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| Landed in Lungi! |
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| The Kona Lodge |
This will probably be my longest entry because it was the longest day of my life. We arrived in Paris around 5:30 am and our team took over some nice couches near our gate. It was nice to lounge around and hang out with each other. Tim, our team leader, was great at keeping things light hearted and including everyone. I was the recipient of a random act of kindness this morning. I went up to buy a croissant, but when I went to pay, I only had $20 bills, and they said they would have to exchange an entire $20. I was about to walk away because I would have no use for $20 worth of euros afterwards when the girl behind me said "Hey, no problem, let me buy you a croissant." I said that it was fine, but she insisted, saying that this had happened to her before too and that she wanted to treat me. I offered to pay her in dollars, but she refused to accept and asked me to do it for someone else if they needed it. I thought that was really awesome. People are nice. We got on the plane around 10:00 am. On the shuttle on the way over, Anna and Emily Burns both got sick. I can't imagine how miserable that was for them. Jackie and I were really lucky to sit next to each other and sleep in each others lap. We were often woken up by this adorable screaming baby. I may have muttered "I never want kids" out of sleep deprivation. Finally, we landed at the Lungi airport. There was a man on the plane who was very drunk and after jokingly picking a fight with Les, announced that he was returning to his home country for the first time and declared us his friends. We quickly hurried away from him and into the airport- not wanting to be associated with him as he was already drawing attention from security. The man checking me in kept trying to get me to pay him money but I played dumb and eventually he let me through after asking lots of questions. Everything was so hectic- it is a small airport, hot and bustling with people yelling directions. Poor Les got accused of stealing a man's pen, and that escalated quickly into a heated argument. It was a long process trying to get our luggage and take inventory, and while waiting, I felt a tug at my backpack and turned around to find a man trying to open my back pocket. It was really stressful but eventually we got herded out into the parking lot to load our things onto the truck and bus. Deb had us girls get on the bus since the sun was setting and some men had started talking to us. On the bus ride to the ferry, I stared out the window at the people walking in the streets, women carrying huge baskets on their heads. Many would smile and wave at us as they sat outside their houses or around a fire. One of the images that stuck with me from this ride was some kids sitting underneath four large branches in postholes with a tarp draped across. That was their shelter. Most other roofs are pieces of scrap metal held down by rocks, branches, and twine. When we arrived at the dock, our driver bought us the 10:00 pm ferry tickets, so we ended up waiting for 2 hours. It wasn't too bad since it was fairly cool out, but we were all definitely antsy, tired and hungry. We also weren't allowed to get off the bus because so many villagers had it surrounded, trying to sell us things through the window. It broke my heart to shake my head no, especially to the little kids who were out after dark trying to sell bananas or whatever else. We played Guess Who and went through our itinerary to pass the time, but were all very thankful when we got to board the ferry. Nothing I say will accurately depict the chaos that is the ferry. My grandpa has this impossible game called Rush Hour, where you have to situate cars to fit on the game board. It felt like that. Or Tetris. Everyone is blaring their horns, men are yelling directions, fitting SUVS in spaces I thought could only fit a motorcycle. We had to suck in our stomachs and shimmy through the tiny spaces in between cars to get upstairs for fresh air. I was pretty bad off at this point- I felt like my body was flashing the low battery signal. I ended up falling asleep sitting upstairs. When we got back on the bus I just kept telling myself "Don't pass out. Don't. Pass. Out". I could feel some eyes on me and I didn't want people to overreact or become a person of concern or high maintenance. Tim gave me some peanuts and I had some more water and pulled myself together. When the ferry arrived in Freetown, cars unloaded- louder, crazier, and more impatient than before. Our driver went to start the bus, but it wouldn't start. I was done- but we all sat quietly as to not stress the driver out any more than the neighboring cars were. Our luggage truck jump started us and we made the bumpy journey to the hotel. I was sure we were going to tip down some of the steep hills or not make some of the sharp turns. It was dark, but I saw so much. The most haunting image I saw was a little boy curled up asleep in a ditch with a plastic bag pulled over him as a blanket. Just sleeping there in all that trash. It was unbelievable and the things I saw quieted my growling stomach and complaints. I was not starving. I was fine. We arrived at the hotel, the Kona Lodge, and the manager was very gracious. We ordered our food around midnight and waited almost two hours for our spaghetti to arrive. Jackie, Stephanie, Les, and I sat together and their company made the wait less painful. In the meantime, Emily Bennett got sick, so I was very hesitant to eat much at all. I'd rather be hungry than sick. Jackie and I roomed with her, and I could not imagine being sick on top of everything else that had happened that day. She was such a trooper. Thankfully, she started to feel better, and we all got a hot shower before going to sleep. Overall, it was a long day, but it only made me that much more excited to get to the CRC. Everything we went through made us come together as a team and we were already laughing at all the obstacles we faced by the time we went to bed.
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