March 2012

Feb. Extra! (I forgot Valentine’s Day)

We had school on Valentine’s Day and I got three valentines from my students (one was really romantic and mooshy) okay, I’ll fill you in on what it said: ‘A candle may melt and it’s fire may die, but the love you have given me will always stay as a flame in my heart’ and ‘When you love someone truly, you don’t look for mistake, instead you fight the mistake, you accept the fault and overlook the excuses. Love is not how you forget, but how you forgive, not how you listen, but how you understand, not what you see, but how you feel, not how you let go, but how you hold on’.  And I didn’t know what to make of that. I’m sure more than three (two girls, one boy) have a crush on me. I think this is both cute and funny. Unfortunately for them, that stuff is not allowed, and they’re waaaaaaaaaaaaay too young for me. But I can’t say I don’t like that attention and gifts. I use their admiration of me to promise me that they’ll do their homework and go to class. I’m sneaky.

After school, Emmanuel and I went for a walk on the main road. It’s Valentine’s Day and true, I don’t have a Valentine (although I got many offers…mainly all older men), but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit inside my house and not go spy on the social lives of my students. Live vicariously through others! And I was curious about who is dating who at school. (Don’t judge me, I don’t have television…remember?) Anyways, I discovered a lot of interesting gossip that night and caught many of my students by surprise when I went to the dance club with Christina, Nora, and Emmanuel. We did A LOT of dancing (I still can’t dance well, but Africans don’t care. They just like to see me dance at all) and afterward trouped up the dirt hill to John Hill neighborhood. There is a photo studio there and you’re not a real PCV or Liberian until you go out in your ‘finest’, dance like a dork, sweat a lot, and then go take a picture having no idea what you look like by that point. Valentine’s Day 2012 photo of the five of us is pure blackmail material and maybe someday I’ll let some of you see it. Maybe… :)

And there you have it. Valentine’s 2012. I also wrote anonymous prank-love letters to a few PCVs and left them in their mailboxes in Monrovia with plastic roses.

March

I did an Embassy stay on March 1-3^rd. Ken Hasson and his wife, Lourdes, were the best parents away from home ever. Ken was a fisheries PCV in Ecuador where he met his wife. Knowing this, you can only imagine the number of hours we spent talking about ocean critters and fish. We ate some amazing lamb, and I got my milk and cheese fix. Fellow PCVs Nora and her site mate, Kaitlyn were also in town so we hit the embassy pool for some exercise….erm, tube floating. I also bought seasons 5 and 6 of How I Met Your Mother from a legit street dvd seller and watched them ALL with Lourdes. She also dyed my hair for me (yes, I’m still red :P I like it, so I’m keeping it) and on my last day in town went surfing with my fellow beach bum, Eric Sturgis. Toothless and I are really carving it up on Liberian waves and aside from the sunburn (I DID put on sunscreen, mom) I had an amazing time. It was a great way to relax and break away from site to clear my head and enjoy some lights, refrigeration (I ate so many ice cubes!), and air conditioning for two days before heading back out into the bush.

One of my fellow teachers James Kumaru gave me a woman chicken! Her name was Miss Nugget. Unfortunately, PJ thought it would be fun to kill her while I kept her tied for her first three days so she became familiar with her new home. And so my neighbors gained a free chicken for their soup the next day…and McNugget and Tater Tot were sad.  So I’m still on the lookout for a woman chicken…

As you may remember, there is no UNMIL or UN base in my area. As far as I knew, the only other non-Liberians working in my district was China Union. Until I met Henry Snider and was introduced to the Nepelle Project (http://niapeleschoolnutritionchallenge.com/donate/). Really great NGO work going on here and I was happy to meet Henry and the non-Liberians working with the project. Penelope Chester came from Canada to work on/check the status of the project and it was a real pleasure sharing ideas and information. Her project is doing an amazing job establishing sustainable farms at rural schools so that the schools can feed the students. I recommend their great work and like I said on facebook, since I do not yet have a project that requires funding, you can share your love with the Nepelle Project.

PJ got sick in mid-March. I debated even writing about him in my blog, but decided to (in fairness to reality. This blog includes the good and the bad). It was an internal blockage, rupture, poison…something internal that no matter what I did (Oral rehydration salts, pepto bismol, etc.) could not fix. He died not to long after. It made me horribly sad and put a huge reality check on life out here in Liberia. Life is not easy on animals, and there are no vets in the interior (one in Monrovia) and therefore, there was nothing I could do for him. Something that could have easily been fixed or operated on in the states was a death sentence here. I had PJ for about a month and a half….I can’t even imagine loosing Naw wei and I hope that never never happens to him. He’s my only best friend out here and source of laughter when he does goofy stuff.

The MOE (Ministry of Education) sent my school two new teachers this month. Aqwei teaches Chemistry and Francis Kollie teaches Biology. Great news, huh? Except that the MOE only gave them money for travel here and nothing for housing or food. These two are recent grads from the University of Liberia and (as of May 2012) are still not on government payroll. Nice, huh? So it’s been just a liiiittle frustrating as you can only imagine. Where will they sleep? How will we (the teachers who make small pay/are having trouble with our own pay) feed them? As a result of this trouble, the two teachers are not in Bong Mines very much and stay in Monrovia more. Which means our kids don’t get taught. This is supposed to be getting ‘fixed’ next school year so we’ll see what happens. Until then, I sometimes help out with Biology, but Chemistry is not my forte and can only offer support in that area…not teach. Once this pay issue gets fixed, I can see Francis Kollie being good counterpart material as he teaches the same topic and is not new to teaching, but new to BMCH School.

