Goodbye Laurence

Having Laurence stay with my family was a good two-months of recuperation from my sister leaving. I couldn't have asked for a cooler person to hang out with! I really enjoyed her company and I'm sad to see her go. We had interesting conversations about our experience here and how we classify ourselves as Westerners. It's amazing how much we had in common, mainly based on where we come from, as obvious as that sounds. But, now I see why the Malians called Laurence my younger sister. I have way more in common with this white girl from Canada than them.

Best Laurence moments:
- Our dog, Dario, had some strange growths in his fur. They were these gross pus-looking filled boils stuck on either side of his neck! Laurence and I had goosebumps every time we saw them, but being the science geeks that we are, we had to find out what they were. So, we had a kid come and try to take one off. He did and Laurence went to get her gloves, being a med-student, and we examined the grayish-white sac. Turns out it was aninsect and Laurence and I took deep breaths of satisfaction of finally finding out what those things were.

- One evening, I was hungry and wanted to get some beans and cheke (ground casava). I asked Laurence along and asked if she wanted some, but she said she was hungry, but didn't want to get sick. I tried to console her that I had never gotten sick from eating a particular woman's food, but she couldn't chance it. Two-months later, this chick is out of money and always craving some beans and cheke haha!

- I think 50% of our conversations have been food related. We can go on for a good hour about food from home and how we can make our favorite Malian foods better.
- The time that we knew that a new Canadian guy was coming and Laurence had such high hopes that I would find my next boyfriend. She was so wrong and we were both very disappointed.

- Before she left, I gave her a Cafe-Rhum whiskey sachet as a going away present. That night, as we were walking to the bar to meet up with others, this girl ripped open her sachet and drank it right on the side of the road as crazy trucks whipped past us! Real classy like :)

I miss Laurence.