Part way up with some way to go..
Part way up Leicester Peak I took this photo, you can see part of the peak in the back ground. We'd already been walking for sometime (uphill all the way).
The national hobby- football. It seems as though everyone plays. These guys were playing as we ate our lunch. They then challenged some of those who we were hiking with to a game- it was so much nicer to sit and watch!Labels: leicester peak, photos, trek
Another weekend, another adventure
This Saturday was so tiring that I really could do with last week’s bank holiday to be repeated, although I did have a huge rest on Sunday which was much needed.
On Friday evening we had our second Krio lesson- lots of grammar and background, which means it’s all v interesting but is also hard work and requires a lot of concentration after a week of work, especially since it lasted for 2hours- I think in the future we might just have 1 hour on Fridays.
We had a very early evening to bed on Friday, but this was partially because we were going to get up unreasonably early for Saturday morning in order to get to the pick up point (Congo Cross for those who know it) for a hike we were going on.
Anyway, Saturday was great fun but a long hike- there are some photos from it below- involving going a very long way up a fairly steep hill and then another lesser hill and then another very steep hill. However, we did get some good views of the city and were also able to enjoy a relaxed lunch while some of the guys (both expats and local since we went on the hike with a group of local scouts) with us played football with locals living at the top of the first hill. We then walked back a different way (passing the new US embassy that’s in the process of being built). It was wonderful to get home and put my feet up (really aching after 5 hours of walking).
Saturday night involved several options- a relaxing movie with some of those we had been on the hike with, chilling at home, or a party. Since I’m still trying to get to know people and be friendly and sociable, I chose the latter, which was fun- potentially amazing views from the balcony, well, there would’ve been during the day. At night you could just see loads of lights over the hillsides, which was pretty but not amazing.
Sunday morning was a youth thanksgiving service, which was good, tho’ the invited speaker perhaps included a bit too much prosperity than I’m used to. I spent the afternoon with my feet up (still needed after Saturday) reading a fictional novel based on the West Coast of Africa; it’s v good (am almost finished despite having only started yesterday but then have always been fairly voracious in terms of reading) and I think I’ll have to try and find some more stuff to read. Fortunately all the expats seem to bring a fair amount of books with them- especially if they’re out here for sometime- plus the British Council is meant to have a fairly extensive library, so I won’t run out of books to read for a bit. In the evening we went to Alex’s- a bar/restaurant on the beach, which I really like (and the company was fun too).
Didn’t quite make it down to the beach proper (at least not during the day) this weekend, but this wasn’t really a problem since we’ve already been to 3 and have only been here 3 weeks- ah well, I’ll look forward to exploring another beach soon.
Labels: church, Krio, trek, weekend
Pics from Leicester Peak
This picture is of the view from the top of Leicester peak towards Lumley beach and the Aberdeen area of town. We hiked up Leicester peak from the town on Saturday.
A view of central Freetown from part way up Leicester peak (round the other side of the ridge to the above photo. The 'large' white building towards the centre left of the picture is the Youyi (sorry if I've spelt it wrong- am not quite sure of the pronounciation either!) building, which houses several of the government ministries. It was built by the Chinese and is the only/ one of very few 'high-rise' buildings in Freetown. I work about 10 mins walk from the Youyi building (5 mins if I'm wearing very practical shoes).Labels: leicester peak, photos
The week that went
The reason for the lack of postings this week is because on Monday we had a bank holiday (v rare in Sierra Leone so everyone makes the most of it) for Eid, so a large group of us went down to the beach for the day- it was a bit cloudy to start with but the clouds lifted in the afternoon and the sun came out. The water is so gorgeously warm, and the setting is beautiful. Yet again however I forgot to take my camera, so will obviously have to go back again, the place was unoriginally named River No. 2 beach, after the river flowing through the beach. We were also treated to some fly-bys from the marines who were moored off the coast ready to take part in various exercises this week. Thanks to my day on the beach am now a slightly more healthy colour instead of the insipid pale that I turn when I don’t see enough sun for far too long ;-)
Anyway, the rest of the week involved a trade workshop, which was really interesting (at least from my point of view) since I’m still very much in the ‘learning’ process and so could find out direct from each ministry what their priority areas were for growth/expansion and where they felt they needed more donor assistance in order to assist trade growth.
The evenings have been busy too- a strange film on Tuesday evening, a challenging study on Weds and then a girls night in last night. Tonight we’ve got our Krio lesson, tho’ I haven’t properly looked over/ remembered last weeks which isn’t good.
