lists and lessons

Where do I even begin?

In forty-eight hours I have

• traveled across six time zones
• flew back across one
• spent fifteen hours on planes
• spent nine hours in London Gatwick airport (four too many)
• elbowed several individuals in order to grab my bags off the carousel in Lungi
• whizzed along Sierra Leonean roads by dark
• inched along Sierra Leonean roads by day
• rode a ferry across the river, watching Sierra Leonean soap operas and music videos
• unpacked in my new room
• met my housemates (all lovely :D)
• had tea at the Aberdeen West African Fistula Centre (with a tour of the grounds)
• ate a traditional Scottish meal
• watched a good movie
• found myself quite a bit at home…

Every minute I want to pinch myself to see if I’m really here – on Lumley Road, Freetown, Sierra Leone. But more than anything else, I need to pinch myself because it feels so comfortable. I feel as though I have come home. I know that there are days to come when I am frustrated, exasperated, and confused beyond all belief, but for today, for this moment, I am home.

The compound where I am staying is near the bottom of a very steep hill, traversed by an extremely pot-holed dirt road. Through the metal gates, guarded by a national group, I stay in the main house, behind which there are a few more houses with apartments surrounding a little covered portico. In the house, I am on the top floor, down the end of the hall next to the bathroom. B3.

We run the generator from 18:30 to 7:30 on weekdays, 10:00 on weekends. Internet is available during those hours in the common room downstairs. Downstairs also is the kitchen, the laundry, and the supply closet.

A fairly simple house with some subtle nuances: When there isn’t power, the water isn’t heated (as I forgot until shortly before I turned on the tap for my shower this morning). One rubbish bin is for rubbish to be burned, the other is for things which can’t be burned. This trash, when thrown out, will be gone through by some of the people on the street, so nothing which may be dangerous should be thrown out there. Showers and toilet flushes are to be kept to bare minimum as it is scarce. Refrigerators should only be opened sparingly during the day in order to conserve the cool inside. Be nice to the cats because they help to control the pest population.

These are the first of many lessons – some of which will become like a second nature before I leave here nearly two months from now. Others, I’m sure, will continue to surprise me every time I encounter their teacher…

(p.s. as far as pictures go...i'm trying to get some uploaded for everyone to see, but i'm having a bit of trouble, so bear with me! :D)