I just returned from 3 weeks in Europe (photos here, here and here), a long awaited and much needed vacation. And let me just say, 9 uninterrupted months living in Conakry was stupid. Pro tip - If you live in a developing (poor, dirty, stressful, and/or politically tense) country, you need to get OUT at least once every 6 months maximum to recharge your mental/emotional/intestinal batteries.
Being away from Guinea gave me enough space to reflect on some things I like about Guinea, which are:
The beach. Although it is too polluted to swim in (I’ve swum in it….), it is beautiful, especially at sunset (sunsets are much more impressive at the start and end of the rainy season, like wow Roman painting great). During the dry season, you can get a beer on the beach every night if you want to. Fantastic.
The islands. Also confined to the dry season, the islands are like leaving Guinea (sort of……). You can swim and bring picnics and hike (sort of….) and generally forget that you live in Conakry.
Egg sandwiches. In Conakry, you can get an egg, onion, mayo and ketchup sandwich and a sickeningly sweet instant coffee with sweetened condensed milk for around a dollar. I know that when you read that, you’re thinking, holy crap that sounds awful, but it’s good.
And the BEST thing of all?
Greatly lowered expectations. I know, you’re like – wait, what? That’s not good. But you are wrong. It is great. When you get used to not having things like stop lights, legitimate roads, non-shelf stable milk, parmesan, Greek yogurt, streaming internet video for watching Grey’s Anatomy, strawberries, raspberries, berries in general, cut flowers, cappuccino, imitation veggie ‘meat’ and gelato stands, you lower your threshold for happiness/joy/general merriment. So when you leave for a few weeks and have unlimited access to ALL of those things, your socks are rocked. You’re like OH YES MILK and SWEET GOODNESS non-chlorine disinfected BERRIES! Driving on a highway is bliss.
So, Guinea has some good points, greatest of all, perspective.
Being away from Guinea gave me enough space to reflect on some things I like about Guinea, which are:
The beach. Although it is too polluted to swim in (I’ve swum in it….), it is beautiful, especially at sunset (sunsets are much more impressive at the start and end of the rainy season, like wow Roman painting great). During the dry season, you can get a beer on the beach every night if you want to. Fantastic.
The islands. Also confined to the dry season, the islands are like leaving Guinea (sort of……). You can swim and bring picnics and hike (sort of….) and generally forget that you live in Conakry.
Egg sandwiches. In Conakry, you can get an egg, onion, mayo and ketchup sandwich and a sickeningly sweet instant coffee with sweetened condensed milk for around a dollar. I know that when you read that, you’re thinking, holy crap that sounds awful, but it’s good.
And the BEST thing of all?
Greatly lowered expectations. I know, you’re like – wait, what? That’s not good. But you are wrong. It is great. When you get used to not having things like stop lights, legitimate roads, non-shelf stable milk, parmesan, Greek yogurt, streaming internet video for watching Grey’s Anatomy, strawberries, raspberries, berries in general, cut flowers, cappuccino, imitation veggie ‘meat’ and gelato stands, you lower your threshold for happiness/joy/general merriment. So when you leave for a few weeks and have unlimited access to ALL of those things, your socks are rocked. You’re like OH YES MILK and SWEET GOODNESS non-chlorine disinfected BERRIES! Driving on a highway is bliss.
So, Guinea has some good points, greatest of all, perspective.