Y’all, I am certainly not in Kansas Croydon anymore, but somehow surviving.

Even managed to survive leaving the compound where I’ve been staying and going for a walk ALL BY MYSELF  and not getting lost (it was only along a main road. And I should confess that I didn’t even cross over the road – I'm not used to the traffic yet, its a little fluid and I'm a massive coward – but the point is  THAT I SURVIVED). SO COME AT ME WORLD I CAN DO ALL THE THINGS.

I have also managed to survive:

• Wearing nearly all my clothes on the flight over.

  

• The abject horror of realising that in my haste to get ready I’d forgotten about The First Shave of Spring – cue unveiling werewolf legs when I eventually removed some layers before landing in the tropics.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Deciding that I wanted to go home before I’d even left the country. Thanks be for friends who know the right thing to say at the right time, even at 6.28am on a Thursday:

  

• Jumping a mile every time I think some spawn of satan insect has landed on me –  so far, its just been my very over active imagination and the anti-histamine cream remains in its box. Praise be.
• Drinking tea with powdered milk. Yeh.

Sign me up for The Island because I am clearly a #survivor. All this survival has been immensely aided by:

• Your amazing love and support (the crying emoji is my favourite right now because of you). For reals, thank you for your cards, texts, hugs, financial support (there's still time: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rachel-holmes), well wishing and even poetry. My people are amazing.

• No jet lag. The Gambia is in the same time zone as the UK - though because of BST is an hour behind.
• A Sunday Roast after church today. Followed by apple pie and ice cream. In The Gambia. I know. 
• The lovely Dorothy and Doug looking after me this week and knowing where to find the best roast dinner this side of town - you can take the Scots out of Scotland but...
• The weather – apparently it’s a lot cooler than normal for this time of year. That’s fine with me. I am relishing any time I am cold, pretty sure I will forget what thats even like soon.

  

• For the past few days I’ve had wifi. Praise God from whom all blessings/wifi flow.
• Finding a shop selling McVities choc digestives.
• Realising I could have missed this. I could have let fear, doubt and a million other things stop me from saying yes.

The past few days I’ve been at HQ for orientation and tomorrow I head out to Sibanor (sadly no wifi, no roast dinners and no shops with choc digestives) where the health centre is and where I'll be based. I’m looking forward to meeting the staff, learning all about the clinic and starting to figure out funding.

Will try and update again soon - internets dependant.

P.S. Y’all. There are pigeons in The Gambia! Vultures too.

PPS. My undying love and devotion is still up for grabs: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rachel-holmes

PPPS. 7 years ago today marked the end of The NZ Blogs (https://rachelgoestonz.blogspot.com/2011/04/here-endeth-blog.html - LOLZ)