Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Getting prepared for school

Things have been a little rough lately. There are a few things going on at school that make getting ready for students less than easy. For those of you who don't know, the school was shut down for about twenty years due to civil war in the country. During that time, the school was stripped of anything and everything that could be of value. The school was pretty much destroyed. The building once housed about 600 students. We now have about 45. We're hoping to have about 60-65 when school is officially in session. Only a portion of the school is reopened. This means that the rest of the school is still in shambles. The walls are crumbling, have graffiti on them from the war, and some of them don't even have ceilings or roofs. The rooms that have been redone are bright and colorful. They are also fairly large. Unfortunately, I don't currently have a room. Well, I have a room, but it's being occupied by the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is currently using our school as their base as they begin to start their program in Liberia. However, they are supposed to be in separate offices at the school. These rooms were supposed to be completed before school started. This, of course, did not happen. The construction workers did not work while no director was here, though they have been working very hard since they began again. Then PC decided they wanted changes made to their rooms, which meant all these changes had to be approved by the board of directors for the school. Because of this and a few other things, everything got behind schedule. They will not move out of my room until they have their own. This means I have no classroom in which to teach first grade. The director and school staff have been doing everything they can to expedite things, but to no avail. It's quite unfortunate. I want to feel settled and like I have space I can call my own before school starts, but that's not going to happen. They are expecting the offices to be done in a week or two, so I will be holding class elsewhere until then. It looks like music and art are going to share a classroom and I will use the music room. The music room is not quite finished, though. Basically it's a big complicated mess.
So, I don't want to talk about school anymore. Life in Liberia is different. Groceries are incredibly expensive here. Everything has to be imported, so the price of goods is incredibly high. You can spend a lot of money very quickly when trying to buy food. Most produce is bought at outdoor stands run by Liberian women or children. It's all locally grown and consists of what is in season. You can buy imported produce, but it's (surprise, surprise) very expensive.
It's been raining a lot here recently. Luckily, mostly at night or early in the morning. When it rains, it pours. Just downpours out of no where. I'm on the second floor of the apartment complex, which is the top floor, and the roof is made out of a plastic type of material, so when it rains, it sounds like the biggest storm ever is coming through the complex. It also sounds super windy and like the waves are going crazy and wild.
Okay, I'm going to make some dinner now. Hopefully, I'll be able to update you all soon with some good news.

1 comment:

N.A. said...

I love reading your blog. It almost feels like talking to you on the phone. Liberia sounds like such an interesting place. I hope you have your very own colorful room soon! I'll be sure to leave you more insightful and longer comments in the future, but for now I just want to say hello and send you a big virtual hug. :o)