The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

I have to say, I really love it here! I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left of my journey here in Freetown and I already know it is going to be really difficult saying good-bye! Especially the people!

I had a wonderful time this weekend at home in the city. Trying to recover from my last lung infection I stayed home Friday night, bought some greasy, questionable Chinese food and watched reruns of Will and Grace on my laptop! YES I did! After almost completing the entire 7th season, I sprayed on my bug repellent, climbed under my bug net and enjoyed sweet dreams of Starbucks and Greygoose martinis! :) SIGH... Saturday morning I was up at the crack of dawn and enjoyed three cups of instant coffee and a bowl of stale Corn Flakes! I napped, read and wrote in my journal, really enjoying the peaceful sounds of traffic horns, angry neighbours, the calming buzzing of generators and billowing clouds of smoke filling the air as the neighbourhood all took part in the weekly burning of garbage! That afternoon I had lunch with friends, went for a long walk on the beach and was invited to a big African cell phone company party! They were giving away 1 Billion Leones (around 300,000 USD) to a lucky costumer...the president was even SUPPOSE to show! Sadly the president was too tired to come, or something like that...oh well...next time. It was still a ton of fun! I even recieved a flirty message from a mysterous young man from across the room. Just like in the movies, the waiter came over to me and snuck a pen with a note attached on to my lap. Get this,...it said..."They say here at Africell (which is the name of the cell phone company) that 'we bring people closer together'...somehow tonight, I believe them." Pretty clever if you ask me! I owe it all to M.A.C makeup and a special line of bug repellent! :) And then I wrote back..."Unfortunately, I use Commium" (their competing phone company)! Sunday I went to the beach and enjoyed watching this entertainer jump through burning hoops and eat one litre of sand...don't worry, he regurgitated it back up! Yum!

Today (Monday) was another great day at work! I love the staff here. They all have been so wonderful to me and were all very happy to see and hear that I was no longer coughing up a lung! One of my coworkers greeted me this morning by saying "Ashley's back, she's pretty again!"....ummmm....I think that was suppose to be a compliment :). My favourite is when my skin starts to breakout from the constant sweating and they all look at me funny, pointing at my face and saying things like, "what's that on your face Ashley?" or "OH NO, the mosquitoes got you again!" Awesome.

No but really, these people are some of the sweetest people I have ever met. This evening after I got home from another long walk on the beach, James, our house guard and his wife had prepared my favourite Africa dinner and left it out on the table for when I got home! I think James gets a kick out of me...I always seems to make him laugh when I scream for help when there are big bugs around or when I can't figure out how to do something in the kitchen, like cook (hence the reason why they feed me, I think it is out of pity :)...really a girl who can't cook?) Tonight, James sprayed bug repellent in our kitchen and came to my rescue when I walked in to find 30 dead cockroaches all over the kitchen (don't believe me...see the picture)!

In Kabala, we have another WONDERFUL guard who has become a very good friend of mine. His name is Foday and he is the father of that beautiful little boy, Musa, who is sitting with me on the hammock in my profile picture. Foday loves to make fun of me....especailly when I do dumb things...for example, he came into the kitchen one day (again, they really shouldn't let me in there :)!) to find me taking a butchers knife to a can of coke! He just start to laugh and asked if he could help me....he took the coke and tore off the top flap! My question is...WHY was I NOT informed that Coca-cola has invented a new way of opening the can?! I feel a "how many dumb blondes does it take..." sort of a joke coming on! :) Now every time I have a coke in my hand, Foday asks if I need some assistance! HA HA. It's like the African version of The Simple Life! ;)

Anyways....

Until next time,

Violet (well, I do live with a bunch of cockroaches... can you say...Beatle Juice?) Only the kids from the 80's will get that one!

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