Same but Different (part three)

Shopping

Here as in the UK I have to shop – and as I women you know we HAVE to shop. It’s not called retail therapy for nothing. So how does the different type of shopping work here?

Groceries

No Waitrose here but plenty of supermarkets.  They are run predominantly by the Lebanese community and some Indians.  On a VSO stipend the first time you visit a supermarket is overwhelming as the prices seem so high. My first shock was the Le 30,000(£4.50) small box of cereal.  For the first time in ages I had to add up what I was buying as I went around to ensure I had enough money with me.  This has become easier as the weeks have gone by as I’ve learned which supermarkets are the cheapest for certain items.  No more one stop shop at Waitrose.  Now it’s cleaning products in Freetown Direct, general food items in Monoprix, cards at St Mary’s and changing money at Essentials.

In the beginning the other part about supermarket shopping I found challenging was that I could never find exactly what I wanted and was often are uninspired by the selection.  I have now managed to realise that there is lots you can do with the Lebanese and Indian ingredients on offer so lots of dal opportunities.  I have been down loading recipes to make with the staples on offer here – on that note aubergine any one?

Fruit and Vegetables

At home I was a loyal Abel and Cole veggie box customer and would you believe it I have a veg box here or rather veg plastic bag.  Each Friday for Le30,000 the Mountain Farmers Association delivers a bag of vegetables to my desk – now that is service.  Not the variation from Able and Cole but the certainty that I will eat vegetables in the week.  This is hard here – it is easy to eat out and never see a vegetable.  So what’s in the bag? Cabbage, aubergine, cucumber, tomatoes, radish, carrots, green beans, lettuce, spring  onions, mint and parsley.  Needless to say I now have a range of recipes incorporating these items.

If I run out I have to negotiate with the ladies selling veg at the side of the road.  Somedays I can’t be bothered haggling but others I will drive a hard bargain for my pineapple and guinea mangoes.  I have discovered that asking for an extra one is easier than negotiating down the price of individual items.  At the moment there are some lovely peppers so ratatouille is a favourite dish.

Next time how to buy shoes and clothes...

A Rainbow of School Uniforms

As you walk the streets of Freetown there is one thing you are bound to see – children in school uniform.  Not the boring grey and black of the uniform I wore at Banff Academy, no these are bright and make me smile every time I see them.  It also appears that there may be an infinite number of uniforms as every day I seem to spot one I have never seen before.

My favourite is the purple gingham dress of the Methodist Girls’ High School.  It’s not only the check fabric I love but also the style of the dress.  I have bored friends here to death with my aim to have one made for myself but am scared of the reaction of the tailor I pick for the job.  I could never wear it here but it would make a lovely summer dress for the UK. Here's some girls wearing it.

A band of girls in my favourite uniforn

One day I wore a royal blue skirt and white blouse to work and the first reaction of Mr Bangura, with whom I share an office, was that I looked like a pupil of the Government Secondary Technical School.  I had to agree as I pass many of those pupils on my walk to work in the morning. The boys wear royal blue shorts with their crisp white shirts, spotless white socks and polished black shoes.   The girls also wear amazingly white socks.  I say amazingly as in the dust and now mud of the roads I marvel at how they keep so clean. See what I mean?

A different way to carry a schoolbag

 So what other colour combinations are there?  Brown dress with yellow piping – the brownie uniform of my childhood comes to mind every time I see them.  Wine dress with navy piping, green and white check skirt with white blouse, vivid pink dress with blue trim,  navy shorts or skirt with vivid pink shirt, pale yellow shirts with grey shorts, royal blue pinafore, canary yellow blouse and royal blue shorts,  green pinafore with gingham trim  and so many more. Here's some other bright colours.

If your going to carry something put it on your head seems to be the rule here

A Marathon Day Out

The 9th June 2012 was a special day for the charity Street Child as this was the date of the First Sierra Leone Marathon which was organised to raise funds for this worthwhile cause.  Here’s a link to see what they are up to. http://www.street-child.co.uk/

The format of the event was to have three races: marathon, half marathon and 5km, so lots of opportunities for all (men, women and children) to participate.  The heat and humidity here is a huge issue so we were up early to be at the start at 6.30am to see the runners off round the beautiful undulating course.   

  The local brass band rousingly played the Sierra Leonean National Anthem

 

 

before the first batch of runners (marathon and half marathon) set off. 

