. The monkey park was phenomenal. We had bags of peanuts and the monkeys went crazy for them (or you could say they go nuts). Then one of them came on my shoulder to get some peanuts. It was sooooo cutteeeee (I also got a selfie with a monkey...no biggie)

The group also enjoyed to go to the pool after a hard day of working so that meant I've had lots of opportunities to lie in the sun... Starting to look brown!! The hotel with the pool we use also has some amazing wildlife. They have vultures, monkeys and lizards everywhere. Here a picture I got of a monkey on the way to the toilet the other day (he's just chilling). 

CROCODILES was the next thing we went to go see. In the middle of a normal Gambian neighbourhood there is this crocodile park. They let you touch them! Don't be worried - they are very dosile in the heat (well that's what the guide told us anyway). We were able to get so close! It was fascinating. I loved how they hold there mouths open when it's hot... 

So, while we visited some of the wildlife  we also experienced some Gambian art by doing sandpainting and batik. Sandpainting is done with glue and different coloured sand. Batiq is a cloth with candle wax and then they are dipped into dye. My attempts were dreadful... But it was good fun! 

One evening Musa took us to the beach to do some night fishing! Though the fishing was unsuccessful we were however highly successful in building a fire on the beach. Was lovely to sit around, talk, dance and sing. I love the heat of a fire and could stare into the burning embers forever. Really good evening!

The best thing about this week has been the company. The guys from Portland were brilliant to be with and their amazing personalities were a blessing. Score and bubba (two Gambians) have also been absolutely awesome! Looking forward for the next group to come in a couple of weeks. The next few days I am teaching. Also I'm spending time with Musa and with some people who are in The Gambia to help improve the maternity wards and they are working in partnership with ARC. 

Will post soon. Going to dedicate a post to teaching in The Gambia soon so look out!