to town we go

i can be as guilty as the next traveller/expat of wanting to have a unique and 'authentic' experience when i am in a new country and yet i recognize that even seeking this out takes away its authenticity and leaves you constantly feeling as you didn't do enough, see enough, photograph enough.

and there are those instances that remind me that authentic experiences are authentic because they just happen.  and they just happen when you are open to them and others.

a bit trite, perhaps, but seems to hold true where ever i have been in the world.

yesterday was one of those 'authentic' days that i will likely cherish.  and largely because it felt so... normal.

motorcycle taxi driver (with sunglasses, of course!)

mary had agreed to take me to the waterside market in monrovia to buy lapas, the brightly printed (and ironically, printed in china) fabrics west africa is known for.  as much as i wanted to add to my collection and feed my addiction to fabric, i also wanted to hang out with mary and have her show me around town.

the first decision was how we would get there.  the shared taxis were an option, but we decided to spring for the motorcycle taxis at double the price because they are faster and a lot more comfortable, especially if you don't have to share one.  mary hailed them down and we got on.  she told me later that she was a little nervous when she couldn't see me, but she needn't worry as the only thing that i had to fend off was another motorcycle's passengers, two men who were fighting over talking to me every chance they got (in the middle of the road!).  it is times like these i need something that resembles a wedding ring in my back pocket.

bustling water street, with wheel barrows for hire

waterside is less of a market and more of a number of streets lined with vendors selling anything you need of your house.  much of the clothing and housewares were used, but there appeared to have been a large shipment of chinese shoes and they were laid out nicely for passersby to take a look.  the thought occurred to me a number of times that all those people at home who think donating t shirts and shoes to 'africa' are unaware they are being sold by the bundle and sold on the streets (in fact, there is a documentary made on this very topic: T Shirt Travels).

merry christmas!

it seemed as though mary knew a number of people around and we had to make several stops to say hello, but it turns out that she used to work there selling food so still knows many of the salespeople and shop owners.  i clearly stuck out, but didn't feel out of place or uncomfortable.  it is a pretty broad statement, but i have found monrovians very welcoming and kind to me.  but i would be lying if i said i was a lot less worried about getting lost or ripped off by having mary with me.

like much of the rest of the shops i have seen, many were owned by lebanese people.  we poked our heads into the ones selling lapas and i found 12 yards of fabric that i plan on using for sheets and cushions.  coincidentally, i got the number of a wonderful tailor today who can hopefully help me out because although learning how to sew (and quilt!) is something i would love to do, i am without a sewing machine.

it is tough to visualize what the fabric will look like as it is overwhelming to see so many patterns at once. and sometimes is very dim light while you are sweating buckets in the stuffy shops.  i picked out some more basic patterns although i might go back for the 'obama' print, which was rather lovely even if it did not have any images of obama on it at all.

in fact, there are some ma ellen prints i have seen around and like the nelson mandela cloth i bought in south africa, i might pick some up just for the laugh and memories of the time i am here.

lapas - the purpose of our journey

as i was unfolding and feeling all the fabric, mary was checking out the shoe selection and making sure my bags didn't get too heavy to carry.  one of my favourite parts of monrovia is the shop signs that are painted on the outer walls of buildings.  i hope to gain more confidence in bringing my camera along to take more photos next time i go to town, but this time i just took some snaps on my phone (which, by the way, have you downloaded the camera+ app yet?! amazing.)

after a wander around, we caught more motorcycle taxis on the way back.  this time, my driver was a shyster and made us pay too much and since we had two drivers, the second being a honest guy, i paid him the same exorbitant rate that the first demanded before taking my money, refusing to give change, and driving off.  i have no idea if he thought he could rip us off because of where he dropped us off, who he was carrying, or just because he was an ass, but neither mary nor i were impressed.  we were also nearly melting so we didn't bother too much and came inside to share a can of coke (which is still one of the most refreshing beverages when it is so hot out!).

this is what i look like on the back of a motorcycle taxi,
if ever you wondered

a mid autumn night's update

i have wanted to post all week, but somehow life kept getting in the way. i promise a post that does not include bullet points will be forthcoming.

here are things that are new since we last spoke:

• i have put together more furniture and loved the problem solving of it
• i rid myself of a boyfriend that i had managed to acquire these past few months
• during and after the Break Up, i felt absolutely ok about it all. my life did not crumble. my spirit did not take a hit. i was a little disappointed so i took a nap.
• then i scheduled 3 dates for this week. because i can. 2 down, 1 to go.
• i went to a luncheon where $60,000 was raised to open a shelter for victims of human trafficking (but none of that was my money as i didn't like their world vision-y style of fundraising)
• i made a delicious dinner for my first dinner guest at the nest - salmon with caramelised leeks was the centrepiece and i invented a berry crumble for dessert
• my company is a major sponsor of the honen's piano competition and i had the pleasure of spending over an hour today listening to a previous winner play a grand piano at my office (and i love the design of this year's programme so go over and take a look)
• i was given tickets to tonight's flames game, but couldn't find anyone i wanted to spend a few hours with who wasn't already busy so i gave them away to a summer student who then asked me if i wanted to go with him. the guy's got guts!
• one of my closest friends invited me to her wedding. it will be in england. in december. i hope i can wear a hat!
• i obtained a lucky lady deal from the shop where i bought my bookshelves and i will now have them delivered for free. yay for not having to find someone to carry them up the stairs to my front door!
• speaking of that front door. it happens to be right beside the front door of a rather dapper young gentleman. i know nothing about him, but my friend did suggest that i look at his mail and see if i can find out his name and then i could google him. because that is totally not crazy at all!

