I'm now settled in to my pattern of work - word has spread amongst the local community that I can fix PCs so I'm always busy rebuilding a laptop or two for school principals, staff and friends. I have also started my training courses - every Friday at 10am. So far attendance has been a little disappointing - hopefully things will improve otherwise I'll have to offer free biscuits! Friday is the best day for cluster monitors (the guys who check the performance of schools in our area) as they're usually office based - but as it's a half day due to prayers sometimes people are busy elsewhere.
We've been experiencing quite a few Internet problems in the last few weeks (hence a lack of blog posts) - it appears our 3G signal (all rural Internet use mobile phone connections) has reduced dramatically to the extent that we can't get a signal anywhere indoors. Fortunately I can get a very good signal if I sit under a tree in the car park (people think I'm being lazy) but this involves disconnecting from the network first! Today I've managed to hang the dongle from a fire extinguisher and we're all getting a good signal again. We've also just had a special box installed to securely house our network switch and Internet router. For some reason the guy who built it tried to attach it to the wall when the paint was still wet - I was underneath holding it when it slipped and landed on my head. I almost had another haircut emergency - luckily most of the paint came off when I stuck my head under a nearby stand pipe!
I'm also now a regular at our local "video club" in Soma - this isn't quite the same thing as back home. For 10 dalasi (25p) I can watch live Premier League football matches with about 50 other cheerful Gambians. Recently I watched Stoke City play Manchester United. Stoke unfortunately went a goal down quite early on (and against the run of play). When Man Utd scored the shed erupted but I kept my stony silence. Then in the 80th minute Stoke's Turkish striker Tuncay scored an absolute cracker of a goal. He curled the ball in from the edge of the penalty area just past the out stretched hands of Edwin Van der Sar! I jumped off the bench to celebrate together with a local guy five rows ahead. To my disappointment it turned out that he wasn't a fellow Potter just someone who supported anyone but Man Utd! Stoke then switched off thinking that the point was secure - in the 85 minute the Red Devils snatched their winner and I went home unhappy.
As it's Tobaski next week (for most Gambians this will be their Christmas) the office will be closed. I'll be heading down to Kombo for a week's holiday - if I get chance I'll pop into www.cocoocean.com (I've called in here before and it's very nice). When we return we only have a couple of weeks before returning to Banjul for our week-long educational conference. Christmas (which is observed in The Gambia) will then arrive the following week - before I know it we'll be in a new year. It'll be my first Christmas outside the UK - I'll be back home in early February so the turkey and Christmas pudding will just have to wait. Anyone who would like to ship-out a festive hamper is more than welcome - Marcus Briggs c/o VSO, PO Box 677, Banjul, The Gambia, West Africa (no pressure).
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