I’m in Sierra Leone now and can’t sleep because I spent all day sleeping on planes… Anyway I feel a lot better now that I’m with Dr. Tom Asher and am not all alone. My last flight to Sierra Leone went pretty well, it stopped over in Dakar before making its final one hour journey to Sierra Leone.
Once I got here it was crazy, it took forever to get my luggage and I was afraid it hadn’t made it but it did. Then I got outside and one of the airport workers led me to the water taxi to get across to the mainland. However he got me pretty good. He pulled me aside saying I shouldn’t pull money out in the open but he pulled me into this little room where I felt very intimidated. He asked for $40 for the taxi, then he wanted a $20 dollar tip and since he had been so nice, and I was freaking out, I gave it, then he wanted another tip saying it was for all his help, he told me the first one wasn’t for him. He wanted another 20 but I only gave him a 10. So basically I got swindled out of $30 because I was alone, never done this before, and very insecure. Crap… anyway.
I made it to the taxi thing where I waited for what felt like forever, though I got to see a crab wandering around which was cool. When I finally got on it I prayed the whole way across the thing didn’t sink because it wasn’t very big and the water was very choppy, every time the thing bounced I was sure it was going to either sink or fall apart. Upon arriving at the mainland I met Tom and we talked about a lot of things but especially what I’ll be doing and all the people waiting to meet me which really helped me feel better. I’m super excited for all the opportunities I have here to build up the people of Sierra Leone and God’s kingdom. I assure you I am doing well, just being a little melodramatic because I’m missing home and friends and feeling very much like I skipped the frying pan and just jumped in the fire. I promise that my updates are not all going to be like depressing. Oh, one more sad story, there are dogs everywhere and I’m not allowed to pet them because they might give me rabies, lame…
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I don't know if it'll make you feel any better, but most people, when they travel to another country (especially a very different culture) get swindled one way or another. If most of the white people coming off that plane weren't pretty gullible at first, that taxi guy wouldn't be hanging out there. Just think how savvy you'll feel seven months from now! World traveler. You can sagely tell others "Oh, watch out for the water taxi guys - make sure you agree on a price ahead of time, or they'll swindle you."
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