Bonjour

I made it to Paris safe and sound, although very tired. I didn't sleep at all on the flight from Banjul, but I did manage to sleep for about an hour (during my 4 hour layover) in the Brussels airport (streched out across 4 chairs). So I arrived in Paris at around 10am with about 1 hour of sleep...but honestly, its not hard to stay awake in Paris on your first day.

Radiohead has a song about tourists running around trying to see all the "sites" that the tour books tell them to see, but they end up missing the important things about the city...the little things that make it unique and interesting. I think that pretty much sums up my last two days. I have been running around playing tourist, and have managed to see all the major sites. I even made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower, something I (along with Stamos, Hammond and Crater) failed to do the first time I was in Paris (due to renovations). But worry not boys...they still let you drink 1665 (or any other beverage of choice) on the streets while walking around seeing the sites! Anyway, tomorrow (my last day) I plan on taking it slow, staying away from the tourist spots and try and really experience Paris.

I wish I could post some photos but I can't connect using my computer so I can't upload any. For any of you interested I will post a few on my usual blog site (mattlisack.blogspot.com) when I get home.

The Capital City Banjul

Today I went to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. My tour guide took me around to the arch, through the streets, the beach and to the market. Here is the view from the top of the arch:

The market:

A fishing boat by the beach:

A couple kids who came up to the tour guide (Karamo) and I on the beach...they got a kick out of seeing their picture on the digital camera of themselves:

Tomorrow (Saturday) I leave for Paris at 7:00pm and arrive in Paris Sunday morning...election day...it should be an interesting time to be there. Not sure if they are covering it in America, but it is all over the news here. The hostel I am staying at has internet access so I should be able to post a few more blogs while in Paris.

Black Wine

Not much to report, just two things that made me smile over the last two days:

Yesterday, on the drive back from the embassy, the driver asks me if I'm married...I told him no, but I'm engaged. He tells me that Gambians get married very early, and sometimes they have no choice...they are set up by their parents, but if you aren't happy with the first wife, rather than cheat on that wife, you just find another one and get married again...then he told me he has 3 wives! At first I wasn't sure if he was serious or not...but he was, so I just laughed and told him that one was more than enough for me.

Then tonight, I went to dinner and ordered a Guiness, and one of the waiters looks over and says "ah, black wine". I was a little confused because Guiness isn't that strong...but then I looked at the label and noticed it was 7.5%, (and it tastes great)! Slightly stronger than the American version which is around 3.5% or 4% I think:

Anyway, today was my last full day of training and tomorrow is a half day which should be pretty easy. After work tomorrow I am going into the capital city Banjul (I am staying about 20km outside the city), to tour around a bit, so hopefully I will have some more interesting pictures tomorrow.

A Welcome Change of Pace

Today is a holiday in Africa...May Day, so I had the day off (tough life I lead...I know). Again, I went for a run on the beach, but this time it wasn't some random guy who joined me, it was a group of kids...it was pretty funny, I felt like Rocky. Later I came across some cattle walking down the beach, wish I had my camera, there was around 50, pretty strange.