making friends

After a long dry spell of sorts I think it’s safe to say that I’m finally feeling like I have some friends here – not necessarily the ‘friends for life’ type but some temporary ‘buddies’ if nothing else! I’ve wanted to write this blog for a couple weeks now but have been hesitant because I was afraid I would jinx things! When I moved into the compound where I live it appeared that all my neighbors had established their routines and become social with each other but didn’t give a rat’s tail that some new American lady had moved in. Turns out I had it all wrong! The compound had just been completed during October so most of my neighbors had just moved in during the week or so preceding my arrival. So what I mistook for ‘settled in routines’ was actually the process of each household trying to figure out their lives in their new homes. So now that we’re all feeling more adjusted we’re beginning to socialize more!! Part of this has yielded an increased fascination that the ‘American lady’ enjoys eating African food – and sending me over a dish of whatever soup they’re eating has become an event in itself. I’ve also gotten to chat more with a couple of my neighbors – in the evenings Prince comes over to ‘lecture’ (Liberian English for ‘have a conversation’) with Nelly and I, and brother Elijah continues to arrive after dark each night even though I don’t need him to start the generator any more. I’ve also been getting to know Florence, she is Angel’s mother and the two of them plus her Mom stay kitty-corner to me. Florence is around my age and finishing University. She loves African shows and rents a couple almost every day so Nelly and I have started hanging out at her house some evenings to watch shows. There has been increased conversating all around the compound, I’ve noticed a couple of the middle-aged women have started sitting together each evening, and we’ve also acquired two night-time security guards so on the evenings when we sit outside the compound gate (where the best breeze is) our entertainment has been increased by having more people around. I added some new pictures from a recent evening of madness at my house so check ‘em out! I’m still no where near ‘social butterfly’ status though slowly but surely there’s more chatter and laughter in my sphere!