Welcome to Liberia

Well, here I am in Monrovia, Liberia.  I made it safe and sound with no problems after getting to the airport.  We had some major flight issues the night before I left so that I ended up buying full fare tickets, but in the end everything worked out and I got here!  So far I'm loving it here!  My first day yesterday included spicy crawfish (delish), ping pong, homemade pita pizza, and my first ever bucket bath.  It was also my second 'malaria friday', making the day quite epic.  :D

So I arrived here yesterday in the late afternoon.  For the moment I'm staying in a compound with some other westerners until I can get a ride up to Nimba where I'll be doing health care stuff.  From the sounds of things, I think that should be around Monday or Tuesday.  I'm still not exactly sure what I'll be doing, but I'll find out when I get there!  It's going to be about a five and a half hour drive to get there, depending on the roads and traffic. 

It's nowhere near as warm as what I had expected.  It is pretty humid, but otherwise it's been very comfortable t-shirt weather.  Although actually it's cold enough right now that I'm wishing I had brought my sweater with me when I left the compound today!  Haha for my first day in Africa, I'll take it!  The compound is very close to the ocean, and from the roof there is a beautiful view of the sea and the many dugout canoes that line the beach.  My friend brought me to see the beach, and it's so funny because you can see hundreds of really big crabs running along the water line.  Funny little creatures.  Also today I saw the biggest gecko I've ever seen - it was as long as my forearm and bright yellow and red. 

So I'm trying to get used to the culture and language here.  They do speak English here, but the accent is heavy and there are many phrases and sayings that I don't remotely understand.  It's almost like trying to learn a new language at times, which is quite humbling and good for me.  I'll have to work on my comprehension skills, that's for sure!  I think I've been put on cooking duty for tonight, so I'm very glad I got the chance to cook a bit while I was in Newfoundland!  Hopefully I'll be able to avoid all major disasters! 

Ok, so that's it until next time.  :D