My Health Club is now on the radio! I got the idea when one of my  10^th graders invited me to the station where he was volunteering to talk about HIV/AIDS. Afterward, I thought ‘yeah, maybe the listeners understood me and got the message, but this would be better understood by fellow Liberians…my Health Club should be doing this!’ and so I trouped off to find the radio station managers and ask permission and what was required. We secured Wednesdays at 8pm and I went off to inform the Health Club. I helped Victor and Sunday write a script about Malaria (since rainy season was coming) and we practiced it on the porch. We informed the school and friends to listen in and off the station we went. Victor and Sunday did a funny back and forth (Victor knew everything about Malaria and mosquitos and Sunday knew nothing and even thought that mosquitos were for eating) explaining (in Liberian English) what malaria is, how you can get malaria, what does it do to your body, and how can you treat/prevent it. After the skit, now that Sunday knew allll about malaria, he summarized the entire script in the most common dialect here, Kpelle. He’s a natural on the radio and I told him if he gets really good, I may email UNMIL Radio in Monrovia and appeal for them to let us be guests next year. UNMIL Radio is the most popular station here (along with BBC and Radio Monrovia). Victor and Sunday were nervous at first, but finished the program amazingly well and everyone was talking about the funny program from Radio Bong Mine 95.5 FM.

The Computer lab at school got a big makeover when I invited my friend, and RPCV, Thad to come out and help me ‘clean up’ the computers. Thad was doing response work in Kakata and now works there but not with Peace Corps anymore. Anyway, he’s so tech savvy is frightening and so I knew I needed to get him out here to help me set this future computer class stuff. We stayed in the computer lab for almost six hours (well into the night) with the VP and Principal working on the machines. We determined that 10 of the 12 desktops worked and by swapping some hard drives and other odds and ends, we got the 10 working well. We wiped Windows XP off of them and put fresh copies on to clean out any viruses and now, I’m just in the process of putting Microsoft Office on them.

After Thad left, and while I did set-up work on the computers, I had my new TA’s help me! I’ve got my VPI (Vice Principal for Instruction) Mr. Roland Cooper who is my teacher TA. Emmanuel, Benedict, and Esther are my 10^th grade student TA’s. Mr. Cooper and Benedict have had some exposure to computers but Esther had never laid her hands on one before. So it was important that while I did boring and complicated set up work that they played around with WordPad (still installing Word) and become familiar with the keyboard. So they all set to typing up their own notes/lesson plans. Gasoline is expensive here … like $5.50 USD for one gallon. And therefore, I was happy that they were using the computers I was not working on to practice. I’m not sure how Administration will figure out the lab portion of this computer class. I’m a free instructor, but there is no way I’m paying for gasoline for the school’s generator.

Emmanuel and I often go to swim in the swimming hole. He learned how back in his village where there is water to swim. Most Liberians can’t. Christina is one of those Liberians. So we took the inner tubes and I taught her some basic stuff. After an hour or two she was ….sort of paddling around. :) I told her not to be frustrated; this skill is not mastered overnight by any means. During the same swimming trip a got bit by a nasty bug above my right eye. Ever had swelling on your face before? Well, it swells outward…because your skull prevents it from swelling inward. As a result I got to spend the next day looking a lot like the hunchback of Notre Dame (minus the hump). All the Liberians thought I was going to lose my eye and I couldn’t see out of it until 9pm. I’m fine now, and took some Benadryl which helped but made me supppper sleepy. And so I slept the entire day away. Time well spent if you ask me. :)

Once upon a time….TIME! (see, you’re catching on. :) Don’t understand? You need to read Feb 2012) Stephanie moved to Bong Mines on August 24^th, 2011. She didn’t know anyone there and the house wasn’t finished yet. She sat with the neighbors, gossiping and conversing, trying to fit in. They asked her a lot about Naw wei, her puppy who had come with her. She joked that he was only pretty special to her and that she would need to throw him a birthday party next June on his first birthday. The neighbors roared with laughter! ‘Can you believe?’ They said. ‘Celebrate dog birthday?’. Stephanie laughed too, happy to have her new friends. Three months passed. A few random people stopped her on the road to inform her that ‘I’m going to Naw wei’s Birthday Party’. What started out as a joke is now common knowledge. Everyone seems to know Naw wei’s Birthday is coming up in June and they rightfully expect a party, plenty of rice, and good music. Stephanie has been obliged to follow through with what she though was a funny JOKE. *sigh* She is now preparing for the largest party of all time for a dog in Bong Mines and probably the history of Liberia. Naw wei has informed them he would like some chicken bones and a woman for his birthday. Stephanie’s neighbors have convinced her that the party needed Naw wei Birthday t-shirts. And so, t-shirts have been designed by Stephanie and are in the process of being printed by her friend Justin. Oh boy, this party will be crazy. Look out, June 16^th, 2012. Naw wei’s Birthday Party is coming….and we expect over 200 people. The End….for now.

The BMCHS Health Club put on its first live drama performance for the student body. It was about equal rights for boys and girls when it comes to going to school and personal hygiene. In the first drama, there was two families ‘bad family’ and ‘good family’. Bad family believed that sending their girl child to school was a waste of money. She needs to do wash and cook anyway. Good family who sends both the girl and boy child to school and share the house work had to convince Bad Family that educating your girl child is very important too. They wrote these dramas all on their own and ran their own drama practices. I’m pretty proud of their commitment considering they are working as volunteers. The students at school found the dramas comedic and fun and the Administration (who was certain my idea of a student-run health club would fail) quickly asked when we would come and perform again. :P

I’ve decided I need (not want….NEED) a water gun. For two main reasons: 1. Wake up sleeping students in my class 2. Keep pesky children away from my house. If you are able to assist in this, I would be very grateful. Please note that I’d like the water gun to be pressure pumped, hold at least one liter of water, and shoot at least 20 feet (the pesky kids run fast). I promise to only use it on those who really deserve it and will never shoot them in the face.

Oh, and just an update on mailing stuff. All mail is pretty safe to send except expensive stuff. The only real risk is the rats finding the chocolates or snacks before me. So if mailing any foods, try and spare a Tupperware container to protect them. Besides, I have use for the containers. I don’t like sharing my food with the ants.

