My Journal
By David Krueger
It probably won’t surprise anybody that, being a journalist, I like to write.
My favorite writing is this, my columns for Awoko. I like writing for an audience. For me, it’s really cool to think that people actually take time out of their busy days to read this. Believe me, I appreciate that more than you can imagine.
However, I feel like it’s also important to write for myself. Before I left the United States I bought a journal to write in while I was here. It was highly recommended that we have something to write in by my university. They’re never going to read it, but they still think it’s healthy to get your thoughts out on paper.
I agree.
Two weeks ago I talked about my friends, last week I talked about my coworkers so today I’m going to talk about something else that’s helping me out greatly in Salone. My journal is an invaluable tool to keep me sane and relaxed.
It allows me an opportunity to dig deeper into my experience here. Often times after I write a column I re-read it and write about it in my journal.
Other times the opposite happens. I’ll write in my journal a little bit and come up with an idea for a column. That’s exactly what happened about an hour ago that inspired this column.
My journal kind of accounts for a behind-the-scenes look at my trip to Sierra Leone. The fact that nobody else gets to read it makes it safe for me to complain about something.
It allows me to write things down that I can’t say to anyone. Every once in a while I have a less than spectacular day. It’s nice to be able to vent about what angers me, and not have anybody tell me that I’m wrong.
Other times I write about stuff that, quite frankly, nobody else cares about. Sometimes I don’t even care about it, but feel like I should include it in the documentation of my trip. Years from now I’ll go back and read my journal, and relive my trip here.
I’ll get to revisit the Port Loko Hospital and the Charlotte Waterfall. I’ll smile as I read about my friends and coworkers while visualizing their faces again in my mind.
From January to March 2010 I studied abroad in Rome, Italy. I had a journal there as well. It was one of the first things I purchased when I arrived. It has the Coliseum on it. I always thought that was really cool.
While packing for Freetown I found that journal and went back and looked through it. It was pretty funny. I remembered exactly how I felt and where I was when I wrote each entry.
I also included artifacts from my trip, like my entry ticket to the Coliseum, a receipt from a meal in Prague and a flyer for the hostel I stayed at in Budapest.
As cool as it was I noticed one glaring fact about my journal: I didn’t write in it very much. Maybe once a week, if I was lucky. There were a lot more entries at first, then they tailed off toward the end of the trip.
Perhaps I was adjusted to life in Rome, or maybe I just didn’t have time to write. Either way, after I saw this I made a goal for my trip to Sierra Leone: actually write in my journal.
I figured since I was going to be here for 84 days, I would like to have 84 pages full by the time I arrive back home. It didn’t seem like that much. I just need to average a page a day. Or three pages every three days. It seemed reasonable.
At the halfway point of my trip (42 days) I had 36 pages written. I was impressed that it was that high, because I didn’t feel like I had been particularly good about writing in my journal. That night I went on a writing tear.
For an hour I transcribed the details of my life. I wrote about it being the midpoint of my trip and reflected on my first couple days and how far I like to think I’ve come since then. I talked about my friends at the YMCA and coworkers and how awesome they both are (that comes up a lot).
Finally, I wrapped up the epic seven-page entry talking about how I have no idea what my life will be like when I get home, as well as a few life lessons I’ve learned here in Africa. Like Rule No. 1, which is never look up. Ever. There’s always a spider there waiting for you. And it’s usually pretty big.
After that entry I was on page 43. I was one page ahead! I got really excited and pleased with myself, thinking that 41 more pages in 42 days would be a piece of cake.
That was on Thursday, 11th August. Today (Friday, 19th August) is the first I’ve written in my journal since then. I’m not going to meet my goal if weeks go by between entries.
So I’m going to re-rededicate myself to writing in my journal. And part of this column is to keep me accountable. If you see me on the streets of Freetown, please say hello, and then ask me when the last time I wrote in my journal was.
I always carry my journal around in my backpack with me. It’s all black, and features the logo for the Seattle Mariners, a professional baseball team from my hometown. The Mariners are one of my favorite sports teams in the world, and my dream job is to cover a baseball team (like the Mariners) for a news outlet. In fact, I’ve even written about that in my Seattle Mariners journal.
I don’t know what the rest of my trip to Sierra Leone will bring for me, but I know I’ll be documenting it regularly in my journal. I’ll never, ever forget this trip, or the things that have happened to me along the way, unless I fall and hit my head and forget who I am, where I’m from and what I’ve done.
I sincerely hope that day never comes, but if it does at least my journal will make sure I can remember my time in Salone.
No comments:
Post a Comment