I guess it really is true that you learn something new every day. For instance, while browsing through the CIA’s World Factbook entry regarding GDP per capita, I came across a country I have honestly never heard of. Now, I don’t profess to know every single country in the world (although I had a teacher in 9th grade who made a good effort at teaching us that), but I can generally recognize the names of countries and figure out roughly where they are on a map. But The Gambia was one that completely stumped me. I figured that if I hadn’t heard of it, it must have been a relatively new country. But after a little investigation, I found that The Gambia (otherwise known simply as Gambia) gained independence from Britain in 1965. And it’s smack dab in the middle of Senegal. No, really. Completely surrounded by Senegal except for a tiny coast line. The entire country is basically a bit of land around a river. It’s the smallest country on the African continent, at a little under twice the size of Delaware.
Knowing the way my brain works, I’ll never forget what I now know about The Gambia. Strange things tend to stick in my mind, no matter how trivial they are.
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