eating my neighbor's chicken

This morning the chicken and her four baby chickens were pooping on my back porch and Nelly was shouting ‘Let’s go!’ to shoo them away. This afternoon my neighbor brought over soup for me to enjoy – it featured the chicken. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I enjoyed a spicy curry soup and was impressed by the quality of the chicken’s flavour. But as I ate I saw the four small chickens wandering around independently now. Nelly tried to call them over to show them that I was eating their mother! Haha Such goes the circle of life.

Welcome to AYH!

At any given moment of any given day if you wander into my living room you’ll probably find a random kid on my couch. Most likely I will have some indirect connection to the kid but s/he will not talk to me. I’ve realized that my house has become something of a youth hostel; therefore, Welcome to Abbe’s Youth Hostel! There’s no sign on my door that says food is being served (like local soup kitchens do) but if a youth show up, they’ll probably end up eating my food. Or better yet, if they’re a school friend of Nelly’s, they will have brought along a friend of their own, and a special meal will need to be paid for and prepared for their consumption, regardless of my current dinner plans. In the past week, strangers who don’t say much have consumed more of my rice than I have!

It’s probable that the youth will stay for several hours, sometimes they’ll leave food open or crumbs on a plate and the ants will invade, and more often than not I will feel forced to ‘hide out’ in some other part of my own home. My bedroom is a standard option, but I’ve found the front and back porches to be sufficient as well. If they’re boys they might step outside to peepee by the side of the house; if they’re girls Nelly will typically forget to mention not to put tissue down the toilet and I’ll find myself working for literally hours to get the sucker to flush ‘normally’ again. When Nelly has friends or family over I find it to be the strangest because she spends most of the time secluded, cooking behind the house. Then when they eat the hot meal she doesn’t eat with them (still no one is saying much). Post-meal she will sit with them and sometimes small talk emerges. Even when her sister was here and stayed the night, I was perplexed by the lack of conversation! All of this makes me feel even more awkward because if they’re not talking to each other, I don’t start up the chatting either. African hospitality is confusing to me and if I can’t shake the ‘no need to place hostess’ approach when returning to the US no one will come by to visit me anymore!

The water boy (who occasionally smiles now) has a habit of lingering before and after hauling the water. He’ll lounge on the couch for a while before he starts making the trips and then post-work he tends to sit around for hours and usually lies down on the couch to take a nap for an extended amount of time. I don’t want to be rude and kick him out, but it’s so weird when I have things that I want to get done and there are randys (random people) sitting and watching my every move! Today is a prime example; Nelly’s young cousin came yesterday and spent the night. Nelly went to computer class over 9 hours ago and hasn’t returned! I had a meeting in town and locked the girl out of the house for a couple hours (safety never quits, trust no one!) and when I got back I was stuck with her AND the water boy just sitting around doing nothing for HOURS! Plus, in just the past couple hours she left the cereal open to the ants, put tissue in the toilet and left hair all over the bathtub! Haha so here I sit, under house arrest. Feeling obligated to not leave because then I have to lock her out and simultaneously wanting her to go away so I can just be home alone for once! Where is Nelly!?

the sickness knows

Like many things in life, plans in Liberia never seem to pan out as expected! My holidays were good, despite the ‘sickness’ overrunning my body again on Christmas Eve. It wasn’t as terrible as the first round but nonetheless is was not a desirable way to spend my day off! I managed to shake it by late afternoon so that was reassuring. As I mentioned previously, our Christmas plans involved new outfits and Antoinette visiting to join us on a trip to the beach. Well none of that actually happened! Haha I decided to not buy a new top for the day (partially because I anticipated that we wouldn’t actually go out Christmas evening) and instead bought the lapas for the girls and I. And apparently Antoinette’s sister got sick so she had to stay home and care for her sister’s young kids. So there was no beach on Christmas day but we ate plenty of pepper soup, swallowed duma (similar to fufu except it comes from boiling the cassava root and then pounding it into a sticky paste), snacked all afternoon (James stopped by early with a pineapple for us!) and had cabbage green soup in the evening! It’s not often that I encounter greens to eat in this country and I’m really fond of the cabbage greens, so despite the fact that they upset my stomach I ate it! I figure there’s gotta be some good nutrients that my body is taking in before my stomach/intestines freak out! Oh, and we also rented an African show to watch.

