Old Posts (Never Posted)

 This post and a few others were actually written a few weeks ago, but due to internet problems, are only now being posted.  Please excuse their tardiness.


The last few months have been pretty ordinary, so I never feel like I have much to say.  On the other hand, I’m sure things are happening all of the time, but I’m just too lazy/tired/bored of the computer to take the time and write them down.  I’ll try to catch you all up now, and make a new year’s resolution to begin blogging once a week (haha, we’ll see how that goes).

The holidays here were similar to last year.  I spent Christmas in Monrovia with friends and co-workers.  I was, however, able to take a break and head to Ghana for the New Year.  While Ghana is most definitely still West Africa, it was different enough to feel like a break from Liberia. 

The holiday break was fairly festive this year, with the ex-pats stuck in Monrovia coming together to keep each other company while everyone else traveled, often home to see their families.  My roommates and I had people over the week before Christmas for Christmas cookies and mulled wine.  Usually when you think of mulled wine you think of cold weather, sweaters, fireplaces.  Not here you don’t.  The one a/c unit in our house has been breaking frequently for the last three months or so, and hasn’t been working for about the past month at all.  This meant mulled wine and Christmas cookies were served in our very hot living room with about three fans pushing the hot air around to make it seem a little better, all the doors and windows open allowing the occasional mosquito or other bug to join in the festivities.  It was fun and really just nice to have people over to our house for a bit as we live a little farther away and don’t often have company. 

On Christmas Eve I went to church with some friends.  I attended the same Christmas Eve service as I did last year.  I enjoy the church I went to and would like to attend more often, but this sometimes gets difficult as it’s an hour earlier on Sunday mornings than the service most people I know go to and with the car situation being what it is, it can be tricky to figure out transport.  The church, unfortunately, was in a state of mourning on Christmas Eve because one of the choir members had unexpectedly died that morning.  I feel it’s important to mention that the choir at St. Stephen’s is made up of young people-young adults or, more likely the case, teenagers.  I think his death was a shock to everyone at the church and very hard for the choir and the vicar, deacon, etc.  Unlike Americans, Liberians let their grief overcome them in a very public way.  In the middle of the service, in tribute to their friend, a song was played and a moment of silence observed.  The silence was filled with sobs, crying out, and wailing from not only the choir, but other members of the congregation as well.  Not only women partake in this type of release of grief, but men do too (though women do tend to be louder.)  It is interesting to realize the many shapes and forms grief can take for people of different cultures and backgrounds. 

In other cultural differences, Christmas Eve is not a popular church going holiday here.  There were maybe 50 people attending Christmas Eve service with us.  Many Liberians will go to church on New Year’s Eve, however, and spend a good part of the night, often until at least midnight, at church before going home. 

After church on Christmas Eve, I headed to someone’s apartment for a Christmas Eve dinner and gathering.  When we arrived, the building was completely dark.  The plan was to go, hang out, eat dinner, watch movies, enjoy having company for the holiday, sleep there, get up in the morning and eat breakfast together.  This plan quickly changed when the generator broke before we had even arrived at about 9:00pm-ish.  Dinner was still on as most kitchens here run on gas for this very reason.  Music was also happening courtesy of an ipod and speakers that run off of batteries.  So the evening turned into eat a delicious meal with about ten friends by candlelight and hang out, talk, and listen to music.  Unfortunately, it did get very hot in the apartment for lack of breeze and electricity to run the a/c or even a fan or two.  I ended up staying the night with some other friends instead in order to sleep somewhere a little cooler.  It’s funny cause I’ve realized I don’t need a/c to sleep (obviously since there is none at my house), but I cannot sleep if the air is very hot and very still.  If there is any breeze or a fan in the room, I’m set, I get a great night’s sleep, but as soon as the power goes off and the open windows aren’t facing the ocean breeze, then I’m miserable.  I get sweaty and end up waking up about six or seven times throughout the night.  This is what happened at my friends’ place.  Their generator goes off at about 2:00am which is pretty normal here.  You have to try to cool the room a lot before this time and luckily for them this can be done since each bedroom has its own a/c unit.  Keep the air down low and keep it going with the bedroom door closed and you can get a nice cool temperature going to fall asleep.  My problem is that about an hour or so after the generator goes off the temperature begins to rise.  By 4:00am it’s stifling.  By 5:00am I’ve woken up and fallen back into a very light slumber about twice.  By 6:00am, this has happened about four times, and so on and so forth.  It’s kind of a pain.  I’m sure if this was how the power situation at my house worked I’d get used to it eventually, just as I got used to being cold at night in my apartment with aircon all night last year to sleeping in a room with no aircon but at least 24 hour power to run the fan.  I feel lucky to have this and would take it over a/c for only half the night any day.

Christmas morning we woke up, I went home and showered and opened a few presents my mother had sent over with a friend back in October (yes, I resisted the urge to open them early).  It was exciting and made my Christmas morning.  This was followed by a trip to the beach with one of my roommates (it was a gorgeous sunny day), then home to do some work for an online course I was taking (it has since been completed-yay!), then to a late lunch/early dinner with some people that I work with (it was delicious), and then went off to dinner at the Mamba Point Hotel with friends.  This part was especially fun because it was the same thing we did last year. 

It’s exciting to be making some new traditions here—Christmas Eve service, dinner at Mamba Point with the same people, but it is also a little disappointing to not be home for the holidays with the same people and same traditions as the 22 previous years.  Also, who knows how long these traditions will last here because who knows exactly how much longer they will be here.  Liberia’s a transitory place for most ex-pats and two years does actually seem to be on the longer side of a stay.  Honestly, I don’t expect to be here next year (though I have no idea where to expect to be), so there’s not a lot of stability for me either.  Nonetheless, it was a joyous day indeed to celebrate the birth of Christ with friends and my Liberian family members, food, and festivities. 

Gbarpolu

About a month ago I was lucky enough to take a trip upcountry to Gbarpolu County with one of my roommates and check out some of the livelihood and water and sanitation (watsan) projects we have up there.  This was a pretty cool trip for many reasons, but let’s start with the first—the helicopter.