Naw wei is busy making babies and baby Naw wei’s all over the neighborhood. As a parent, I’m a little late with ‘the talk’ and find it awkward when I catch him in the act. The upshot is that because he has plenty girlfriends, he doesn’t ever hump people or objects (thank goodness). He’s also turning into the neighborhood ‘bossman’ as my neighbors say. The male dogs that used to kick his butt are now getting their butts kicked. Payback’s a …..female dog. :) And now he’s leader of his mini neighborhood pack of buddies. And like I told you before, I know allll about it because I do porch sittin’ since there is no TV watchin’.

I got Mail!!! From Ashy: thanks for the Valentine’s card and candy! From Lisa aka Shmee Shmah: thanks for the letter! From Kate and Karl in Japan: thanks for the card!! From Wendy: Thank you for the funny letter! From Taylor (the bestest sister ever): Thank you for the letters! From Mom and Dad: Thank you for the box with dog treats (Naw wei approves), body wash (I approve), and periodic tables (my happy 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th graders HIGHLY approve). Respectively, responses have been sent out…they’ll get to you in due time.

Peace Corps Liberia and PSN (Peer Support Network) are all working hard to prepare for the much expected LR3. Last year, me, and 21 others came to Liberia as LR2 and now we’re getting ready for the nearly 38 new volunteers coming on June 8^th. We’re excited to receive them and need to make sure everything is ready for them. LR3, if you’re reading this, we can’t wait to meet you! Hope you’re finished with your packing and ready to jump on the plane!

April post coming ASAP. :) Thanks for reading and poking me in the ribs to update when I get busy and forget. <3 

February 2012

February 2012

Naw wei got into a fight this month. Terrifying…as the Liberians say ‘Dat no small fighting-o!’ The other dog tore through his ear, into his face and around his scrotum. I spent a week bandaging him up. Fights with other male dogs are rather common, but are usually not serious. Since then, I punish him any time I see him in a fight or try to start one. Just another stressor on my often already high-stress life. I have successfully taught him to ‘bust me’ or as you would call it, ‘pound it’. Mom also mailed him an engraved tag with his shot records printed on it, thanks mom.

I remember being on the plane… waiting to go to Liberia and meeting one volunteer at the airport who had already been in the country for a year, I noticed that his feet seemed to be stained brown. I honestly worried that this would be me in one year. Yet, every night I wash my feet…and then I step out of the tub. :)

Once upon a time…. ‘TIME!’ =is what the Liberians say to the storyteller to tell them that they are listening and eager to hear the story. There lived a wee little spider above Stephanie’s bedroom window. On impulse, Stephanie went to kill it straight away. But at the last moment decided….nah. It wasn’t hurting anyone. She’ll leave it be. And so one month went by, two months went by. The spider got bigger and bigger but that was okay. It stayed above the window all day and kept a good control on the number of flies in the house. And then one day, just like in Charlotte’s Web, it disappeared. Stephanie was surprised to admit that she missed the company of that little spider. She has yet to find a replacement fly killer that keeps to one area and is as sweet as the first. The End. :)

Our school, the Bong Mine Central High School (BMCHS) recently started a teacher’s association to support the teachers of the school. Some of them still do not have housing to live in, and many of them are not on government payroll or are not paid regularly. Officers were voted on, and I was nominated and won the position of Treasurer in a landslide vote. …I think this means they’re sure I’ll keep the money safe and not spend it on myself.  I’ll keep you updated on what tasks we take on as soon as a constitution and by-laws are established.

I also started the Bong Mine Central High School Health Club in Feb. After teaching health topics in Period 4, I asked for a list of  students interested in starting a health club. I got a great response and from the many names, drew 12 from a hat..erm, or plastic bag. We met for the first time and I explained to them that even though I was their acting advisor, this club was for them and I expected them to do most of the work. They would hold meeting, and vote on officers and write by-laws. Not all of these they have been able to do alone, as I learned that many of them are not familiar with how these clubs function. But they’ve stepped up to the plate and are running most of the show themselves (One step closer to sustainability!) We have students from the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th grade involved and an even number of girls to boys. The goals (as they have drafted them) are to raise awareness on health issues in the community and inform students as well as community members how to keep healthy through poster sheets, live action dramas, and workshops.

I also have two chickens! My fellow teacher and friend Sarah Jamison gave me my first rooster who I named McNugget. McNugget is a young fella, all white with a little brown on his back. I’ve wanted a chicken for some time now.

I somehow feel that you can’t be a PCV in Africa without keeping a chicken at least once. :)

McNugget was joined by Tater Tot a week later. Both roosters are doing fine together but I know they really want me to find them a woman. I’m working on it. I tied them to the porch of my house for the first three days after I got them. I fed them rice and water and untied them at night and put them inside. On the third day, I untie them and they leave….roam allllllllll over the area, eating bugs, grasses, seeds, rice and what have you until dusk comes. Then they come back to my house on their own and prance into the shop room where they hop up onto their little woven chicken baskets to sleep for the night. They just must take care to avoid the devious Chicken Rogue aka Hawk who will swoop down and carry any size chicken away. When the chicken rogue is near I know because the neighbors will yell ‘Chicken rogue, chicken rogue, chicken rogue!’ while they throw rocks or bust out the slingshots (respectively called ‘rogue guns’ here).

