Frog hopper

Last week, my friend Stacia and I had a day off together, so we decided to take a walk to the craft market. It was nice to walk through town and spend some time off the ship....but, I forgot how exhausting the market can be! As we were walking along, Stacia told me she felt like we were in a game of "frog hopper"...you know, that computer game where you have to get across the street without getting hit by a car (well if you don't know, it was a game was really popular back in the day before there was such a thing as Playstation or Wii)...I couldn't have thought of a better analogy myself! Taking a walk in the market involves avoiding the gutters and potholes, constantly dodging cars, vendors, and a whole lot of other things. It is quite challenging, but fun...a bit of an obstacle course if I do say so myself.

                     There are often piles of trash in the market after the national clean-up days

After about half an hour of our interesting journey through the market, we found refuge at the Crown Bakery, a nice little restaraunt that a lot of NGO's seem to have discovered...we had a nice lunch and enjoyed the peace and quiet that created a sharp contrast with the bustling city outside.

After lunch, we proceeded on to the craft market and had an entertaining time there as well...Within the first few minutes, I discovered a game called "snakes and ladders"...when I picked the game up to look at it, the lady working at the stand insisted on showing me the game. She then proceeded to play until the game was almost over! I decided to fork out the 6000 leones after that (about $1.50) to buy the game...With a demonstration like that, who could say no...Besides, I figured the patients in the ward would like it (and they definitely did)!

There was not a dull moment in the craft market...at one point, we were looking at earrings and two vendors picked up the banana leaf fans and started fanning us as we were browsing...Stacia and I exchanged a look and tried not to laugh. A little while later, a woman pulled me over and starting wrapping a skirt around me, even though I hadn't even been looking at the skirts (and wasn't interested in buying one there)...Stacia just laughed at me...until they started doing the same to her...Just another TIA moment (this is Africa)...where else can you find such a comical shopping experience!

All in all we had a somewhat successful shopping trip...and neither one of us fell in pot holes or gutters (I had one friend fall into a gutter full of black "water" the other day and it was a pretty awful experience for her!), so I'd say we passed the test!

I'm not gonna lie...there are days when I would rather go to Walmart than worry about bartering with a stubborn vendor...or drive my Toyota down a well-paved street instead of walking through the dirty streets in Freetown, dodging everything and everyone in sight...but then again, where's the fun in that! And on top of that, at the end of every trip to town, as I round the last corner to the final street leading to the port, I am greeted by a bunch of little kids who call out "Rebecca! Rebecca!"  (most of them know me because I play soccer with the boys at a nearby school on a regular basis). As I wave to those calling out my name and walk hand in hand with the little ones, I can't help but smile and thank God for bringing me to this beautiful country...even if I do have to play a bit of frog hopper from time to time.