House Help

Have people always around to help you whenever you need it is a huge perk to living in Africa, although it doesn’t always come without frustration.  Our driver for instance is not helpful when judging the price of items out on the street. He doesn’t try to help us get the local price. This is annoying because the foreigner price is at least double the real price. 

Our maid asked for one of my son’s play phones (it is a real phone but our son decided to “wash” it in the toilet one day and it hasn’t worked since). We gave it to her explaining that it was broken. Today, she came and told us it was 20,000le to fix it and asked us for the money.  Yes, that isn’t a lot of money but the fact of the matter is that she is not supposed to ask us for any items or money, per our landlord’s agreement with her.  She is also very bad about following directions. We gave her 15,000le to buy more rope so we were able to hang our clothes to dry. We instructed her that she should not buy more than 5 yards of the rope. We weren’t sure of the price so we made sure we gave her enough money.  She returned several hours later with all the money spent. She bought 15 yards of rope for 1,000le a yard.  Everyone was speechless.

The gardener is amazing. He does anything and everything asked of him.  He has honestly been the biggest help around the house. His English though is not strong so anything that I ask for typically is joined with a game of charades. 

Having someone always around the help is something that I have had to get accustomed to, nevertheless it wasn’t that hard.

Tips That I Have Learned So Far

1) Getting a rental car with a driver is much easier than actually trying to get a taxi. The taxi smells funny and at times will randomly break down.

2) Buy a crate to put soda bottles in. It is half the price of aluminum cans.

3) Gas is the same price no matter which gas station you go to. So that means no shopping around for the best price.

4) Foreigners will never get the same price locals get on items. Even if you bought the same items at the same place with the same guy yesterday.

5) Detol and bleach combo does not keep ants from coming back; it only kills the ones that are there at the moment.

6) Calling a person who has a different cell phone provider is more expensive than calling someone who lives in another country. This is why everyone carries 2-3 cell phones (that’s how many providers there are here)

7) Just because there’s 92% humidity doesn’t mean it has to feel horrible outside, sometimes you just can’t feel the humidity.

8) If you don’t want to hang out clean clothes it will be sunny. As soon as you start hanging them out it rains. Murphy’s Law.

9) Even people that have lived in Sierra Leone all their life are still afraid of rain.

10) A stabilizer is cheaper than a fan, so you might as well buy both at the beginning so you don’t go buy your second fan and first stabilizer.

11) The pretest views are up the mountains…that is where the roughest roads are too.

12) There are so many more places to go and see in Sierra Leone that even the Sierra Leoneans know their self. It is up to you to research and find these places.

13) Cleaning the floors with gasoline/water mixture helps to keep the bugs away. Yes the smell lingers for several hours but it’s better than always having unwelcomed guests.

14) The best beaches are a drive away. They are the best because the locals can’t go there (due to not having a 4x4 car).

15) Go to a village and you feel like a caged animal. Children and adults crowd around you as though they have never seen a foreigner (which maybe they haven’t).

One Week: Survival So Far

It has been exactly one week since we have arrived. Things have begun to become a routine. The water came back on about 2 days ago but there is no water heater in our house so we opt to continue to boil some water and mix with the cold so we can have a warm sponge bath.  This will be “normal” for us until maybe dry season (it starts end of October, also called their summer). Each season lasts for exactly 6 months…6 months dry season (no rain at all) and 6 months rainy season where it rains daily and a total of about 155cm (over 5’). 

Our shopping sprees have become smaller and consist of spending less money (thank goodness).  We have put stabilizers on every electrical outlet that we have (100,000le each ($23)), bought two fans (150,000le each ($34)), a water tank purifier (240,000le ($54)) and a ton of other smaller things to help our house feel more comfortable.   Now, we are mainly only focused on buying food when we go out.

I really miss fresh veggies. I came here thinking I could find rows and rows of people selling colorful veggies. I would be overwhelmed with the sight and buy more than I actually needed. This is not reality here…at least during rainy season.  I have seen only a few fruits and veggies (I can count the total number on both hands).  The tomatoes have an orange look to them and the avocados have a purple look. Nothing is the same here. We have been forced to make food from cans and heat up frozen veggies.

The weather has remained constant and cool, raining at least once a day (lasting for several hours) or raining the whole day non-stop.   The thing that I find ironic is that when it rains, several or most, Sierra Leoneans feel that they do not need to go to work (this includes our house help for some reason). The roads are almost empty with cars. The air though is amazing. It is so clean and fresh, nothing like Cairo.   There is no feel of humidity though. No sticky feeling, no suffocating feeling because the air is too heavy to breathe. With my knee (because of so many knee surgeries) if the humidity is too high it will swell and become really painful. I have not had pain in my knee since I came here.

