Friends

Linnea Ashley on September 27th, 2010

Iganga Town, Uganda September 27, 2010 The power flickered. The surge protector, a metal box about three or four times the size of a box of Kleenex clicked off then on then off then on then off. I groaned. The thing is, we’d had a conversation about buying paraffin earlier in the day. Even had […]

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Linnea Ashley on September 15th, 2010

September 15, 2010 Iganga Town, Uganda (Mum’s resort) The water steamed immediately. On the wood paneled walls, against the rocks and the metal pipe pushing out the wood burned heat. We set our vinyl covered cushions on the slatted bench and chatted quietly, sweat pooling on my upper lip, the center of his chest. Just […]

Continue reading about saunas and scandals

Linnea Ashley on July 22nd, 2010

Despite being well versed, hell- down right prolific, in both the art and execution of farewells; they wear on me. Not simply the act of saying goodbye – but the brief intervals between the ends…the end of the job or travel that has occupied my time for a eight months or two years and the […]

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Linnea Ashley on June 11th, 2010

June 10, 2010 Naples, Italy Standing in front of the ticket machine in downtown Naples trying to decipher the “Itaglish” that popped up on the screen when we requested the instructions in English, we fumbled with change that for some reason continued to be rejected. As we rummaged for alternative money (realizing late a hastily […]

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Linnea Ashley on June 11th, 2010

Napoli, Italy (Naples) June 9, 2010 We took a taxi…our driver, chatted in Italian the whole way, intermittently pausing to allow shana to pipe up in Spanish. I threw in random words here and there and a lot of laughter, giddy at the prospect of good food. The driver pointed at himself and said Guiseppo […]

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Linnea Ashley on May 10th, 2010

He meant it as a surprise. Casual conversation destroyed that hope hope but still the sentiment remained. A kindness. A token to take with me wherever I go. And so last night was the party long in planning. People gathered in plastic chairs around a stereo system and I wondered exactly how it would go. […]

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Linnea Ashley on April 13th, 2010

The rain came running. I could hear it; feel the wind that carried it, before the first drops fell. I sat pondering time and tadpoles while enjoying the breeze until the rain began to run under the door. Walking to the back of the house where Sierra Leone was napping, rain snuck through the small […]

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Linnea Ashley on April 13th, 2010

This morning it was a damp patch of dirt, the color only slightly darker than the surrounding cinnamon brown. Yesterday it had been a muddy puddle; all that remained of the vast and fairly deep puddle that had obstructed the rocky road that runs in front of Sierra Leone’s house. I’d watched the water suspiciously […]

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Linnea Ashley on March 26th, 2010

Too much time had passed. And while we’d connected briefly (and infrequently) by phone, the tangible is better than the verbal, especially where family is concerned. so I headed south to see the Brights and bask in the laughter and acceptance they so readily offer. Of course there was food – my chronic hunger is […]

Continue reading about Another Bright Spot

Linnea Ashley on March 17th, 2010

In defiance of all generalizations and laughingly agreed upon norms among my Liberian and American friends, Liberians were the first to arrive at our party- well before any Americans showed their faces. First was Belecca, friend in tow, dressed to the nines in a lapa suit I’d never seen and a fancy head wrap. I […]

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