the friend edit

i am undergoing a slight, painless friend edit at the moment. i am not cutting anyone out or deleting any of my facebook or email contacts, but i am going to edit the amount of time that i spend with certain people. or at least limit the amount of my energy i give to those relationships.

recently i was told that i have positive energy and many of you are surely aware that i am not always a bundle of positive vibes, but lately i have been working really hard to rebuild my life, my spirit, and find my new wings.

for the most part i feel as though i have done a pretty damn good job of doing this, yet sometimes i speak to friends and feel a little drained afterwards or i feel as though they are not genuinely happy for me and what i have accomplished.

hence, the friend edit.

i don't think that any of the people involved in my friend edit are bad people, that they are inherently not good for me, nor that they mean to give me their negative energy, but alas, i walk away feeling slightly worse after talking to them.

sometimes friendships need to evolve and grow and that is my intention now - to create a little space for those friendships to expand and mature while concentrating on my most positive relationships and continue to rebuild the spirit.

seasonal favourites

lite 96 was playing christmas carols this morning! this will surely improve my christmas spirit. i love a good christmas tune.

i'm throwing out the ipod and sticking with dieter's radio for now!

the spirit has taken a hit

i have been really busy lately hating the universe and it got in the way of writing about how excited i am to come home. i wasn't hating the whole universe, mostly just the british army part of the universe. but at least some of that hatred has passed. and i have let go of the fact that i cannot win in a fight against the british army.

well, almost let go.

who are we kidding, i will never be able to let it go.

but now i can get back to the excitement. 5 days!

who's got spirit?

i was listening to christmas tunes this morning as i got ready to come into work and it put me in the most festive mood. which is rather difficult when i am also wrapping my head around sitting on a beach this weekend on the coast of kenya.

but for some reason, something has put me in a melancholy mood over the course of the day, but that could be because i didn't take time for lunch (as i had eaten my yoghurt and beets in olive oil and balsamic vinegar already - strange eating habits, i know) and my brain is now a bit fatigued of excel spreadsheets (but i do love the excel) and staring at my outlook inbox. maybe because i have actually been a bit of a productivity machine today and am just done an hour early for the day.

i have managed to clean up my desk, organise my files, catch up on my to do list, prepare for a meeting, and even apply for a job (they say the best time to look is when you have one, right? and i am not sure how long i will stay at this one.) i love a to do list but i love a crossed off to do list even more.

did i mention that i am going to the beach this weekend?! to relax, visit with my travelling partner, and read books. but i will wear plenty of sunscreen as i spied a little crease that wants to become a wrinkle near my mouth. then in 13 days (13 days!), i will be home for real wintertime christmas spirit.

which reminds me, it is now time for me to listen to Song for a Winter's Night by Sarah McLachlan obsessively.

renewing the spirit with a new nest

(october 29, 2007)

whilst fighting some sort of flu that was focused on crippling me by way of my left kidney this past weekend, i managed to move to my new home, a lovely little nest surrounded by a forest in an older building that offers me more comfort and privacy than my previous domicile. but who knew i could collect so much stuff over a year? i guess it is always surprising when faced with the task of gathering up all your shit and packing it into any and all available vessels for the trek in the back of a truck. with the help of some lovely taxi drivers, some hired movers, a rented truck, and askaris new and old, i am here.

still not unpacked and living out of boxes, suitcases, reusable carrier bags (who knew those things from nakumatt would come in so handy?), and every backpack and laptop bag i own, but i am absolutely relishing in having my very own space. this morning i wandered around naked trying to look for my towels and slippers, i just had a bath with the door open, and i am right now listening to music that is probably too loud for 10:00pm but there is no one around to hear it. i could get very used to this, but it will be short lived as in order to make my new flat affordable and for me to continue to afford any semblance of a social life or nutritional diet, i will have to find a flatmate. but i am no hurry and will wait until i find someone who i feel confident that i could live with. i’ve put the word out, but have yet to have any serious interest, so it might be less my decision than the universe’s.

