The Badass Factor, w/ just a hint of narcissism

Through the brilliant collage of emotion that was training it seems we have come full circle but have grown. We’ve found ourselves again in GPI waiting to swear in as volunteers. GPI is the same and this small strip of sandy Kairaba Avenue hasn’t changed but something is different. A feeling maybe, a soft sense of confidence; of what before was an unsettling anxiety has now turned into a silent optimism and familiarity. I’m still the same person that I came to the Gambia as: the strong willed, passionate, smartass I always was but now there is something more that I can’t quite touch on. It’s like I had so much space inside me, so much potential and I’ve finally started to fill all that room in. Tomorrow we swear in, take an oath to our country and ourselves… then party are asses off.

Yesterday we found out that everyone of the 15 health and community development volunteers has passed and will swear in, I personally was worried, but we made it. Every volunteer from Basse to Serrakunda has come to the Stodge for swear in. Have I explained the stodge yet? Well the stodge is something only found in Peace Corps the Gambia and not found in other Peace Corps countries. It’s literally a PCV frat house where people can stay for 60 some Dalasis a night while they are in the capital doing work. It is the site of many nights of drunken debauchery and making bad decisions. There’s TV where we watch all the DVD’s of tv shows sent from home and movies, a library of books that are passed through the PC grapevine, and two floors of rooms full of bunk beds and mosquito nets. Toilet paper is worth it’s weight in gold there and the bathrooms for some reason have an extra toilet for washing who knows what called a bidet. Damn French. After a few nights in the stodge due to the influx in PCVs in the capital we’ve been moved back to GPI till we go back to site. It’s very nostalgic as I described earlier and it sucks to think we had 2 more people in our group then. But life goes on slowly slowly, thus is the Gambian way.

Being here now with a knowledge of local languages it’s effect on the way people treat you is more than noticeable. Even though I still know my knowledge of Mandinka is far from fluent, when people hear me tell them in their native language I’ve only been here 2 months they think I’m a genius. It’s a big moral booster. And the respect that you gain by merely being able to do a full Gambian greeting is immeasurable. Language is so so important and I pray that on my own I can still advance my Mandinka. Plus it’s a huge help in haggling. They’ll give you their daughters hand in marriage for less than a butut. Our haggling skills had to come in handy today as we were giving our swearing in allowance to buy things for our huts. Beds, mattresses, gas burners for cooking, and paint to do a little decorating, I’m going to do my walls Pollack style.

It’s important to make your house your home here. Some days here the world may seem to collapse upon you and your home has to be your refuge and your escape. So yes for those of you who know me you know exactly how my house will end up looking (pictures to come), maps everywhere with soccer and animal posters on the walls. In the peace corps during your first few months in service we have what they call the “3 Month Challenge”. Technically I’m not allowed to leave my site for 3 months, but due to certain circumstances I really find it necessary to keep in touch with my family via e-mail, if not for my family for my own sanity. Honestly though I am super excited for 3 month challenge, painting my house, and getting to know my village. Wish me luck.

At swear in we’re going to be required to put on a skit for the director. That skit we’ve decided to contain a spoken word dancing and drum melody. It’s going to be interesting. An amazing part of it though is a beautiful poem/spoken word that another guy in our group wrote in training village that will start off the presentation. It paints a picture of life here in the Gambia is incredibly powerful and needs no introduction:

When the sun goes down in Africa
The Song of Gambia begins to sing.
And I ask myself, “With Bald Eagle’s Wings,
What harmonies can I bring?
What melodies can I sing?
If anything…”
“Domanding Domanding,” I’m told.
But here, our drums beat fast.
And will those same syncopations
Create relations like they did in our past?
And will they last?
We’ve learned that every chord progression
Consists of chord changes.
So we should never diminish, not even half-diminish
Any major or minor exchanges.
Though in all our arrangements we try to add the sustainable fourth,
We can’t forget the source, that sweet Gambian melody that came before.
With each note that we play and each word that we say,
We want our showmanship to display.
But hey…today…today…
I know in my soul, with the rhythm of our flow,
There’ll be no lyrical stuttering
No mandinka muttering
Just the smooth groove of the Peace Corps band,
Lending a helping hand,
Sweet as Tendaba bread and buttering
Uttering words unfathomable to some, but commonplace to us
Because playing the songs of the world is not a should, but a must.
-Alex Choy