So, for those of you who don't already know I'M BACK!!!! in Arizona.... living with my parents... lol! I didn't say anything about coming home 2.5 weeks ago because I was surprising one of my aunts (who obviously reads MY very important blog) :) lol! But so I am back... it was a long journey and I have had a wonderful time reconnecting with family and friends. My closest cousin Megan is coming to visit me her entire family on Saturday. Sorry for not posting anything new these last couple of weeks but I promise to be better. Most of the time I was in Africa I wrote this blog for everyone stateside, but now I need to write this blog to keep up with the most important gift God has ever given me and who I sadly left in Sierra Leone until May. John, I love you and miss you!
Here is a little summary of things I learned in Sierra Leone the first 4.5 months of living there...
1. Buy a cat ('pus') they will eat roaches, crickets, praying mantis, moths, spiders, and geckos that come lurching in your house. For the record... I like geckos but Bess has eaten more than one!
2. If you can't buy a pus, leave your lights on at night if you go downstairs to visit the neighbors. If you turn your lights off, its code to all the roaches to come out and play and when you return home at night and turn your lights on... you will find these creatures of the devil lurking around waiting to attack you!
3. Buy extended life batteries for your computers. They are life savers during power shortages.
4. If you have weevils in your pasta/oats/other grain products, they float in water so you can skim those puppies off the top and you won't have wasted it!
5. If you want to lose weight, don't join Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, move to Africa! Either through food poisoning, malaria, or a combination of both, almost every expat loses weight (except for me... I'm gaining for some reason... mainly in my belly!)
6. Little kids do not get tired of screaming "opoto" "pu-mui" or "white man/uman" at all white people even after we say "hi" or "kushe-o" back. (One kid did say "chinese?" at me once also when I wouldn't respond back because I was in the middle of a conversation with another person)
7. We operate by the rule "if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down!"
8. If you have a male do the laundry (aka "bruking"), be sure to look thoroughly through your stuff and remove all undergarments. It seems like I forget at least one unmentionable every week and I cringe at another male having to wash my lacy blue granny panties!
9. Either iron all your clothes after they dry on the line, or wait 48 hours. Nobody wants the mango fly.
10. If you are buying souvenirs, bargain to at least 50% off the starting price. Be willing to walk away! Fruit, veggies, and household goods sold on the streets should be 25-33% off. If your husband is bartering for you (because you hate bartering yourself) don't take the sellers side... your husband will give you a hard time for it later!
Next up... things I love about 1st world countries...
Here is a little summary of things I learned in Sierra Leone the first 4.5 months of living there...
1. Buy a cat ('pus') they will eat roaches, crickets, praying mantis, moths, spiders, and geckos that come lurching in your house. For the record... I like geckos but Bess has eaten more than one!
2. If you can't buy a pus, leave your lights on at night if you go downstairs to visit the neighbors. If you turn your lights off, its code to all the roaches to come out and play and when you return home at night and turn your lights on... you will find these creatures of the devil lurking around waiting to attack you!
3. Buy extended life batteries for your computers. They are life savers during power shortages.
4. If you have weevils in your pasta/oats/other grain products, they float in water so you can skim those puppies off the top and you won't have wasted it!
5. If you want to lose weight, don't join Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, move to Africa! Either through food poisoning, malaria, or a combination of both, almost every expat loses weight (except for me... I'm gaining for some reason... mainly in my belly!)
6. Little kids do not get tired of screaming "opoto" "pu-mui" or "white man/uman" at all white people even after we say "hi" or "kushe-o" back. (One kid did say "chinese?" at me once also when I wouldn't respond back because I was in the middle of a conversation with another person)
7. We operate by the rule "if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down!"
8. If you have a male do the laundry (aka "bruking"), be sure to look thoroughly through your stuff and remove all undergarments. It seems like I forget at least one unmentionable every week and I cringe at another male having to wash my lacy blue granny panties!
9. Either iron all your clothes after they dry on the line, or wait 48 hours. Nobody wants the mango fly.
10. If you are buying souvenirs, bargain to at least 50% off the starting price. Be willing to walk away! Fruit, veggies, and household goods sold on the streets should be 25-33% off. If your husband is bartering for you (because you hate bartering yourself) don't take the sellers side... your husband will give you a hard time for it later!
Next up... things I love about 1st world countries...
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