Very Posh...

(Cully, Sam, and I)
It's gets dark in East London at 6:00. Makes it very hard to do much of anything [in the town] without feeling vulnerable. All the new-comers had to attend an hour saftey class yesterday where they informed us that although East London may look like home, may smell like home, may seem like home, that it is not home. The man went on to tell us of a woman being killed by an ax, in her home, only a couple of miles away, woman being raped, and stabbings up the street. He painted no pretty picture. We all got the point. It' s odd though how "safe" it feels here yet something has to be different because they're constantly scaring us with these awful stories. The liberia stories are quite too awful to post and we sail there in 6 weeks. It will be right after the election and they say it will be hellish.

Cully and I ran to the hardware store after dinner last night. It' s about a 15 minute walk...uphill. It's not like the states here though. I keep forgetting that. They don't work obsessively. 3 or 4 in the afternoon most places with the exception of gas stations close for the evenings. The hardware sore read "Open 5 days a week till 1500". "Subtract 2...shoot cully. closed". Well the walk did us good. One should never be on a ship all day.

We played hacky sack for an hour on the upper deck, where theres also a basketball court. I'm no good but cully's obsessed with the sport and im determined to be a champion too. Cully says he's never seen a girl with such patience and determination with hacky sack. He's a good teacher and he becomes so happy when i hit it off my foot twice and complete a pass. It's quite thrilling. I was just about to call it a night, write a post, and hit the bed when i heard..."Just the boy i want to see...SAMMY....come meet sienna. come on back sienna. meet the champion hacky sacker and he's only just started, like you." Sammy, not to be confused with sam belz, has dark hair and is about 25. Supposedly he's never played much hacky sack but i beg to differ. I was trying to figure out his nationality before i ignorantly asked. I listned a bit to his accent. Sounded like he had been on the ship for awhile and was getting quite good at english but still had a bit of an accent from wherevser he came from. I couldn't guess it.

"Sam, where are you from?"

"Texas." feeling incredibly dumb. but somwhat intriegued.

"No. wow. you really sound somewhat foreign. i was really not thinking the states...maybe polland or something" Yeah. they say the "usa-ers" pick up the accents, not the other way around. I was encouraged that a texas boy sounded pollish. gave me hope. He asked my name and Cully interrupted, "SIENNA....Aubren Sienna Howard!"

"Wow...aubren sienna howard, sounds very posh."

So yes. i was ticked by that. my name sounds posh, does it. i'll take it. I've been walking around the ship this morning with a little bit of an ego. I have a "posh" name. I like it.