China Union is supposed to be responsible for doing many things now that they are taking over the iron ore mine previously operated by the Germans before the war. They are responsible for the renovation of my school (we’ll come to that later) and paving the road from Kakata to Bong Mines, taking over the German-built hospital, and running the mine. (I’ll give you one guess as to which one of these things they are actually doing real work on.) :/

Anyway, they started to roll all the bumps and ginormous craters out of the 19 mile road from my site to Kakata. My only road out of here. The road used to take one hour and forty five minutes to travel and rainy season…HA! Parts of that road were nothing but a mudslide…which is only fun if that’s why you’re on the road. Now you can travel the 19 miles in about one hour depending on the number of bitter ball sacks and oil stacked inside the car. The Chinese started to pave the road from the Bong Mine side. The Liberians were so happy! My students would come to me and say ‘Miss Stephanie, the coal tar is fine-o’. A paved road in Liberia is called coal tar, but when you say it in pigeon English is sounds like ‘co tar’. It didn’t take too long before ‘the co tar, it spoil!’ and the Liberians were ‘vexed’. I heard many comments along the lines of ‘cheap Chinese co tar’ and such. I wasn’t too surprised that this would happen, but was slightly surprised that the Chinese did tear it up and re-do their ‘mistake’. And so currently, as of May 16^th, 2012 the road has no coal tar and is a rock-filled mess that takes at least one hour to drive. Eye, yah.

At the first PTA meeting (I know, right?) the parents and teachers brought up many topics; one was the empty space where we were supposed to have a computer teacher. He was around at the beginning of the year, and asked the PTA to pay him for his classes. For a multitude of reasons, money business mainly, they never made progress and he left; leaving twelve computers and no teacher. Who? Who will help BMCHS with this computer teacher business? Me, of course. :) Although on this, I did volunteer to teach computer to senior high (10^th-12^th grade). The PTA was so happy. They love free teachers….and now I have loooots of things to keep me busy.

Now all that remains is to find out which computers still work and can I take the viruses off of them?

Stay tuned, :) I’ll add ‘March, 2012’ later this week.

January 2012

Well, it’s a new year. I settled on a resolution I think both my parents will be proud of: Flossing regularly. Funny how such a simple thing you should do every day is easy to ignore in countries like America with readily available dental care. Liberia? Not so. Therefore I’ve taken a better interest in taking care of my teeth before so they don’t fall out or I get my first cavity. :)

And for those of you who noticed my facebook page, I bought a used surfboard in Monrovia in late January. My happiness level has skyrocketed. ‘Toothless’ as he has been named, was your average surfboard, owned by an expat living in Liberia. Now, surfboards circulate rather well here. Expats serve shorter terms and the boards are always up for sale. This one fell into my price range and I was in town and able to pick it up. The fate gods were kind to me on that day. I’ve surfed a bit in Australia, Fiji, and Robertsport (Liberia) but I’m certainly not ‘good’ by any standards. But this is all about to change. As a young ‘grommet’ with ambition and my first board, I will be spending free time floating offshore Monrovia looking for the perfect swells and carving some waves. It’s crazy how serious I am about this. I’ve taken to yoga in my house in the mornings to stretch out, and the gorgeous swimming hole at my site is now my mini training center for paddling practice to work out my back and arms. Naw wei finds me quite boring when we go swimming there and I do laps. :)

Period 4 of the curriculum from the Ministry of Education touched a lot on health. And so I taught my 7th, 8th, and 10th graders about Malaria, Typhoid, STDs, and HIV/AIDS. I noticed that when I teach a topic that they know a little about already and that effects people they live and care about, more hands go up in the air and they ask me the most bizarre questions. Some of the information they get from the street or their friends is horrid. So if you remember back in December, when Becka came to my site with her volunteers from Kakata to teach HIV/AIDS and family planning, they brought with them a large box of condoms. They were left in my care so I could start a health club on campus (coming up later). I so, I taught condom use (which was highly indorsed by my principal) to all my students. Everyone was required to put a condom on a banana following these important steps. 1. Check expiration date 2. Open carefully, do not tare 3. Squeeze air from tip 4. Roll condom on penis 5. After sex, tie condom and bury it in a hole or put in toilet. Step 5 is pretty important since if you are not disposing of them well, the kids will find them and use them as balloons…. Teaching condom use was a big hit and necessary as I did some undercover gossip checking and heard that some of these kids are having sex before sixth grade even. Leading to teenage pregnancy and the reason my 10th grade only has 6 female students in it. 2 of those girls do not have a kid yet. That same day I taught 7th and 8th how to use a condom, I lead 10th on their first science dissection ever. (I didn’t want to believe me when I said that students in America do this a lot in high school) I had been teaching them about flatworms, roundworms, and segmented worms are a few of the species of those that are parasitic and found in West Africa. I’ve officially scared them into wearing their flip flops (called slippers here) all the time not that they know about hookworms. But creepy parasitic worms aside, we dissected earthworms. This was a little harder than I planned because finding the worms were the hardest part. It’s the middle of dry season and any and all worms are buried too deep in the ground. But after school one day, Naw wei and I went on walkabout in the bush to find some swampy areas. If you could only see his doggie expression as I spent 30 minutes digging in the muck. But I found two good worms. There are no dissection tools or pans. So we used printer paper, pins, and razor blades (that are commonly used to cut their hair). Some of the girls refused to enter the classroom and one of them screamed when I took the worm out. (I had to restrain myself from laughing or holding it too close to them) But some of the guys really got into it and everyone was rather amazed that the dissected worm looked the same as the diagram from the textbook I brought to class. They loved the hands on work and we’re planning another dissection in period 5 or 6.

Dat true, Dat lie! Is the name of my student’s new favorite review game. I’ll explain. I first heard these expressions at the water pump while I was fetching water. Two little boys were having an argument over what their sister had said about someone. And it went like this: ‘Dat true!’ ‘Dat lie!’ ‘Dat true’ ‘Dat lie’ ‘Dat true-o’ ‘Dat lie!’ back and forth. I giggled. And then used the expression in my true/false review game. Liberians never pronounce th’s properly. That is Dat, This is Dis and them is Dem. To any English teacher, this is frustrating. I read them a true/false statement and they must respond with Dat true or Dat lie, and if it’s a lie, they have to make it true. They really get a kick out of it when I use the expressions too. ‘Miss Stephanie can speak Liberian English’.

