Around Town

Monrovia through my eyes:

Each day our cook Martha comes and prepares a great lunch and dinner. A few of the things we have had so far are spicy fish on rice, spicy chicken on rice, spicy spaghetti noodles, well you get the picture. Every day we have an assortment of fruits, some familiar and some that are new. Pineapple and bananas here are THE BEST! I have also been introduced to the many ways to cook and eat a plantain. Which took time getting used to.
Walking about the city you see women carrying all sorts of items on their heads and men working on different jobs. If they get thirsty they purchase a little plastic baggy of water. It was funny looking at first. The houses you pass by are usually no more than one or two rooms, some with only three walls and others with no door. The roofs are made of corrugated tin or metal of all different sizes and colors. The buildings look very old, as their colors are washed out and chipped. The floors inside the house are dirt or the foundation they were built upon. The roads and ground are full of litter. They throw their garbage on the ground whenever they are finished with it.
One little kid was bathing in a bucket in front of his house. Others maybe ages 7-11 were doing laundry on the side of their house in basins with washboards. At night we look out our window and there are no lights on. Over 90% of the city has NO electricity. So for them it is 'early to bed and early to rise'.The mothers wrap their toddlers tightly around their back with a piece of material. Some of the people wear khaki shorts or cut offs. Regular T-shirts (that I would consider a 'work out t-shirt' while others have nicer clothes and wear jeans and a nice shirt. A few of the women wear very brightly colored matching shirts and skirts and a head wrap (which is a more cultural look). Some of the children have flip flops too large for them, others don't wear shoes at all.
On the streets there are many people trying to sell you little things. And let me tell you... these people are PERSISTENT! Of course we'd like to help and give something, but a lot of the time we can't.
One of the big obstacles that my family is facing so far is not having power in our apartment for 8 hours during the day. This ACTUALLY means that 'you will have no air conditioning for 8 hours' . YAY! Yah, not a happy thing. Sometimes it feels better to walk outside where there is a steady breeze.
Sorry about the delay in some of our messages or responses. The internet is Very very slow and sometimes we can't access it at all. We will try to update this blog with pictures...at some point.

~Meg