Monday, July 2, 2012

Sunday is for Football

This past Sunday (yesterday), I played in a village friendly soccer match with some of my fellow Crossroaders and young people from Banjulunding. It was tough to keep up with the fast-paced game, not only because we were playing with a few players from the Gambian professional league, but because the soccer field was more of a beach. Running on sand is much more difficult than running on grass. Nevertheless, the Gambians were very generous with the ball and made sure that we had our chances to kick the ball and be a part of it. We started off slowly and by the end of the first half we were behind, 1-0. In the second half, one of our pro players took over and scored (rather easily) a goal from outside the box. Later on in the half, I received a cross from the right side and somehow managed to put my left foot on the ball, sending it past the keeper on the far post for a goal. I blame luck, not skill, for that one. Regardless, it put me in a great mood. We ended up winning 3-1 (with the help of a few calls our way at the end), and were exhausted afterwards. After a brief three-hour nap, we went to our friend Sambou's house and watched the final of the UEFA Euro cup. I was rooting for Italy (because Spain always wins), but of course Spain annihilated Italy and that was the end of it.


Today was another day of firsts for me at the health center, as I was put to work in the "pharmacy" section. In reality, this was just a table with a bunch of pill bottles on it, but it was fun to decipher the prescription in terrible handwriting (as always), count the pills, and put them in a little paper cone for the patient to take home with him. I even learned a few now-forgotten commands in Mandinka that tell the patient to take two pills in the morning, afternooon, and at night.

In the evening, I visited the monkey park and the beach in Senegambia, one of the "touristy" areas of the country. This was amazing, and we got to see many monkeys in the trees. Unfortunately, I am inept at making the camera function properly in low light, so many pictures came out blurry. The beach was incredibly beautiful, and it was quite remarkable to be on the other side of the Atlantic. Connecticut, home, is just across the way...


I realize I've been lacking in uploading pictures to the blog, so here are a few choice photos to let you get an idea of the country in which I've spent the last week and a half:

 Above: Our house with a few people out front. We occupy only the left side of the house.


 Above: Two youngsters, Kaybah and Dadi, play with a hoop after some rainfall.


 Above: Some front squats at the local gym. The weights are all old car parts and are quite heavy. 


Above: Lamin and I before the second day of work at the health center. In my defense, this was really early in the morning.


Above: The labor ward at the health center.


Above: A few blurry monkeys at the monkey park

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