That’s right, I got to ride in the helicopter up to Gbarpolu (silent ‘G’ friends).  Our helicopter is fairly small –five people in the back and two up front, including the pilot.  I got to sit in the front seat, which is especially awesome because the floor up there is made of see-thru plastic, so you can see everything out of the front and side windows, as well as through the floor.  It’s amazing how beautiful Liberia looks from above.  Here you aren’t consumed by the madness of people and the busy streets and car horns and the trash everywhere.  You’re able to see the big picture, and it’s beautiful.  The ride was short and sweet and we landed in a football (read: soccer) field by a school.  All the children came running out to see the helicopter and wave.  From here, we sling-loaded some supplies into villages around the county that are hard to get supplies to by foot (because roads aren’t an option-there are none).  Cement, paint, and a few other items made their way to these villages so they could work on building wells and latrines.

I was whisked away to check out some or our projects in the county.  I spent the day looking at soon-to-be-stocked fish ponds, rabbit shelters, snail habitats, goats, etc.  The fish ponds are pretty awesome.  They will stock the first two and then after a certain amount of time, stock the next two, and then the next two.  They’re rotated so they don’t harvest all the fish at the same time, this way they can have fish throughout the year.  The community will be involved with the harvesting of the fish.  They can then use the fish to feed their families or sell them to earn money.  The rabbits are given to women after they complete a literacy course.  They receive one male and one female rabbit and are taught how to breed them and care for them.  They can then use the offspring of these rabbits as food or to produce more rabbits.  The same goes for the snails.

Later in the week I hiked to a small village with one of my roommates to check on their water and sanitation projects.  They were building a well and a few latrines.  This is an example of how monitoring and evaluation can be difficult in these settings.  There are no roads leading to these villages, so we were in fact hiking through the jungle.  This was also during rainy season, so it the ground was soaked to the point of our trail being a small creek and it rained on us for most of the six hour hike-three hours in, three hours back out, for a visit of about 20 minutes.  It was a lot of fun, though, and nice to get out of the city and see the smaller villages from which so many Liberians come.  We were also gifted a chicken by the village.  Now this is the first time I’ve been part of a group to receive a chicken, so I was pretty excited.  Unfortunately, that meant someone had to carry the live chicken back through the jungle in the rain.  He was pretty good, but every now and then he crowed (he was in fact a rooster, not a hen).

Overall a fun and interesting trip upcountry.  It was topped off with the car ride back to Monrovia.  Over three hours in a Land Cruiser packed full with people and their luggage, including a sick little boy who suddenly sat bolt upright from his place laying across his mother's lap with wide eyes and then looked around in panic.  Turns out he felt a little vomit coming on.  We pulled over, he got it all out and we packed back into the Land Cruiser.  Remember, these Land Cruisers have bench seats across both sides of the rear, they are not seats like in a car.  The child’s mother then experienced some motion sickness and threw up in a bag that she then proceeded to throw out the window onto the dirt road.  Bear in mind that ‘road’ is a loosely used term here in Liberia.  As it was still rainy season, road meant more mud pit with huge potholes.  Mom was not the only one feeling the effects of bouncing from side-to-side and back and forth (even hitting heads on the windows every now and then) and up and down (feeling like your spine has just been shortened a bit by way of compression when you hit those potholes hard enough.)  It was hot, sweaty, smelly, and painful, but we made it back.  It was fantastic.  

A Mexican Vacation

In my attempt to blog more regularly, here I go again.  I apologize if the blogs become redundant or boring.  If that’s the case, let me know and I’ll blog less often (this is, if I can get blogging more often down first.)  In any case, last time I promised tales of Mexico, helicopters, and hiking.  Let’s start with my summer vacation to Mexico.

I visited Mexico for about nine days in late July/early August with my friend, Sarah.  Sarah is teaching in Bulgaria (Check out her blog here:  sarahfhowell.blogspot.com) and was home for a few weeks as well, so we decided to spend some of our time traveling.  It was a reward for making it through our first year of full-time teaching (and our first year of full-time working.)  Our travels took us to Oaxaca and Mexico City.  While much of the first day was spent traveling (Dulles to Dallas, Dallas to Mexico City, Mexico City to Oaxaca), we still arrived in time to explore the square across the street from our hostel and a restaurant on the other side of the square.  We just kind of happened upon our hostel in an internet search, but it was fantastic and I would recommend the place to anyone.  It’s called Hostel Don Nido and is run by a family.  The husband and wife have really made an effort to create a comfortable and well-kept place.  You first walk into the restaurant area where breakfast is served every morning.  It’s atrium-like and when the weather is good they open the roof to let the sun and breeze in.  The stairway to the rooms is also like this, which is really nice on a beautiful day when you make your way out.  The rooms were clean and comfy--no restless nights of sleep here.  While the hostel is a few blocks away from the zocalo, it’s definitely worth it.  It’s only about a ten-fifteen minute walk and it was nice to be near a plaza that was less populated by tourists.

Lourdes with some of her rugs. 

Oaxaca was pretty great in general.  It has the charm of a small town but plenty of things to keep you busy.  There were tons of street fairs to buy goods the local merchants had made.  They make beautiful textiles and pottery in this area, as well as Mezcal (a type of liquor) and chocolate (mmmmm…).  With all these things, who wouldn’t want to spend time there?  The architecture was also beautiful and it’s a worthwhile idea to check out nearby Monte Alban and Arbol del Tule (the oldest tree in North America, not to mention it’s huge!)  We actually went to check out the tree at night with a friend which was awesome as no one else was there.  Basically, Sarah and I had a great time checking out the sights, enjoying some relaxing time or wondering aimlessly, and going out and meeting new people.  It was fantastic!

Old Convent-Now the Anthropology Museum

Monte Alban

Sarah and I playing at El Arbol del Tule

 

Mexico City was a bit of a different story.  While also a very interesting place, it was much more city-like—huge, loud, and a bit dirty.  The hostel we were at this time was not as nice as the last one.  In fact, upon arrival no one was even there to let us into the hostel and a neighbor had to come and let us into the building, where we sat on the floor and waited for a while.  On top of this, our trip from the airport did not go as smoothly as we’d hope (Sarah’s map reading skills can be called into question here. I love you girl!)  We took the subway (we mastered it by the end of the trip) and did not take the route that took us to the stop closest to our hostel so we ended up walking quite a ways.  As I’m sure you can imagine, being locked out of the hostel and sweaty, tired, and sore did not make us the happiest of travelers.  We eventually made it into the hostel, got rooms, and showered.  The good thing about where we were staying is that it was in the restaurant district and was also close to a subway stop (unfortunately not the one we used before).  There were plenty of restaurants to choose from and it was easy to get to the farther away parts of town.  While in Mexico City we went to Coyoacon which is where Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera lived.  Of course, we visited their home and after found a great café to eat lunch and a market to wonder around.  I enjoyed a cactus sandwich for my meal and a great cup of not instant coffee.  The street market was awesome.  Coyoacon is a place with a lot of free thinking artisans, so there were many stalls with handmade jewelry and others with clothes, fake tattoos, and, of course, the fresh churros you buy on the streets.  