Washing clothes has now become a HUGE bother for me.  We need to go to the store today and buy a portable metal stand to hang our wet clothes out on.  We have a basket full of dirty clothes and have nowhere to hang them (without them getting soaked by the rain). This is a problem that HAS TO get fixed today.  We can’t wait for dry season to wash our clothes.

Bugs bugs bugs! Yes, I know we live in Africa but bugs! They start from nowhere but end wherever you don’t want them to be.  Bug spray is the savior to our house here in Sierra Leone. We have a maid that cleans once to twice a day but there are still spots that the 3 yr old manages to drip a small drop of juice or a few crumbs find their way to the floor.  

The internet here is very expensive. We are going to be sharing internet with our landlord (to help with the cost) but we have found that even the slow speeds are going to cost a minimum of $180/month.  Satellite is what we are going to get for TV and that will be about $80/month (which we will split with our landlord too).

Two days ago for lunch we went to a restaurant called Bliss in Lumley. It is Lebanese owned. The price of the items seemed really reasonable (33,000le for a sandwich ($7) and 5,000le for hot tea ($1)).  The internet that we paid 10,000le ($2) for an hour’s usage was so slow and restricted to only 30MB per person. The view from the place was extremely nice and there were several other expats filling up the place.

At night times we have been very relaxed. We sit outside our house on our covered balcony listening to the rain while talking, smoking shisha (hookah), playing cards and laughing.  The only sounds you can hear, besides the rain, are occasionally the stray dogs howling and barking at one another. This is a very peaceful place to be.

Next week we have decided to adventure out (with our driver of course) into other parts of Sierra Leone. I think we will be heading north near the border of Guinea.  This is where the jungles of Sierra Leone are.  Animals such as pygmy hippopotamus, African elephants, apes, chimps and leopards all reside within these jungles. Several of the animals that are found there are endangered! I cannot wait to explore this country!

I will be adding pictures to these blogs as soon as we get reliable/fast (Sierra Leone fast) internet. Stay tuned!!

Day 4 in Sierra Leone: Still No Water

When we arrived in Sierra Leone we had to fill out our immigration forms. We presented them to the customs people and again asked for a “tip”…ugh! This is the horrible part of West Africa. We gave them each $1 and they were happy. We passed through, collected our bags and skipped the inspection table because I told them I was a new teacher arriving.  Outside the airport we were greeted by the company we hired (with the help of my school) to assist us from the Lungi Airport to our new home.

From the airport we loaded all of our bags (except our important ones and the dog) into a cargo van which then headed to the ferry.  We arrived at the ferry and were greeted by a rough sea and the beginning of rain.  Once we were settled into our seats on the boat, with our life jackets slid over our heads, we set off. My husband is VERY motion sick and warned them before the boat took off.  The boat/ferry was closed in and has a strong gasoline smell that could overwhelm almost anyone.  The sea was incredibly rough and it would not shock me if we had actually become air-born part of the trip.  The boat ride was about 20 minutes long. I am very proud to say that my husband endured it like a champ! No accidents this trip!!

When we docked in Freetown we met the dean’s assistant from my school. She helped me to get everything loaded into the 3 cars/SUV that came to help with our move.  We set off slowly for the house.  The roads in Sierra Leone are like nothing I have seen before during any of my travels.  They are horrible!! A typical pothole is easily big enough to break a car’s axel.  Eventually we made it to our new home.  I will admit that at night we were terrified! Our yard (which we share with our landlord and gardener) is enclosed but a 12’ high cement wall, broken pieces of glass and barbed wire.  Our “compound” is also surrounded by the poorest of the poor people. Their houses are made of tin, cardboard, plastic and anything else they can manage to find. After everyone who helped us move left my husband and I sat down in the living room and almost cried. This was not what we had expected. We were mad that we had left our comfortable life in Egypt and traded it in for what? This??  There was no running water (it had been out for two days before our arrival).  Also, our old home was about 90m2 (not big but we owned everything in it and it was the way we wanted it)…this new house is maybe 80m2. It doesn’t sound like that big of a difference but it is. We went to bed that night both heartbroken and wondering how we can manage two years in this situation.

Morning came and our son woke us up. We asked him if he was happy and for the first time he said that he was not happy!  Terror could not have come over us so quickly. Yes, we weren’t happy but that’s okay…if he’s not happy then something HAD TO change!  We went across the yard to the landlord’s house and sat with them. We picked their brains and tried to get to understand and know Sierra Leone.  They had a 5 yr old daughter and an almost 3 yr old son (1 month younger than Jackson) who took to him and was so excited to meet him.  Jackson was extra shy and it took him awhile to warm up, eventually (10 minutes later) he did.  As a group we all headed to town about 10km away but 15-20 minutes away (due to the condition of the road) so we could buy things we needed in the house.  The city has a lot of personality and is actually vey naturally pretty.  The people were amazingly nice!  We got several things we needed included groceries and went home.

