Pregnancy Week 32

I really did have the best of intentions for this post.  I have my camera and pictures on it, however, I have yet to remember to bring all the the necessary attachments required to get the pics from the camera to the computer.  One day though, I will get my act together.  Unfortunately, today is not that day.  In my defense, I do have to post and do all Internet activity in Lynchburg, which is about 45 minutes from my house.  So my trips take planning, which is difficult with the baby shunting my blood away from my brain.  Hopefully by Week 40 I will have it all figured out.
Last week I met two friends of mine in Atlanta for a Girl's Weekend.  We stayed in Buckhead and rotated our time between eating, chatting, shopping and napping/sleeping.  All in all a wonderful weekend.  I have a GREAT picture to post, but it will have to wait until I get clearance ;-)
This week I have no great plans but to continue to get ready for Baby C.  We are still not sure what day Ryan will be able to make it home, but I've talked it over with my OB and he is very supportive and will work with us.  As of now we are still hoping to get Ryan home on the 17th.  I will probably head to the hospital the same day, since my doctor informed me it will likely be a 2 day process (sounds fun, right?). 
The baby seems to be doing well.  She is still very active, especially when I am trying to sleep.  She also thinks it fun to push on my bladder and up toward my ribs.  According to the books, she is almost 4 pounds and gaining about a half a pound a week.  I am getting anxious and excited to meet her.  Only 7 to 8 more weeks to go!

Just another day

Today was a pretty decent day. We drove north of Monrovia up to where Hotel Africa used to be and went for a run. We parked at the Pakistani battalion camp and ran through some local villages. All the children came out to greet us and wave and a few of them yelled, "White man, white man.." It was awesome. They were so friendly and happy to see us. We ran a little over an hour and most of the run was on the beach. Besides for all the trash and garbage, the beach was very nice. We came home to get showered up and ran up to the airport to drop off a roommate for his flight back to the states. When we got home, it was time for a haircut. I decided to try something different. It will definitely be low maintenance and will require less brushing, styling, and product.

I didnt get a chance to take a picture of the Monrovian airport when I came in due to the hussle and bustle of me just arriving and meeting everyone. But here it is. Very small and humble.

Here is the new haircut. So far I love it.

Week one in the books

Here are a few pics from the week..

Here is a cool looking lizard I spotted. Apparently, lizards are plentiful in Liberia.

This picture was taken from the UN HQ building. The rear of the building faces the beach and between the beach and the building is the parking lot where all the UN vehicles are parked. Most of the UN fleet is made up of Nissan Patrols.

I took this picture from inside the car. I spotted this man (on the right) selling cooked monkey. I think you can make out the monkey arms and pieces on the platter that he was selling. Delicious and nutritious!

This picture was taken from Golden Beach which is here in Monrovia. If you take out the rip currents and feces, it is a nice beach.

My first week in Africa turned out to be fairly eventful. I had to dig deep to be able the pass the UN drivers license course... NOT. Day one of driving was a few hours of classroom instruction, followed by parallel parking and demonstrating to them that you can back a car into a parking spot. There was a mixed bag of other students that were there taking the course with me.. People from Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Serbia. We had to take an exam that consisted of questions that were not covered in the class and fill out a accident report that was confusing. It was all in English, so a lot of my classmates had problems understanding the questions and trying to find the best answer. I had a hard enough time myself with the answers because the questions were so random . I was the first one to turn my test in, and as soon as it was in the instructors hands, he said, "pass" without even looking at it. I then went back to my chair and proceeded to help out the Nepalese with their exams. After the parking demonstrations, we loaded up in the car and went out driving...

The driving here in Monrovia is out of control! There are no street signs, no street lights, no lines, and basically no rules. People are constantly swerving, cutting each other off, stopping in the middle of the road, and driving on both sides of the road.

I figured out that if you can safely drive a manual transmission, don't hit anyone, or anything, then you will pass. I did get yelled at by the instructor because he said, "your foot is not supposed to be hovering around the clutch pedal. It should be flat on the ground when not in use." He kindly reminded me of this about 25 times during my 10 min driving "test". When we got back he said I passed, and that he can not give me a perfect score because of the clutch pedal incident(s). He also made it seem like I was the worst driver on the planet because my foot hovered around the pedal.

Since I will be a MILOB, I had to complete the All Terrain driving course the next day. They drove us out to a little area that had a little obstacle course set up in mud and sand. We had to drive around in it and navigate the obstacles and show that we can drive in those conditions. We also had to demonstrate that we can change a tire and effectively operate the winch. After this we were able to get our licenses.

One of my team members from my team site came into town yesterday to drop off another team member at the airport. He wanted to meet up with me to put a face to a name. I have been talking to him on the phone this week, so it was nice to get to meet him. His name is Tudor and he is a Romanian Doctor in the Army and has been in Liberia for 4 months. He will be one of my team members at Gbarnga. Here are somethings I found out about my team site: All the MILOBS live in 2 "houses". They don't have running water, they have a generator for electricity (only from 6pm-midnght), and no A/C. Food is provided by the Bangladeshi camp or the Pakistani camp. He said the food is decent and if you like spicy food, the Bangladeshi camp is the place to be. Apparently there isn't much to do in Gbarnga, so they spend most of the day at the office or on patrols, and only go back to their home for the evening to sleep.

