More from London
Hello again! I’m spending my Saturday morning watching the news in the living room right now. I had more of my delicious yogurt for breakfast alongside a cup of tea. It’s so nice to have a little break between my two adventures to remind me of home. It’s nice to be lazy and catch up on all of the election news. I can’t believe I will be in Morocco on Monday! My program doesn’t start until Tuesday, but I was able to secure a room at the same hotel we stay at for the first week before moving into our homestays. There are 12 students on my program, including one student from Whitman that I know. We spend the first week doing orientation programs and staying at the hotel. Then we move into our homestays and start taking classes. I will expect to have more time to update my blog while I’m in Morocco.
Sierra Leone was such an incredible experience. I am so thankful I was able to travel there and experience part of that wonderful country. It may be at the bottom of the UN Development Index, but the people there are some of the nicest I’ve ever met. One day we went to the tailor to get clothes made and we were waiting there getting our measurements. I needed more fabric for a second outfit and a girl also getting clothes at the tailor overheard our conversation. She said she could take us to find some good fabric. She dropped everything she was doing that day and brought us to two different markets across town to help us find what we were looking for. She was so helpful! That same thing happened so many times, people would just drop everything to help us, it was amazing.
The little boy at the place I’m staying, Jamie, is now watching tv and Winnie the Pooh just came on! Of course I found myself singing along to the theme song and staring at the tv just like Jamie!
I’m trying to think of how to share the rest of my Sierra Leone adventures. It was truly just amazing- so full of different experiences. I think it will be especially telling when I come back to the states to see how this experience has really changed me. The conference itself was so inspiring. To see these young people so excited about making a difference in their communities made up for all of our hard work for YDI a thousand times over.
Here are just a few things that I loved about Sierra Leone:
*Bargaining the price of everything you buy on the streets, which is most everything. Walking the streets of Freetown you can easily find everything from lotion, fruit, jeans, towels, shoes, and of course Fanta! I avoided the street meat, but ate about a loaf of street bread everyday. It’s all just plain white bread, usually fluffy and wonder bread-like, but if you’re lucky you can find good, crusty baguette-like bread, which is especially good with Laughing Cow cheese! YUM! I never knew I would enjoy white bread so much. Even though most days we ate bread for breakfast and rice and oily stew for lunch and dinner I really felt healthy. I think cutting out processed foods really made a huge difference in how I felt. I am looking forward to cooking mostly rice and stew when I come back to Whitman. It’s really great because you can make a big pot of stew and freeze it and it would keep for a while, so I can minimize the time I spend cooking.
*Hearing music all the time, everywhere we go. Literally there is always music playing. Most of it I am familiar with as it is usually late 80s and 90s love songs, including the much-loved Celine Dion! Celine Dion, all the time! Mostly it’s the same music everywhere. If it’s not Celine Dion and love songs, it’s a variety of popular music that we might hear in the states or some popular African artists. We bought a few mix cds off the street so now I have a playlist to remind me of Sierra Leone.
*Beautiful, colorful fabrics everywhere. Lots of women on the street wear tailored clothes, which consists of a long skirt and a shirt. Like I said, we bought some fabric and had some outfits made. Carole and I both got one skirt and top outfit and a sundress. We plan on having regular days when we wear our outfits around Whitman. The fabric is so stiff and the outfits have lining so they’re actually quite hot. After I had tried mine on I was amazed to see all of these women on the streets wearing them in the heat. Most days I found myself just dripping in sweat even though it was the cooler rainy season- I can’t imagine being there in March at the peak of the dry season!
Well the family I’m staying with has just prepared me a delicious English breakfast so I should go now. Toast, bacon, eggs, and tea! Yum! They are such a wonderful family! They are both from Sierra Leone, but met each other in Italy, then came here. The husband actually went to Bo School, the same school as Musa and all of his brothers, where we held the conference, and one of the most prestigious secondary schools in West Africa. What a small world!
Well, I guess I’m soon off to my next great adventure! I will update as soon as I can to let you all know I’m safe in Morocco! Thanks for reading!
