After a beautiful sunset flight from Homer to Anchorage I can finally sit and get a post up on this new blog! Red-eye flight #1 awaits. First to Chicago, then an 8-hour layover, then another red-eye to Brussels, then a 7-hour layover, then 6.5 more hours to Banjul, arriving Thursday night in The Gambia. Luckily my brilliant friend Jessica in Chicago has offered nap and shower as the first order of business. Brussels layover will be spent with Hilde (a friend of my Grandpa Beggs), whom I've never met - we connected last year when Grandpa died.
Gambian coincidences abound, even in the frozen north. At our annual youth exchange training in January I met another counselor who's from none other than - The Gambia. She had me over to dinner at her home in Anchorage a couple weeks ago when her sister was visiting from The Gambia with her three children. Turns out she works right down the road from me in Fajara! The extended family is all there too and now I have numbers for mom, two sisters and two brothers of my new adoptive family. There are a hundred Gambians in Anchorage - who knew? Along with a dinner of benechin, I sampled baobab fruit juice being prepared for the bi-weekly Muslim prayers (hosted that week by their cousin). It's an interesting fruit that dries right on the tree - the sections are about the size of a garlic clove.
Leaving Homer has been mostly relaxed, thanks to my three weeks off due to minor periodontal surgery. I got my house turned over for new tenants and managed to have daily lunch and dinner dates with friends that allowed for quality time together rather than a big party. Just my style. Rooming with a favorite neighbor up the road also made the time especially fun. Throw in a final marimba concert, a perfect cross-country ski marathon and three weeks of non-stop sunshine and you have a pretty good Homer send-off! (okay, twisting my knee in the ski marathon was a bummer, but it's getting better... maybe if I hadn't chosen to ski another 16km on it....)
Gambian coincidences abound, even in the frozen north. At our annual youth exchange training in January I met another counselor who's from none other than - The Gambia. She had me over to dinner at her home in Anchorage a couple weeks ago when her sister was visiting from The Gambia with her three children. Turns out she works right down the road from me in Fajara! The extended family is all there too and now I have numbers for mom, two sisters and two brothers of my new adoptive family. There are a hundred Gambians in Anchorage - who knew? Along with a dinner of benechin, I sampled baobab fruit juice being prepared for the bi-weekly Muslim prayers (hosted that week by their cousin). It's an interesting fruit that dries right on the tree - the sections are about the size of a garlic clove.The first taste! ...and it's time for my next flight. I'll sleep in my exit row seat with visions of alpenglow on Spurr, with Denali & Foraker in the distance. Next post from The Gambia!
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| bye bye fair Alaska! |
Looking forward to hearing your next adventures :-) Great to have the contacts made already!!
ReplyDeleteSafe travels Heather, and I look forward to reading your adventures and seeing you again someday soon.
ReplyDeleteYahoo! I can't wait to read more!
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