things I did not do today
1. stay clean
2. eat breakfast
3. feed a giraffe
4. sneeze
things I did do today
1. attended a village who was having their fish harvest... (going to try and post video of it soon).. so many fish! the people would all get in the water and catch them with their bare hands
2. talk to my mother on the phone
3. rode a motorcycle bike and also crashed while on it, but remained okay
4. went with joni to a village tonight to observe her CLP program (church livelihood program)... teaching women how to read and write
5. watched an incredible lightening storm out the window of the back of a truck going over bumps and making up songs in my head
things i will do tomorrow
1. perhaps take a hot shower
2. ride on a helicopter for the second time here in Africa
3. think about holding a babie antsbear
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Does it smell like updog in here?
Thats my new thing. OKay? I walk into a room filled with multiple Liberians and ask if it smells like updog in there.... and they clearly dont understand. But then I probe.. and they eventually ask "Oay, wut ezz up dog???". And I start crying because its wonderfully funny. And the great thing about Liberians, is they love to giggle and laugh and wheeze and slap their knees and let it fly... so when I laugh they laugh 4 times as hard. And when they get what they actually said... bellows of laughter come from the deepest of chests. I really soak it up. The two Liberian girls here at the base in Foya now walk by me and yelll... WUTS UHP DOOOHG!!!
Its priceless.
I dont think I have laughed so hard as I do and have here. Hard to believe because Ive laughed pretty hard at times in my life, but laughter here just seems contagious. Even with the team of ladies Ive been working with/traveling with... the pharisee, jesus, towns people, and narrator... (if you dont get these references you might as well just stop reading all together right now).
So today I got sick for the first time here. Definitely actual illness but I think it was mixed in a bit with some crazie nerves Ive been feeling yesterday and today. I was suppose to adventure to the great outdoors on a motor bike but noooooooo, I was told to sit and relax. I wanted to retort, oh come onnnn, i carried the savior of the universe on my back on a dirty road in 100 degree heat, I'll be fine.
But I didnt.
Peeking: Child
Pumwee: White person
Pronounced: Poooom Weee!!
We went on a warm evening stroll tonight around the base here to the surrounding little huts... and within the first 30 seconds emily and I had about 15 little peekings chasing us around yelling POOOM WEE POOM WEE!! We would ignore them and keep walking forward til they were all gathered behind us in a bunch saying our little nick name... But emily and I had a plan. As soon as they got close we'd count to three and flip around scrrrreeeaming at the top of our lungs and chase them. OH MY GOODNESS. Havent had that much fun since the chicken slaughter'n of '89. Shoot dolly... those peeekings scattered like flower petals on a windy day... half laughing half hollering like it was their last breath of life. It was so fun. A little twisted, but fun.
Its priceless.
I dont think I have laughed so hard as I do and have here. Hard to believe because Ive laughed pretty hard at times in my life, but laughter here just seems contagious. Even with the team of ladies Ive been working with/traveling with... the pharisee, jesus, towns people, and narrator... (if you dont get these references you might as well just stop reading all together right now).
So today I got sick for the first time here. Definitely actual illness but I think it was mixed in a bit with some crazie nerves Ive been feeling yesterday and today. I was suppose to adventure to the great outdoors on a motor bike but noooooooo, I was told to sit and relax. I wanted to retort, oh come onnnn, i carried the savior of the universe on my back on a dirty road in 100 degree heat, I'll be fine.
But I didnt.
Peeking: Child
Pumwee: White person
Pronounced: Poooom Weee!!
We went on a warm evening stroll tonight around the base here to the surrounding little huts... and within the first 30 seconds emily and I had about 15 little peekings chasing us around yelling POOOM WEE POOM WEE!! We would ignore them and keep walking forward til they were all gathered behind us in a bunch saying our little nick name... But emily and I had a plan. As soon as they got close we'd count to three and flip around scrrrreeeaming at the top of our lungs and chase them. OH MY GOODNESS. Havent had that much fun since the chicken slaughter'n of '89. Shoot dolly... those peeekings scattered like flower petals on a windy day... half laughing half hollering like it was their last breath of life. It was so fun. A little twisted, but fun.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Yotti Yotti
Have you ever looked at the illustrations in the book Where The Wild Things Are? The setting throughout is typically palm trees meshing in with the forest. The monsters definitely appear...chasing each other... dancing about, some in mid air, some hanging from branches, some peaking out of the bushes. Depends on the page. Well that is what everything looks like to me here. I envision the monsters of course, but the jungle... it looks like that. Even the yellowish tint of the pictures in the book is real life here and the sun is smeared a bit with clouds to make a creamy orangish atmosphere. That is Liberia, that is mah jungle. The people here are constantly burning large areas of land for their farming. They clear it out by burning the heebies out of nature. So most evenings I do not see clear Africa sky... I see haze and smoke... and it makes everything look like it was dipped in a gray filmy miasma then rolled in mouse.