rubber trees

James and I participated in the United Nations Volunteer Day a couple weeks ago. A member of our Festival Committee runs the student-led volunteer programs at the University of Liberia and he invited us to join his group for the volunteer work day. It was a great day! We hopped on the bus early in the morning and the energy of college-aged volunteers was a familiar feeling that I’ve been missing! Everything from the hip hop playing on the radio to the way university students carry-on when riding a bus as a group – it all just felt right. After a scenic drive we arrived at Firestone. In case you’re not familiar with the production details of our trusty tires, it all starts in Liberia. Firestone operates the largest rubber plantation in the country, situated near the airport (which they also funded) it is an impressive site. Soooo many rubber trees, it’s all you see every direction that you turn. But let me get back to the focus point, the day’s theme was ''Helping Liberians to help themselves''.

Deep within the plantation several communities still exist. Over the years the plantation was developed around these existing villages. A few communities are home to the workers who tend to the rubber trees, but the one we visited was independent. The Dolo Community is a humble town and our project was working with the community’s school. After a series of welcomes, guest speakers and prayers we got to work. The tasks completed included staining newly built classroom chairs and sorting, organizing and shelving books in their recently established library. After sweating and hard work they treated us to potato green soup for lunch and then the volunteers squared off against the older students in some athletic competitions – guys played football (soccer) and ladies played kickball. Needless to say, the high school kids beat the University students at both events! Haha

Took a little tour of the plantation with James during some down time and he taught me all about the process of harvesting rubber. Check out pictures in my photos link on the right. The day as a whole was long, exhausting and a great time! After all my recent toiling for the development of our upcoming Peace Festival, it felt really good to be doing some hands-on volunteer work and seeing the immediate, tangible results. Plus, I got to touch some fresh rubber sap and learned that it smells like a pig pen and more importantly, the scent lingers on your skin for quite a while!

12 Days of Christmas!

You all know the tune to this one! My ode to Christmas in Liberia..the Readers Digest version!

On the first day of Christmas,
Liberia gave to me
A water boy who never speaks.

On the second day of Christmas,
Liberia gave to me
Two bucket baths
And a water boy who never speaks.
...
... fast forward to the big finale
...

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
Liberia gave to me
Twelve fish bones choking,
Eleven roosters crowing,
Ten pineapple falling,
Nine bananas rotting,
Eight ants invading,
Seven lizards chasing,
Six spiders crawling,
Five more oranges!
Four crying babes,
Three piles of trash,
Two bucket baths,
And a water boy who never speaks!

market days

Had a new experience today, Nelly and I got up at 6am to head to the market at Red Light! I have seen a lot in this world but nothing quite compares to the hustle and bustle of this outdoor market – there were more sandals and greens for sale per square foot than I’ve ever seen before! And so many people everywhere, Nelly was concerned about me taking my purse but I had a lot of cash so carrying it in-hand seemed unpractical. She told me the night before that I needed to be very careful because the men with the ‘medicine’ could steal my money. Oh how I love superstitions about ‘witching’!

The variety was endless: a goat walked by, a woman swung a hatchet high in the air to chop some spare ribs apart, entire bushels of bananas were being sold, donuts were everywhere, some men were ready to paint fingernails while others sharpened knives, women hurried to set up their goods, and prices were high with the holiday so near. On Saturdays many marketeers come from the interior to sell and with that usually comes a greater variety and more competitive prices. Nelly and I were on a mission: buy plenty, plenty fruit and things to eat over the holidays, as well as spend some Christmas money. After initial disappointment over the high price on oranges, we decided it was better to start with the lapas. A lapa is a long piece of wildly patterned fabric that women buy to have made into traditional outfits by a tailor. But in our case, we are keeping it country and intended to simply wrap them around and wear them as skirts. We checked out some prices at different spots and were convinced by a woman that she would make us the best deal. Picking out the fabric was the more time consuming part! I decided that for Christmas I would buy two lapas for Nelly, Antoinette and myself. After much debate, discussion of my ‘brightness’ and mind-changing we both picked out beautiful patterns and found two that seem well suited for Antoinette. Next we headed to check out all the stalls looking for a ‘’flask’’ or as I thought Nelly was saying for the past weeks, a flash. Basically, it’s a big thermos for keeping tea warm for a couple days so that you don’t have to re-start the coal fire any time you want a cup. We found a brilliant looking blue one and settled for it even though the seller was unwilling to negotiate the price down at all. Finally, we had to face our enemy – the fruit marketeers. Nelly wasn’t sure if it was my presence (aka white face) or the holiday season but prices were very steep and it took us quite some time to find ones we were willing to pay. I was pleased with the purchases as we headed to find a cab, many sweet potatoes, plantains, oranges, a few bananas, and 3 little pineapples! I get very excited about fresh pineapple and to find small ones is ideal so that we’re not forced to eat a whole pineapple real quick in one day before it spoils. It was an interesting and good time, too bad it’s so hectic or I’d take my camera along next time...I’m not gonna risk getting ‘witched’ though!

