...starfish and children, and men, oh my!...

FRANCO'S BEACH and RESTAURANT

******January 14th, 2007******

I have been a little behind on my updates, it's true, but I am trying to remedy that asap. The greatest problem (other than being busy) is that I've tried to upload pictures and have been having a hard time with the internet connection. It seems like the connection is good today, so I'm trying to take advantage!

On Sunday the 14th, I went to River No. 2 for the second time since I've been back. I surprised myself when I realised that it was only the second time I'd been there - my first experience in Sierra Leone included living at No. 2 for two weeks. Many things at the beach have changed. For one, they've painted the buildings we stayed in blue and erected a couple of 'watch towers' painted bright orange with the "Africell" cellular phone company logo. The sand is still there though, white and beautiful as ever. This time, I made a starfish.

These boys were standing on a boat in the water when I was taking pictures at Franco's, a restaurant down the road from No. 2. I asked them if they would pose for a picture and they were very obliging. They asked me if I was still in high school. It's universal.

Perhaps the most entertaining point of the trip was the drive to River No. 2. I went with friends I met throught Hanneke originally but now consider them to be my friends as well. A large majority of them are male and Lebanese. I found myself riding in a SUV with four grown Lebanese men. We only had one English CD to listen to (thanks, Lucy!) and it was titled "Hairbrush Songs" (or something like that)...at about the halfway point of our trip, the song 'It's Raining Men' came on and the car was filled with the booming voices of four grown Lebanese men belting out the lyrics at the top of their lungs....

"It's raining men, Hallelujah! It's raining men...."

They wanted to know why I was laughing so hard. I think they're still wondering.