We also visited the zocalo and checked out a few museums.  We wondered around a park and another market to pick up a few last minute gifts.  We visited the Anthropolgy Museum (which I think you could probably spend days at and still not see and read everything!)  Also near Mexico City is Teotihuacan.  Awesome pyramids, beautiful views, and a good dose of history.  Not to mention items shaped like jaguars which you can blow into to make a fantastic jaguar call.  It was a gorgeous way to spend the day-relaxing except for all the stairs you had to climb to get to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon.  And we're talking old-school stairs.  Stone, steep, and scary.  I did have a fear of falling down them on numerous occassions, but luckily we both made it with only a few scratches (most of which came from hanging out on the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.)

The Pyramid of the Sun doesn't look so big here, but trust me, it was quite intimidating.

Mexico City is a huge city, so we barely made a dent on all the things to do and see there.  Someday I hope to return to check everything out again and maybe just take some time to hang out without feeling rushed.  I was sad to leave, but knew that it was time to get on with real life once again.  I had to rush back to the states so I could celebrate my birthday with my family (the one special day we get to celebrate together due to my living abroad), go to orientation in North Carolina for my new job, attend a wedding for a college roommate (congratulations Sarah and Daniel!), and finally fly back to Liberia all within two weeks.  Talk about feeling a little stressed!  Not to mention I'm a horrible procrastinator when it comes to packing, so that didn't even start until the weekend before I left (well, more like two days before I left as I was at the wedding the weekend before...)  Needless to say, after those crazy two weeks and 24 hours in transit I made it safely back to Liberia, my home sweet home.


 P.S.  I know I promised stories about helicopters and jungles, but since this post turned out to be so long, I figure I'll wait till next time for that.  Also, this way I'm more likely to post again sooner rather than later.

Back in the LIB

It’s been a summer and a bit since I’ve updated this blog, but I think it’s understandable considering I’ve been off of work and back in the states for a good part of this time. That being said, I’ll quickly update you all on the past happenings of my life.

First, I quit my job. That’s right, during these tough economic times I may be the only person who’s left his/her job by choice, but I did. The school was not a good fit for me. I put in a full year of teaching there, but it was time for me to go. I loved my students and the time I spent with them; they were fantastic—funny, cute, inquisitive, and creative. While they were difficult sometimes (as all kids are), I can’t say that they weren’t great and I won’t miss them, I will, but some other things came into the picture convincing me it was time for something new.

That being said, I am back in Liberia. I took a job with an INGO with which I’ll still be involved in teaching. (Email me for more information.) I’ve been back in country for almost three weeks now. It’s rainy season here, so most days are overcast or it’s raining. The good news is the temperature is lower during this season, so the heat isn’t as oppressive as during the dry season. This is especially good news as my new home only has one air conditioning unit that is located in the living room. On top of this, it is currently not functioning properly, so we don’t have it plugged in anyway. Also, my room is all the way down the hallway, as far away as possible from the a/c unit, so it doesn’t really do me any good. Hopefully by the time dry season comes around (think mid-October) I’ll have adjusted. The unfortunate thing about the rainy season (on top of all the rain) is the humidity. It is so humid that my clothes have begun to mold. My bedsheets are already damp by the time I crawl into bed at night. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is dry. Just another reason it’s good to have a/c here. At this point, I don’t want it for temperature control, but rather moisture control. I can tell you that anything that stays moist for a few days becomes smelly, then eventually moldy, and so on and so forth. Boo.

Other than the wet factor, my new home’s not so bad. (Well, the wet factor and lack of hot water. Cold showers or warm bucket baths—neither leave me feeling especially clean.) Our house faces the ocean, so I’m constantly surrounded by an ocean breeze and the sound of waves. The porch (which faces the sea) has two hammocks set up for idle days of reading and lounging which feels gloriously indulgent at times. I live with five other girls. It’s nice to have roommates after a year alone, but also strange to get used to after a year alone. It’s also difficult to come into a house of five people who know each other pretty well and be the new person. The difficulty is doubled by the fact that since I lived here last year I’ve other friends that I really enjoy being with so I’m often trying to get out of the house and be social. It’ll all come together, though, in due time, in due time. Right now I’m fighting patience as I wait for everything to get started and my second try here to really begin.


Stay tuned for: my summer adventures
travel by helicopter
a hike in the woods (or in this case, jungle)

Update--Liberia and Myself!

Liberia’s really beginning to wear on me. I need a break. Luckily, I can say that I should be back stateside by the end of June! Yay! Less than one month. Get excited. I know I am. I’m looking forward to real grocery stores with real produce sections (I had a dream the other night I went grocery shopping in the states and forgot to buy produce because I’m so used to not being able to here), drinking water out of the tap (again, I had a dream about this a few weeks ago too), Mexican food, good restaurants, being able to cook at home with quality ingredients and an oven, ohhhhh…the joys of first world countries.

In the meantime, I am still living here in my favorite third (some say fourth?) world country. I sometimes feel like it’s harder for me now than it was at the beginning of my trip here. Basically, all of those creature comforts I don’t have here were easy to give up for the adventure. Now I’ve been here for going on ten months and the adventure’s over and I want a freaking oven again. Okay, that sounds negative. If I didn’t like it here I wouldn’t be coming back for another year, though, right? It’s true, I do like it. I am ready for a chance to see my friends and family and eat some good food though.

So I went out downtown this weekend and saw an amazing thing—a stop sign! It’s true ladies and gentlemen, Monrovia has its first official stop sign. I find this incredibly exciting. They also painted some crosswalks on one of the main streets when they painted lines on the roads. A few weeks ago they put up people crossing signs. It’s amazing! Who knows what could be next? Maybe a few more functioning stop lights? Maybe they’ll repave Broad St. downtown so you don’t have to dodge the massive potholes while driving? More stop signs? Oh the possibilities are endless!

