May 30 - What the heck is this?

Okay this is a short one as I am off to dinner but this creature joined me at breakfast this morning. I have Christie McBiologist on duty to figure out what it is but does anyone else have any idea? It's nose was quite shiney...almost to the point of creepiness!

May 28 – My first Hash!

No, this isn’t a blog about a new drug habit but my first experience with the Freetown Hash Harriers. We found out about the Hash from Kate and managed to hook up a ride with another Dubliner, Michelle. http://hhh.lumleybeach.com/index.html

The run was interesting. The group follows a ‘hare’ or in this case many ‘hares’ who set out a trail through the streets by marking with shreds of paper or ‘hash’. The trail went all through a neighbourhood as kids and adults shouted ‘keep it up’ and ‘go girls go’. We were in the middle of the pack so there wasn’t much ‘hunting’ to be done but more ‘following’. Today was a short run and I was certainly glad. I am still getting used to the heat here and haven’t sweated that much in ages.

After the run Conor and I were inducted into the Harriers and had a beer with the group. All in all a great event and I think it will be a Monday night tradition. The location changes every week so it will also be a great way to see the city.

After our run Conor and I headed down the beach to find food and ate barracuda on the beach with kittens and nearly a hundred crabs at our feet. Another great ending to a great day. Tomorrow is movie night so we’ll just have to see what that has in store!

May 27 – Trip to River #2

Sunday morning after a good sleep in and some breakfast on the patio in front of our room we made our way by taxi (our first solo trip and some good negotiating by Conor) to the meeting point and off we went to River #2. Btw, I asked…there is no River #1. Who knows the story behind that.

The journey to the beach was about 1.5 hours and included some slick driving in a standard Range Rover with a slow leak in the rear tire on VERY bumpy roads. We passed the time chatting and singing along to Capital radio’s super cheesey tunes. As we drove past numerous villages we were greeted with smiling, waving people. Very friendly and the kids are so cute!

The beach itself was GORGEOUS! Apparently setting up the beach and the infrastructure was a Plan project to help the village to have gainful work and income. The beach has all the creature comforts (chairs, loungers, bathrooms and food/drinks). The water is warm and salty and the sun was shining. We had a great day and the group of ex-pats grew significantly including a couple of Americans who work on the defense team for one of the war criminals. I mention these guys because a student film-maker is making a documentary about them and the trial and the crew came to the beach to take film. They taped us through the afternoon including me throwing a disk around with one of the guys. I had some stellar moments including nailing the camera twice. It looks like I’ll need more practice before I try to find a team next year.

After the beach (during which I did NOT get sunburned!) we headed off to Franco’s a delightful restaurant near the beach and still on the river for dinner. I enjoyed my lobster and the company. A truly remarkable ending to a great day.
The ride home wasn’t nearly as harrowing as they managed to change the tire at the beach with the help of some locals. Then it was off early to bed for work on Monday. What an amazing weekend and from the way these folks talk there will never be a dull moment in Freetown!

May 26 – Ex-Pat Day. Conor and Tina meet the ‘crew’

One of the ladies at work, Anna, is an ex-pat from Essex working in SLE for a few months. This gal is definitely in to experiencing the pure culture of the area and has the best Krio accent (from british to krio is impressive). She’s savy and we certainly lucky she’s here.

We met Anna in the pouring rain at 9:30 on Saturday morning to go and watch the ex-pat football team play a team from the British military training unit (IMATT – International Military Army Training Team I think). Once the rain stopped and we started to dry things became much more enjoyable. We went to the game with Anna, Laura (who works at the British High Commission and is from London) and Kate (who is an Aussie and works at the Special Court (note to self…write about the Special Court sometime this week) who were a hoot. Even the British High Commissioner was there to open the match and present the trophy. Met some of the fellas on the team and I think they convinced Conor to join!

After the game a bunch of us headed for lunch including Abdul (who works with Anna at Plan) and two dutch girls – Quirine (an intern at UNDP) and Emma (who was on vacation from Liberia, yes…people apparently vacation here, who works for Right to Play) We ate on a patio by the bay and chatted for hours.

The afternoon was napping and a quick workout before getting ready to hit the post-game party at IMATT. The party was great. The ‘Africa bar’ was full of players and their friends. There was a pig roast and buffet and they replayed the game on the big screen. After the party, Nana picked a few of us up and we headed to Paddy’s.

Paddy’s is a legendary bar in Freetown and much drinking and dancing was had. I won’t go into details but let’s just say we didn’t get home until 4:30 am and I didn’t even really notice the time.

(sorry no photos. I'll steal some from Conor and post in this post later)

May 25 - The big move

Okay so I know a few of you were a little worried about out state of accommodations here in Freetown but wait no more. After a few hairy moments with our original landlord and a strange gas stop by our driver we made it safe and sound at our new home ‘Family Kingdom’.
This place is park amusement park (apparently the only playground in Freetown), park event centre (there was a HUGE wedding here on Saturday ) and park zoo (there are deer turkey and many birds around here just to name a few). . I promise more photos of the wildlife as soon as I catch it with my camera.
This place is way ahead of the old place. Our ‘flat’ is a one bedroom place with a bed in the sitting room. Chivalrous Conor has allowed me to have the bedroom but I think I will either offer to switch after two weeks or build him a little wall to separate him from the front door. It’s clean and comes with free laundry, internet (which I have yet to get to work) and breakfast. Brilliant!

There is a restaurant on site and it is walking distance to many places plus across the street from the beach. Heaven compared to our last abode. We slept well in A/C sanity, peaceful as babies!

May 25 - We are moving and weekend plans

Well, we've made it to friday evening. Whew!

1) I take back my comment about you guys having a good long weekend for my Canadian friends but the rest of you still enjoy!

2) It's official...we are moving to Family Fun Kingdom!! Seriously that's what it's called. More details on the new digs this weekend. One note: there is a zoo and a swimming pool and it's on the beach! Woooohooo!

3) Looks like a jam-packed weekend with a football game tomorrow and an ex-pat party and the beach and the move and sleeping in air conditioning!!!! wooohooo!

Take care of each other and a huge international HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jay for the big 3-0 on Monday!

May 25 - Attack of the GIANT Bug!

So far on this journey I have seen no bugs to frighten me until this morning. Lizards everywhere and enough mosquitoes to sink a battleship (I was bitten to DEATH the first night!) . That all changed this morning.

When I returned from my shower in the grunge (the floor has yet to dry since we got here) I noticed a GIANT cockroach upside down beside my dresser. I convinced myself that he was dead and had been there the whole time (better than thinking about him crawling around) but just in case I sprayed him with the big ol bottle of bug repellant from the living room and….he MOVED!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! Eventually I stepped on him and used the ladles from ghetto kitchen to scoop him out the window. Game over. Now people keep telling me that his friends will come back for me in retribution.

Needless to say I am hoping we’ll move to our new home…FAMILY FUN KINGDOM!!

Now we are at work waiting for Nana and the key to our ‘tower’ (they call our shed Twin Tower #1…sort of creepy) which we left in the car last night. He also has our cookie supply for the day…hurry up Nana!!!

p.s. thanks to Christie, Martha and Jay for texting. It’s amazing what comfort technology can provide. I don’t feel so far away after all!

p.p.s. Enjoy your long weekend everyone! I unfortunately don’t get the holiday but will head to the beach on the weekend and celebrate a bit anyway!