2 Days 1 Post

Wednesday June 08

Today was spent in transit flying from JFK airport to Casablanca. Accompanying us on this journey were some of the most badly behaved kids I've ever seen. All of these children needed to get their legs whipped. Most impressive to me was the 3 or 4 year old moroccan boy who cried for his dad when he was with his mom, but as soon as his dad took him he cried for his mother. Runner up went to the girl who managed to scream for 5 hours straight on the flight. Honestly, she must have amazing lungs. No doubt she'll make a great swimmer one day. Overall, I didn't expect much flying with Royal Air Maroc - the food was ok, they gave us complimentary socks, and apart from the bathroom lock being open regardless of what it said the flight went smoothly.  I did have a slight issue with the rated R movie that was in Arabic. Although I will say that the explicit scenes did quiet the children down a little bit.

Thursday June 09th 2011

My first day in Sierra Leone was an interesting experience. We arrived at Lungi Airport at 5 o'clock in the morning where we were greeted by a family friend, "Uncle Sesay". With Uncle Sesay's help, we got through customs, got our money exchanged, and received a ride to the ferry (Lungi airport is on it's on a small island and a ferry is needed to travel to the mainland). Uncle Sesay is actually a policeman on the island and was sent with another sergeant to provide us with 'protection'. However, during the 3 hour wait for the ferry, our protection fell asleep so we did what we could to protect ourselves...from inside the truck of course.

 The ferry ride was my first real taste of Sierra Leonean life - entertainers danced for money, women prepared food to sell on the boat, and teens constantly tried to hustle/ sell calling cards, and change money using their own personal exchange rates. The ferry ride took about 45 minutes, and when we got to the mainland we were welcomed by Freetown locals. Led by a boy who managed to carry both our suitcases (50lbs a piece, Jordan's probably weighed 60) on his head we grabbed a taxi and headed to my aunt's house. It seemed as though we had managed to take the way that showed us all of Freetown - we passed stalls selling everything from tires, to cellphones, clothes and even a roadside barbershop. The roads were a difference experience. I was impressed by the ability of those who were driving to be honest...there is no way I could navigate through Sierra Leone where some places had no concrete  and without traffic signs.

When we finally reached my aunty's house we were greeted by my cousin Namina, the household staff, 4 dogs and 1 cat (Mr. Whiskers). I finally got to see my cousin Malik, I can say with confidence that the kid is destined to be in the NFL - He practically picked me up and he's only 1 year old. The day was spent getting ourselves settled in, familiarizing ourselves with our surroundings, and trying to not pass out from exhaustion. There was a lot to get used to however as Sierra Leone is  a far cry from Buford, GA. After 3 unplanned naps, we took a trip to a nearby roadside food joint where we ate the best pepper soup I've had in a long while (Not to knock my mom's pepper soup, just that I haven't had it in a while). We passed the time talking, chilling and enjoying the Sierra Leonean environment. There's something different about the environment here, something different about the way people interact with one another. Frankly, from the outside it's hard to imagine why one would give up the luxuries of America and move to Sierra Leone. After being here for just a day I'm starting to understand why. Jordan phrased it perfectly; Yeah they don't have everything that we have, but there's also a certain freedom here. They don't depend on their laptops, blackberrys, and tvs but they're still happy." She said this in her Jamaican accent of course-we've banned her from attempting to speak Krio.

Point is, I'm in a completely different environment -  I don't feel the need to check my email, or to refresh my facebook page every 10 minutes. It's a good feeling actually.


P.S
Just found out about the Miami Heat losing 2 games in a row...what the hell?! I leave the country for a couple of days and everything goes haywire. Tell the Heat to tighten up.