Make Believe

First graders are fun because they still believe in everything that adults don’t anymore. Think Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and various other characters. This week one of my students lost her first tooth. She had been talking about how loose it was for a week. To be honest, I was somewhat relived when it finally fell out. I had run out of ways to react to seeing the loose tooth and things to say about it. Now I just hear about how weird it feels and how strange it is to eat an apple without it. She told me she received a $2 bill for her tooth, and I, of course, replied with something about the tooth fairy. She promptly told me that she knew the tooth fairy was mom and dad. Then I had to try to have a very quiet discussion about how many of the other kids still believe in the tooth fairy, so we can’t tell them otherwise. I always catch myself on the verge of revealing earth shattering secrets, including the secret of Santa as well. I almost said to the little girl, “It’s like Santa Claus, yes he’s your parents, but most kids still believe in him, so let’s not ruin it for them.” Fortunately I always realize what I’m about to say, but then I have to step back and go, “just because she doesn’t believe in the Tooth Fairy doesn’t mean she doesn’t believe in Santa.” It’s hard to keep up with what’s real and what’s not in a first grader’s mind. I remember around Christmastime the kids kept asking questions about Santa and how this or that happens. “How does Santa fit in the chimney?,” “What if our house doesn’t have a chimney?,” “How do the reindeer fly?” They are super cute, but the kids ask some really great and difficult questions that I don’t always feel prepared to answer. It requires some quick thinking and creative responses. I’ve also been able to convince the kids that I’m magic sometimes. When they can’t figure out how I know certain things or have caught them doing something I just tell them, “I’m magic.” It’s fantastic and so much fun. It also reminds me that it’s okay to not have the real answer for everything. Sometimes it’s better to believe and leave things be rather than try to overanalyze and make sure there’s a reason for everything. Just another reason why first graders are awesome. Life’s simple and fun.

Life in Liberia

Lots has been happening over the past few weeks, though I can't say any of it has led to much excitement in my life. Liberia held an International Women's Colloquium two weekends ago (March 6-8). All sorts of important women (and a few men) came to town to talk about women, development, and many more issues. It seemed very interesting and many people I know were involved in planning or presenting at the Colloquium, but it was also kind of strange. Some of the people who came brought in more people and security than one could imagine. One person even had motorcycles shipped down for his/her motorcade. Let's talk about how expensive it is to ship to Liberia. If you're visiting for a colloquium encouraging women's empowerment and their development, especially in third world countries, why not bring that money and flush it into their economies? Anyway, the colloquium was open to the public at the beginning of the week, but as I have to work on weekdays, I could not attend. The planning was also sub-par from what I heard. The government of Liberia and all the ministries had been planning the event for over a year. They were planning to send the programs to be printed in Ghana, but did not have them finished in time so they had to be printed in Liberia...the night before the colloquium began. This was a huge event with many important people including heads-of-state and women who have been part of the global economy for years and they did not have the security badges completed as of the night before the event. Some of the badges did not have people's names on them, so really anyone could have used them to get in to the event. It was held at the stadium here, with booths set up around the outside and conferences, etc., being held inside. Even though planning wasn't a smooth as hoped for (I don't want to say they didn't plan, because they did, it just seems not everything was taken care of as well as it should have been), everyone seems to think the colloquium went well and was a success. I will admit, however, that I wish it was more geared toward locals. It seemed so tuned in for women from foreign countries, but the local women there were generally rich or high class Liberians with a bit of power and than local women who came with NGOs showing off their projects. I suppose any publicity is good, but still…what about the everyday woman who’s working hard and not receiving support from NGOs or the government (ha!)? That’s just my opinion. Like I said, I wasn’t involved in it at all, so perhaps this aim did exist and I just don’t know about it. Any little thing helps, right?

The colloquium (along with a few other things) did bring an added perk for me, though. We had Friday, March 6, off from school unexpectedly. As Monrovia doesn't have too many roads, there was a fear that the traffic from everyone arriving for the colloquium would make the drive to and from school too difficult for many of our students' families. On top of that, Intercon, the company who does the security for the school, was in a dispute with the employees and the employees were on strike. From what I understand, someone leaked Intercon's contract with the UN. The employees then found out how much the UN was paying for security and how much of that money was actually getting to them. Needless to say, it wasn’t nearly as much money as was going into the company. Because of that, the workers went on strike for better pay. While some of our security was still showing up, some arrived without uniforms and some didn't seem to arrive at all. I can't say I really blame them as I'm sure the discrepancy between the two amounts of money was quite large. LNP (Liberian National Police) were pulling double duty for us at the school in terms of security. With the colloquium, though, LNP was needed in full force on Friday, so we may not have had our normal security standards either. These two things combined made for an impromptu no school day. Hey, who needs snow days when you can have security strike/colloquium traffic days? Only in Liberia perhaps...but enjoyed nonetheless.

After the three day weekend, Wednesday the 11th was a Liberian holiday so we had that day off as well. It was Decoration Day, a day when Liberians go to the graves of their loved ones who have passed on and they decorate the headstones--they re-paint them, lay wreaths... Here, graves are generally above ground and large concrete boxes. I was talking to a Liberian who said they are still 6 feet deep, but that they rise a few feet out of the ground as well and that the caskets are just lowered into them. I'm not exactly sure why they bury their dead in stone vaults rather than just lowering the casket into the ground and having a headstone, but this is the way it's done. Decoration day is an important holiday to Liberians. I think it must be nice to set a day aside to remember people who were important to our lives and take a bit of time to respect their memory. I think we’re so caught up in the rest of life that half of us can’t even remember the anniversaries of our loved ones deaths, so I fully support this holiday.

Okay, I’m off for now as I’ve been trying to post this for days now and just want to get something up. Stayed tuned for tanks that sound like trains and a rice harvesting spring break!

January/February Update

So I’ve been seriously lacking in my blogging lately. I know I say this all the time, but I really do mean to blog more often. I think I just get caught up in other things so sitting down to write about my life for an hour or so just seems boring to me and I think I have trouble believing anyone else would want to read about it either. Alas, here I am trying to blog more frequently to keep people updated on life in Liberia and to have an e-journal or sorts that I can look back on to remember this time.

