Hello everybody! Just wanted to give you a quick update. I had initial success in my research by getting photos of three pygmy hippos. Also got a fantastic picture of a chimpanzee. I can show all these after I get them protected, so be patient! :)

Yesterday was a really weird Thanksgiving. I found a place for food in the morning and had a shwarma. These are tasty goodness - have meat, mayo, ketchup, lettuce (i might pay for that later), cucumber, tomato, all wrapped in pita bread. Scrumptious really. And they are grilled. Drool. Then I went to the internet to try to send some photos, but didn't have too much luck. After that I stepped out, prepared to have a good meal, but was stopped by a dude in a car. This guy I'd met the day before, and he owns the bush taxi that I travel in to and from Potoru. His name is Sylvester. He asked where I was going and stupid me, had the words I am going to lunch slip out of my mouth. He said 'well i will drive you." As I had very heavy bags in my hands, and couldn't think of a good excuse to say no, I got in. Ugh. Anyways, I ask about his wife, and he says he doesn't have one, but he'd really like me to be his wife. I talk about my "boyfriend" and elaborate on how we're just about to get married (my boyfriend story gets more lengthy each time I have to tell it). He says "Well you don't have a Sierra Leone boyfriend" and I reply "That's because I don't want one!!!" I'm so getting sick of these men here. So it was a very awkward lunch because he kept prying about what I like to do with my soon to be husband. He didn't eat but watched me eat, and when I was done (I had fish and chips) he took the few fries that were remaining, and sucked on the fish head. If he weren't owner of the best bush taxi, and a brother of one of my friends on Tiwai, I would have brushed him off for sure. Geez.

So then I went back near the office to my new friends, this family with somewhere between 7-15 children. I can never really tell...I like hanging out with them, practicing my horrid Krio with the 4 year old (I figure if he can understand it, anybody can) and being interviewed about America. It's not much pressure and they make me laugh.

After that I went to the market with my 15 year old friend, Zainab (she was the first to contact me to drag me to her house to meet her family). She also explained that the hubbub I cause is not necessarily because I am white - it's that nobody here seems to have ever seen a large white woman. So I am even more of a novelty. Oh joy. Did I mention that the men in Bo are beyond annoying??

I am going back to Tiwai today and glad of it. I love my fridge there and my monkeys and the forest and everything. Just a bush taxi, a motorcycle, and a boat stands between me and a good night's sleep! Yay!

Hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving. Miss you all tons.

Oh great news (and sad news too). My proposal was approved for Tulsa Zoo so I am getting money to stay here until May or so. Good news is that I'm staying, sad news is that I am staying. Anybody wanna come visit? :)