My Kpelle class class is going well. Winnie is teaching me all kinds of useful phrases such as ‘Nga le seyaseya’ I’m going on walkabout, and don’t chunk that rock at my dog. Yeah, that’s common here. Naw wei’s just doing his job protecting the house and people get him all upset when they pick up rocks. My kpelle book is almost complete and I can’t wait to sit on the ol’ ma’s porch and gossip in kpelle for an afternoon. And speaking of the kpelle tribe, I now know what their wood carved masks look like from my Embassy Home stay family who has a wall of local masks from the different tribes. I will be buying one at some point.

I have a List. The List. My students now fear it like the plague. But it keeps amazing order in the classroom and I can teach with more orderly and respectful students. :) It is the Poo poo latrine cleaning list. All students who break rules get to clean poop at the end of the period before they can take their period exam. I know it’s harsh, but it works and those students who fall onto the list get snickered at by their classmates who I constantly warn can also end up on the list. It’s a win-win. They receive a punishment for their behavior, the toilets get cleaned, and I have to try not to smile at their expense when they’re whining about the smell.

My site-mate Holly got transferred to teach in Nimba county in January. It’s not the same without her and Momo the glutinous kitty cat. But I’ve been able to adjust to life alone, I just got a new puppy. His name is PJ…short for Pepper Jack because my fellow PCV in Lofa dared me to name him after cheese. Anyway, my neighbor’s two year old daughter Angela calls him ‘pee-pee’ which is hilarious. PJ is a pot-bellied pup and him and Naw wei are best buddies which is good for Naw wei since Momo left. He really liked her.

I got a cold mid-February. WTF? Right? It’s 88 degrees out (at least) every day and I have a cold. Stupid. But I normally get a cold around this time of year so I guess the fates just couldn’t cut me any slack. What’s funny about it was that my mom who’s living back in Wisconsin had one at the same time…at least she had the snow as well. Luckily, it didn’t last long but having both a runny and stuffy nose in hot-o Liberia wasn’t too much fun.

My butter pear tree in my yard (the only fruit-bearing property I own) is almost ready! A few have already started to fall, and they are A-mazing. Emmanuel and I sent a small peeking (aka small child) to climb the tree and chunk (toss) some of the ripe ones down. My teachers are happy because they will be eating all of the ones I can’t eat. And I will be eating guacamole until I drop.

Surfing Liberia for Christmas? Yes, please.

Just before Christmas break, Holly and I finally made the trip to Handii (Hen-dee). Handii is a small town north of our site. The other direction goes on to Kakata. Everyone at my site talks about Handii’s market and we finally had time off to see it. Market day is Tuesday which is why it was hard to visit, normally that’s a school day for us. We did some good shopping there and I bought many Christmas presents. I saw an antbear (anteater) and crocodile for sale. The St. Paul River I crossed up in Lofa County passes by Handii. There are long canoes carved out of thick tree logs that carry passengers across the river. No bridge here. :) Next time, I plan to pack a lunch and go across and explore.

December 22^nd started my holiday vacation. Holly joined along as did little Naw wei. Naw wei didn’t much like the taxi ride into Monrovia nor when we had to walk through Red Light. Red Light is the area just outside of Monrovia where the taxis leave for all locations past there. There is also a large market and basically, it’s complete chaos. I took Naw wei to the only animal vet in the country. He had some mange on his ears so that got treated. He got his DHPP shot and a rope bone from me to make up for the shots.

On the 23^rd, Holly, Dani, Anjulie, Ryan, Naw wei and I chartered a taxi from Monrovia to Robertsport (the iconic surfing location preferred by local surfers). We encountered a small hiccup getting past Klay. The government had hired people living along the roads to clean them. And well, those people had not gotten their Christmas pay yet. They rioted. Road blocks went up all over. Suddenly our taxi was forced to stop; the rioters were throwing rocks, sheet metal, and ladders into the road to make them impassible. There were two blocks in front of us, many many more behind us. The situation was charged with emotions and angry Liberians. They would not let any cars pass. I have to be honest; there were a couple moments where I feared it was going to turn from aggressive to violent. But the LNP (Liberian National Police) showed up and got the protestors calmed down. The road blocks were stripped away and after 50 intense minutes of waiting and worrying, we were allowed to pass. These situations are not common but not uncommon. The country is still working its way out a bad civil war and situations can be risky. But we were traveling in a group and the Police took good care of us.

Once on the road again, we picked up Nora and her dog, Milo, at the junction on the way into Robertsport. We got a good look at Lake Piso and a face full of dirt from the dusty road along the way. Robertsport is quite large in size, not population. Some of the roads are in good condition and it’s not hard to picture how nice of a place it was before the war tore it apart. There were sidewalks! The town stretched out for some time and we finally reached the Robertsport Community Campsite. (***shout out to Prince who runs the campsite: He’s amazing, trustworthy, knowledgeable, and knows good customer service. I recommend staying with him.) We pitched our tents and jumped into the surf. 0.05 seconds later I realized I’d lost my glasses in the ocean. Go me. That first night, I let Naw wei sleep with me in my tent. He was a little nervous about all these new places and tired from traveling. He made a good pillow and the extra warmth was nice considering it gets rather chilly on the water at night. Something we had not really thought about before leaving.

I went surfing with Ken and Sam (a little Liberian boy who is a waaay better surfer than me) on Christmas day. The waves were small, good for getting back into the groove of the sport. I took a mid-day break to take a nap in the sand and we all ate fish and rice later that night. Naw wei loves chasing the little crabs in the sand on the surf. This made for fun night walks. My arms were sore, but I found myself of the surf the next day as well. I found Liberian waves (at least during the dry season) are tamer than the 7 or 10 footers I had been trying to learn on in Australia. I know I’ll be back, the area is just ‘too fine’. :) We wrapped up the week with a game of Ultimate Frisbee and more marshmallow roasting.