There was a 30 minute wait for us 5km runners before we set off on our shorter challenge.  I thought I would be lucky to run the whole 5km course as I had done so little training.  However, as ever the atmosphere of a race pushes you along with the added element of the children shouting “opoto” (the Temeni word for white person) at you all the way.   I finished the course in just over 30mins with a sprint finish over the line against David who had been following me round.  Finishing at just after 7.30am we drank water (lots of water) as we excitedly waited for the first of the half marathon runners to cross the line. The winning runners in the half marathon and full marathon were local runners from the Stadium in Freetown.  Their participation was all thanks to the sterling effort of Jo who raised all the funds to cover the entrance fees, travel and accommodation costs for 22 runners and their coach.

I was staying with my fellow VSO volunteers Deborah and Aoife who both finished the half marathon in brilliant times. Here they are about to start 

And the three of us sporting our medals once it was all over 

Suitably proud of our achievements we headed back to the hospital compound for a relaxing few hours.  We chilled out on the veranda and had hours of fun watching two new kittens playing in a Christmas tree left over from last year.

Gorgeous!

How cute is this?

 Evening came and time for a BBQ at the neighbours before heading back into town to the Clubhouse to meet up with all the other runners.  After the celebratory drinking it was on to a local bar which has an outside dance floor, or rather patio, where everyone was dancing.  In this case, some very wet dancing as an amazing thunder storm started about 1am.  At this point no-one was to be deterred and we were a soggy bunch who made it back home.

A real marathon of a day – up at 5am and to bed at 2am.  Not to be done too often but my,  it was a truly wonderful weekend.

A Salone Diamond Jubilee

There is a tourism advert that runs on the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) which I hear often during the day.  The tag line is “Sierra Leone, The Beautiful Diamond of Africa”.  It, therefore, seemed apt in a way to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee here in Freetown.  No flotilla of boats for me to watch from my office window at Millbank – as ever when something exciting happens on the river I miss it – but there was lots of Union Jack bunting to admire at Howard’s house on Saturday night.

The dress code for the party was red, white and blue or national dress and every one made great efforts with amazing combinations of shirts, shorts, shoes, dresses etc.  One guest went to particularly special efforts at the tailor.

if you were wondering what to do with your Union Jack...

There was some nifty tying of scarves as the 1950s were evoked in a Hilda Ogden kind of way.  No cucumber sandwiches but the cucumber and mint was put to good use in Pimms which had been transported especially from the UK.  A little bit of Britain in Freetown.

The music had a UK feel until the Cubans arrived and we moved on impromptu salsa lessons which livened up proceedings no end.  All those Thursdays down at Atlantic appear to be paying off.  Here are I am with Carolyn, a fellow Scot, who dances wonderfully and has some improving pupils -not sure I’m among them but what I may lack in technique I make up for with enthusiasm.

You can't see it but I am wearing a red hairband

It had to happen one day....

A few posts back I mentioned the taxi scam.  This was described to me when I first arrived at the airport and has been repeated a number of times as other people have been caught out by it.  How does it work?  You will be the last person picked up by a taxi and once you are have settled in the driver will say that your door isn’t shut properly.  At this point the unsuspecting customer will turn to check the door.  At this point your bag will move towards the person sitting next to you and they will quickly open it and take what they can.  When you turn back you know nothing.  The taxi driver will then query where you are going and say they aren’t going that way anymore and you are let out of the taxi not knowing you may have no money or phone.

This is how it is described and that is what happened to me on Friday apart from the fact I was wise to them and didn’t do as was expected.  It was quite amazing how copy book it was.  I was nipping down to the tailor at lunchtime to pick something up so only a short journey from the office.  I noticed that it was a cab full of men that picked me up and registered it may be dodgy.  A strategy I employ when getting into any cab is to make sure I close the door securely so I can have no doubt that it is safely shut.  Boy was I glad of that today as 3 minutes into the journey the driver turned round and said “Your door’s not closed”.  Forewarned is forearmed so I looked straight at him and in a pretty forth right manner said “it’s fine” not moving at all or taking my hand from my bag.  A minute later, surprise, surprise he decided he wasn’t going to NPA after all.  At this point I told him to let me out where we were without paying him any fare.  On leaving I made sure to tell them that I knew what their game was and “nice try!”

Adrenalin pumping, I then walked the rest of the journey safe in the knowledge that I managed to handle that situation and reminding myself to trust my instincts before getting in a cab next time.  That said this is a minority all the other drivers I’ve had have been perfectly safe and happy to listen to my imperfect Krio.