Friday 15th
February
Spent
the morning cooking with Grade 8 A and B which was pleasant, though
very smoky. They have no self-raising flour, so the mixture has to be
mixed for an hour to get enough air in for it to rise. The students
got to choose between woodwork or domestic science, so the class was
all female. Nearly all female. Lambo was the only boy. What a
surprise! He was in my group as well... Swear he's secretly our
stalker.
My Cooking Group
Whilst
the cakes were cooking, we went to the assembly, where we were all
congratulated on the game of musical chairs. Then we went back to the
domestic science class, and we all had some of the delicious cake. It
was great, and very filling!
Cooking Cake
There's Cake In There ^.^
There were a few teachers for domestic science; one of them had her baby with her. There's such a different attitude here- it's completely normal for the baby to go to work with her mum!
Miss W And The Baby
Went to the market for a bit, where Miss A bought prizes for tomorrow's quiz. I really enjoyed looking around the market, though I didn't buy anything. We weren't allowed to take many pictures- one man threatened to charge Eleanor D100 unless she deleted one she'd taken! (She deleted it, but he didn't realise she'd actually taken two...)
Fabric Shop
Aladdin's Cavern
Took
midday break back at the guest house. Very chilled, though tensions a
little high at points. I thought I'd lost my phone, but thankfully it
turned up in the lounge area.
Got
ready and went to the school for football; Cabot versus the FUB girls
team.
Go Cabot!
Apparently, We Won On Penalties
Miss W and I spent the whole game as 'subs', which involved
lots of chatting and looking away when they called people up to swap
them in. We also spent some time with the younger students, which was
nice.
Wearing Daisy's Glasses
After
the game we went to have tea with Gambian families! We were put into
three groups, and each was assigned a group belonging to a different
tribe. I was with Eleanor, Will, Ben, Miss W and Mr M- we went to the
house of a Mandinkan tribe.
Ida, Our Student Host
We
had a really really great evening; the (huuge) family was incredibly
welcoming and we all learnt a lot. The family was very confusing,
however; many people- aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.- live in one
compound, and I think there were some family friends as well. I was
talking to Ida, our host, about her parents living in Banjul: she's
looked after by her brother's wife. As we'd met her brother's wife, I
said 'Oh yes, Ida'; to which she replied 'No, my brother's other
wife'. So yes, very Mandinkan!
I
think we were all quite surprised by the house; the family was
obviously well-off, as they had lots of phones, wifi, flatscreen TV
etc.!
The House
We
had our dinner in a different room. It was soo
good- a combination of things including chicken yassa, bennechin and
a sort of mashed potato/egg. I've eaten waay
too much this holiday, but it's hard to resist when the food's this
good!
After
dinner we chatted more with the family, which was nice. Then we
walked back in the dark; some parts were nearly pitch black, so the
starts were very visible. It was all so beautiful.
Only
bad bit was when one of the neighbours proposed to Eleanor, then
hinted at a visa to myself. Thankfully, Mr M saved the day by
changing the conversation!
Home
and had a short discussion about our evenings; everyone had equally
fab experiences!