Arriving somewhere in the dark in a strange country and being greeted by dozens of people you have never met before is a lot to take in at age 4! But Sophie was loving all of the attention! She arrived somewhere that everyone knew her name, but she couldn't remember anyone!
I was too tired and hungry to even think about taking pictures. I will have to take them next time I go there. Everyone was in fancy dress, and Aly's little 10 year old nephew was wearing a suit for the occasion. I think he now puts it on every time he hears that I'm coming! He came to visit at our house today and he had it on again.
So I've been here a week already and the only music and dance I have experienced has been at the airport and Aly's mom's house that night. Unless you count the little ballet that practices diligently every afternoon across the bay from us - but all I can really hear are the bass sounds.
So after we greeted Aly's family and friends and ate a bunch of rice and sauce, we headed to a hotel for the night because the house we were renting wasn't ready (the housing adventure will be a whole blog entry unto itself, I think!). Sophie decided to stay in Matoto with her new found family.
We were going to return to a hotel where I stayed on my last trip with Aly's brothers, because I knew it had air conditioning and running water, but we passed it by when we saw throngs of people partying in the street nearby, and went on to the next hotel, Mariador Residence, which was behind some very large gates and right on the ocean. We had a junior suite with air conditioning and electricity (until about 7 am) and running HEATED water with a balcony with a view of the ocean and the swimming pool. The junior suite was a living room and bedroom. Ballaket arrived there with us, and then Sekou Sano showed up, and maybe some others. I'm not sure any of them got much of any sleep at all that night, but I definitely did.
The next day we picked Sophie up and made the trek to Coleah, where Aly's father's side of the family lives. Another big day for the girls, meeting lots of new people who wanted to hug and touch them! In the one small area of Coleah reside two of Aly's uncles, his father's best friend, his oldest brother, his second mom, several of his other brothers and a large number of cousins. And, I actually started to use my camera! Here is Nga Bountou, who Bountourabi is named after:
And here is Nga Bountou with a bunch of the children:
And here is Sophie, newly reunited with her cousins:
And Sophie and her cousins playing around:
We also went to find Sophie's mom, Bijoux, and that turned into an exciting chicken chasing adventure.
Sophie, Ballaket, Yetou and Bountou - and one baby chick
Ballaket
Bijoux and Sophie
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