Rose

One night at dinner I met a sweet girl named Roos (Rose, for you Westerners J).
Rose’s brilliant. She can tell you about the inside culture, history, people or politics going on in any land.
She spent months studying in Namibia. She’s traveled the world to Brazil, California, U.S.A., Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Switzerland, France, Spain, Thailand, Ireland; she’s been all over.
Roos and I met in the buffet line. A few minutes earlier Kell came to me with the exciting news that she found a girl around my age who came to the conference for her parents and visit the island. I sat at a back table resting my head in my arms but I perked up in seconds.
We figured sightseeing was on her agenda too. That meeting proved to be a blessing for me. I went over to talk to Roos and it just seemed like I’d already known her. She knew a lot and I didn’t have to explain stuff when I talked to her.
Coming from the Netherlands Roos had stories to tell me what its like about living there. Talking to her felt like I was talking to an American girl. I had to keep reminding myself that she hailed from the Netherlands. We chatted like we’d known each other for ages. She’d planned to do sightseeing the next day and I’d asked to tag along for the trip. She said yes, and I left dinner excited. I went to sleep happy that night.
I could finally hang out with some new friends, learn about their culture, see different parts of the island and get away from that desolate hotel.
The next morning Roos, her mom and Natalie picked me up from Le Spice Garden to go hiking/bird watching.
On the way to the park I captured beautiful pictures of the Mauritians. Roos drove while her mom read the map for directions. I was really able to play tourist in the backseat.
I’d seen things I’d never seen before. In the middle of this one town I saw a laundry service and unlike America’s laundry service, Keans the Cleaners with its big machines for all the work, there were two woman inside a hot looking building doing all the work. I even saw one with a hand iron, as she ironed sheets. They were cleaning sheets and fitted sheets for a hotel I guessed. I figured she would be all day, but they were accustomed to that type of work. They did everything by hand.
I saw a woman at her house sweeping her clay floors. Then she threw a bucket of water on it when she finished.
We passed a horse, that from the road I could see his ribs showing. I’d never seen a horse so skinny that most of his bones showed. He was really famished. We went over half of the island. I saw the people about their daily lives.
We made it to the bird sanctuary and took a four-mile hike. Along the hike Roos taught me things. She’s smarter than she know. I told her I saw poor people all over the island, she argued that they were not poor, just standards. (That will be another blog for another day. Poor versus Standards) I had an amazing time with my new friends that day. And just like Kell said before we left America, I would get to experience Mauritius more than anybody. Indeed with that trip with Roos, I gained more than National Geographic or Time can give me.

…and she wants Obama to win (I’ll tell you about that later, its crazier than you think).
-Adios