Regularly posting a blog: It's not easy

So, I realized today that it's been more than two months since I've posted a blog. I have plenty of excuses for this, but mainly they are

I'm lazy.

It's hot. *

I've been here so long nothing surprises me anymore. **

I've been here so long everyone nothing surprises anyone else anymore.

I'm not 100% sure that anyone actually reads this.

It's Ramadan. ***

and....

It's not easy.



* Heat is a pretty standard excuse here, which is almost always followed by the phrase "It's not easy." Actually, any excuse here is followed by "It's not easy." Example: "Computa, it's not easy." or "To get a Visa, it's not easy."

** I walked into a bathroom the other day and saw a giant snail eating a roll of toilet paper. What surprised me the most was the fact that there was a roll of tp.

*** Ramadan started August 1st this year. It will end some time at the end of the month depending on the moon. When people break their fast at sundown, they normally eat bread. That means huge lines at the bakery in the big town. People wait for hours just to buy bread. Ramadan is a month of no food, water, smoking, sex, or any other form of enjoyment during the daylight hours. For muslims, it is a reminder that there are people in the world that are going hungry or being deprived of pleasure. This makes them more likely to give alms, which is one of the 5 Pillars of Islam. I urge you to go to wikipedia to learn the other 4. 

I myself have not been fasting. Every day Gambians will ask "I sunta?", which means "Did you fast?". I usually say something along the lines of I'm too scared to fast. But really, just I enjoy eating. I have fasted a couple times, and I think that's all experience I need. On a gele the other day, the apparante (driver's assistant) was falling asleep on the job because he was tired from fasting. I joked with the other people in the car that he wasn't interested in making money. Joking back he asked me if I was fasting. I sheepishly said no, and then agreed with him that "It's not easy". Which in this case is actually true.

--Junkung Ceesay