...Nelly and I went on a walk for a quick errand to the Junction and she insisted that I wear my new lapa. I explained that I wasn’t sure the neighbourhood was ready for it, i mean really they just stopped staring at me! But I put it on and off we went. Sure enough, probably a dozen different people commented during our 30-minute round trip walk, most said simply ‘you tied the lapa today’. Haha It was a riot! They all said it in a complimentary way though so the good news is I haven’t offended anybody...today at least!

One word: scorpions

So exciting news folks! There’s been a new invader of my home and sanity, and need i mention, a new thing with which the phrase ‘death is imminent’ now resonates! On Thursday evening Nelly called me over as the grabbed a sandal and then pointed to the floor where I saw what my eyes could hardly believe and my brain couldn’t register fast enough because before I knew it I was shouting ‘’Scorpio! Scorpio!’’ – as if I’d morphed into an astrologer and had pin-pointed the sign that would lead me to eternal happiness. I fumbled to recover and corrected my statement just has the sandal came down to end the poor fella’s life.

The lil bugger didn’t cross my mind again until Friday night when I was preparing for bed. While brushing my teeth by candlelight I noticed a shadow in the fold of my mosquito net. Just below eye level and suspended directly over my pillow was in fact a scorpion on the inside of my net! I shouted for nelly and quickly went to her room t rally some moral support. We performed quite the tag-team act of opening the net, knocking the invader to the ground and promptly ending his life. I was a bit concerned that there would be more lurking in the shadows, waiting for rest to overtake my body before they came for the attack, but my net was free and clear and I had no choice but to climb inside. I’m hoping they only travel in twos.

Embarrassing but true: Confessions part 2

Tomorrow is my 6 week anniversary..so it’s time for more self-disclosure!

• My foam mattress has a big, permanent indentation from my ‘American thighs’ aka my ghetto booty.
• Sometimes we sit on the edge and pee in the tub because it’s easier than wasting time and water waiting for the commode to flush.
• I’ve stopped wearing a bra except for work – it’s just too hot for an extra layer!
• My feet are always dirty and I can’t figure out how to keep my toe nails or fingernails looking clean.
• I love to snack on cookies and treats here – I assume that they’re not as bad for me as a Big Mac or Hostess cupcake so it’s justifiable!
• I only clean my ears once a week, on Friday; after two decades of ritualistic daily post-shower Q-tip twirling I view this as a true display of my adaptability and official low-maintenance status.

the beautiful

Curse the Americans and their over-refrigerated-cleanness! If I had grown up drinking dirty water, eating room temp mayonnaise and buying pigs’ feet from a table in a dusty village I would be invincible – or at least less scared for my digestive health every moment of the each day! I would also like to personally, sarcastically thank America (perhaps more specifically the Midwest) for giving me my ‘softness’. While carrying groceries home a couple days ago a group of young men passed me, one wanted to shake my hand but my hands were full so I continued walking, only for the last guy in the group to pat my upper, outer thigh and say ‘’soft’’ as he walked past! It didn’t register at first, and I told Nelly the story only to have her confirm that ‘’Americans are soft’’. She explained that Africans are soft too, but Americans are more soft. Go figure!

like a prayer

Recently my radio brought me the thrills of Madonna. She surfaced just after some African music and a reading of local obituaries. I felt like I was back in Chicago, partying in Boys Town at 3am! I was just finishing my dinner and I leapt up from my chair and started singing and dancing around with my arms in the air like a crazy woman. We had been eating in the dark because the sun had just set and I hadn’t gotten to lighting a candle or firing up the generator yet, and the dim lighting amplified my lack of inhibitions as I continued to spin and twirl around recklessly. Nelly didn’t know the song so she just sat there crunching on pig’s feet bones from the soup. But there we were – me and Madonna – having our moment!

wearing camo pants & Nikes

Tonight I was at a music performance promoting peace in the Makona River Union area (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone). I witnessed a Rasta man from Guinea perform a reggae song in French about Liberia’s President Madam Ellen Johnson. It was amazing. Plus, he repeatedly performed a high-stepping type of dance move that brought to mind visions of the Edison High School Marching Band double-timing off the field! The combination was unbeatable...I could barely pay attention to the artists that followed because all I could think about was the random combo that one single person had just presented before me. Oh yeah, and he was wearing camouflage pants and Nikes. Just do it!

do Liberians believe in Santa?

