(Typed and submitted on Sunday, June 15, 2008. Dates and times reflect actual writing of post.)

I slept poorly. I think the Lariam and the strange place combined to make me anxious all night. The night sounds are different here. The animals make the same sounds, but the grumbles and gurgles of the hotel are nothing like those of Happy Camp. The water runs inconsistently and decided not to work when I wanted a shower last night. I went to bed covered in sweat and DEET. Lying in my bed at dawn, I heard the trickle of water in my bathroom plumbing, and I decided a shower was as good a reason to end a restless night as any. The water pressure was too low for a shower, so I took a bucket bath. I am becoming a master of water conservation.

I am sitting in the doorway of my balcony. If I stand up, the kids in the neighboring compound with see me and shout. Seated, I can watch them play while the women work. The neighborhood animals are playing too in the cool of the early morning.

The Gambia is steadily becoming less strange. I am beginning to see it as simply a place where people live. Eventually, I may even see it as home.