Cookies

Our kids have a notorious sweettooth. Actually, I think it's just a Gambian thing. Sometimes they make this thing where they just tear up chunks of tapalapa and stick it in a bowl of water and dose it generously with some sugar and eat it like cereal. Personally, as much as I love most Gambian food, I've never developed much of a taste for the stuff.
Fyi, tapalapa is this awesome bread we have in the gambia. We get ours from the bakery just down the road. Some people call it foot bread. Well, when I was small someone told me it was because they kneaded the dough with their feet before sticking it in the oven (this giant clay structure that I remember visiting when I was really really small in Somita). Well, it turns out there's a perfectly logical and hygenic explanation for this name that has nothing to do with one's foot-kneading abilities. The bread is a foot-long.
Anyway, 30 loaves are delivered to us by this little boy every morning. He bikes in with a box full of tapalapa at around 6.45am and it's my job to make sure they're all there and keep a record of all the loaves of bread. This boy doesn't seem to understand any English or Mandinka, so I'm in a bit of a pickle. I think the only word he knows is "Yes," because every time I say good morning, his reply is, "Yes." And every time I ask him his name, his response is, "Yes." In any case, it has become my personal mission to discover this kid's name. I think he's Fula (?). Yeah, not sure. I don't know a lick of Fula.
I made a bunch of sugar cookies for the kids, and they loved it. It took several attempts, however, becuase our new oven is way too complicated and I had to keep an eyeball on it the whole time, otherwise it would consume the entire thing. I made the mistake of putting it on a timer at the start and ended up with 9 perfectly lovely charred cookie dough remains that needed to be soaked in hot water for the next few days to even make a dent in the thing. Yes, our oven is like a fiery furnace, and I'm a little nervous about making a cake in it (that's what the kids want next haha).
Anyhoos, this is me and Moniya on the right, Iso (short for Isatou) on the left, and Janke is peeking in through the back.

Speaking of Janke, Janke has finally mastered my name. She also appeared in our house in a towel yesterday with Sukunda. I think they ran all the way across the compound from the girl's dorm like this. I have no idea what they were doing, but they wanted a picture.

And Noah hurt his foot :(

He won't tell me how he did it, so I bet it's embarrassing haha