I don’t think so. I’ve done some asking around and received mostly blank stares and responses of confusion. Being ‘witched’ – yes; a fat man in a red suit delivering presents – not so much! But as a mainly Christian country (small Muslim populations are found mostly away from the coast, in the interior) they do celebrate Christmas – a less consumer-based Christmas, but still. My neighbours have a string of lights in their front window; they look nice blinking happily on evenings when they use their generator. Many people give gifts to friends and family, in fact I’ve had a couple people offer that they will ‘’give me Christmas’’ – I’ve tried to politely decline these offers. So next week I will indeed be celebrating in local ways. Later this week Nelly and I will go into town to buy our ‘Christmas clothes’ – she anticipates getting a whole outfit, on my budget I’m aiming for just a new shirt. It’s my understanding that on Christmas Eve we will do nothing specially, we’ll actually avoid travelling anywhere because car business will be very hard and super expensive. On Christmas day the girls will make a soup early in the day (it may involve slaughtering our own country chicken – this still makes me uncomfortable) and then in the early afternoon we’ll head to the beach! After being at the beach for the holiday, celebrating as true Liberians, we will come home to change into these new clothes. I’m still fuzzy on where we will go in our fancy duds, but I’m sure it will prove to be a good story!

humor in sharing

So I decided about a year ago that for my next apartment I would like to live alone. My theory is that if you don’t get married by age 22, you inevitably reach a point in your independent life when you recognize that roommates are great (love you Melissa!) but you just desire to live alone. When living in Chicago and planning for my move to Africa it was impractical to pay extra rent for my own place, that’s how my plan became that at my next apartment I would fly solo. When sorting out the details for my housing here in Liberia, there was a moment when I thought I was going to be living alone – and this moment was scary! I remember speaking in load tones about how yes, I would like to live alone, but not in Africa! So I was relieved and excited to hear Nelly would be staying with me. Our ‘roommate relationship’ has been awkward at best! Haha This is mostly because our roles are defined by Liberian standards, but in my head I’m still a Western gal. My interest in doing my own wash and cleaning the bathroom and washing dishes has been hard for Nelly to understand and even harder for visitors. Today Harbi was visiting and when I mentioned having done some wash this morning he asked me why I would do that. I found myself explaining that if I didn’t do anything domestic, I would be bored. My weekend days here feel more productive when I clean up the kitchen, or wash my bedding, for the simple fact that I don’t have a lot of other options for activities to engage myself – I mean I can only read for so many hours a day (especially since I’ve been flying through the few books I packed)!

Having a housemate (regardless of cultural standards) means that sometimes things won’t be where you left them and sometimes the last orange is gone when you’re ready to eat it for breakfast. Nuances also emerge when sharing a home, for example during my first weeks here I noticed that my face wash was always located in a different spot than I left it in the shower. To me this indicated that Nelly was using it (not gonna lie – this sent my constantly-budgeting-resources-mind into a frenzy!) so to be sure that I wasn’t losing my mind, I asked her one day ‘have you been using my face wash?’ She replied no and that was that. Just this week after I started using different face soap, I removed my former cleanser (a tube of Neutrogena cream face wash) from the shower. A couple days after this Nelly came to me saying ‘I did not find the oil’. We went back and forth in a bizarre rendition of English fragments and finally after her gesturing to her arm and pointing to the spot in the shower where the aforementioned item was supposed to be located, I realized she was speaking of my face wash. I got it out (visual aides are crucial) and she said that was what she was looking for. Things started coming together for me at this point, and when I asked what she had been using it for, she said cream (again gesturing to her arm). Turns out, she didn’t know what it was, but when she investigated the contents, decided it was lotion so she’d been using it on her body (post-shower) as if it were body cream. I imagine this felt nice (it has a cooling feeling to it) but I still can’t grasp how long it would take to rub in face wash on dry skin! Haha I explained it was soap for my face (face wash is a phrase they don’t use around these parts) and sent her with money to buy some proper cream for her body. We both laughed quite a bit!

the holidays are here!