So January was somewhat busy. I had my first encounter with malaria. It wasn’t much fun. Basically, everyday I would get headaches between the hours of 12noon and 1pm that would last until bed that night. I would also get low-grade fevers with the onset of the headaches. I was very worn out and my body ached. I finally went and got a malaria test done at a local clinic and it came back positive. Luckily, I had a mild case. As malaria worsens, it can cause all sorts of things including hallucinations, or even death. Cerebral malaria is what you really have to watch out for, but I definitely did not have that. I missed one day of school in order to medicate and pretty much spent it sleeping in bed. I guess I should mention that I stopped taking anti-malarials here. Basically, even on them you can get malaria, you just don’t get it as badly. The thing is, once you do get malaria you’re medicated with a different prophylaxis anyways. Also, I was on Malarone and it made me sick. Everyday I had an upset stomach to the point where I thought I might have giardia because I was getting so sick at times. About a week after stopping the malarone, my stomach settled and began to feel better again. Now I only have the other related stomach ailments that come with living in West Africa. The good news is that since I have so much extra malarone, I can also just use that to treat myself if I do get malaria. I don’t mind the stomach aches as long as they are for only a few days and they get rid of all the other bad feelings.

The harmattan also happened in January. This is basically a high wind that comes off of the Sahara and brings lots of dust and cooler temps and breezes to Monrovia. It was like a big cloud had settled on Monrovia. It almost felt like the first days of spring in the morning hours and I loved it! Probably some of the coolest weather I’ve had since arriving. Temperatures were down in the low 70s at times. This is amazing for here, where the daily temp. is in the low 90s (in Fahrenheit). For more info, check out wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmattan.

I’ve mainly been trucking along as time has passed. School is going well, my kids are still awesome most days and bug me a lot on others. My friends are good and well. We have fun. I realize that I miss having parks to go and hang out in, coffee shops for meeting up with people, and Mexican food. Other than that, though, I can’t complain too much. Two of my friends put together a Valentine’s Day party at a local restaurant. It was 80s themed. My friend Ben and I spent a good part of the day in Waterside looking for outfits to wear. Right before we were finished I stumbled on the most hideously perfect dress. It was fantastic! A blue-green color that some said reminded them of the Little Mermaid. There was a big bow on the side and it was a metallic fabric so it shimmered a little. I also found plastic heart earrings and a few bangles. What more could I ask for. I put my hair up on the top of my head, though it ended up being a side pony later in the evening, and danced my heart out with my friends to some great 80s tunes. A few of us ventured out to the club after and continued our dancing spree. All in all, a pretty great Valentine’s day.

The same day, after Waterside, Ben and I went up to the Ducor, an old five star hotel in Monrovia. The building has been gutted and pretty much destroyed, but the views from up there are still awesome. It’s amazing how Monrovia can look from far way…like an actual city. It is quite beautiful actually. A very nice man named Emmanuel showed us around. He used to work there before the hotel closed and still lives there. We went up to the top and looked around from the roof. We also decided it would be a fantastic place to watch the sunset or sunrise. You never realize how narrow the land that Monrovia sits on is until you can see it all from above. It pretty much tapers to a point and the city takes it up until the coastline. No matter where you are, you’re close to the water. Now if only all that water were clean and swim worthy…

After the Ducor we went to the National Museum. It’s a small room with masks and artifacts from all over the country. Unfortunately, it’s not designed well and has no flow. The man who showed us around, however, was very knowledgeable. He told us all about the old school that young girls sometimes are still sent to which focuses more on becoming a woman in villages than the traditional school system. It also makes them ready to be taken as a wife to someone in their village. There were great pictures from the 70s taken by a former Peace Corps volunteer who donated them to the museum. The hope is that the museum will be redone so the upper two floors are also used and the collection will have plenty of room to expand. The history of Liberia is quite intricate and unique and there’s a lot to say about the place. Besides the civil wars, there’s the whole bit about colonization by former slaves and the divide between the Liberians that were here and the Americo-Liberians. There are 16 tribes in Liberia, all of which have their own history and customs, and many of which have their own languages. It really is an interesting place and it would be fantastic to see it get more recognition and be more thoroughly explained in their own national museum.

Well I’m off to get ready for dinner. The Great Wall restaurant is calling the name of myself and a few others tonight. A UN vehicle just sped through the compound as I sit on the porch writing this. My view of the UN has also changed a bit since being here. But that’s information for another post. I’m off!

A very late New Year's Post

So I started this post a little over two weeks into the new year, and there seems to be a lot to report on already. I'd like to start just before the new year, with the trip I took on the 30th, 31st, and 1st. I went to Robertsport with a small group of friends to celebrate New Year's at the beach. The adventure started early on this trip--on the drive down to Robertsport. Robertsport is about 3 hours or so outside of Monrovia. Six of us started this trip, taking two cars and mini-caravaning it down there. About an hour and a half or so into the trip, John's car (the one I was in with three others), started shifting strangely. We pulled over and realized that transmission fluid was leaking out very quickly. As the car had been serviced the previous day, we suspected that while fixing it they had created a new problem. To err on the side of safety and caution, we decided to turn around and go back to Monrovia to take the car back to the garage and have them take a look. Because the car was leaking so profusely, towing seemed to be the best option. It didn't seem so funny anymore that John had earlier joked about having a tow rope in his car just in case. The Tata (a small pick-up) began towing our large explorer sized car back to the city. About 15 minutes into the return journey, we pulled over to see if we could find some transmission fluid just in case, knowing that there were going to be a few places where we'd have to unhook and drive John's car and wanting extra supplies just in case. As we pulled back out onto the road after an unsuccessful stop, the tow rope broke. Bad news, my friends. The rope was retied, with about six feet of space between the two cars now. I was so nervous that we were going to rearend that Tata everytime we stopped that I had to switch seats and move to the back.



The journey back took about two hours, but contained some very amusing parts. We got stopped at every UN and police checkpoint along the way, shouts from local children and stares from the adults (look at the white people!), and once back towards the city, a few people trying to get us in trouble with the law ('arrest that car!' not us, the car. Apparently a smaller car is not allowed to tow a larger car in Liberia. We'll just add that to the list of laws not followed here, but since we were white, all of the sudden everyone wanted to see it followed and see us punished for not following it. I can't really blame them.) We also passed some UN tanks cruising down the road as well.







