- for a meeting to start anywhere from 30 to 60 min. late...
- for workers to go on strike because there is a cash flow problem and they have not been paid...
- to eat rice three times a day, everyday...
- for NGO workers to get into a loud argument during a meeting...
- for people to ride on the back of a motorbike as a taxi...
- for Liberians to fight in the street...
- to assume everyone is Christian...
- to see Bangladeshi soldiers (UN)...
- to see Obama's name on many different products (including cell phone chargers)...
- to have a sore back and a headache after driving/riding a few hours...
- for it to rain everyday...
- to have fish, beef, and chicken in the same dish...
- to mix everything into a kind of stew to put on top of the rice (pasta, potatoes, etc.)...
- for people to buy scratch off lottery tickets...
- for many children to not be in school...
- for bridges to break...
- for cars/jeeps/motorbikes to be broken-down...
- for kids to be naked...
- to hear yelling...
- for cars and motorbikes to honk anytime anyone or anything is in the road...
- to have a flat tire...
- to say "ahhh, Good Morning, Oh"
- to snap fingers with the other person when shaking hands
- to shake hands and greet everyone!
My typical meals include:
Breakfast (7:30 am): Toasted buns with some kind of guacamole spread or a cream cheese like substance, usually some kind of fruit (pineapple, mangoes, and bananas are FABULOUS), and once in a while a hard boiled egg or meat of some kind, etc. Then (a shock to all of you I know) I have a cup of tea or nescafe... they won't leave me alone if I don't! haha! Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day here!
Lunch (1pm): Maybe the leftover fruit, then a dish of either rice, couscous, pasta, potatoes, cassava (yucca), or the like. To be covered by a dish of some kind of stew/casserole like concoction with potato leaves, cassava leaves, okra, bitter ball, onion (and sometimes fish, chicken, and/or beef), always with some chili, etc. Some days you could add in an ear of roasted corn (pretty starchy and not at all like our sweet corn) and if I go out which is rare... only when I'm in the field etc. then it's either to a restaurant for GB (some kind of pounded cassava dough) or peppa soup (cow meat and spicy broth)... or just be hungry until you get home. That's a common strategy for people here.
Dinner (8pm): Usually leftovers from lunch... or more of a similar dish.
Gotta go... the rain is coming and the internet will soon go away!
Met a fellow American here in my town today! She's in grad school in NYC and super nice! I hope we can bum around town a bit together as my bossman doesn't like to let me go anywhere alone... yea for a fellow expat!
Until next time!
Kate
Oh Kate what experiences ... I'd like to see that orphanage I know the children will look forward to your coming there. We have so much and they have so little. All the interesting people your meeting is great. Praise the lord and thank him for people like Betty and Jonah and circle them with gods love and may you also have gods love and care. Katie you have to write a book! god watch over you and guide you and is send you the biggest hug ever
ReplyDeleteLove Gma