We left Robertsport and headed to Tenii in Grand Cape Mount. We went swimming and ate some fabulous burritos at Nora’s house. That’s where we got Peep, the little land tortoise. He’s got a bum leg, but he’s a mad banana eater and is pretty darn cute. Nora has chickens….made me want chickens. Possibly just because I want to name one ‘McNugget’. :) After dinner Nora’s adorable neighbor girl told us Liberian stories and after that we drank palm wine out of an old motor oil jar. The palm wine drinking was accompanied by loud singing to Disney songs such as ‘I’ll Make a Man out of You’ from Mulan.

Dani and Anjulie followed Holly, Naw wei and I back to our site after stopping in Monrovia. More palm wine was to be had with Liberians and Dani and I did some stargazing.

After the holiday break and classes resumed, we got the news that the renovated half of the school was ready to be used. Now if you were not reading earlier posts you should know that we have been operating on half the school because the Chinese working at the Mine are also repainting and fixing up our school. We got all the students to help and moved seats into the new rooms. I will happily be assigning seating charts for the next period so that learning all my students’ names will be possible….and classroom management will improve.

I added a bonus question to my seventh grade exam: What happens if you spy on a test? Correcting them was great. :) I got lots of ‘I will get a zero’ and ‘I will fail’ or the misspelt version ‘I will fall’. Holly Cook (Miss Cook) asked them the bonus question: ‘What is your English teachers’ name?’ and got some good ones such as: ‘Hollywood Cook’ and ‘Mas Colk’ .

Then our Country Director dropped by for a visit of site and a special delivery. My mom and dad mailed two kindles to him when he went to the states for the holidays. We are quite in love with our new shiny kindles and have put more than 1,100 books on them. Time spent reading has risen muchly. :) I also thank you for the chocolate oranges, frontline plus for puppy, and mp3 cord allowing me to play my iPod on my smashingly awesome speakers. Thank you thank you parents!

Just found a safe place to charge my laptop last week. Liberia surprises me all the time. I can now charge my laptop at the cell phone tower across from my school building. I know sometimes I complain about not having running water and electricity, and many returned volunteers like to tell me about how back when they were in Peace Corps it was that way. My only bit of perspective on that is that back then, most people didn’t have access to lots of technology and no one had cell phones. Peace Corps volunteers working in countries like mine grew up on computers and internet. It’s really interesting learning to work and live without them sometimes.

This week the new American Embassy opened with a ribbon cutting by the Secretary of State. I have not yet been there to see it, but I hear good things. Madam President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn into another term of office on December 16^th, 2012.

And I finally built my garden! My tenth grader helped out and I have now planted pineapple, watermelon, carrots, peas, and cherry tomatoes. The essentials, ya know ;) Beans are projected to hit the dirt next week and I’ll need to add new goals onto my list. 

I fell in love, with Nekerbozo

I eat fufu now! Google fufu and get a visual. It’s fermented cassava with soup that has chicken, fish and or pepper. I hated it when I got here… now I crave it sometimes. Strange how that kind of stuff happens. My neighbor smashed up dried pepper and made me peppe powder. I add it to food that’s not quite hot enough. Those of you who know me will be surprised by this.

I attended a traditional wedding in November. And pictures are in my ‘Got fufu’ album on facebook. The bride and groom wore lapa suits and ate kola nuts. There was /tons/ of dancing and throwing of money on the bride’s head…which I enjoyed. I’ve decided that to deter unwanted attention I will start telling the Liberian guys that my bride price is $10,000 USD. Not sure what I’ll do if someone ends up having that much… but it’s not likely.

My school received a visitor from the Ministry of Education in mid-November. Matthew did a week-long conference with the primary school teachers in the entire area. Subject matter? Phonics. Thank God! Liberian teachers in my area were trained on how to pronounce the whole word and letters correctly. This is key for improving education in Liberia. If young students know the sounds of letters and can sound out words, they will be able to excel in reading. And for me, having a few seventh graders whom cannot read, this program was long overdue. Matthew is sticking around for six months to track the programs progress and our school has landed a big box of primary education books.

We had our IST (In Service Training) in Gbarnga. It was like summer camp…at least the sleeping situation was. I happened to land (by accident) the only bed with springs (which is all Dani’s fault). You’re thinking Ooo spring mattress. It was nice…but it had a pretty bad dip and it squeaked, like, a lot. And when you’re all sleeping in one big room and Steph gets into bed and attempts to ‘get comfy’ it translates into a lot of squeaking. It was then dubbed the sexy time bed. And I was told ‘take time. Small, small tiger’. Regardless, it was a great thing to laugh about and we got some great training during that week. We even got a panel discussion with the Dean of Cuttington University, WAEC (West African Examination Council) representative, and the Deputy for the Ministry of Education herself. Amazing people and we gave them some good feedback and requests.

Thanksgiving was spent snuggled in an air conditioned embassy home with TV and internet, the hot showers were the biggest prize though. We all were invited to the American Embassy for dinner which had really good turkey, ham, pumpkin pie, cranberries, mashed potatoes, and gravy. All Americans in Liberia were invited but me and my fellow volunteers made sure to race up to the serving table to be first in line. Free food? Free /good/ food? We’re not going to wait for the back of the line. We all ate too much food and were very happy. I even got to see the Packer game that night.