Once we got back to the city, dropped off the car, and learned that it wouldn't be fixed within the day, we had to do a little more planning. Should we find another car? Should we go down today if we found one, or should we wait till the morning? Well, we found a car to take and decided to go down that night so we could start our day off in Robertsport tomorrow. The next journey was less exciting, though we did get stopped by a police officer who was conducting a national and international car check. Basically he looked at our car, took some information, and decided that we weren't carrying illegal arms out of the city. It would seem more important to make sure people weren't carrying arms into the city, but whatevs. We were in a hatchback car this time, with the pickup behind us. Now the pickup has a cover over the bed of the truck so you can't really see inside of it. We told the officer that the pickup was with us and he didn't even check it. I'm just saying, if either of our cars were carrying illegal supplies including weapons, it would've been the covered pickup with all that empty space in the bed.

We stayed at Nana's Lodge, the same place the full moon party took place at a few weeks ago. Basically our accommodations were built platforms with big tents covering them. Inside the tents are two double beds, two small tables, and two big chairs. When we arrived we knew we'd probably only be able to spend one night in the tents as there was a New Year's Eve wedding planned for the next day and all the tents were needed for that. We planned to camp on the beach for new year's eve night. As it turns out, someone didn't make it for the wedding and they told us to stay in our tent. On top of that, we were invited to the wedding and the reception that evening. While some of the group went to the ceremony, my, Jen, and Andrew went to an abondoned hotel just down the beach and watched the ceremony and sunset from the second floor. It was lovely.
After the ceremony, we were also invited to the reception. Now I felt a bit odd about attending this reception, but I went with my friends anyway and it turned out to be fantastic. Like I said, it was a small wedding, so everyone was seated at tables on the beach. There were tents set up for food and speakers, and the tables were lit with candle centerpieces. The tables were in a circle so that dancing could happen in the middle. Dancing in sand is harder than it looks. The reception had an open bar with champagne, wine and beer, and liquor. It was good timing for New Year’s Eve. As the evening got later, most people stayed around to enjoy the party. Two bonfires were lit at different spots on the beach and the sky was clear. The night wasn’t cool, but it also wasn’t hot. We hung around, drank, danced, had good conversations, danced with the Liberian children who joined us. It was lots of fun. After midnight, we went for another swim in the ocean. There was phosphorescence in the water. Everytime you moved, the water around your body glowed with little sparks. It was fantastic. Look up and the stars were shining in a clear sky, look down and sparks were glowing everytime you moved. We got out and I dried off by the bonfire. I went upstairs to change into dry clothes, but ended up coming back down. I took a short, ‘accidental’ nap by the bonfire. When I woke up, we danced a little more and chatted before finally going to bed. Needless to say, we won the party once again, just like we did the first time we were in Robertsport.

The next day was perfect for lounging and relaxing. There’s nothing like napping on the beach in the shade with the ocean just a few meters away. I went for a few swims throughout the day, read a bit of the book I brought, wrote in my journal, and listened to music. A wonderful, relaxing day where I didn’t have to worry about school, the city, how I was going to get somewhere, or what was going on at work. I didn’t want to leave. But alas, it was time. We packed up the two cars for the journey back, paid our bill, and peaced out. Luckily, the journey back was not quite as adventurous as the way there. We made decent time, passed by many Liberian New Year parties, and had no break downs, accidents, or stops by the police. Got back to Monrovia, grabbed some dinner, and watched Tombstone. I’m sorry to say I fell asleep during the movie, so I’ll have to catch that one again later…

Christmas in Liberia

'Tis the season and all that jazz, but in Liberia, things are a bit different. For starters, the temperature here is consistently reading 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. There is no fall, no winter, no snow, no dip in temps to make it feel like it's Christmas. Secondly, the Christmas decorations are a bit different. While I appreciate the effort put forth by some of the people living here, Liberia could most likely win a 'most tacky Christmas' award due to the amount of shiny tinsel trees and gold 'Merry Christmas' banners. Think Chinese imports and you'll get the picture. Also, everyone asks for money around this time. The very Liberian saying is 'My Christmas is on you.' Well, let's just say it makes you feel a little guilty thinking that the person isn't going to have Christmas, but at the same time you get pretty tired of hearing it pretty fast. I have to remind myself that $5 is not a lot of money to me, but to someone else it is. I did give money to a few people, but usually those I knew, whether it was the woman who worked at the grocery store, the beggar whom I speak with on a regular basis, or one of the guards on the compound who has done something nice for me. There are moments where I wish I could give to more, but there are a lot of downfalls with that, including seeing your money spent (and not always, just sometimes) on unnecessary or unsavory things. It's hard to live in a poverty stricken country at this time of the year, but it's also very eye opening to what Christmas is and should be rather than the commercialized version we celebrate back home. I went out on Christmas day to pop some bread in a friend's oven and was greeted with Merry Christmases by just about every Liberian I passed. Very few were looking for money, but rather just rejoicing in the day and that made me feel very happy and uplifted. I can't resist a smile and a 'Merry Christmas' to say the least.

To celebrate the holiday, a had a few people over for Christmas brunch. There were about ten of us total, eating pancakes and potatoes, banana bread and eggs, and of course, lots of coffee. It was delightful. My apartment's a bit small for ten people and cooking food, but we made it work and had lots of fun in the process. There was also a bit of fake snow spraying on the windows from a 'Waldo' (think Where's Waldo) look-alike, and some crossword puzzling going on. Fantastic. After brunch, a few people left to do other things, the rest of us went to the pool. Swimming, sunning, and gazing at the beach are not usually on my list of things to do on Christmas day, but in the tradition of making new traditions, this is exactly what happened. A few chicken fights and exhilirating games of tips later, we retired back to my very cool apartment. Most places that my friends live don't have a/c, or at least don't have it for almost the whole day. They really appreciate taking advantage of my a/c when they can, and I'm happy to share, as I love having company since I've started living by myself and all. Naps and a movie followed. Lots of lounging later, we headed out to dinner at Mamba Point Hotel. By this time our numbers had dwindled to six, though I believe that's a great number for a more intimate dinner celebration. Debbie, Andrew, Matt, Jen, John, and I enjoyed a lovely dinner and few pictures in front of the Christmas tree in the restaurant before heading home. I also managed to sneak in a phone call with the fam to catch up on Christmas festivities in that part of the world and send Christmas greetings all around. It was strange not spending the holiday with them, but I've realized I've become part of a different sort of family over here. We spend lots of time together and go through things here that help bring us together--like the holidays. While I was sad to not be home, I am very grateful that the holidays were still filled with fantastic people and good times.