I have sooooooooooooooooooooooo much in my head. If I made my skull all glass and was able to look inside, it would look like a gumball machine! All of the different colored gum balls would be my experiences, and my feeeeelings, and my thoughts... and i would charge more than 25 cents for the purchase of one of them... well not if you were old and toothless... or a new born baby. I would give one to you for free, because you cant chew, you don't have the ability too. You could only just gum it to death.
Pun intended. (?)
I spent from this past thursday morning til just this afternoon in a lovely mountain top village called Malaru. It overlooked the vast African beauty on all sides, wherever I looked I gasped a bit which led to most thinking I had turrets when I first arrived. We slept in this backroom they built in their church!! They used to worship a Devil Bush, and practiced witch craft and followed Satan and sacrificed people. But someone was brave enough to go there and tell them about Jesus!! And now Samaritans Purse has put water filters there and built relationships with the people and it truly is a miracle and I am honored to have gone there and seen it.
I will end soon. Im so tired I cant darn see straight. I will leave you with this. Today was Palm Sunday and the pastor in Malaru asked us gals (6 girls went up on the trip) to teach sunday school... which of course was also known as skit time... which granted, was my favorite part. We acted out Jesus coming into the city, the people crying Hosanna Hosanna!! And used huge actual live palm branches I cut myself, to lay down for him... And we showed the Pharisees with their little angry tightie whities in a knot. Taya was Jesus, Joni was the put-off Pharisee, Bev the Narrator, and Emily and Susie the excited towns women.
Merilee tackled the difficult role of, yes, yes my people... the donkey. In all my glory, with leaves for ears and sticks as a tail, I was privileged enough to escort Jesus into Jerusalem... on my back. And you bet your sweet bippy I did sound affects.
goooooodnight
I have sooooooooooooooooooooooo much in my head. If I made my skull all glass and was able to look inside, it would look like a gumball machine! All of the different colored gum balls would be my experiences, and my feeeeelings, and my thoughts... and i would charge more than 25 cents for the purchase of one of them... well not if you were old and toothless... or a new born baby. I would give one to you for free, because you cant chew, you don't have the ability too. You could only just gum it to death.
Pun intended. (?)
I spent from this past thursday morning til just this afternoon in a lovely mountain top village called Malaru. It overlooked the vast African beauty on all sides, wherever I looked I gasped a bit which led to most thinking I had turrets when I first arrived. We slept in this backroom they built in their church!! They used to worship a Devil Bush, and practiced witch craft and followed Satan and sacrificed people. But someone was brave enough to go there and tell them about Jesus!! And now Samaritans Purse has put water filters there and built relationships with the people and it truly is a miracle and I am honored to have gone there and seen it.
I will end soon. Im so tired I cant darn see straight. I will leave you with this. Today was Palm Sunday and the pastor in Malaru asked us gals (6 girls went up on the trip) to teach sunday school... which of course was also known as skit time... which granted, was my favorite part. We acted out Jesus coming into the city, the people crying Hosanna Hosanna!! And used huge actual live palm branches I cut myself, to lay down for him... And we showed the Pharisees with their little angry tightie whities in a knot. Taya was Jesus, Joni was the put-off Pharisee, Bev the Narrator, and Emily and Susie the excited towns women.
Merilee tackled the difficult role of, yes, yes my people... the donkey. In all my glory, with leaves for ears and sticks as a tail, I was privileged enough to escort Jesus into Jerusalem... on my back. And you bet your sweet bippy I did sound affects.
goooooodnight
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Nuyah. Nun ya business
I am heavily affected by the mood of other people. I would say I am an ‘up ‘ kinda gal. But when those close to me are down, I feel that weight as if it’s a thick rope around my own neck.
I think I knew coming into this that there would be hard days, and times where I am sad, and moments where I could punch baby hamsters and feel no remorse. I just didn’t think that time would come so soon. Relationships in my life are incredibly important to me and affect me deeply in so many ways. When one feels off, I feel off. I had a tough night last night emotionally and I can’t seem to shake it.
Satan wants that… doesn’t he? To take the things in our lives, the insecurities… the addictions… the lies…. and sickly twist them for his purpose. I know he hates me, and I know he wants to destroy anything good I am learning… and rip down my walls of progress while I am here. You, whoever you are reading this, maybe just my mother and cute grandma… can pray for me if you want. I think I really need it right now. I want to be transparent with everyone I encounter in life, even if the encounter is electronic. I am definitely struggling right now. I don’t want Satan to have any sort of foothold.
The last three days were a rollercoaster (literally and figuratively). HA. Going deep into the jungle with Brandi ,
Its hard not to fall in love. With peekings.