Anyway, that’s my excuse for the lack of writing recently and I hope this has given you an idea of what’s been going on. Am still looking for a car and haven’t found any in my affordability bracket yet, but am sure something will turn up eventually.
Look forward to hearing how life’s going with you.
Labels: eid, river no. 2
Nice view
View from the verandah- I'll try another time of day when the light's better distributed or something like that in order to balance it a bit (maybe). The foreground shows a v boring courtyard and square of grass so you're not missing much. It's definitely better when seen in person. Many of the views around the area are really stunning- much better than this one, I'll try to remember to take some while I'm here.Labels: house, photos
space to relax
The sitting room is somewhat sparse at the moment- we're planning to get a bit more furniture in order to make the place more homely and provide more places for people to sit if they come to visit, but it's certainly a start and we have plenty of room to put things in.
You can see my housemate relaxing in one of the chairsLabels: furniture, house
The Kitchen
The kitchen- with a makeshift bin. We've now got a 'dirty-box' as it is known, as well as a water dispenser so that we have drinking water 'on-tap' assuming we go and get the barrels filled up. There's an oven/ stove coming (we only have a very basic stove currently), but we did recently get cooking-gas so tea and coffee are now available to help us wake up in the mornings! There's also a fridge/freezer just out of sight that are kind of handy for keeping food fresher than it would otherwise be (at least while there's power on).
Bedroom
My mossie net is hung from the available light fittings- it might be a good idea to get something so that I can have it slightly less wonky in the future, but it seems to be working ok at the moment!
V blurred
T
he night we arrived- catching the helicopter after waiting around for 4 hours due to a thunderstorm that had grounded the helicopter temporarily. It's a fairly new one and the trip didn't take too long but was great fun despite the noise!
And there was light
We had a new generator fitted yesterday, which was cool (also means we should be able to use air con so will be even 'cooler')- we also had national power, so spent the evening in the light. I also went out to an international study group, which was fun- met several more people and hope to settle into the group fairly quickly.
Have finally arranged a browser that allows me to put pictures onto my blog- tho' haven't got the pictures with me to put onto it!
Work still involves a lot of reading- there's so much to learn and find out about and at somepoint I'll start doing proper work.
In the dark
Generator was working last night due to lack of national power- unfortunately there seems to have been a problem in the connection between the generator and the house so we did everything by candle-light. Fortunately we didn’t have to spend the whole evening in the house because of a film night going on at a nearby restaurant/bar, meaning we could get food and enjoy company in the light.
Ah well, hope we have some sort of power this evening!
In town (and at the beach)
My newsletter gives a bit more of a picture of how I've been settling in, so here I'll just give a quick flavour of thoughts and ideas instead of a full run down of what I've been up to...
Well, I've been here for just over a week and have been working for just under a week and am beginning to find my feet.
It's pretty warm and humid (as expected), keeps raining (wet season was meant to be mainly over by the end of September- somebody forgot to tell the clouds!) and has loads of places to explore and really friendly people to meet.
Went to the beach on Saturday- was amazing and is a beautiful gem- fantastic green mountains in the background, golden sand, waves suitable for gentle surfing (I think I might have to learn) and fresh cooked fish kebabs when you're ready to eat. Loved it and I've been told there's plenty more beaches to be discovered as well.
At somepoint I'll put some photos up as well- tho' I forgot to take my camera to the beach last weekend! One day I'll get organised!
The apartment is great- tho' somewhat lacking in furniture currently, my flatmate and I are trying to work out what we want and what would be most cost effective to get. We have power (wahey!- we didn't have it for most of our first week), but only when national power works or we remember to get fuel for the generator. We should be getting a bigger generator at somepoint- that way we'll have more than just lights in our bedrooms, which is nice but not particularly sociable in the evenings.
Anyway, hope that gives a flavour and look forward to reading any comments you make.
First Post
Hi,
Welcome to my blog. If you're reading this ou've probably received an e-mail to let you know that I'm preparing to head off to Sierra Leone. I hope to be able to publish info on how life's going on through this blog, but otherwise you can always e-mail me- I really enjoy hearing how life's going with those I know.
Anyway, I'm currently doing packing and sorting stuff out. It's getting tidier (slowly) but I'm hoping that the bags won't be too much over the weight limit.
Since I have several other things to do today I'll end here and look forward to hearing any comments you want to make!
Part way up Leicester Peak I took this photo, you can see part of the peak in the back ground. We'd already been walking for sometime (uphill all the way).
The national hobby- football. It seems as though everyone plays. These guys were playing as we ate our lunch. They then challenged some of those who we were hiking with to a game- it was so much nicer to sit and watch!