Friday the 19th was our last day of school before the holiday break. Before the break the school completed a clothing drive. I was able to take the clothing we collected and give it to an organization that really put it to good use. The group, called Orphan Relief and Rescue, works with orphanages in Liberia, helping them feed, clothe, and bring medical care to the children living within them. The in-country people who work for the organization have become good friends of mine. They were part of the group with whom I spent Christmas. I was lucky enough to be able to spend time with them sorting clothes and creating gift bundles for the kids. Even luckier, I went with them to distribute these things to two orphanages right before Christmas. Each child received a new outfit from the donated clothes (from school families and other donors), a new pair of slippers (flip-flop), and a gift bundle with a toy, some candy, a toothbrush, etc. Check out the link below to view the video that one of the guys made of us handing out these things and the kids. It's not very long, but it really gives you a great picture of what they're doing here and the kids that they're serving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83PFkUf5a8Y

This video makes me smile everytime I watch it.

The good things

I tend to spend a lot of time on here writing about the interesting and not-so-good aspects of Liberia. I think that this place is so different it's easier to write about these things in order to describe my life here. There are many good things, too, they're just harder to remember when you saw someone peeing on the side of the road or your shower and power cut out when you were in the middle of washing your hair (my morning, both). This past weekend, however, was a great example of some of the good times and beauty of Liberia.
A few friends of mine planned a party this weekend at Robertsport. Robertsport is about 2-2 1/2 hours away from Monrovia. Let me just say any opportunity to get out of the city is a good one. The drive isn't so bad for the most part, though the last 40 minutes or so can be a bit painful as the road's very potholed. Robertsport is a beach town. It sits right on the coast, about 30 minutes from the Sierra Leone border. It's beautiful. Also, as it's away from the city, it's much cleaner.
It was a full moon themed party, so we spent the night there at an eco-lodge set up by some South Africans. Basically, there are two double beds set up on platforms covered by tents. The rooms also have a fan, a small table, and two chairs. The water at Robertsport was beautiful for our weekend getaway: clear, calm, warm, just gorgeous. The sand is soft and not as trashy as the sand at Monrovia's finest. The lodge also has a bar and serves food, so we sat around and had a few drinks while we enjoyed the sun, sunset, and full moon. They even made a bonfire out on the beach later into the night. It was wonderful. I met some new great people who will hopefully turn into great friends. Just being away from Monrovia has improved my mood so much, I'm more relaxed and less stressed out. A much needed break from the city!
Other than that, school gets out on Friday for winter break. Though I'm not doing anything, I'm much looking forward to the two weeks off. I love my kids, but sometime's everyone needs a break from each other. I plan to relax, celebrate Christmas with some friends (though I wish I could celebrate it with everyone back home!), and read. Oh reading, I'm so excited!
Be in touch, everyone. I miss you all like crazy and don't hear from you often enough :) I love you guys!

Jailbreak!

Check it out...This is Liberia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6272043.stm

Apparently the number rose to 150-200 later. No one ever seems to know exactly what's going on. I've also heard three different stories about how they escaped. Some say it's an inside job, others are saying the workers were on a sort of strike, and finally someone said the inmates simply threw bottles and stones at the unarmed guards (the whole disarmament thing) and they let them out. Who knows?

the experience of an ex-pat at Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving approached last week, I wasn't too excited. I was bummed about being away from home, eating Thanksgiving day dinner with a bunch of people I didn't know, and not being able to spend the whole morning baking and preparing. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had this year during this American holiday, though. I went to the US Embassy where a dinner was being held at the ambassador's residence. About 50 people attended. It was in a potluck style, everyone brought something, and the ambassador provided the turkeys. It was a beautiful day (a bit hot) and her porch overlooks the ocean where the sun was setting. There was a ship that had been tugged out to sea, but which had made its way back to the shore and had been pushed into the sand not far off the shore. It hadn't been there very long, but it sure looked like it had. Between the weather (hot and sunny during the day, rainy season earlier) and people pillaging it (there's really no better word), the ship looked like it had been sitting out there for years. I talked to some people I knew, some I didn't. Met the Peace Corps volunteers who are here (one of whom recently fell through a roof and has to return to Washington for a broken hand.) Also talked with some people that I've met very briefly before and got to know them better. All in all, not a bad way to spend a holiday which is synonymous with family and football for me.
I went to a friend's house after Thanksgiving and watched a movie. As I had Friday off from school as well, we went out that night to the Red Lion. This is supposed to be an English Pub. In all actuality, while it may be the closest thing, it's not really like an English pub. It is, however, a nice place to go for a few drinks with friends. It's often pretty calm and low-key, except on Wednesday and Saturday nights when there is live music. We met up with some of the marines from the Embassy as well as some guys who work for UNMIL through the US military. Basically we were hanging out with guys from the Navy and Marines, which is amusing in itself. Another good time of being relaxed and just hanging out with good people.
I guess I'm learning to live on my own during my time here. It's a strange new reality for me. I have no family here, no roommates, no pets. I do have friends, though, and they are pretty amazing. I'm learning how to make do at my job, with my social life, and with my new lifestyle (which involves less vegetarian food being readily available.) It's a struggle at times, but plenty rewarding as well. If nothing else, I've already met a few great people along the way and learned a lot about what I can handle.

Election Night in Monrovia and the Marine Ball

There are two things that have happened here in Monrovia recently that I have yet to post about, so let me take a few minutes to do that now. First, I will share with you the experience of an expat living in Monrovia on the eve of American elections. Then, I will tell you about the experience of attending the Marine Ball here in Monrovia.

