Miscellaneous Gambia Trivia

So now that I have internet in our room ... !!!  I truly want to go back and post from Ghana the rest of our visit when we got to meet with Matthew.  But I have some things from here in Gambia that are "burning a hole in my pocket", so to speak, so I want to get those posted.  Mega thanks to our daughter Laurie, who has spent hours posting for us when we could not.  She's due to deliver her new daughter soon, so we'll try to take some of the work from her.

The other day one of the staff had a fresh coconut and had whacked it apart with a machete.  We all got a piece of the fruit to eat - much better than what I expected! 

We truly are in a beautiful place right now.  Steven helped to negotiate a great rate for us, since, as he told the manager, we are helping their country by teaching these computer, business, and Bible skills.  It is really kind of a tropical paradise, at least on the surface.  The grounds are beautifully kept up, and we simply have the beauty of God's creation all around us every day.  [Still, we understand that this is NOT the real Gambia, as Steven tells us.  This is what the government wants to portray to the outside world as The Gambia!]  Here is the view from the patio of our new (internet-enabled) room, and a view of the pool.

In Indiana we have the joy of watching the leaves change color every fall.  Since Gambians, according to Steven, have just two seasons, rainy and dry, they do not have season changes as we do.  But, I noticed this the other day - palm trees changing color - green to yellow and orange!

I happened to catch this iguana crawling out of the baby pool one day as I was walking back from breakfast:

In Indiana, we use tree bark as mulch; here they use what they have in plenty: seashells!

The ocean is not too far of a walk; it is lovely to sit and watch the waves come in.  One day we were surprised to see horses on the beach:

Everything here in West Africa seems to be contained inside of compounds.  High walls, metal gates and doors, often glass shards or barbed wire on top of compound walls to keep out evil.  Inside, though, it can be lovely and peaceful.  Here is a view of the inside of SOW (the Bible College) compound, where we begin teaching computer basics tomorrow.  Yikes!  I better get busy!!