Many months ago, likely during one of my hate days in my love/hate relationship with Guinea, I jokingly said that the two best things about this place were their gummy bears and butter, which, ironically, are actually French. Last week I was eating a piece of toast with my beloved butter on it and told Mister that it didn’t taste good anymore, so I guess that means it’s time to leave Guinea. So leave we will, at least Adele and I. Provided we can make it to the airport amid the violence that has erupted throughout the city, we will fly out tonight. It’s sooner than we originally planned, but the country is scheduled to have their (hotly contested) legislative elections at the end of June, so Mister thinks it’s best that we leave sooner rather than later. It super sucks to leave him behind, especially since we don’t quite know yet when he’ll get to join us, but we both agreed that this is the best solution, and that he’ll be able to better focus on the safety of our embassy family during this fragile time if he doesn’t have to worry about ours.
Conakry is definitely a hardship post that necessitates a close, friendly community, and we have been so lucky to have met some amazing people during our time here, many of whom will be life long friends. It is sad to think that we will all start to scatter around the globe in the next few months, but we’re glad to be living in the age of social media where it will be easy to keep in touch. That, and the fact that we’re moving back to DC where we are likely to cross paths with many of them at one point or another, makes saying goodbye a bit easier.