The elections were a huge deal here. It's one of the first things people want to talk about when they find out you're an American. In fact, it seemed to be the only thing expats and Americans wanted to talk about too. Liberians were super excited for Obama. African nations are ready to see a black man lead a powerful nation like the US. It's a sign of hope for them, too, especially here where things are still broken from the war. Go Obama signs are even for sale here (though you'll find a few McCain ones as well). As you all know, I attended an Obama fundraiser earlier. It's great to be among a group of people who are legitimately concerned about the world we live in in more ways than one. Most people here are working for NGOs or are doing something to try to make this country better and most are concerned about the election and what it's results would mean for the rest of the world.

An election night party had been planned for a while by the time that election night rolled around. At last count something like 65-ish people had RSVP'd to show up. The party started at 10pm and was scheduled to run into the early morning hours (with the time delay, the first results didn't begin to show here until about 11pm.) There were food and drinks for all. A magician came from an NGO called, are you ready?, Magicians Without Borders. At first when I heard this name, I thought it was way corny and I couldn't wait to see if this guy was going to be a huge nerd. When he started talking to us about the NGO while preparing for his magic show, I knew that he was legit and had a pretty great idea. He and his wife started the group years ago. They travel around to different refugee camps and put on magic shows for the people there. They have been all over the world doing this for many years. He just happened to be in Monrovia on election night, learned about the party, and asked if he could stop by and perform a show. Of course they said yes. He was pretty fantastic. Put on a good show that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The place that was having the party was a duplex, so one side had the party and sheet with a projector on it and the other side had a few matresses so people could catch a little sleep if they needed to do so. There was also a tent and chairs set up out back with another sheet and projector combo. This was great as the house got incredibly hot and it ended up being a somewhat hot, but pretty nice night. At 2:30am, there was a caterer who served breakfast. It was delicious. Her name is Rozi and I think she's catered just about big event I've been to here in Liberia. She's a good cook and quite popular around here. We watched in anticipation as states began turning blue and red. When Virginia went blue, I received a few hugs and high-fives, taking great pride in the fact that my state made the right decision. The election results were announced at around 4:00am and we stayed around to hear Obama's speech. I finally got home around 5:30am. It was a long night, but well worth it. Luckily, Liberian Thanksgiving was on Thursday, so we had Thursday and Friday off from school which gave me some recovery time.

This past weekend I went to the Marine Corp Ball with a few friends. There aren't any reasons to really get dressed up in Liberia, so it was nice to do this for once. It was held at the Royal Hotel here in town. It's not a very fancy place, but it's what we have and it looked very nice for the event. I went with my friend, John, who is from Florida. We had a really great time. We went with some other friends. Open bar, dinner, dancing...what more could you ask for? There are only 8 or 9 marines posted here at the embassy, so it was smallish affair. The ambassador was there, of course, and the speaker was a retired marine who graduated from Darden at UVA. Go 'Hoos! He and I talked about UVA and Charlottesville for a few minutes. After the ball, we went out dancing some more. Met up with our friends at the only club in Liberia and continued the evening. The hem of my dress is ruined now, as the floor at Deja Vu is quite dirty, but it was fun. It was also fun to be some of the only people there in our formal attire. A few others from the ball were there as well. All in all, a good night.

Okay, I'll end there for now. Check back in a week or so (since it takes me at least that long to post) for some other great stories.

Chimps

I have a lot to say, but for now I just want to post a quick note before I head to bed. Today I went to the beach. Sundays are a great day for relaxing, eating brunch, going to the beach, etc...
It was the first time I had been to this particular beach and it was quite crowded. One of the families there had brought their pet chimp, Joe. They caught me looking at Joe as I walked by and invited me to stop and say hello to him. As soon as I got close enough, Joe tried to crawl into my arms. He had his arms outstretched and was all but hugging and clinging to me. Joe was tied up to a post, so he couldn't actually reach my body, but boy was he trying. Joe may be one of the cutest animals I've ever met. He kept hugging me, playing with me, he even held my hand. It's amazing how similar our hands are. When my friend took a picture of us, Joe even looked at the camera and smiled. It was one of those events that really made my day. Joe was super sweet and I fell for him...hard. Unfortunately he kept trying to bite my friends (in a playful manner, of course) and kept getting in trouble from his owner, so we left him, but not before one last cuddle where he laid his little round, furry head in my lap. Oh Joe, I think I love you....

Stay tuned for a post about election night in Monrovia, end of the first quarter news, and my favorite supermarket!

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.

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....

oh meanderings...

I'd like to start by saying thanks to everyone who writes comments on here, sends me emails, or skypes with me every now and then. It really means a lot to me to hear from friends and family! I've received some emails lately from people who are worried about me here in Liberia. My last post mentioned that I've been having trouble meeting people here and forming friendships. I should say, though, that I'm not sad to be here. If there's one thing I've learned it's this--there is a difference between being sad and being lonely. I'm living by myself, working with a very small staff, and live on a compound that's not the most social around, and I'm one of the youngest people here--it's an adjustment for sure. That being said, I'm not upset about the choice I made to come here. I'm happy to be here and I'm enjoying myself.
In other news, I have been making a few new friends lately. This means getting to get off the compound every now and then which is wonderful. Just going out makes life a little less stressful. The people I've been meeting have also said that in Liberia it takes everyone time to start meeting people, which is reassuring. I was told that for being here for just four weeks, I'm doing a pretty good. Who knew? A group of ex-pats started up trivia here a few months ago. It happens on Thursday nights at an Indian restaurant just down the road. You all will be excited to know that my team won last night. This means that my team hosts trivia next week. So this week I will be making up trivia questions. If anyone has any good ones, send them my way, I may need the help. There are five rounds: a Liberia round (of course), a picture round, and three other rounds which each have their own theme. My team won a few weeks ago, too. It was very exciting.
A head's up on the weather here. We are currently in the rainy season. I look forward to the non-rainy season arriving (hopefully at the end of this month). When it rains, it pours here. My students also go crazy cause they can't go outside and play. The 'roads' here get horribly pot-holed during this time, and half the place floods. It's quite interesting actually. When it rains, though, it disrupts any connection which requires a satellite, etc. I think I mentioned this last time, but the internet is the first thing to go, whether at the compound or at school. If you email or comment on anything it may take me a bit to get back to you. While I'm usually lucky enough to be able to access my blog and email on a regular basis, the work of sending information over the internet from my side is a bit much for connection. I've tried uploading pictures on here a few times, but to no avail. I'm trying again now. If they work, you will be seeing pictures of my apartment (in all its glory) and the school.