Ou sont les pieds d’Alicia cette semaine?
(Where are Alicia’s feet this week?)

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Greetings family, friends and colleagues. In my last note I mentioned for the months of February and March I’d be on sabbatical and then working remotely in Côte d’Ivoire (CI) where my husband Sekou grew up. We’ve been in Abidjan for a week now - our period of coronavirus quarantine is over.

We’ve made good use of our first week despite the quarantine, and already I am reminded of how different life is here - in big and small ways that add up to a culture shock that hits me every time I arrive but, maybe sadly, a little less each time. I am a savvier traveler in CI, and CI is growing and modernizing at a pace that is breathtaking to behold thanks to the last 10 years of democratic peace and prosperity.

I’m going to try and send you a few postcards each week. That’s the goal anyway. I’ve decided to feature my feet in these reflections. I admit that’s an odd selfie choice, but it’s a powerful image for me. For me feet represent the strength and power of freedom of movement. These 50-year-old feet have literally taken me every step of my way. Before departing the Seattle area, I had a pedicure at my favorite Korean-owned lady’s spa - very aware that I’d be in sandals for the next two months. Because of pandemic precautions I had the nail room to myself and my regular aesthetician Sarah and I had a chance to talk. I learned she and her husband were originally from Mongolia and they travel home with their two American-born sons whenever they can. Sarah asked me about a birthmark on the sole of my right foot. She told me in her culture that means I will travel a lot in my life. The prophesy is true. Je suis un voyager.

Sekou is a traveler, too (and yes… also has a birthmark on his sole). Sekou left CI in 1994, so he has become an “American African” from the perspective of his family and childhood friends. Although Sekou loves being an American, and he loves our home in Edmonds, he longs to be more connected to his first home, and so over the years he has been quietly purchasing land here one or two lots at a time with the intent to develop at least one into our Abidjan home and the others into commercial properties. So far, he’s managed to buy up 14 lots around the Abidjan area, which is seeing a boom in property sales and construction (the annual growth rate in GDP the past several years has been between 7-8%).

So, the past week we have mostly been driving around in our 2004 New York-native Land Rover (a story for another time) checking on our properties and feeling fancy because we have working A/C to combat the HOT (90 degrees F), HUMID (80%) weather in Abidjan. In upcoming postcards I’ll share more of the highlights of settling into our apartment and seriously contemplating what it would mean for me to be an ex-patriot myself on a more annual basis. - Alicia

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Postcards from Côte d’Ivoire: Entry 1