Hi to everyone out there. Happy almost Hanukah! (Hopefully we'll post again before it's almost Christmas) it's been almost two weeks since the last post ... which makes this Thursday my 1 month mark in SL! Time is really flying by. And, I haven't written the blog, since there's nothing too exciting going on right now.

Let's see ... Dan is upcountry this week - back in Kenema to help implement CRS disbursements to the beneficiaries. I am staying with a friend, since our generator breaks more than it works, and I didn't want to be alone in the house without power... and possibly water... since the only way to get the water jugs from the grocery store is with a car :) But Clara's house works great, and I am very happy to be able to stay with her this week! I have been continuing the search for something to work on; meeting heads of organizations and getting my CV out and about town. A few things have been proposed, but nothing will be final until next month after the holidays... so as soon as I have it all figured out I'll let you know. In the meantime, I am volunteering on a small CRS project, so that I have something to do and somewhere to go during the day :)

I went to the beach with Dan for the first time on Saturday. It's very pretty and usually quiet - about 1.5 hour drive outside the city. The road is sometimes good and sometimes rough, and we went in a Toyota Land Cruiser which helps with the rocky road. There were two dueling beach parties going on on either side of where we were sitting. One was a big church group -- families from Freetown -- and the other was a party for UNHCR staff. The High Commission on Refugees is pulling out of SL (4 years after the end of the civil war, and all the refugee camps are officially abandoned. Unofficially though, we think people are squatting in the tents. As we drove by one former camp on the way to the beach, there were people cooking lunch there, and laundry hanging on lines) Anyway, the kids from the church group were dancing to the music and wanted me to go join them... so I danced with a group of girls for a bit. The ocean was warmer than I was expecting, and the sand shelf stays shallow for quite a ways out. So you keep walking and walking, but still the water's only up to your waist. I got down on my knees in the ocean just to get my shoulders wet :)

The harmattan came to Freetown almost overnight. This is my favorite time of year in West Africa, when the winds from the Sahara Desert blow sand and dust all over the Sahelian and SubSaharan Region. What it means for us here in Freetown is that its dry. No more humidity and sweating all the time. Sores are healing, and I actually need lotion on my feet because my heels started cracking! I love it though. You have to enjoy the "cooler" weather while you can. It's probably dropped 10 degrees since the harmattan started. My guess is that its in the mid 80s now. Our guards who stay the night come over in heavy coats and wool hats. Doreen who does our cleaning is wearing sweaters during the day. Even Dan has started sleeping with covers, and when I want to run the AC overnight he pulls out his sleeping bag. Me, I am not cold. I think its wonderful. It won't last...so I am savoring every minute. It will probably stay this way through January. Then it starts getting more hot and more humid everyday until the rains begin (Maybe March or April if they come on time)

We are learning to play poker because some of Dan's colleagues get together on the weekends to play. It's Le70,000 to play, and we lost it all in about two hours. ($23-24) so in the grand scheme of things it didn't hurt too badly. But we do need to get better, because the winners go home at the end of the night with hundreds of thousands of Leones.

CRS is working on getting me a driver's license. I am not sure what's going to happen, hopefully I'll have a few lessons before we decide whether or not to buy a car. But honestly, I am starting to think that by the time comes to make the decision, it probably won't be worth it, since we'll be leaving! I can get around most of Freetown in taxis. And Dan has been driving most nights and weekends.

We leave for our trip to the Gambia next Thursday (inshallah, that the flight to Banjul is not cancelled) If the Thursday flight doesn't go, we were assured seats on the Sunday flight instead. So stay tuned for pictures and stories from our trip! Hope all is well where you are. Thinking of you.