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of spending a little Christmas money, thanks to my Mom and Dad and my ‘Ewell Secret Santa’ Aunt Paulette! I was so tickled to buy a strainer for making pasta much easier and a real broom!! Haha not to mention the sheer delight I took in FINALLY getting a radio!! I may never leave my house again! I also took some extra cash with me to the super market and was able to purchase outside the realm of necessities, beyond the matches and dish rags that I needed to buy, I ventured into a little pleasure shopping – including buying big box of tea bags, honey, spicy mustard, a can of BBQ Pringles, a box of Jiffy corn bread mix and some good soap to scrub the bathtub with! It’s amazing what simple things bring great joy to my simple life here! I then returned home to have a mini dance party in my bedroom while rocking out to some hip hop on the radio. I also took time to clean the toilet this afternoon – nothing brightens my day quite like bleaching my toilet...funny because I used to hate cleaning the bathroom, but it’s just so nice to know it’s sanitary and see it all sparkly and shiny! Happy holidays to me!

Liberian cabs - the ride of your life

Yesterday I looked over to see exactly how fast my cab was racing down the road and only became confused by the kilometre readings on the dial. Today I looked over and had to contain my laughter when I saw that the speedometer didn’t even work! Later in the same day I found myself feeling increasingly thankful for my up-to-date tetanus vaccination when I climbed in a car that’s interior seemed to have been removed years ago – based on the rust and exposed jagged edges on the doors! Cab fares here have fixed rates since there are no meters, so sitting on someone’s lap won’t save either of you any money, but you will get where you’re going! With the holidays approaching there’s a great amount of inflation occurring as the demand for transport is increasing so the driver’s are able to demand more for the same route. Sometimes a L$30 ride will become a L$50 ride if the driver feels like it. Luckily though, if they’re inflating the price they announce it as your board the car so you do have the opportunity to get back out and wait for an undetermined amount of time until you find an open spot in another car (an opportunity that I have seized several times this week). But every once in a while it’s worth an extra L$5-10 to just be on my way home, out of the sun and sitting down. Sometimes I pass by cabs that have chickens riding along...I’m yet to ride with a chicken but am eager for the excitement it probably adds!

The communal cab rides are something that I continue to support – and may advocate for some day in the US (except that Americans are real funny about their space, you know what I’m talking about!). I’ve noticed that they often create opportunities for great community discussions between strangers – sometimes based on the radio’s broadcasts (they have several NPR-like stations here) and other times based on the behaviours of locals. Earlier this week I listened in while riders discussed recent violence that erupted at the Firestone rubber plantation; I was intrigued by the different perspectives on the event. Last week when climbing into a cab there was a man pushing up against my purse, I couldn’t tell at first what he was doing but I immediately registered it as not good/normal so I grabbed my bag and hurried to get in the car and shut the door, checking instinctively to make sure my cash and cell phone were still where they belonged. Before I could even say anything, a woman in the cab was going on and on about ‘What was he doing with your bag? Trying to put a flower in it?’ and there was also a man outside the car who I heard telling the man to move along and stop bothering people. After much discussion among my fellow car-riders (me mostly listening) it was determined that he was (perhaps harmlessly) trying to put some fake flower on my bag but that he should know better and leave other people alone. I was amazed by how outraged the other passengers were, but also immediately felt comforted knowing that people here really are looking out for each other.

I encourage you all to share a cab at least once in your life! I don’t think you’ll regret it!

1 month anniversary!

You can’t lead the people, if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people, it you don’t serve the people. –Cornel West, professor at Princeton

Whoop whoop! I have officially lived in Liberia for 1 month and it feels good! Terrence has been referring to me as a Liberian since the end of my first week here, but I think I’m actually starting to believe it. I even bought a white handkerchief on the street this week – a crucial item for Liberians to maintain looking fresh while out and about in the city, a.k.a. a good way to wipe the sweat and dirt from your face. I have grown quite accustomed to hailing cabs, rushing (and occasionally pushing people a smidge) to get in a cab, navigating the city via cabs, fending off the weirdos while walking about, determining which bones should be eaten and which ones removed when eating soup and slowly but surely I’m building up a nice tan! I’ve settled in well with work and really enjoy the team here. We’ve established a rhythm as a group and our productivity is starting to flow. Nelly and I have come a long way in a month, and we get on rather well now. Chatting about this and that, collaborating on meals, and we even spend more time laughing at the same thing than staring awkwardly at each other! I celebrated today by making French toast and fried eggs for breakfast – I thought Nelly was going to die when I put the sliced bread into the egg/milk concoction, she said ‘Oh! I have not seen that!’ It didn’t turn out too bad and she really enjoyed the new treat!

