A Quest for Friends (continued)

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i believe i left off at the philly cheese steak (that's something you don't hear every day). after lunch we parted ways. i went home and then out to the tailor's. i still needed to get my charger back from el boy, so i went to his compound, but his mom told me he brought it to aunty isha's compound. so i went to aunty isha's compound and she told me she told him to bring it to pipeline. so no luck. i went to the tailor and got all the clothes i had made. i went home and tried them on. the shirts all fit now, but the dress needs a bit of altering. easy enough. i'll do it when i get back to maacama or home. when i got home njareh called and told me she couldn't go out dancing that night. so i needed to find something to do.

kate was talking about how happy hour at a bar down the road was from 6-7 on saturday night. so i decided to seek out this bar to socialize more and get a soda for myself. i walked for a while, but no bar. on the way back i ran into a peace corps volunteer from san francisco named david. he was wearing a backpack and had just arrived from his village in the interior. i talked to him for a while and found out that non-peace corps aren't allowed at the transit house. shoot. so i walked around some more and went back to la parisian. i got a water and journaled. the owner of the place gave me free coffee! when i finished that i walked around some more and ran into a group of four volunteers. two from florida, one from ohio, one from alabama. three girls and a boy. i talked to them and then jenny asked me if i wanted to go out for karaoke that night. i said definitely. so i gave her my house number and she said she would call around 9:30. so i went home and watched tv with aunty ngoneh (which is always wicked fun because we both constantly comment on whatever we're watching).

9:30 came and went and Jarry came home around 9:45 with my charger! around 10:30 i got in my pjs. by 11:30 i was in bed. disappointing.

sunday i woke up and njareh called. she told me that we weren't going to the wedding. instead we were gonna go to the beach around 4 with a couple of her girlfriends and play cards, eat snacks, and have a girls day out. so i went to the internet and then to the supermarket to buy snacks. i bought two bags of chips and some soda and walked outside.

outside, dressed in full african attire, were two really attractive white guys. i asked them if they were peace corps and they said no. but from that i found out they were british! their names are Andy and Harry. they're both taking a gap year. next year andy's going to bristol and harry's going to oxford. they're volunteer teachers and have been here for three months and are here for one more month. there's 12 people total here in their program, which is a christian program (ymca?). we went grocery shopping and talked. andy was complaining about all the attention he gets from being white. i told him "yeah, try being a white girl by yourself." he asked me how many times i'd been proposed to. i told him i lost track a while ago. after they got everything they needed for dinner, we parted ways. but not before andy asked for my phone number so we could hang out again. so maybe i have two/twelve new friends? that would be swell.

i went to la parisian and got ice cream for myself because it was wicked hot out. i went home and watched tv with Fatou Ngoneh and ate lunch. then aunty bin called me a taxi to take me to njareh's. it wasn't ahmad. it was aunty ngoneh's driver. i asked for his name and number so that i could call him when i needed a ride home. he told me his name was allahji. when i asked how he spells it he said "allahji." very helpful. he dropped me off and i went inside. aunty bin gave me some clothes to give to njareh, and njareh was thrilled. grace (her friend from nigeria who i've met before and is amazing) called and tried to cancel. but njareh was saying "i cancelled a wedding for this. you better go." so then i talked to grace, who told me she was really tired. i said "know what the best cure for exhaustion is? going to the beach with your girlfriends and eating and hanging out." so she came. we took a van to the beach, laid my towel out, and sat down. we had soda, chips, cookies, and cards. there were men playing drums near us and we talked and laughed and played crazy eights.

the sun set and the football games near us subsided. eventually we packed up and left. njareh's friend had met us there and he drove me home (for free!). when i got home i taught jarry how to play stress and spite + mallace. then fa came over and told me that jenny had called! so i guess she didn't blow me off after all.

i woke up this morning to find that my burn has started peeling. can you say endless amusement? i know my mom can. so today i'm going to the bank, walking around, and maybe getting a facial (for funsies). hope everyone's well. mama bio-thanks for the sox update. and keep those updates coming!

much love,
Kate

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Comments

[Erin Nelson]

so i was going to say something about something you wrote but i don't remember anymore. OH i remember the people from ohio! woo! i live out there now well for college at least. did i tell you that my parents are moving to california? well i'll be in conneticut this summer but still i won't be in CT probably much after that. miss you