It is shaping up to be an interesting next few months!

Next week I have to attend the indoctrination class all day. I heard it is loads of fun. It is looking like I will be getting out to my team site in a 2 weeks or so.

Flag Day

I was able to reduce the size of the pictures I have taken so that I can upload them onto this blog. You all can thank me later... The first pic was taken on the drive from the airport into town. The Monrovia airport is located about 1 hr to the SE of Monrovia. As you can see, Liberia is full of beautiful countryside. Lush, green and dense canopies and vegetation.

This pic was taken from the US Embassy in Monrovia. As you can see, it is situated on a lovely piece of land on the coast. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to enter the water. Not only are the rip tides extremely powerful and claim numerous lives annually, but the beach earned its name (Poo Poo Beach) thanks to the locals like to congregate on the beach to take poo's. The littoral Liberian waters arent exactly clean... The weather is very similar to that of Florida. Temps rarely go below 70 and above 90. The humidity, however, is always above a thick 90%. Yeah!

Well, here is my place of rest at the apt back in Monrovia. It's my cot, sleeping bag and a must-have mosquito net. It is actually very comfy and I havent had any problems sleeping. If my bed at my team site is half as nice, I will be happy. Oh, and do you notice the closet door that is at the foot of my cot? When I opened the door in order to tie up the corners of the mosquito, I found a large pile of shedded snake skins. I hope whoever lost those skins decided to move out when I moved in.

Here is the living room area at the apt. Again, this place is really nice and comfortable. The electricity is decent (it turns off 1-2 times a day if the generators quit or if they have to swap a generator out), it has pretty good A/C and has pretty decent running water (only cold). I am thankful the 6 other Americans allowed me to use this as my "crash pad" when I am back here in Monrovia. I am really anxious to see what my team site (Gbarnga) will offer. From what I am hearing, it will be rough.

Today, I started my check-in process at the UN HQ. I was amazed to see so many other military representation from other countries. Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Norway, Ukraine, Serbia, Russia, Ghana, and Nigeria to name a few. I have to take my UN driving test on Wednesday and take the English test next Monday. It is looking like I will be here 3 weeks or so to complete all the check-in process. I hope I will be able to pass the English test. Shannon always tell me my english sucks.

Tomorrow, 24 Aug, will be a day off for us all because it is Flag day here in Liberia. I will celebrate by sleeping in, going to the gym and eating my face off.

Getting settled

Yesterday, I got a chance to go out and see some of the sights of Monrovia. They took me to the US Embassy and to a few of the local markets that they shop at. The embassy was nice. It is right on the coast and has a nice pool, tennis court, and beach volleyball. After a brief tour of the embassy they took me out to the streets. Here, all the markets are ran by the Lebanese. The stores are quite impressive. They are your typical store with isles and isles of items for sale. Most items are pretty expensive. I bought a box of honey nut cheerios for $9 and 6 hangars for $3.50. They have pretty much every American item you can think of. Out on the streets they were selling everything from chicken and goats (that were hog-tied and displayed on the sidewalk), sunglasses, food and cell phones. It rained most of the day and when we were out on the town it really began to pick up. We made a break for the car and back to the apt we went. The rain did not let for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day we just hung-out back here at the apt and I continued to unpack and situate my room. We were invited to go watch blackhawk down with one of the neighbors. I dont remember his name but he and his wife are from Jacksonville, FL and he is here training the Liberian Police.

Starting tomorrow, I will begin the check-in process at the UN Headquarters. I have to take my UN driving test, I have to sit-in on some briefs, fill out some paperwork and meet some folks. They are telling me I should expect to be in Monrovia checking in for about 3 weeks. Once I am complete I will be headed out to my team site; Gbanga. This site is located ~3 hrs (by road) northeast of Monrovia. My plan is to enjoy these next few weeks of A/C, electricity, and running water, because from what I'm told, Gbanga will be "roughing it." I am told that my team site has people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Ukraine. I am excited to meet them all.

Sorry I have been able to post pictures but the bandwidth we have here is making it difficult. Ill keep trying and look into other options.

TIA (This is Africa)

Hello from Africa. I made it out to Monrovia with no issues. Flights were good, all my bags (4) made it, and I was able to spend 8 hours in Accra, Ghana. That was an interesting experience. I didn't think my bags were going to get out of that place but Ethiopian Airlines proved me wrong.

Saying goodbye to Shannon was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Leaving a pregnant wife for 8 months in Africa wasn't something I thought would ever happen. I know she will be in great hands in VA.

