Enjoying being a kept woman in Reading
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2005
1
73
77
Trip End
Aug 25, 2006
Reading,
United Kingdom
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
One of the highlights here in Reading has been the annual WOMAD festival. WOMAD stands for World of Music and Dance and is a massive 3 day festival of 'world' music, conveniently held in the UK a 30 min walk from our place. It didn't take long for Barika to hook up with other Gambians at the festival, visiting from all over the UK. We found the drumming tent and used it as a base, using the area around to made Gambian tea (it takes hours...) as we enjoyed the music and dancing happening all around us. Some of the highlights was Angelique Kidjo (from Benin, brought back lots of memories of my trip in Africa...), Cuban Ska, Salif Keita, oh yeah, and Barika's friend Abdul's Gambian dance workshop!
The week before WOMAD we headed into London to see wee sis Charlotte for the last time before she left London! Bye bye sis...
We also managed to catch up with Marc, pregnant Yukari and a fast growing Noah, as well as Yuko who came over from Brussels for a picnic in the park.
Another weekend we helped out with Eric and Nahila's food store in Bracknell - a Gambian and a kiwi on a Malaysian food stand in the UK dressed African style!
And then on Barika's week off, a bit of a UK trip - up to Edinburgh to catch up with Barika's mates (he used to live there), with a quick side trip over to Glasgow (no pics available sorry... kept forgetting to take my camera out with me) - then on the way back, a stop over in Birmingham for a Gambian 'naming ceremony' of a new born baby named after Barika's sister Haddy. We both got well and truly dressed up Gambian style - and I thoroughly enjoyed the night with my new extended family :)
