...The last weekend...

A week ago Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending an African Music night presented at the British Coucil by the Ballanta Academy performers. The photos have been a long time coming...but the night was fabulous! The dancers had more energy than I will ever have and I was dutifully impressed.

This guy on stilts nearly took my eye out when he fell in front of us. We were sitting in the front row - maybe not such a good idea next time...seriously though, WHOA! The athleticism is impressive.
This is a traditional Sierra Leonean 'devil.' Lots of raffia and shaking. This devil had a bit of an attitude.

There was also dancing by everyone later in the evening. Below are Kate (a Brit) and Justin (fellow teacher) dancing it up. Good times....
Talking about dancing....

This weekend I was invited to a party thrown by a man named Kevin who works at the British High Commission (gotta love those Brits...) It was a complete blast! His apartment complex is gorgeous - incidentally, it is built by the same man who I told you about in a previous blog (September 18th) so yes, very decadent. There was a pool and much swimming took place, as did much dancing. Definitely my kind of night. Needless to say now, however, I'm pooped!

Sunday was Hanneke's last day with us (*sniff*) and we went to River No. 2 for the day. We spent the afternoon swimming (yes, more swimming. It is a good thing I love swimming! Thanks for forcing me to take those lessons when I was young, Mum and Dad...although, I'm still bitter about the lack of gymnastics lessons...but that's another story). We stayed a Nassip's place at River No. 2 and had lunch there (yes, more Barracuda). All in all, a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

Today, Hanneke leaves. After class I'm hoping to make it to the helipad to see her off. I'm sure it will be quite emotional. I'm working on bringing back the "Ice Queen" of old so I'm hoping I can hold it all together...Oh, I made a new friend over the weekend as well (big weekend, I tell ya!). Her name is Meghan and she's from Georgia (seems to be the popular US State to be from here in Salone) and works for Peace Child. We clicked right from the start, we're very similar (so, think funny, charming, attractive, outgoing, and modest) and have made plans for next weekend. Now if only I could get this week of work out of the way....

In other news....Prince Charles blesses Sierra Leone with his presence today (Monday). There's a big to-do at the golf club (yeah, that's right, apparently you can play golf in a former war-zone. But why?) The city has been trying to clean itself up (operative word being 'trying') and have done a bit of garbage removal and painting...Thanks, Chuck.