Monday, September 17, 2007

What to Say?

I haven’t updated the blog in a long time and although I have a bunch of topics swirling in my head putting them down on the computer has been a little bit hard for me.

Let’s see I’m back from my work trip to Africa and I’ve decided to make it my mission to get back to West Africa as soon as I can. Despite the 12 hour work days I had the best time. There’s just something about Mali and Senegal (where I ended up for a long weekend) that has me wanting more experiences. Hopefully next time I’m there I’ll be traveling with someone who I can do some traveling with. The one regret I have is that I spent a month in Mali and only headed outside of the capital once. As a woman I don’t travel alone to remote locations in foreign countries EVER. I hate that I had to limit myself and missed out on a chance to travel to Dogon Country and Timbuktu but I’m just a stickler for personal safety and I’m not that type of person who straps on a back pack and goes on an adventure alone. Next time though I’ll be better organized and hopefully will have someone I can tag as a traveling partner.

I did manage to make it to Dakar, Senegal to visit a friend for a long weekend. It was a great weekend and I was able to visit Goree Island and hang with some of her family and friends. My last vacation was to also visit a friend and while I loved the sightseeing aspect of my trips I also loved interacting with the family and friends.

On an extremely sad note one of my colleagues is dying. He’s been diagnosed with a degenerating lung condition and there’s no cure. He goes into the hospital later on next week to do a biopsy to figure out if there’s a way to make him more comfortable. They’re also unsure of how long he’ll have to live. It can be just a few months or up to 2 years. I’ve also had another colleague die in the last year of cancer so we’re all really weirded out about this.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear about your colleague but I'm glad you did get to have some enjoyable moments on your trip. You're right to be cautious and not venture out alone. Hopefully you'll get to return soon.

CourtneyElizabeth.com said...

oh wow. :(
I'm glad you're okay! And that you were about to take some downtime with your friend.

Jdid said...

sorry about your collegue.
africa? man i hope to reach that continent soon

CreoleInDC said...

That's rough to hear about your colleague. Cancer sucks.

Your pics were sooooooooooo beautiful. The colors are astounding and the people look so alive with color! I would love to experience that!

If you ever decide to go to Africa on a personal trip...I'd be up for that.

The OE said...

I'd love a secret mission to Senegal. Senegalese women are hot.

Luke Cage said...

First, prayers to your colleague miss H. That's truly unfortunate.

And much like me, I haven't been updating either, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. Your pictures of the motherland were really beautiful. Very nicely done.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to take a trip to Africa. I haven't decided where I'd like to go specifically. My sister traced our roots back to somewhere between Cameroon and Angola. I always liked the idea of going to Egypt too.

Take care.

Brotha Buck said...

What an exciting job you have that takes you to Africa.