New food, new friends and Happy Birthday to… Yu

My latest column for Awoko was Round 2 of my experiences with Salone food. Hope you enjoy it!

To read the column, click here.

Word around the office after I cam back from Pujehun was that there were a couple of interns from New York working for different papers in Freetown. Mr. Lewis said they were “going to copy “[me]” and start a column about their experiences in Sierra Leone. At first I joked around with him, saying that I should try to be more original with my columns. But deep down, I was hoping to meet them once I got back from the states.

Well, as fate would have it, I met the two interns a couple of nights ago. The power went out at my hostel and I decided to sit outside my room for a little bit while I waited for the lights to come back. I could hear and see a couple of slihouettes talking (with an American accent) outside rooms two doors down from mine. I took the opportunity to “shmooze” a little and introduce myself and that’s when all three of us realized that we knew of each other, but just hadn’t yet met. The two interns are John and Tori; John is a Korean-American, originally born in Brazil but raised in Harlem. Tori is from Trinidad and moved to New York just five years ago.

Anyway, we exchanged numbers and even had dinner the next day – our first meal together was actually the first time we all got a good look at each other’s faces for the first time because the power never did come back the night we met, and we were all simply sitting in the dark talking to each other. I told Mr. Lewis about my new friends and he smiled and said, “So you have company at the hostel now.” I just laughed and replied, “In addition to the ones I already have, yeah.”

Sunday, the 20th, was my 22nd birthday. And, since I spent the entire day flying back to Freetown, I decided I wanted to finally check out the Freetown night life and go out with my colleagues at Awoko and my New York friends. We are going to a popular bar/night club called Patty’s. It’s apparently an Awoko tradition for the birthday boy to treat his fellow reporters and co-workers to some food or drinks on his birthday. At first I offered to buy a round of drinks for everyone at Patty’s, but then I decided that it’s probably not a wise idea for a foreigner to be flashing a bunch of cash at a night club in Freetown, so I’m going to treat everyone to lunch instead. My night out in the club will probably be my next post and column, so stay tuned for that.