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!!
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!!
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