Tuesday, May 27, 2008

moments of stifled laughter: sierra leone, part 1 - a/c, bug, credit card, snap

as i'm plowing through memories, thoughts and questions i was encouraged to write about some of the funny things that happened while in sierra leone. this may be one of many posts or maybe just one post.

we will see.

so. mamba point, freetown, sierra leone.

enter wmf north american staff for a celebration dinner. we dress up. i wore what i call a missionary outfit - note the photo. everyone else looked fabulous.

we walk in and it's cold, quite cold.

request 1 - can you turn the a/c off? or one of the units on the wall?

yes.

we order food. eat some great appetizers. get our main dishes. i eat. yum yum. notice something in my food. i take it out, notice it's a roach, whisper to stephanie about it. i don't want to make a scene.

request 2 + scene = um. there's a roach in this food.

response = waitress sticks tongue out.

request 2.1 = steph or cami, um, there's a roach in this food. can we see the manager?

i receive some delicious lentil soup.

we want to pay. with a credit card.

request 3 = here's a credit card

response = we don't accept it.

response 2.1 = awkward shuffle for money...then faye settles the situation. credit card accepted, end of story

so it's picture time now...you know how WMF rolls.

request 4 = can you snap us (take a photo of us)

and here's the photo.



it was a lovely, lovely evening celebrating some of the people who i am inspired and challenged by. i look up to these people more than they know.

2 comments:

Liz said...

i don't think missionaries generally wear the blinged up head scarves. so, no missionary outfit hath been worn here. ;)

NTSS Montgomery said...

A roach in your food?! Yikes! You probably reacted better than I would have. I HATE roaches! Glad to hear that you are doing well though despite the bug problem.