Man, this country and public holidays. Spent much of the day pondering if tomorrow is to be a holiday or not (I’m writing this on Sunday) but the thing is this holiday is for Independence Day which was on Saturday, so its not like it’s a surprise that there is to be celebrations – surely it could have been written into a calendar somewhere – my friends are going to be convinced I’m obsessed with taking time off work I’ve been asking for so many updates on the issue! Anyway I think it’s a holiday so hopefully I won’t get a phone call at 8.30 wondering where I am! To be honest I've not been at work much recently cos I was off sick for most of last week and the week before that had a holiday in it (Islamic New Year) but I’m going to get hard on it when I go back into work on Tuesday, I’ve been starting to feel a bit lazy recently.

Had quite a sleepy day to day because was out to a concert last night ( and since the concerts don’t start till 1am they don’t finish til 4am, its late late). It was the Senegalese singer Youssou N’dour – maybe you’ll know him apparently he was one of the few if not only African artists who made it to the London stage during the live 8 concerts. Well it was very good, did a bit of dancing, was once again informed that people were surprised I could even slightly move my ass due to the well known fact that white people can't dance

I’ve noticed people laugh at me quite regularly here and I can’t imagine its because I’ve suddenly turned into a comedy genius. For example: (this is conducted in Wollof but I’ve translated it for your convenience) girls who sell oranges at the street corned: how are you?

Sara: I am fine, how is the afternoon.

Girls laughing. Surely me saying so few words in wollof is not that funny. People at work are speaking to me in wollof now and its more than just the greetings – which is challenging but I’m taking more languages lessons now so hopefully that will help and I’m presuming nobody would say anything vitally important to me when its relatively clear I don’t understand what's happening.

Just returned from one of the finest restaurants in the Gambia tonight – it was quite expensive but you have to treat yourself now and again considering that life as a volunteer is not all fun and games! Although it does make me feel slightly guilty when I consider how much people earn in the average job here, and that’s the people lucky enough to be working.

There are a bunch of new volunteers in-country so I’m now among the people who knows what's going on here and have be imparting my wisdom on the new yins, it’s a scary thought! I’ve now been here for six months which is the longest I’ve ever been away from Scotland, its weird to think that.

My boss just text, he thinks it’s a holiday tomorrow as well so I can sleep soundly now!