Better than Dunkin'
21.10.2024
So it turns out I am falling a little bit in love with my quirky little neighborhood. Familiarity breeding comfort and connection. Two tween girls find me on my walks and throw me hand signals - you know, like they are posing for Instagram. We laugh and smile, I throw the hand signals back, and soon I will know their names. I came home late on Saturday night, and another neighbor came out and called for our compound's security person to open the gate for me when he didn't show right away. Maybe this neighborhood is adopting me a little bit.
I live on a dead-end street, and when I walk up to get to the main street, I walk past two wells. Young kids drawing water out of these wells every time I pass, no matter the time. Yesterday, a 5-ish year old girl, holding one bucket in her hand, walking with another bucket on her head. She kept stopping to change the bucket she was carrying from one hand to the other hand because the metal handle had to be sharp in her palm. I offered to help, but I am old and probably a little scary. I don't think she understood my offer, but she paused, and in her high-pitched 5-year-old voice explained that she was taking water home. She is a beautiful, beautiful child. I wish I was taking pictures all the time, but also do not want to do anything that could make these people feel I am making them objects of curiosity. Because they are not; they are beautiful. Living here is hard, and I see more grace, dignity, kindness, and community than I see anything else.
This afternoon on my walk, there was a 4-ish year old little boy, swinging around a porch post, with a cardboard box on his head. The box had a 1"X 5"ish rectangle cut out across the front panel, so he could see out. He was a knight! Or a goblin! Or a Transformer! A gooney kid, whose mom or dad or auntie or sister made this hilarious mask for him. Boo! I took his photo because...I mean, how could I not? For real.
I did lots of things this weekend. I think I've turned the page - or enough pages - to be comfortable to try things, instead of constantly feeling on the edge (of disaster?) when trying things. So here are some snapshots from my outings, and I am finally uploading some photos.
- I walked to the street market near(ish) me. Lions and tigers and bears! Well, no, not those things. But still plenty to ogle at and, at times, be a little afraid of. Snails the size of Nerf footballs (I AM NOT KIDDING) - in their shells, their heads and antennae wriggling out. When I leaned in to look, the proprietor said "I can crack open the shells and clean them for you to make it easier for you to cook them." Yikes. This made me think the chicken feet might be a better place to start.
- Dried fish, fresh fish, whole fish, fish filets. Shrimp, crabs, and many other things that come from the sea. Later that day, I walked on the beach and past a neighborhood that spilled onto the sand. Maybe 100 people were out, pulling in wooden fishing boats, unfurling, straightening and wrapping up their nets. The boats are about 2.5 times the size of a canoe and similarly shaped. The men row into the ocean, catch fish, and bring back full nets. The women sit on the beach, with large, brightly colored plastic bowls between their legs, and ready the fish for sale. The sand is shiny with scales.
- Bolts and bolts of fabric, brightly colored designs. It's easy to imagine this fabric transformed into dresses and headwraps by tailors who are in small shops all over. (In Senegal, I remember one of my favorite sights was young men walking down the street with their sewing machines held on their shoulders.)
I could have gotten a gel manicure for 550 LD (that is $3). I almost bought a copy of the Invisible Man for 650 LD (only $3.50...but why is it so hard to convince my brain that 650 "dollars" is a small amount of money??). I bought donuts for the security guys at my compound. (Did I mention that these guys semi-live on my back porch, and tap on my kitchen window when they want me to turn the porch light on or off? They also greet me in the morning at the kitchen window. A little alarming, until it turns out we enjoy each other.) The whole donut operation was right in front of me: a giant mound of dough, two women trading off with one another to pinch off bits of dough, fold the bits into crescents, and drop these half-moons in a bubbling bowl of grease sitting on a fire. #betterthandunkin
I found a great road to the beach that I can walk to. Just beyond the fishing neighborhood, I came to an inlet where the water created a bit of a pool, before narrowing into a small river. My face is cracking open with a smile as I try to figure out how to describe this: 60 or so bodies, mostly boys and young men, I first thought, but when I looked more closely, I saw plenty of girls who were in shorts or underwear swimming, splashing, jumping, falling into the water Lipton Iced Tea style, throwing balls to each other, dragging their dogs into the water, laughing, laughing, laughing. Their barely clothed and some unclothed bodies slick in the water, running onto the sand, and then chasing the water into the sea as the waves receded. Like at every beach anywhere. Honestly, it was glorious.
I went to two (count them: TWO!) clubs. Fri night was Ocean Drive; Sat was D. Calabash. Live music at D.Calabash. Alotta struttin by people digging the music and the shisha. I tried a new restaurant for lunch on Sunday, and had my first jollof rice. I had two great motorbike rides. I finally uploaded a couple photos; check out the right side of the page.
People: this world is so wild and magnificent. I don't know how to tame or inoculate against the crap stuff that is a bit overwhelming, and, to state the obvious, dangerous. I don't know if I am happy or disappointed to be far away for the election that is now just a couple weeks away. I do know that I feel exquisitely lucky to be where I am, doing what I am doing. Many of you are part of how and why I got here. Thank you.
xo
Posted by sarahglover44 19:15 Archived in Liberia
Love all the things about this post. Each paragraph a bucket of delight. All three photos are just gorgeous.
by Sue