- I was a little sick this past weekend. Just so you know I am fine now, but the thing is here when you are sick EVERYONE comes to visit you. So here I am vomiting and having a bit of diarrhea (I know you didn't want to) and all I want is to lie in bed between trips to the bathroom. Instead I am answering the door on the half hour and then have to sit with people for a few minutes at a time. The kids were really sweet and knowing everyone cared was great- but next time I will just hide out and tell no one.
- The Rainy Season is slowly coming to an end- though it is still making it's presence known. Now each time there is a hard rain it almost completely washes our road out. It is like a raging river. I was out trying to make my way back home and it was a good thing I knew the road well- where the big holes are, where the road is no longer there, which side to drive on at which point. You could have taken your rafting boat down it. I saw some ladies trying to walk and when they had to step into the road in a few parts- they almost lost their footing as the rushing water took one of the ladies bags down to who knows where. (I did ask her the next day if she got it back- she had to follow it quite a ways but did manage to get it back) I wanted to stop and take a photo on my phone but I was afraid if I stopped I would never make it home.
- Good times with friends. I have been able to spend a bit of time with the Kainwo family. Nancy, Tenneh, and Lily have all been in and out of Bo and different times and I love hanging with these girls. Nancy lives in Bo regularly so we do get to spend a bit more time together. We head to church together often. This particular Sunday we had just gotten the jeep back, but the battery wanted to cause us some trouble- we had to jog the jeep to start it. So here we are in our Sunday best running behind the jeep- always good times. No worries Abu the good mechanic was on a honda- met us at church and solved the problem and everything has been fine since.
- Little Christie really is Christie- They named her Christie Massaquoi. The first few days she slept so much and was really calm and quite easy. Now she has found her voice and seems to have her nights and days mixed up (I wonder if she was up last night just as I was listening to the Packers WIN in the middle of the night :))
- Marion also had her baby. A sweet little girl.
Marion is one of the girls who used to live at JH. If you followed my posts last time you might remember her. She completed a trade school last year and has been living outside of JH for almost a year now. I have to admit I was quite sad when I learned upon returning that she was pregnant. She is a young girl still trying to find her way. We'll do what we can to come along side her and support her in this and help her be the best mom she can be to her precious daughter. Her little one was born last Friday. Marion took a Honda while in labor out to Gondama- gave birth and then came home in a taxi that same day. WOW. It is crazy to think that not only do we stay in the hospital but they also check your car seat make sure your little one is safe and so are you. Here they just send you on your way- you hold your child in your arms and ride in the overloaded car down the bumpy roads. They made it home safely though and Marion is doing just fine taking care of her baby. The older girls and I intend to visit her again soon. - The kids started school today. I must admit that I was a bit ready. 51 kids not having a routine or a schedule is fine for a time but... Thankfully school and a bit of structure is back. It was a bit crazy trying to get all the kids ready- uniforms, shoes, bags, books, pens and pencils, and whatever else they think they need (but really don't and just might not get). I think we just might have made it. Even the little girls going to nursery school for the first time... it was so cute.
- I don't remember if I mentioned that there are not 1 but 2 other couples right her in Bo Town that are from MN. One couple is around my parents age and the other maybe a decade older than that. Well they are all great. We meet as often as we can- maybe once or twice a month- have dinner and then head over to Del and Linda's for a few games of darts. It is a bit funny to see me with them, but it just fits and is always a good time. Tonight is our night once again. I gotta figure out how to stop these old guys from beating me every time. We Minnesotans are everywhere. I have also just recently learned that another women from MN is coming this weekend to open an orphanage in Freetown.
- I've learned that I am just not quite a native after all. I have gotten pretty good at using local latrines. There are a few different styles. One- use the great outdoors- done that. Two- a hole in the floor in a room- squat and aim. Three- a cement box built up with a larger hole in it, usually some sort of wooden board covering the hole that you lift of and set on the floor and then replace. Four- a cement box with a wooden seat built on top of it with the usual hole in it and with a cover. Well my pride might have needed to be taken down a few notches and it was. I was feeling pretty good that I could be just fine and use any of these options (sure I prefer my bathroom at JH that has a normal toilet- even if I do have to flush it with a bucket of water)- no worries about me, I'm just like the locals. Well after spending the day at the Aunty Margaret's (the Kainwo family) and using the bathroom at least three times that day (a option three- I tend to still hover with this option) JK calls to let me know that when he went to use the bathroom that night he opened the door to find a snake on the box and before he could kill it it went DOWN INTO THE HOLE!!! Yup I think that just might be my last time for a while- I think I might even be more comfortable with options 1 and 2 than I am with 3 or 4. They burn this oil and what not and put it down inside, but now I am going to be picturing that in my head wherever I go. It might take awhile to get over this one- and I didn't even see it.
- Africana Sunday. A couple Sundays ago it was Africana Sunday at church. That meant everyone had to come in their African dress- the music, announcements, sermon, and what not were in Mende. We used drums and shakers. It was a good time. Of course each Sunday many people do where African clothes, but the Western influence is there- especially in the men wearing suits, ties, dress pants. Girls shoes and jewelry are often western. Not this Sunday. Everything I was wearing was made here in Salone including the leather and rubber tire bottom sandals. Tenneh and Lily even added some hair into my and braided it in a truly African style- yet my head wrap covers it in this photo. It actually worked quite well and for the special service at church next Sunday Violet is going to try doing it again with a different style- I'll make sure and get a picture. These girls are and are becoming good friends to me. I love them each.
- I do like the jeep for when it is raining, but I have come to love the Honda for getting around all the pot holes or "gallops" in the road. They cover just about everywhere and it can take a long time to bounce around and get even just one block in the jeep. I like when JK brings the Honda and we can get places much quicker.
Here we are together. She just happened to yawn as we took the picture- she's still cute though. I have to say that I have enjoyed having my friendship with Jenna grow just as much as I have enjoyed watching Christie grow. These two are fast becoming good friends and more of a daily part of my life.
Yesterday Jenna put Little Christie on her back and po-poed her over to check on me since I had not been over and they heard I was sick.
- It doesn't seem quite right to put this great photo of Aunty Margaret and JK after that story and yet they were both mentioned and I like the photo so... This was taken on Africana Sunday. Aunty Margaret is my Sierra Leonian mother and she has done a great job of taking care of me and welcoming me right into her family. I love her dearly and respect her greatly. She has done an amazing job raising her 4 kids, sending them through school, including university- practically alone- in a very male dominant society.
Belinda, Violet, Christie, and Lily. The thing here is to not look at the camera and to not show your teeth. Sometimes we can get a picture and everyone will look, but often it is more like this- so maybe I should work on my poses- as I am the one out of place here- well in more ways than one but... - Alright I guess that is enough of an update for now. I am not sure what happened to this layout- but about now I am too tired to try and figure it out so...Next time.
