Life in Salone

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6 AM runs; fresh, organic cucumber and mango breakfasts; glorious Lebanese za'atar lunches or local bread and beans; and an abundance of mouthwatering jelly (baby coconut) or pia (avocado) as snacks! Life is good!!

All is well here and my research is coming just fine. I am making some interesting progress including meetings / interviews with the Social Development Officer of Child Welfare Secretariat; Assistant Director of Junior and Senior Secondary Schools; students, principals and teachers around Freetown and just a couple weeks ago I met Sierra Leone's former Vice President!

When I'm not doing interviews, traveling around town, or meetings with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), I am spending my days exploring more of the country, culture, learning Krio, and cooking African dishes. I am currently writing another blog all about the chop (food) here and am collecting photos for you all.

The weekends always consist of going out to bars or clubs and dancing, and the beach on Sunday. Believe me, Salone (Sierra Leone) knows how to party! There is always something to do in Freetown, especially at night and the dance floors are always packed. Some of the hot spots (for future dance-addicts coming to Salone) are Old Skool Nightclub, Atlantic, and Aces. Old Skool is more "chic" with its two stories, multiple dance floors and air-conditioning, while Aces is where most the locals go and has high-powered fans all over the place. Those fans are a nice spot to chill out under when you and your clothes drenched with sweat from dancing too much! Take a wild guess which place I like better?

I got my hair planted (cornrowed/braided) yesterday, something many girls and women do here. I've gotten a lot of fun comments from people around town, especially when I wore a headscarf today. I feel like most people here really appreciate when they see foreigners trying to integrate into their community and culture (i.e. speaking the local languages and trying the different dialects). You should see some of the faces when I sit down for lunch eating cookery, the food they sell along the streets. Recycled plastic bowls of all sizes and colors (bright green, yellow, red, blue) and utensils washed in big, brightly colored buckets filled with tap water. Everyone sits down at the same table or on the sidewalk, whichever is available.

I've included photos of some of my paddy's (friends) here, great and fun people, whom I see almost every day. In these photos we went to another local football game located right by the house. As we sat on the wall, I bought the guys a round of yoghurt (ice cream) while I took some photos. Afterwards I got a tour of the place from one of my paddy's, which also included an empty swimming pool (Sierra Leone could be booming with tourists, its time will come insh'allah). As we were walking back, some of the football players, after finding out that I was not a journalist, asked to be snapped (photographed). Some people really like being snapped, others do not.

Public transportation is also an adventure in itself. If you don't have your own car, there are three main ways in getting around town:

1) Taxi, speaks for itself but quite interesting: You can join a "public taxi", which are taxis that pick up anyone along the way as they drive in certain directions (after you waive them down, they'll slowly drive past you as you yell your destination into the rolled down windows. If they're going that way, they'll stop; otherwise they'll drive off

Football Game
without you); or you can grab a chartered taxi, which are mainly used at night.
2) Poda poda, small, usually white, minivans/bus which also have certain destinations/places they drive towards. These are slightly different though for they have an "apprentice" who literally hangs out of the van yelling the destination (for example: I am usually catching a poda poda towards town; THE apprentice hangs their torso out of the van screaming "town town town toooown", quite the sight!). A proper poda poda should ("officially") hold maximum 14 people (three benches for four people on each, one person in the front and a driver). My record for the number of people we've carried in one of these tin cans is 21. Normal? I think so in Africa!
3) Okada, motorcycles which will take you all over the place in a short period of time; quite dangerous and cause most accidents around Freetown.

Another week, another update. Time flies and I don't want to leave. I love this country and highly(!!!) recommend visiting if you ever get the chance!

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