The second night here we installed our son’s mosquito net! He loves it!! We pretend that we are camping!!

Each day since we have been here we have gone into town picking up additional things we realize that we need.  Everything is unpacked now; this place is starting to feel like “home” now.  We miss Egypt horribly but know this is a once in a lifetime adventure so we are taking advantage of everything.

The rain has been constant, which is a very good thing.  Since the water is off we have the house help capture the water when it rains so we are able to boil some and have a warm sponge bath. The internet has been sketchy (at best) and the mosquitoes have made their self known.  I haven’t decided if life here is actually harder for an expat (besides the fact you must go to a million and five places to shop if you want the best price)…but I can definitely tell you working around the house is much easier. Our landlord has spoiled us to no end. We have a gardener (fixed into the price of our rental which is $350.00/month), house help (who washes the clothes by hand and cleans everything , and babysits Jackson for $60.00/month) and has offered us a car+driver+gas for $600.00/month. We have been spoiled!  I will keep you updated in a few days…cross your fingers the water comes back on soon!

Good Bye Egypt...Hello Sierra Leone!

I have decided to attempt to start blogging… I have a very low success rate at completing something long term; nevertheless, I have decided to tackle this since I am away from so many people I have met throughout the world.  I moved to Egypt with my 1 ½ year old son, husband (Egyptian) and dog, Colossus, at the start of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.  I worked as 2nd and 3rd grade international school teacher.  After the end of my second contract I decided that it was time to move on (besides I hated the school it was more just memorization than an actual learning atmosphere, but that is neither here nor there).  My husband and I decided that it was time for a change (again) so I began applying to jobs around the world.  We had no serious destination in mind; our life had already been an adventure.  The best two job offers I had been in Beijing, China and Freetown, Sierra Leone. After weighing the positive and negatives we decided our journey would take us to West Africa.

At 9:00pm on August 1, 2012 we packed up the van with 7 check ins (so we thought), 3 carry-ons, 3 personal items and a dog. Our flight wasn’t until 2:30am the following morning but with Cairo traffic it’s hard to determine, so better safe than sorry.  I have had continuous emails between myself and the corporate office of Ethiopian Airlines in regards to my dog being too big to go in the cabin with me even though he’s a Chihuahua. Long story short, I had written confirmation that my dog would fly below cabin from Cairo, Egypt to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia then from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Acura, Ghana. In Acura, Ghana I was to be given my dog plane side to ride in the cabin with me the rest of the way.  Anything that could have gone wrong with these airlines WENT wrong! I was also emailed that because of the problems that had arisen my dog would fly for free from Cairo to Freetown. 

In Cairo I was told that my dog was now allowed to fly in cabin with me, of course I was extremely excited! Only to find out just a few minutes later that it was a mistake and he was going to have to fly below cabin. I tried to explain that when we arrived in Addis Ababa that it was only going to be 12*C and thunderstorms. The manager was not budging. I agreed to it and was advised that I could give him to someone while I was boarding the plane. After getting on the plane I slide the dog crate (which the airlines told me was too big) easily under the seat. I showed the flight attendant and asked if there was any way for me to get my dog back now. The flight attendants were AMAZING! They pleaded and begged until he was delivered to me. The rest of the way (until Acura, Ghana) went fairly smoothly…minus the crazy 3 yr old temper tantrum moments due to lack of sleep.

In Ghana there were more people demanding bribes than I could have ever imagined. They were extremely rude and rough talking people (women included).  I showed them the papers for the dog to be in cabin with me and the security told me that she does not care about the papers I have and I needed to pay her money.  I offered a few “choice words” and walked away with my dog in hand.  Right before boarding the plane we were then told that we needed to pay a $35 USD fee for the dog to go UNDER the plane. I showed them the paperwork from CORPORATE and then told me that the pilot did not like dogs and he refused to fly with the dog on the plane. Another fight broke out.  I asked to speak to the Regional Area Manager because I had conformation from him that he dog was able to go on the plane with me. I spoke to him and he told me that the Regional Area Manager of Egypt made the whole story up and he never agreed to anything (I will be writing corporate again demanding my $35 back as well as addressing this issue).  I finally gave up Colossus to them and explained that since he was in a soft crate and would get scared and rip it I would be coming after them for many more fees to be reimbursed.  I loaded the plane with my son and husband. A minute or two later the Regional Area Manager entered the plane and handed Colossus to me…I am not too sure why the change of heart, but I will take it!  We landed in Sierra Leone just a few hours later (total trip time with layovers from Cairo to Freetown 18 hours).  Colossus made it to Sierra Leone and on every flight with me. 

**Moral of the story: DO NOT FLY ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES!!**