Three day weekend

The new Gambian working week started on Friday 1 February - a policy decision that made it on to the BBC news! The new working hours have had a mixed reaction. My personal response is 'amazing... a three day weekend is the stuff dreams are made of' but perhaps my more professional response is along the lines of 'erm... what's this going to do for the economy and how will it affect the people of The Gambia?'. 

Time will tell how this all works out, but in the meantime having Friday off was a huge relief as I was shattered after being on trek! I relaxed through the day and caught up with myself, which left Saturday and Sunday free for maximum weekend enjoyment! On Saturday Nicola, Helen and I went to Caramel for coffees and cake, which felt like a very indulgent treat. 

After that we went to Senegambia craft market - Helen had put in a bumper order for leather bags with a well known and very popular leather worker on the market. Unfortunately, he passed away the other week, and so we went to offer our condolences and find out whether Helen's stuff had been completed. While there I fell instantly in love with a leather bag which I purchased on the spot - apart from material this is the first thing I have really bought myself while I have been here, and I felt very frivolous - but am really pleased with the bag. Photos to follow! 

We managed to extract ourselves from the market (harder than you would think when people are physically leading you into their shops by the hand) and walked through Senegambia to the beach. We walked all the way back down to Leybato, with slightly less hassle than last time - although we were all in really happy moods so perhaps we just dealt with it better! No sign of Skinny Boy, Hot and Spicy, or Freaky - three of the many people we met on our last walk. 

We all hadn't seen each other for a week, and so the whole day was spent deep in conversation - it was lovely! 

On Sunday we were supposed to go to a leaving BBQ for Bea, Ed and Alex. Unfortunately Helen's key broke in her lock and she had to wait in all day for the carpenter to come. It felt mean to leave her as a prisoner in her own home, so we waited in with her and made sandwiches, raided through the belongings that Bea and Ed are leaving here, and downloaded music and films from each other. We also played with Alieu and Rohay - the two children from her compound - who had put on their best clothes to join us (I think they thought we were having a party like we did at Christmas and they did not want to miss out!)

All in all it was a lovely, relaxed and settled weekend - one where I felt completely at home. As we near the five month mark it's amazing to reflect back on how relaxed and happy I feel here.