this past weekend i also, perhaps against my better judgement, ran a 10km race. well, it was supposed to be a 10km race but there is no way i ran 10km in 50 minutes so i suspect that it was between 8.5 and 9km (seriously kenya, mark the course!), but either way it was still a great way to spend an early sunday morning and i now have bragging rights of having run a race in kenya. with kenyans. i was utterly impressed with the marathoners, they were moving at a decent clip right from the beginning and observing their levels of body fat, stride, and stamina, i am sure they finished the race at the same speed.

not that i would know firsthand, as i stood true to my word and went out for a greasy breakfast immediately after the run, which seemed to enhance the feelings of flu and forced me to have a nap once i returned home. i rounded out my battle with the bug by eating tikka paneer for dinner at my favourite local indian restaurant. in consideration of my health, i did order it mild spice this time. but i still think it helped me to sweat out the influenza.

my spirit is feeling renewed in my new space and i intend on spending the next months as a bit of recluse, hanging out and settling in and making a home. reminding myself what i want and who i am. a bit existential there, but a little refocusing and centering seems like the right thing to do in this moment. saving money also seems like a wise idea. household expenses are adding up quickly and i have that trip home in december, which will inevitably involve a lot of shopping and christmas activities. only 43 days!

and although i will be posted this a day later than his actual birthday, happy 13th birthday h! if i was weirded out that my little big brother was turning 15, i am floored by the thought that my littlest big brother is now a teenager!

dear internet,

i am sitting in my new office that has much better light than my old office (and i therefore will not be affectionately calling it The Cave as i did my old one) but i am crawling over furniture to get to my desk and my phone and internet function only when they damn well feel like it, which can be a bit trying. but i am feeling much better after a near-spirit-death experience this past week.

perhaps my change in mood and disposition is because i am currently drafting interview questions so that i can hire an intern. i guess you can feel like you are making progress when a year after you were the intern you are responsible for picking a new intern. it should be good and i will not be too cruel in asking them how they feel about doing my photocopying and envelop licking. because i am no diva and am more than happy to do envelop licking but it will be nice to have someone track people down on the phone. how does a country exist without voicemail?!

in entertainment news, i saw Super Bad last night and although it was not super bad, it really wasn't that great and the best part of the movie was the popcorn. or when i asked the guy if they had some butter to put on top and he explained to me that they were 'a little behind' and did not yet have buttered popcorn. who knew buttered popcorn was a sign of the times?

i made a dish with shrimp last night and this is perhaps the second or third time i have ever cooked them and i am not sure i really enjoy the shrimp when i have cooked the shrimp myself. i am going back to my no-meat, no-fish, no-shrimp cooking regime.

i have also sourced myself a new kitchen table and chairs. thank god, because making a delicious meal and then sitting down to eat it on your couch like an impoverished student got old long before i finished my years of post-secondary education. i am also rather looking forward to 2 long weekends in a row, both of which will be spent camping. the first weekend will be the dress rehersal for the real deal the following weekend where, if all goes well (and it often doesn't in the east africa planning department), i should be popping down to tanzania to check out the ngorongoro crater and olduvai gorge. i love the birthplace of humanity.

uh oh, problem with the new office space. now that the bathroom is across the hall from my office, i can hear when people decide to snarfle into the sink. what else do you call that noise where people suck out all the mucus from their sinuses and spit it out? well, someone just did that. and when they interviewed me and i said i was comfortable working in an international and multicultural environment, i don't think i was thinking of that! kenyans, somalis, canadians, pakistanis, brits, italian, filipinos, eritreans, americans, sudanese... never a dull moment around here.

one feather at a time

i think i repaired one of the feathers on my broken sparrow wings yesterday although i couldn't say exactly how. just one feather, but it is a start.

maybe i will start to get my appetite back too. it is so unlike me to have no interest in food, but lately i have a new understanding of those people who wish they could just take a pill instead of eating. i hope it doesn't last though, because eating is sometimes a highlight of my day.

this home's good

sara and i spent the day christmas shopping. we managed to find lots of things for ourselves and almost everything we need for others and we are now almost done. but a girl can never have too much faux fur or denim skirts, i always say.

wow, did i actually just type that sentence?! smart and fashionable are not mutually exclusive.

calgary feels good, feels like home and feels like christmas. feels like a lot of money that no one knows what to do with, too. since when are a pair of mittens at the gap $30?

i have had one egg nog latte and it was pure festivity. add to that one holiday tea and i am in the spirit.

what is with middle aged calgary women in flared jeans and pointy boots acting so pretentious? get over yourselves and drive your jacked up mini van/suv home to the suburbs.

drinking with your mom on a tuesday night may actually be one of my new favourite activities.

the spirit is in the air

the cookies turned out marvelously and i even ran some down to my canadian neighbour in my slippers to spread the christmas baking spirit. sometimes i love living in residence.

i even had an assistant baker who helped me whip the butter and sugar by hand, as that gets tiring if it is a one person job.

and i had more than enough chocolate chips, so i ate the leftovers because what else do you do with a few handfuls of chooclate chips?

the dollar hit a new high yesterday, 2.02 dollars to 1 pound!