The very next day a few of us bused back up to Gbarnga on our way to Lofa County. We were headed for Barziwein. A small village on the Lofa road, Lofa County. We passed by Dani and Anjulie’s site in Salayea and Garrett’s site in Zorzor. I had my first Pakistani meal at the Pakistani UN base in Zorzor that day. Truly good food. We continued onward to Barziwein. Lofa County is beautiful, goats, sheep, the St. Paul River, large mountains everywhere and adorable small village towns along the road. When we arrived, I was almost about to fall asleep. There wasn’t a sign that we were getting close to the village, it just crept up on us. And they met our bus with cheering (which woke me up straight away), crying, singing, and dancing. They were so happy to see us. We got off the bus, after our seven hour ride, and got right to dancing. :) A handful of other volunteers and myself headed off to our overnight stay, a nearby village called Nekerbozo (Nick-a-boo-zoo), after the dancing was over. We drove part of the way and dropped some volunteers of in Midena and continued on to Nekerbozo by foot. Cars cannot reach this place. We were all a little surprised to find ourselves at a monkey bridge (pictures on ‘Got fufu’ album) over a large river. Now, a monkey bridge can be a few well-placed logs that aid cars over a crack or river, but this bridge was only for people. This bridge was made entirely out of bamboo and vines. No nails or metal supports at all. Wonnie (our Liberian staff member) was a bit nervous about this, but she made it across. I took videos and tried not to slip on the curved bamboo. Nora and I stayed with the village chief and they fed us some yummy dry rice with butter pear (aka avocado). *Note: dry rice is not really ‘dry’ it just doesn’t have a soup prepared to mix into it with chicken and fish. The poorer you are in Liberia, you eat more dry rice. We had a traditional song and dance night and gave the small children stories and lectures. Afterward, I took my warm bucket bath in the ‘outdoor’ shower that was surrounded by bamboo poles. There were flat warm stones under my feet, my lapa hung over the doorway and there was no roof. The light rain fell on top of me while I bathed. If you ever want to try something truly amazing, take a warm bath in a light rain with a blanket of a million stars over your head. No light pollution out here, I saw all of them. There is no light at night here. Now, at my site it gets dark but there are still a few generators along the road and video clubs. No generators here. You can bet your socks that I’m going back too. The chief gave us his nicest room to sleep in and the next day (after the stupid goat bleated right outside my window and woke me up) we walked back over the monkey bridge back to Barziwein for the 50^th Anniversary program.

Our 50^th Anniversary program was based around a previous PCV who taught in the village before the Liberian Civil war. Susan Davey loved her school very much and her former students were present that day. Susan Davey was serving in Liberia when she died in a car accident on a vacation in Kenya. She asked to be buried at her site, where her grave rests still. The grave site was renovated and current students put on a play about her life, and other students sang songs. The Town chief presented our country director with a chicken and Susan’s former students told stories. More dancing followed the program and yummy goat soup. I hope it was the annoying one outside my window. :) We dragged our feet getting back onto the bus, not really wanting to leave. We had a seven hour ride back to the compound in Gbarnga.

Highlights from early November :D

In early November we gave our first exams at school. Liberian students are well known for their talent in spying (or cheating). Sometimes they leave a sheet of notes under the test, others hide notes on the seat between their legs, others (girls) will hide note in their skirt or write on their legs, and I’ve seen notes written on money that can be passed from student to student. They are very crafty, and I love catching them trying to fool me. :) For our first exam, I made three different tests and told my students that spying would not help them on the test. However, some of them still copied from their neighbor, writing down all the wrong answers onto their test. But my students catch on quick and know that if they spy they will lose points, not be allowed to finish the test, and sometimes even get a zero on the exam. Surprisingly, the students who come to class and study/review the material are the ones that pass. Something I always have to explain to the students that never come to class and then show up for the exam expecting to pass the period.

Got another package from home. :) thanks again, mom and dad. Those hand lenses you mailed got broken in by my tenth graders during review week. After me lecturing them and saying that these lenses can make objects look bigger they were so amazed to go out in the field behind the school and experience it for themselves. ‘Miss Stephanie! The ant looks bigger!’ ‘Look, there are little hairs on this leaf!’. We made sure to observe small print text and even Naw wei’s nose before heading back inside the classroom to discuss what we found.

Thanks for including sandals in the box you sent. My giant-sized feet are hard to shop for in Liberia. I wear size 11 in US and 73 in European sizes. It makes finding large sandals that I can teach in hard to do. My last pair was finally tossed out. I used super glue on them so many times it stopped helping. But at least I got all the use out of them. Not as embarrassing as my study abroad in Australia when I duct taped my shoes to avoid paying for new ones. Priorities man, I wanted to go bungee jumping more than buy shoes.

I bought Naw wei a rabies vaccination in Monrovia in November. The only hitch? It needs to be refrigerated… and I have to transport it back to my site using bush taxi. I got an empty medical kit, filled it with ice and ice packs and set out for site. It was still cool when I arrived four hours later, but the ice was melted. Naw wei disliked this because as soon as I got there, he was held down and Holly stuck him in the butt. But now he’s protected from rabies.

I did more stand-up comedy at Tides Bar over Halloween and dressed up as Justin Beiber last minute because I didn’t plan ahead and gather a costume. I was in Monrovia for a PSN training. Peer Support Network is a volunteer run program that aims to act as a support system for our fellow volunteers. So whether they need to vent, brag, complain, cry, or hear some uplifting words, we are here to help. We got some excellent training on active listening and forming a support network from a big boss man in D.C. And so I was voted into the position of secretary and our group is well on its way to forming events that facilitate support of each other no matter what we are having troubles with out at site.

So you know the insides of tires? Those seemingly useless tubes? Well, they’re sold here and are quite perfect as inner tubes out on the lake at our site. We started with one, now we have three. They’re just great for floating around and being lazy. I also managed to salvage a plastic chair from our swimming hole. One of our Chinese friends knocked his chair into the water while fishing (he’s kind of a klutz). But all I had to do was dive down twelve feet and swim back up to the surface with it. Now it sits in our house and I didn’t have to pay $8 to get it. Small win. Our house is one more step closer to being furnished.