I really love the Liberians – they’ve persevered through so much and have an incredible spirit about them, accompanied by strong beliefs in God and occasional interpretations based on superstition that are definitely keeping me on my toes! I’m working diligently to serve them effectively and I feel confident that eventually my efforts will reap a harvest of plenty!

foreigner hypochrondria

That’s what i’ve decided to term the condition i have! My mind is like a worst-case scenario survival handbook! Weird things run in and out of my brain, usually involving the phrase ‘death is imminent’ and i rapidly try to mentally disengage the situation’s ‘bomb’! For example, lying in bed the other night (safe inside my mosquito net) i heard a sound that i determined could be a snake coming toward my bed. Then I proceeded to analyze if my mosquito net would protect me from a snake bite (i’m imagining a king cobra or python) and when it doesn’t protect me, how long will i have to get to the hospital before death is imminent. And i pictured where the hospital was and thought about how it’s so difficult to get a cab after dark and wondered who i should call when this snake bite happens – james to report that i’m in danger and need assistance, or my parents since afterall, death is imminent. I also compulsively check my temperature in case i have a fever so that i’ll know early on that i’ve contracted malaria, yellow fever, typhoid fever or any other ‘death is imminent’ type of fever. I constantly ask nelly not to do certain things involving open flames, the gasoline-powered generator, and the gas stove – always with the tagline of ‘please don’t do that, we could explode and die’. Usually when my stomach rumbles i assume i have come down with hepatitis A. When i don’t have to pee at all during the day i imagine i’m slowly dehydrating and will soon collapse into unconsciousness. Any new itches equal incurable rashes or poisonous spider bites – both indicating the death is imminent. I’m still trying to determine which will have a more drastic effect on shortening my life-span – all of the pollution from car and truck exhaust or the intense sun-exposure?

Other than that, things are going very well in Liberia!

seeing is believing

What’s up Chi-town! I saw a man wearing a Cubs shirt last week. And word to Ohio – I passed a guy wearing BGSU shorts just yesterday! Because there are such a variety of scenes to mentally register, I’ve come to live by a new motto here: I’ll believe it when I see it. This applies to the notion that some day there will be a handpump well inside my compound (3 weeks ago they said it would be ready in 2 days) and also the idea that there will eventually be a generator that operates for our entire compound. I’ve heard rumor that there are coins in Liberian currency, but until I saw one yesterday on someone’s desk I wasn’t convinced because the smallest denomination I’d encountered was L$5 bill. You really do see everything here, including men and boys peeing in the street or on the side of the road any time, any place – also saw a girl balancing something on her head just stop and squat to pee along the road once. There are monkeys that ride on top of semi-trucks, 25 men standing in the back of moving pick-ups, a woman breastfeeding on the street corner, piles of garbage half a city-block wide. There are always women carrying lots of different things on their heads, sometimes just to transport them elsewhere, other times things are for sale, like raw fish, plantains, peanuts, fabric, fresh donuts, dried monkey. Yep – that’s right. For the first time in my blessed existence on this planet I saw women carrying dried monkey (still furry) on their heads for sale. I came straight home to tell Nelly to please never make a soup with monkey in it. She just laughed, which makes me nervous because sometimes I think she sneaks in weird food when she’s cooking, like the sea turtle meat – she didn’t admit it was turtle initially, she first declared it was meat from the sea but after further probing on my part she announced its true origin! She says the monkey has plenty, plenty meat and that it tastes sweet. I think I’m okay not confirming what monkey tastes like!