Ya, don’t worry. That is not a sexual innuendo, or an odd fetish, or the name of bird feed. Its what the people here call children. In the villages we did the analysis on, I was really no help. Lets be honest… I played with all the freaking peekings and drew on them. That’s what I am good at. This one little girl (my fav) had crazy little orange braids sticking out from every button hole on her head, was sporting a lovely white dress up gown and was obviously on a mission. She marched straight up to me from across the road, never breaking eye contact, and buried her little cute face right into my legs. I almost cried. Really.
This is so long. Ugg, I promised I would never be one of thoooooose
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sabil
Today (I am convinced) that I went where NO man has gone before(!!!), which of course is a total lie... but it sure felt like it
Scariest car ride of my life. No no mother I am not afraid of the killer spiders, or poisonous snakes, or even the angry mobbers.. it is driving through the wild country going 80 miles an hour on back roads that makes me think I might being seeing the good sweet sovereign Lord on High face to face today.
Take Mr. Toads Wild Ride, mash it with Space Mountain, add a dash of Indian Jones... sprinkled with Swiss Family Robinson... and you have my March 22nd. Me and the crew who work with WATSAN( Water and Sanitation Project), left Monrovia this morning and drove 3 ish hours out to the middle of the jungle to a village called Bopolu. This village has a Samaritans Purse Base building where we are sleeping and eating. During the day we will be going out to the surrounding villages to do sanitation education and see if the people are using their Bio Sand filters.
By golly though, it was like the roads opened up their rocky mouths and swallowed me whole... chasing me with a tall glass of dust and humidity. Yet Taya said those roads were even "bad".. that I hadnt "seen nothing yet"... and that "theres worse to come". Encouraging lass.
I still feel the jolts up and down in my little mind... and I bet I look amusing to other people as I try to gain back my balance and well as my dignity while I stand on flat ground in the middle of a room about to fall over
So Bopolu! I will be here a few days.. then back to Monrovia for a night.. then out again to another village I shall remember the name of later after I post this
Scariest car ride of my life. No no mother I am not afraid of the killer spiders, or poisonous snakes, or even the angry mobbers.. it is driving through the wild country going 80 miles an hour on back roads that makes me think I might being seeing the good sweet sovereign Lord on High face to face today.
Take Mr. Toads Wild Ride, mash it with Space Mountain, add a dash of Indian Jones... sprinkled with Swiss Family Robinson... and you have my March 22nd. Me and the crew who work with WATSAN( Water and Sanitation Project), left Monrovia this morning and drove 3 ish hours out to the middle of the jungle to a village called Bopolu. This village has a Samaritans Purse Base building where we are sleeping and eating. During the day we will be going out to the surrounding villages to do sanitation education and see if the people are using their Bio Sand filters.
By golly though, it was like the roads opened up their rocky mouths and swallowed me whole... chasing me with a tall glass of dust and humidity. Yet Taya said those roads were even "bad".. that I hadnt "seen nothing yet"... and that "theres worse to come". Encouraging lass.
I still feel the jolts up and down in my little mind... and I bet I look amusing to other people as I try to gain back my balance and well as my dignity while I stand on flat ground in the middle of a room about to fall over
So Bopolu! I will be here a few days.. then back to Monrovia for a night.. then out again to another village I shall remember the name of later after I post this
Friday, March 19, 2010
Alligator Mouth
I was asked a few days ago to draw on the faces of a handful of rowdy 8 year old girls tonight at a birthday party. The pilot for SP has a lovely and hilarious little family, which included a daughter who was the center of attention this evening... and I got the privilege of drawing a rainbow and a butterfly on her face.
Before she chose what she wanted though, her older sister (age 11) came up and announced that I shouldn't draw anything on her little sister but instead write out Abraham Lincolns entire Gettysburg address on the side of her face. She was dead serious. I laughed very hard. Who says that?
Kids.
This morning I drove out about 2 hours into the wilderness of Africa with Jones to see my first real tribal village. We went and checked on a project j had been doing there with them. Life here is so incredibly different then life at home. That's the only way I know how to articulate what I am seeing and feeling about things here at this point. Its overwhelming.
Before she chose what she wanted though, her older sister (age 11) came up and announced that I shouldn't draw anything on her little sister but instead write out Abraham Lincolns entire Gettysburg address on the side of her face. She was dead serious. I laughed very hard. Who says that?
Kids.
This morning I drove out about 2 hours into the wilderness of Africa with Jones to see my first real tribal village. We went and checked on a project j had been doing there with them. Life here is so incredibly different then life at home. That's the only way I know how to articulate what I am seeing and feeling about things here at this point. Its overwhelming.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
deals shmeals
Im afraid of everything.