On October 28^th we had a program/fun day planned for school. The school brought out the generator and the kids watched a pretty terrible (but very hilarious) Nigerian movie while we held a ‘meet you fellow teachers’ meeting in the reading room complete with peanut butter cookies made on our coal pot. I found out most of my fellow teachers were born or raised in Lofa County and was happy to tell them I was headed there for the first time later in the month for Peace Corps 50^th Anniversary Celebration. The Nigerian shows were followed by a killer football game. New students vs Old students. During the game my fellow techers found it important to tell me I had to root for the New students since I was a new teacher. And hence the playful banter between us as the score changed throughout the game. It ended in a tie and I was pretty proud of my athletic twelfth graders. They did well. After football was the school dance. Yeah…. I thought I was finally too old for these. Seems not. I fear for myself when I have to dance back in the United States. The Liberians think I’m a really good dancer and I feel like these West African hit songs are not helping my already bad dance abilities. But you can’t say no when Africans ask you to dance. And so, we made an appearance at the dance and I got to scope out which of my students were dating whom (what?! I know it happens). And show them up on the dance floor. Shakira’s Waka waka is relatively common here but I’m still trying to master that dance. Beiber is also common which is rather odd, Katy Perry and Lady GaGa are not heard of which slightly saddens me. And I couldn't tell you what’s hip now. But if any of you friends feel like enlightening me with the current hot and hip music from home please put it on an SD card or USB port. My snazzy music player saves battery by only using these and my mp3 plug which lets me play my iPod. My laptop does not have a disk drive.

Naw wei, my little African mutt is growing fast. He’s finally lifting his leg to pee (and doesn't have to look like a strange chicken-legged squatter anymore) and enjoys peeing on all kinds of things. He’s also coming of age and noticing all the lady dogs around the house. However he’s not sure what to do and I don’t speak dog which means that while you are watching CNN or BBC at night I have Lady and the Tramp doggie romances going on from the view of my porch. He’ll figure it out at some point, but it’s highly entertaining for us. His collection of tricks has gone up to include ‘wave’, ‘speak’ and ‘roll over’. Even some of my students are now visiting and going up to him ‘Naw wei, speak!’ They think he’s amazingly talented for an African dog.

What you missed in October O.o

You may already know about this, but I’m kind of a big deal in Monrovia’s stand-up comedy crowd. Actually I just started, but my response was warm so I’m giving it a go. I did my first night on October 2^nd. I was in town with some fellow volunteers and we went out to Tides Bar. Once there, we discovered it was open mic night…and it didn’t take much peer pressure before I was added to the list.

Holly and I have folding lawn chairs now. That was our big splurge this month. They are perfect for lying under the stars at night and admiring the Milky Way. We’ve also seen quite a few moon bows. Yeah, never knew that was a real thing. But they are pretty beautiful.

I met a new good friend while waiting for my taxi home in early October. Christina is a Liberian with a bachelor’s degree who teaches science to senior high students. Can you say science-geek-talk-ensued-for-several-hours? It was pretty awesome to see a lady doing what she does.

That taxi ride home was pretty funny. It had rained a lot before and the rode was a weird mix of a roller coaster and a slip and slide. You know when the other taxi passengers are complaining about the lack of network coverage and the terrible road conditions to you (which you shrug off) that you’re adjusting quite well.

I eat more pepper than I ever thought I would now. My neighbor makes a mean peppe calla (not sure how it’s spelt) and I try not to eat too much. I also have an official Kpelle teacher at site. Winnie comes over or I visit her house and my kpelle book is getting revamped and expanded. I also have a Kissi (another local dialect) and Chinese copybook. Who would have thought I’d be learning Chinese in Liberia? O.o

On election week I did a lot of baking on the coal pot with my neighbors. Thank you mom for the cookie recipes! The sugar cookies were good and the peanut butter cookies were the biggest hit. I’ve already had to make more. Also on Election Day we hung out at the Chinese base and played strange video games and cards all day. Be warned that if you do play cards with the Chinese, there are punishments involved. And not your typical alcohol punishments… I would have taken whiskey shots…trust me. The favored punishment that night was taking a bite or raw garlic. We had heartburn and bad breath for a few nights after that. The Chinese think that eating raw garlic is good for your health…I think they just like to see how many people they can wipe when they breathe on you. They have also treated us to their Chinese food. Once again, Chinese food? In Bong Mines? I still don’t really believe it.

I also have discovered my saving grace for dry season. It’s the most amazing swimming hole I could possibly ask for. I will add a picture to facebook at some point. I also hurt my back a little and the inflammation is taking its good sweet time. So I had to give up running and switch to swimming. :) I love it. I now keep a swim bag in the reading room at school, because I’ve kind of become addicted. Naw wei is turning into a swimmer as well (he’s got to be if he wants to still be my dog) and so he joins along with some of my 10^th and 12^th graders.

I had palm wine two weeks ago. My 12^th graders convinced me. It made for a funny morning (because I taught them the cards game ‘spoons’). I also tried ant bear soup that week…aka anteater, which is surprisingly ‘sweet’ (as my landlady Fumata said).

I made my favorite Liberian soup (eddo soup) for my principal and teachers at my house last month. That was the day our bed frames were delivered and so there was much excitement that afternoon. Holly and I are *officially* not sleeping on the floor anymore. Thank goodness. I pulled out my new bed sheets that my mom had washed back in the states. I had kept them in a vacuum bag until the night I got my bed frame. I tried not to question my own sanity when I went to bed, sniffing my sheets (cause they smelt like home) for a good hour before falling asleep.

So on the weekends, when I do wash out on the porch with the rest of my neighbors, I listen to CRI radio. Aside from the quirky random words I learn to say in Chinese, the radio station plays our favorite morning music show /ever/. The Shuffle, plays music from the 70s, 80s, 90s and last week the DJ ‘Stephanie’ played ‘shark in the water’. (This part of the story will only make sense to my gang back in Superior. Angie, this story is for you) And yes, Ang, I sang along, danced and told Holly about your shark dance (which I hope you are still doing).

I got mail from mom and dad again! Thank you for the scandals. I can’t find my size here (bothersome…).  The butterfingers are being eaten as we speak and Naw wei thanks you for another ball to chew on.

I pimped the guest room this month! So you should come visit. :) I also visited Salala this week. Slowly but surely I will see all or most of Liberia.

For variation sake, I’d love for you, my friends and readers, to let me know what types of things I should talk about or include more of. Sorry for the lapse in blog entries! I have been teaching one of my twelfth graders how to use a computer and that has been taking up my battery life. :)