spoiled with produce

Turns out i’m spoiling nelly! Well, as she put it ‘you will have to send me money when you go because i will be used to how we live!’ Initially I couldn’t imagine what she was referring to because I feel like every other phrase out of my mouth is something like ‘does it really cost that much?’ or ‘yes I know you say L$100 but can you make a soup for L$50, how about L$80?’ But apparently my encouragement of produce consumption speaks louder than my words! There are oranges everywhere I look in this country, and naturally I translated that to mean everyone eats oranges. They seem to be affordable and easily obtained, but clearly I have a misunderstanding of what life on the poor side of the Liberian scale means. I get the deal with rice: everyone eats it, every day, all day, it’s not a day unless you eat rice. I was surprised by how much they love meat and fish, but more surprised still when Nelly explained that living with her aunt before I arrived she would only eat maybe one piece of fruit a week. No wonder she feels spoiled, every day I’m asking her, did you have an orange and a banana because the bananas will spoil soon and we have a lot of oranges this week! Plus, she’s thrilled with the knowledge I shared that oats in milk are just as tasty when served cold. It’s so much easier than cooking in the morning (she leaves for school by 6am) and it’s just as tasty. I’ve also realized that it blows her mind if we manage a day without eating the rice, we had hard-boiled eggs and elbow macaroni for dinner the other night and she announced that when I leave she will still eat like this. I made spaghetti for the girls a couple weekends ago and Antoinette wasn’t a fan, but Nelly thought it was wonderful – except that there was no meat involved (silly me got the tasty mushroom & green peppers sauce instead of the meat!).

I also spoil her with music videos on youtube occasionally! Haha here’s us rocking out – had to share my headphones since the generator’s so bloomin’ loud!!!

Around the office

This week is week 2 of a little plan I’ve declared our ‘Fundraising Assault’! We are working hard to unite our Festival Committee members into active planning and have been chugging away ourselves. There are a lot of details to get in order for the first annual Liberian Peace & Cultural Festival, scheduled for the last week of February 2008 and not much time. Big thing we’re focusing on now, in addition to lighting a fire under our committee members, is to get some money raised so we can actually do this event! We made a list of local companies that might be interested in sponsoring; I established some documentation about AYDAP and outlining the Festival (we will have workshops for youth in areas of drama & film, music, volunteerism, leadership; a peace symposium; kick-off parade; 3 night’s of concerts including cultural troupes, secular groups and gospel performances) as well as sponsorship levels. We made a couple appointments at places where we had contacts, but mostly we’re just going in cold. It’s quite fun actually! James and I just show up at a business and before we know if my white face gets us in to meet with a manager or marketing guru. We’re thorough and efficient – explain AYDAP, highlight the Festival, detail sponsorship reciprocation and shake some hands. After our third meeting last Wednesday morning James said, ‘now i know why you called it an assault!’ I’m not messing around here folks, we’re in, we’re out, they don’t know what just hit them but they liked it...and hopefully in a week or so we’ll start reaping the benefits!

In household news, Nelly has really taken to playing show and tell with pictures of my family! Thanks to my Aunt Paulette and her creative genius, i have a journal with photos of the Ewell tribe on the inside covers. Nelly thinks it is a great book and has asked me to get it out a couple times when different friends were over so she could point and explain who everyone is to her company. It really cracks me up! And tonight, she put sea turtle meat in the soup! Which i ate, and decided it tastes surprisingly like pot roast! Haha similar color and texture..still disturbing but tasty!

mysterious phenomena

Had 3 red dots, each slightly raised, forming a small triangle on the inside edge of my foot. I assume something bit me though they never itched just hung around for 6 days or so. You can’t see them anymore but i can still feel them.

After riding in a cab with 6 other people i often notice large sweat marks along the outside of my thighs – not sure if it’s my sweat or my seatmate’s.

Cabs bounce their way over the decrepit roads slowing here and there to drive gently around massive potholes but some cabs creak the entire time in a way that suggests the rear axle might be left behind at the next patch of uneven road..i can’t figure out what is holding it all together!

Down with the sickness!

It happened on Saturday – a sickness that is like no other. Slept all day, except to wake up and run to the bathroom every couple hours to endure simultaneous and dually unpleasant experiences. I tried to go to the hospital in the evening but it didn’t work out so well, when we finally got there the woman said her cabinet was empty – translation: she had no meds. Slept it off overnight and today I’ve stuck to sips of water/Gatorade, crackers, and my own creation of soup tonight: rice in water with vita (chicken bouillon's cousin). It came from Friday, but because I ate at a Lebanese restaurant, had some weird French wine in the evening and mistakenly consumed a drink served with ice I’m still unable to identify the exact source and so I will be blacklisting all of those items for the duration of my stay here!