Overdue post

I'm not very good at posting on a regular basis. This I know. I'm vowing to start working on it. What's going on in my life? Well, lots. First of all, life here has somewhat normalized. I think that's one reason I'm posting less. I've become used to things here, so I don't see something and think, "I should post about this..." Basically I've just been trudging along, doing my thing, teaching the kids, hanging out with friends, etc, etc.
On a positive note, the rainy season is coming to an end. October 15th is the day they like to quote as the end of the rainy season. We still get a few storms every now and then, but mostly only at night. The negative side of the dry season is the heat and the dust. It's amazing to me that it's fall at home and it's getting colder, while here it's getting sunnier and hotter. I do mean hot. And the sun-I put on spf 50 yesterday to go chill out at the pool with a friend and still got sunburned. We were only out there for maybe an hour or so, it's ridiculous.
So the other night I was coming home from trivia and saw a tank rolling down the street-just something to think about.
I've FINALLY posted some pictures to a public gallery online. Go to picasaweb.google.com/christy.n.lewis. Check it out!
I went to church this morning. It's only the second time I've gone since I've been here. The first time I went to the Episcopal church closest to the compound. It was interesting. I went with the director and his wife. We were the only white people in the church. After the peace they did announcements and asked all first timers to stand up. I looked at Rory and said, "Well I guess we can't hide." Today I had to stand up too (different church), but I wasn't the only first timer so it was a little less awkward. I also went with some friends today, so that was nice. One thing, there are no air conditioners in the churches here. This one also did not have fans. It was sweltering. You can't do much without sweating here anymore.
About being white in Liberia: I don't think I've mentioned this, but being a white ex-pat is a pretty interesting experience here. Going back to the normalization point, you know you're getting used to things when you walk down the street, you're the only white person in view, and you don't feel awkward because everyone is staring at you. I was really paranoid the first few weeks with everyone staring. Now, it doesn't bother me. I've also gotten used to men telling me they love me when I walk down the street, telling me they want to marry me, calling me their wife, their mommy, etc, etc. I'm also quite good at saying no to people trying to sell me things and avoiding the beggars without being super rude to them. I've only had one get really mad at me for not giving him money. I think he was a bit extreme because no one else has seemed to have had such an experience. They like to tell you that they were in the war and now they're poor and need money. Most are missing a limb or have some other ailment which they like to throw at you as well to make you feel even worse. It works sometimes.
So I've made some really great friends here. Just thought I'd let everyone know. I'll start sharing stories soon. The fun thing is that we're all from different places. I had a huge discussion about cornbread and how it's the best thing ever with an english guy the other night at dinner. He had never had it before and he still swears it's got nothing on Yorkshire pudding...whatever that is. But yes, my friends are awesome, we pretty much spend the entire weekend together, and I don't want them to leave. The depressing thing about this place is that the people here are very transient. People are always coming and going. One of my friends leaves at the end of November, it seems so soon! A bunch of others are leaving in six months. I know new people will be coming, but I still don't want to see anyone leave. We have so much fun together and keep each other in line and on track. Liberia is a really difficult place to be, we need each other here.
Okay, promise to actually post this week. There's still plenty to say.

What a week it's been

So it's been a bit of a long week. I got a new student on Monday, which just totally disrupts the rest of my class and makes my students go crazy. It also brings my class number up to fifteen. This girl is Nigerian, so that's another nationality on the list as well. Unfortunately, the craziness didn't just last for one day, it lasted the whole week. Of course, even on the bad days my kids have their bright and shining moments. We were working with the word family -it the other day. We had reviewed it a few times before, so I thought my students were ready to start trying to write their own words from that word family. I put eight letters on the board and told them to make as many words as they could. Well, they didn't quite understand the assignment. Most of them just starting writing words that began with one of the letters on the board. This is still good, but not quite for what I was looking. I went to the board and we started to review their words. I wrote sit on the board and asked what rhymed with that word. One of my boys got very excited, his hand shot up in the air and he stood up and yelled very loudly, "TITS!!" Now, he didn't say this to be crude, in fact none of the students seemed to pick up on the situation, including the boy whole yelled it out. I, on the other hand, had to turn away after quickly replying, "That's not quite was I was looking for," in order to keep from bursting out laughing. I had another student today say the word 'fuck.' She said it to one of the other girls and then said it a few more times, rolling it around in her mouth as though she were trying to get the feel for it. She looked at me and said, "I don't know what this word means, what does it mean?" I simply replied that it's not a nice word and we shouldn't use it. She was content enough with this answer and didn't say it again. First graders, even when I hate 'em, I love 'em. Oh, this one's for Maya. One of my girls looked at me today and serious as can be said, "You know the best singer ever Hannah Montana, she's real in Spain." They still have trouble with what is real and what is not real (refer to Mary in our first math word problem.)

