Another week goes by...

So believe it or not, it's raining again here in Liberia. Yes, ladies and gentleman, the rain just never seems to end. Never thought I'd hope for October quite so strongly before now. It's getting warmer here (and more humid) every day. Hard to imagine it turning to fall back home, though I do miss the prospect of turning leaves and cool autumn days. I don't think I've explained the road situation here. The roads are very...interesting. Some of them are paved in asphalt. A few of these have lines (usually only a middle one, though) and even fewer of these were done properly so the rainy season hasn't destroyed them. The Chinese (yes, that's how people explain the road process here) came and were paid to fix some of the roads. Unfortunately, no one quite informed them of the rainy season, so when it came they had to put all projects on hold. Some roads were right in the middle of being repaired. Also, they didn't make the roads well enough to make it through the rainy season. So the rains came, the roads fell apart. They are basically just potholed messes. Now, if the paved roads are destroyed by rain, I'll let you imagine how the unpaved roads are holding up. To get to school, we follow the main road called Tubman, out to Old Road in Congo Town. Tubman is paved and actually in fairly good condition compared to the paved roads in downtown Monrovia. Old Road is not. There a numerous ways to get to the school, but one of them involves going through part of Congo Town where it doesn't even seem like there should be a road. I don't think anyone can quite imagine what this road is like. It's dirt similar to Virginia clay. The holes are so big there is absolutely no way around them. You can only drive about 10 mph down the road due to the people and the holes. When it rains, the holes fill with water. At this point, they become small ponds. You think I'm kidding. This is why everyone (except the taxis) drives big SUVs here. The water reaches up to the top of the wheels at times. Yesterday, it rained so much that one of the roads flooded outwards through the neighborhood. Today, I saw a car in the neighborhood whose wheels had sunk into the sandy-red clay due to the mini-flood. I took a few pictures, but posting still isn't happening here. The ride is always interesting, sometimes painful.

A few weeks ago the core teaching staff took a tour of the Mercy Ship here in Monrovia. Mercy Ships is something worth looking at if you don't know what it is. It's a Christian organization where volunteers come to their ship and work in impoverished areas for a certain amount of time. There is a mini hospital on board and they tend to target some of the main problems in the areas at which they are stationed. The docking in Monrovia is the longest one they've done yet. They will be here for ten months total, to mid-December at this point. It's a huge ship (used to be used to transport railroad cars) which has been completely re-done with new floors added and everything. Mercy Ship Africa's hospital is focused on three different issues affecting Liberians right now. Other than the hospital, volunteers go into communities and do work there. They also need to people to go into communities and inform people of Mercy Ship and do screenings. It is completely volunteer run, so the people that work on the ship are actually paying to be there. They often fundraise through their local churches, families, donations, etc. Since some people live on Mercy Ship for years, they also have a school on board, Mercy Ship Academy. Today, they brought their students to the campus of AISM for a sports/field day. They have about 35 students through grade 12. Our numbers are up to about 65 through grade 9. This seems like a big difference, but both schools are quite small. It was a big success thanks to much time and planning by one of our teachers. It was a fun, relaxing day and a great way for our students to interact with those from a different community. Also, as all of their kids live on the ship, they don't get to go outside and run around too often. The ship has a play area and the deck is open for bikes and such, but no real grassy area to just run and play, so that was great.

Well with those two tidbits I'm off. I'm going to watch the presidential debates later tonight. Oh the exciting life I lead....