Birthday Parties and shopping, shopping, shopping

On Thursday, we spent the evening at a 4 year old's birthday party.  Juma's son Muhammad invited us to celebrate with them.  I was intrigued to see how a kid's birthday party here differed from back home since we've been told that most people here don't even know their birthdays and don't celebrate them at all.  However, we were pleasantly surprised at how similar it was.  There were a ton of kids there! We had this grand idea to play musical chairs with them since it's a game that doesn't take much explaining, but everyone loves it.  It was a hit! We had so much fun with them.  There was this one little boy named Musa who was decked out in a suit and tie with Timberlands- So cute! We were crazy about him and took too many pictures.  After playing for a while, Juma's wife brought out suckers and balloons, which the kids loved.  Dinner was served shortly after, which was sort of a seafood stew.  There were full crabs in it! It definitely was not what I was expecting for a meal at a 4 year old's party.  They had meat pies, a kind of pound cake, and baobab juice.  We had so much fun that we were some of the last adults to leave!  Afterwards, a few of us headed over to Gateway, the one place around here with the prepackaged processed food Americans love, and picked up some ice cream to go with the cake we had bought for Ana's birthday.  When we got back to the lodge, we sang to her and she blew out a lighter (to replace a candle).  She said it was her best birthday yet!
On Saturday, we got up early to head to Serekunda for the day.  We had been told that it was more of a touristy area so we should be more careful with our bags and money while there.  We looked like such toubabs carrying our backpacks on the front.  Saturday was by far the hottest day we've had yet! It was so humid that we were all drenched from head to toe. Ebrima accompanied us for the day and showed us all around the market.  He was excited to show us the meat market. We were not excited to see it.  I caught one glimpse of the fly-covered, unrefrigerated slabs of meat covering the counters and a whiff of the odor before I decided I would wait outside.  The most common purchases of the day were waist beads.  They are these elastic beaded jewelry that women commonly wear around their waists.  When I first asked Ana about hers, she laughed and totally looked suspicious, so of course that made me want to know even more.  Awa explained that "the men like it".  Our group thinks it's absolutely hilarious. I'm pretty sure just about every girl in our group bought some- just for the fun of it.  I guess it's the closest thing they have to cultural lingerie and we weren't about to miss out on something so uniquely Gambian.  The highlight of the day was definitely the "proper supermarket" we had been hearing about.  We were not leaving Serekunda before checking it out.  Turns out it was Air Conditioned, had a fully stocked alcohol section (which you NEVER see), and had plenty of refrigerated drinks.  We were ecstatic!
After spending the day shopping, sweating, and getting sunburned, we headed to a naming ceremony.  Ebrima's wife Isatou had a family member who was holding a naming ceremony in Serekunda and invited us to go. We enjoyed great company and great food!
Today it poured all morning long, so we are just having a lazy day reading books and praying for a break in the rain to do some laundry.  Tomorrow I will start my rotation in the HIV/Hands on Care unit.  I can't wait to see what's in store at the hospital this week!
love you and miss you all!
-Morgan