The guards last night outside of our house thought it would be funny to call me out to the front portch and tell me to 'chom heer, chom heeer'. i did.
what i saw next was devastating. they had a crab, in their hands, and when i got close enough they sprawled that thing open and i kid you not i screamed like a newborn iguana. maybe it was the crabs sick looking everything, or maybe the fact that one of its slimy eyeballs literally came out of his head, pointing up at me( just one, just one eyeball. they both apparently come off its head like two little antennas with balls on the end of them... but i was only good enough for one of his to come out and visit. ) but nevertheless... i aint neva seen anything like that in real life. my only crab experience has been with little mermaid and at least he had the decency to have an endearing Jamaican accent.
im learning alot right now about water sanitation and disease prevention. people in villages dont know that drinking the same water they go to the bathroom in is bad for them, and if they do realize that.. they dont stop. the river is where they do many a' thing... get water for drinking... wash clothes....throw away old food.... take bathes.... drop a deuce...
on that note. the food here is excellent. lots of rice!!! rice rice riceeeeeeee
rice and sauce
The guards last night outside of our house thought it would be funny to call me out to the front portch and tell me to 'chom heer, chom heeer'. i did.
what i saw next was devastating. they had a crab, in their hands, and when i got close enough they sprawled that thing open and i kid you not i screamed like a newborn iguana. maybe it was the crabs sick looking everything, or maybe the fact that one of its slimy eyeballs literally came out of his head, pointing up at me( just one, just one eyeball. they both apparently come off its head like two little antennas with balls on the end of them... but i was only good enough for one of his to come out and visit. ) but nevertheless... i aint neva seen anything like that in real life. my only crab experience has been with little mermaid and at least he had the decency to have an endearing Jamaican accent.
im learning alot right now about water sanitation and disease prevention. people in villages dont know that drinking the same water they go to the bathroom in is bad for them, and if they do realize that.. they dont stop. the river is where they do many a' thing... get water for drinking... wash clothes....throw away old food.... take bathes.... drop a deuce...
on that note. the food here is excellent. lots of rice!!! rice rice riceeeeeeee
rice and sauce
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
ok.
I JUST KILLED A MONSTER COCKROACH THAT WAS ON MY CEILING IN MY ROOM
–noun
any of numerous orthopterous insects of the family Blattidae, characterized by a flattened body, rapid movements, and nocturnal habits and including several common household pests.
cockroach
1624, folk etymology of Sp. cucaracha "chafer, beetle," from cuca "kind of caterpillar." Folk etymology is from caca "excrement."
EXCREMENT
–noun
any of numerous orthopterous insects of the family Blattidae, characterized by a flattened body, rapid movements, and nocturnal habits and including several common household pests.
cockroach
1624, folk etymology of Sp. cucaracha "chafer, beetle," from cuca "kind of caterpillar." Folk etymology is from caca "excrement."
EXCREMENT
Blue Snakes
Heres what I am thinking about heavily today...
this is hard for me.
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly
and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God
micah 6:8
this is hard for me.
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly
and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God
micah 6:8
Monday, March 15, 2010
ZEBRA EYE LASHES
no one is reading this, I am prepared for that. so if you are reading this, weird. and thanks. dont tell your friends about it.
im in Monrovia, Liberia (Africa for all you unedumacated folks).
left the US on saturday, arrived last night at 8:30ish Liberia time.
in the airport 3 kids came up to me and asked 'can we take a picture with you kesha".
i said No, nope... naw. Im not kesha. Andd they walked away and I felt sad. I dont look like that girl, no no no.
I live in a staff house right by the ocean with 6 other girls.
I woke up this morning and went to the bathroom where i encountered the most dreadful spider god ever created. The length and width of it was that of a BAGEL. Its stupid crazy legs were toggling everywhere. its body was all black and spotted and hairy and awful. I wanted to die. I put a picture up of it so that you can all cry along with me. Taya, my roommate came and killed it. Apparently there are alot of those running around in the house.
YAY
the titles of my posts will most likely be completely unrelated to what I write about
just warning you
100% humidity here. hallelujah
im in Monrovia, Liberia (Africa for all you unedumacated folks).
left the US on saturday, arrived last night at 8:30ish Liberia time.
in the airport 3 kids came up to me and asked 'can we take a picture with you kesha".
i said No, nope... naw. Im not kesha. Andd they walked away and I felt sad. I dont look like that girl, no no no.
I live in a staff house right by the ocean with 6 other girls.
I woke up this morning and went to the bathroom where i encountered the most dreadful spider god ever created. The length and width of it was that of a BAGEL. Its stupid crazy legs were toggling everywhere. its body was all black and spotted and hairy and awful. I wanted to die. I put a picture up of it so that you can all cry along with me. Taya, my roommate came and killed it. Apparently there are alot of those running around in the house.
YAY
the titles of my posts will most likely be completely unrelated to what I write about
just warning you
100% humidity here. hallelujah
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