In other news, it's been a while since I last posted. There was a huge storm on Monday night. Lightening struck close to (or perhaps even within) the compound twice. I know this because I nearly had a heart attack each time I was awoken from my sleep by bright flashes of lightening and huge cracks of thunder. The lightening struck some wires and blew out my TV and microwave. It also knocked out the internet. They've been working on it for the last few days, but so far no luck. I've only been able to access the internet from the school and the past few days have been so crazy there hasn't been much opportunity to sit down and write for a bit.

Last weekend was busy. It was also very fun. I hung out at a local pub on Friday night with some ex-pats. I feel like I'm starting to have a circle of friends here. We had a few drinks, played some darts, and threw around some (semi) witty banter. After that we disbanded, went home, and went to bed. I am generally exhausted on Friday nights. Saturday, however, I started early. I went to an Obama fundraiser (yes, even in Liberia we're raising money for our favorite presidential candidate). It was at a man's house who's a special representative I believe. Needless to say, security was tight. Guards with guns and everything, which after the disarmament here you don't see too often. It was a lot of fun, though. We all watched the VP debate, played Palin Bingo, ate delicious food, and had a few drinks. Quite a bit of money was raised as well.
After the fundraiser, we went to a party. Sunday, now this day was wonderful. Got up, ordered in brunch, and spent the day at the beach. A different beach this time, this one was cleaner and the current wasn't as forceful as usual. All in all, a very nice weekend.

Liberia wins again!

This week seems to be going by faster than usual. I had a good weekend, kept busy and relaxed all at the same time. I think that that made the beginning of my week seem less stressful which has in turn made the rest of the week go by more quickly. Also, today was the first day this week that I had a full class. Many of my students are Muslim, so with the end of Ramadan they either took a day off or left early on Tuesday. They were all back today, though, chipper as ever. Like I've said, my kids are very sweet and generally kind, but they are a handful. Why none of them try to be mean out of ill-will, they are sometimes rude and have trouble following directions and listening. Oh the joys of five and six year olds. I put a math problem on the board on Monday that was a word problem. It was the first word problem I've introduced them to so far. My kids are still non-readers, so I wrote it out and then read it aloud to them, trying to make them more comfortable with words while working in math. The trouble with the problem was not the fact that they couldn't read it or that they weren't used to working with word problems in math, the trouble was in the fact that the problem used they hypothetical you. "You are six years old and tomorrow is your birthday. How old will you be?" The biggest concern all of my kids had (and I do mean all of them) is that their birthday was not tomorrow. "But Ms. Lewis, my birthday's not tomorrow. Ms. Lewis, my birthday's not till March." This and that half of my kids aren't six yet. "Ms. Lewis, I'm only five." "Ms. Lewis, I'm only five and my birthday's in April." I eventually changed the problem to read, "Mary is six years old and tomorrow is her birthday. How old will Mary be?" Then came, "Is Mary real? I don't know Mary. Is her birthday really tomorrow?" To which I answered, "In math, Mary is real." Then, "Like Mary had a little lamb?" I must give them credit for being persistent. I eventually just gave them the answer so they could see how word problems work and how the problem of the day would be set up for the rest of the year. Things very rarely seem to go exactly as planned in my classroom, but that's what makes my job very un-boring and exciting.

In other news, the debate evening was an experience that defines life in Liberia. I went out with some friends to dinner beforehand, arrived and it was raining. We got there around 10:30ish maybe, though the debate wasn't starting till later as we were watching live and what with the time difference and everything... Anyway, it was a bunch of ex-pats sitting/standing around drinking and talking, waiting for the Presidential debate to begin. Not all of us were American, either. There is an intense interest in the American elections by those from all over the world. The rain, however, tends to thwart even the best laid plans here. The tv was hooked up to a projector, showing the screen large on a blank wall in the living room with chairs and couches set up around it. The feed to the tv was the problem. It went out about an hour before the debates were scheduled to start. When it didn't look like it was coming back on, a few people started leaving. It flashed back on right when the candidates were being introduced, everyone was happy. We caught maybe the first 30 or 40 minutes of the debate, and it went out again. It came back, went out--this time in between even less now. Basically, Liberia wins again! I should be happy we were able to see as much as we did. If nothing else, it was a great night to hang out and meet a few new people. What I'm really hoping for is a strong enough internet connection to catch part of or watch the recap of the VP debate. Now that should be interesting.