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!

May 24 - Dinners of Tall Tales!!

Well we are settled in at work and even have our own fabulously disco cell phones (see photo)now (incoming calls only…talked to mom and dad from the restaurant on the bay last night!) and the folks around the office recognize us and are making amazing efforts to help us feel at home.

The last two nights have included ‘tall tale’ dinners with our Plan SLE team member Nana. Man can this fellow tell a story. He’s amazing! On Wednesday we learned all about leaves that make people bullet-proof and how his grandfather used to teleport to random locations when he was scared. Just wicked stuff. Last night his Ghanian friend Kwame joined us (which may or may not be his real name as Kwame means Saturday and people are often nick-named based on the day they were born), regardless Kwame was right in with the tales and the two of them told us all kinds of things about funeral rituals for Kings in Ghana and people who will ask for money so that you can try to cut them with a blade for this they have become impervious but that we should turn the knife around and smack them with it to hurt them. It was so funny and as they said, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’!

May 22 - (Yes, I know, again) The First Morning

We’re here…oh my! The apartment, the office and the beachHoly crap I am in AFRICA!!! So it has finally set in. We are really in Africa. It’s super hard to believe but trust me the culture shock is apparent. Waking up in a new place is always strange but when you are awoken by roosters, dogs and really bad music it’s a whole new experience.

Since we have to turn the generator off when we got to bed we don’t have neither power at night (so no fans and stinkin hot sleeping) nor in the mornings (so no lights). It’s definitely strange and makes me appreciate home more and more each minute.

How do I describe the ‘flat’…ghetto! I have since confirmed with Nana (our host team-mate) that I am not just a white gal with snobby needs but that our flat is truly ghetto even for a developing country. His face was priceless especially when he checkout out the kitchen. The living room and bedrooms are fine aside from the lack of power when the noisy generator is off.

The sketchy part is the bathroom and kitchen. As Bryce would say, I have earned my ADP ‘stripes’ for this one. I don’t think we’ll even attempt to go into the kitchen for now. There isn’t much in there, no fridge and a tired looking stove, so no big loss. It would be nice to eventually cook for ourselves but we shall see.

The bathroom is tiny and grungy! The shower has two settings, on and off, and one temperature, cold, which let me tell you is amazing after a night of sweating away. I am actually quite proud of myself for managing to sleep. I suppose the heat during the day is enough to knock me out. All this to say I think we’ll be moving by the end of the week. Just need to find somewhere else.

The office is so super cool. We can walk from where we are living and that’s probably my favourite part of the day. The people are super friendly especially when they see where we are going. It’s HOT though and by the time we get to work we’re drenched. Our office is a portable in the parking lot of the gated compound. It’s just the three of us and has all the comforts of home, internet, A/C, hot water for tea and biscuits! It’s amazing how fast you can get directly to work when there is work to be done and it’s nice to have something familiar amongst all this change.

We set off after work to Family Fun Kingdom for dinner on the beach in Aberdeen. Aberdeen is really the tourist centre (if you could say they have one) and a hangout for most of the ex-pats. FFK has a lovely patio across the street from the beach where we enjoyed coke in glass bottles and I ate the tenderest and moist barracuda steak I have ever tasted! Delish! Don’t worry…I am remembering: Cook it, Peel it or Leave it! So far so good with the tummy too…knock on wood.

After dinner and the purchasing of some rather sketch DVDs we headed home to our castle. Tonight I used the mosquito net for the first time and it’s rather cool to be living in a tent. Makes me feel safe. One thing about this place I can say is that they take safety VERY seriously. Our flat is fully gated and complete with barbed wire. . It has two doors, one of steel with many locks. Trust me, no one is getting in here! Off to bed. Still taking calmness in remembering that it’s one moon we are all under. Even if I get to see it 4 hours early!

May 21 - Arrival in Freetown!

After a weekend of avoiding packing (just ask Martha and Laura) I managed to shove everything I think I needed into one suitcase (same suitcase I took for a week in DR…odd). I managed to make it under the weight restriction @ 32kg. whew. So far the only thing I can see I forgot was a beach towel but I am sure I can get one here.

The flight was supposed to leave at 1:30 but we were delayed by the evacuation of a deportee who was saved at the last minute by his sister. Strange situation including a lot of yelling at the back of the plane. :-$ We left an hour late and were told we needed to stop in Malaga Spain to refuel to face strong headwinds in north Africa. So now if you could touchdowns I have been to Spain…it looked beautiful. I’ll have to go and actually get off the plane!

We made our way to Dakar but by then it was dark so I didn’t see much. The airport looked HUGE though (at least compared to SLE). I managed to sleep most of the way and watched Music and Lyrics which was cute. I can’t believe I was on a plane for nearly 10 hours and only saw one movie…BA…hum…

About 1 am we arrived at Lumley airport which is located on a peninsula just outside of Freetown. Immigration was a synch and I was already seeing that Plan was a respected name in this country as we were wisked through customs and our helper Mohammed arranged everything for the helicopter ride. There were probably 50 locals there to meet the plane and every single one was eager to help with each step of the journey which at that point of the night was nice to see.

We pilled onto the helicopter with 20 or so fellow passengers and our entire luggage collection. I have never been on a helicopter before but this one seemed HUGE. I think they are ex-military fliers. The unfortunate thing was that it was completely dark so we couldn’t see anything as we flew in. I also think my departing flight is in the middle of the night so I may lose the perspective from the chopper. Too bad.

We were greeting on the other side of the bay by Daniel, our driver. He looked fairly happy considering we had kept him up until 2am. We loaded up the luggage into the Plan truck and were off. He took us to our flat (more about that below) where we slumped off to sweaty sleep happy to have arrived but growing homesick already.

May 22 - I have arrived!

More from me later but I wanted to let you know that I have arrived safe and sound in Freetown. It's an interesting experience and will definitely take some getting used to but I am ready for the challenge.


I miss you all and continue to sweat my way through the day so I am sure I will be about a size 2 when I return due to the water loss.


I promise pictures and stuf as soon as possible. I just wanted to say hi and let you all know I am alive and very well.

May 17 - What can I say...

This is completely not ADP related but I have to say it...take those SWEEP comments and shove em! :-)

go SABRES go!

May 16 - Oh ya and...

Two additional comments:

1) Martha and I saw Mary Poppins in the West End last night. SPECTACULAR! The house set was amazing (the roof popped off and the top level floated down to the floor) and Mary flew off into the audience at the end...seriously! Plus Super-cali was nearly a hip hop number. Amazing!

2) I have my itinerary in stone now so anyone who's interested here's where I'll be:

• 21MAY Depart London Heathrow - Arrive Freetown (4 hours ahead of Ottawa)
• 13JUL Depart Freetown - Arrive London Heathrow (5 hours ahead of Ottawa)
• 29JUL Depart London Heathrow - Arrive Nairobi (7 hours ahead of Ottawa)
• 26AUG Depart Nairobi - Arrive Mumbai (9.5 hours ahead of Ottawa)
• 22SEP Depart Mumbai - Arrive London Heathrow (5 hours ahead of Ottawa)

So ... please come and visit! Off to the gym. (taking advantage while I can!)