So I arrived in Monrovia around 330pm yesterday (20 Aug). Luckily I met an American girl (from NJ) on the bus ride from the plane to the terminal. She lives here and was returning for work. She works with children here. So I kind of followed her lead through customs and through the terminal. It all went smoother then I originally thought. I was expecting the worse, but they stamped my passport and my visa and to the baggage claim I went. All my bags made it I met up with my boss and some other of the Americans that were there to pick me up.

For some background, there are a total of 9 American Officers out here. 5 of them are staff officers (so they work at the UN head quarters here in Monrovia) and 3 other military Observers (MILOBS). The MILOBS are the ones that live out at the "team sites" in the locations in Liberia. This is what I will be doing. So my team loaded up my bags onto the UN Nissan Patrols and off we went. It is about a 1 hr drive on the "road" back to Monrovia. Since I have been to Africa before, what I saw on the drive wasn't that much of a shock. From people using the road as a restroom, monkeys riding on their owners' back while they drove a motorcycle, and 2/3 of a crashed bus sticking out of the swamp, I am pretty sure there is more to see. It was a nice drive though.... You know in the USA where there is always nice scenery, calm drivers, beautiful vegetation and picturesque views, well, it is nothing like that. It actually reminded me of the Florida everglades. I will have to comment on the driving later... because it is atrocious.

So we got into Monrovia and they took me straight to the "Casablanca." This is where I will be staying for the next few weeks. Before they send me out in the field, I have to go through the UN indoctrination, briefs, meetings, lectures, and a driving test. The 5 staff officers that are here share a place at the Casablanca. Their place is a 2-story, 5 bedroom/ 3 bathroom apt. I will be living here for the next few weeks and will keep some of my personal items here while I'm in the field. All the MILOBS keep a place back in Monrovia as a "crash pad" for when we are able to come back to town to recharge the batteries. So I will be calling Casablanca "home" for the next 9 months. It has running water, cable, internet and A/C. My room used to be the laundry room because there are washer and dryer connections. It will have to do. I have a cot.... and that is it.

Today they are taking me to do some shopping for some items for the room and they will be taking me to the embassy to check me in. This weekend was unique because all 9 of the US officers were back in Monrovia. They had a medal ceremony yesterday and everyone had to be back for that. So all 9 of us went out to Mamba point to have dinner. So far, everyone seems great.

One thing that has not changed from me being back in the states is that I also have a housekeeper/maid here. :)

Pictures and more to follow....

Ryan made it to Africa

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Ryan made it safely to Libiera.  Naturally the 10 minutes I was away from my phone to shower is the 10 minutes that he called, but he left a message saying that he was there and that his flights went well.  He sounded rather tired, which is understandable after 23 hours of traveling.  I am back home in Virginia now, until next week when I head to Atlanta to meet up with some wonderful friends of mine from our time in Jacksonville. 
The baby is doing great, as far as I can tell.  I go back to the doctor on Monday and I will be 31+ weeks.  Hopefully we will be able to get a good idea of my induction date, so we can book Ryan's flight's back for the birth.  If activity is any indication of how healthy she is, then she is good to go!  Ryan's favorite game was to poke at her and get her stirred up and then let me deal with her wiggles and kicks.  I have a feeling we are going to have our hands full :-) 
Will post more when I have more news!

Pre Deployment Training

To prepare for my trip to Africa, the US Military Observer Group sends the observers through many training evolutions. From off road driving school, hand to hand combat, weapons training, and combat life support medical training, they try to provide training for any situation that might arise. The training took place mainly in Quantico, VA and DC, but we did travel out to CA for the medical portion of the training and to Winchester, VA for off road driving school. All of the training has been great. A lot of good/useful information and practical stuff that we might encounter while in country.

This was out at the the range in Winchester, VA. We had to qualify on the 9mm and the AK-47 (one of the most highly proliferated weapons in the world) and be familiar with assembling/disassembling it.

Off road driving course was also pretty intense. Some of the obstacles we went over where eye- watering. The picture really does not give it justice, but we drove up a narrow creek, driving over boulders and logs, side hilling creek beds, and through 4 feet of standing water. It was very impressive and I felt sorry for the vehicles. We left a lot of metal on some of those rocks.

Training wraps up tomorrow and I am confident I have all the necessary tools to be dangerous while on mission.

30 Weeks and Counting

Baby C @ the Washington Monument

This past Saturday, Shannon eclipsed the 30 week mark of carrying around Baby C. Not only was it the 30th week of being pregnant, but it was also our 6th year anniversary of wedding bliss. She was able to join me in DC on Sunday to take in the sights and sounds of our nation's capital. We visited Chinatown and toured the WWII memorial.

Before I left the country, we both wanted to get a sneak peek of our child. We spied on her using technology from the 4th dimension. We were able to see her curled up in her mommy's belly. I think she definitely is going to be blessed with her mom's looks; because she was beautiful.

Say Cheese

Shannon will be able to spend the next few days with me before I leave. My training in Quantico/DC is wrapping up and I will be departing the country on Thursday to head to my mission in Africa. The plan is for both of us to update the blog to not only keep each other informed, but to share the stories and photos with our friends and family. We hope you stay tuned. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.