Hello all. We are down to 5 days until I arrive in the USA. As you all can imagine, I am getting very excited to get home and see this thing that has been growing in Shannon for the past 9 months. We were talking last night and we both cannot believe that it has been 9 months already. So much has happened/changed since the day we found out Shannon was pregnant til now. In a million years, I would have never guessed I would be in Africa, possibly missing the birth of my first born child. We are both confident it will all work out, since it is all in God's hands.
I would like to report that there still is no electricity at the house. I think this is going on the 4th week. It doesnt sound like they are in too much of a hurry to get it fixed either. I only have two more days living at the house, so two more days without it is not going to hurt. It has already been 3 weeks. Maybe when I get back in Nov, the power will be fixed.
I was in Monrovia over the past weekend. Our Commanding Officer from Washington, DC came in to talk to us. The main purpose of his visit was to make sure all of our heads are straight after the loss of LTC Cortez. It was a quick trip. I left here on Sunday, ate dinner with the entire American team, and then left early Monday morning to get back here. The team site is still hurting in regards to strength, so I got back as soon as I could to release some of that pressure.
There is now a total of 8 American Military Officers in Liberia. 4 Staff officers in Monrovia and 4 Military Observers.... me being one of them. Normally, the MILOBS only stay at one Team site for 5-6 months and then they move to a new one. The other 3 MILOBS have been recently moved to their new site. Two of them (both females) have been moved to Monrovia, and the other one (a Marine Capt.) is moving to Kakata... which is 1.5 hours east of Monrovia, halfway between Monrovia and Gbarnga. So at the moment, I am the farthest away - out of us Americans. I already told the UN that I would prefer to remain in the bush and not be moved for my entire duration in the mission. Since one of the American female Milobs is now working in Admin at the UN HQ, I think we can make that happen. Gbarnga is nice.... tons better then Monrovia.
So ill be jumping on a helicopter on Friday to head into Monrovia. Then I catch my flight out Sunday afternoon and head northwest to Atlanta. It will be nice to get back to the good 'ole USA. We ask for your continued prayers as we are close to receiving this little baby. From what I hear, it does not come with an instruction manual.
Here are some recent photos:
This was on a recent Patrol to a town called Nuatomueta.
I am still very fascinated with the way bananas grow. I think the plants look pretty cool. Apparently the bananas can only produce one batch of bananas. Once the bananas are ready to be harvested, they cut the entire tree down. Once they collect the bananas, they bury the pieces of the stalk and leaves around that area. From these pieces is how the new banana trees grow. It makes sense, because you never see a loan, single banana tree growing out in the bush alone. They are always in groups of 5-8 plants. The locals were saying that this tree (above) is about 9 months old. So they are able to reproduce fairly quickly. When they cut the bananas down, they have to ripen them. It will take a long time 3-4 weeks if you just leave them alone... so if you want ripe bananas before that, you must place them in a plastic bag and set them out in the heat. The heat inside the bag will ripen up the bananas in a few days. I found this out the hard way. That huge banana cluster that I bought a while back (and posted a picture), the bananas would never turn yellow. I thought I had bought dub bananas, hence only costing $1. I asked some locals what to do, and sure enough. In 3 days, they were all ready to eat!
This is a monkey that two of my teammates found while visiting a town. They came back and said they saw this monkey. Today, I had them take me to go see it. He was pretty cool. His name was "Jack" and he was very active. He was hopping all over his box and as far as the chain would let him go, which wasnt much. Yesterday, my teammates fed him cookies that they had with them. So today on the way, we bought a couple bananas to feed him. I didnt know if he was able to peel it, or if he ate the whole thing, or what.. So we asked the owner if we could feed him some bananas. The owner said to just give him the whole thing and that he will peel and eat. Sure enough... that little guy peeled the banana and scarfed it down very quikly. I set the other bananas on the ground so that I could take some pics, and a minute later, a pig that was roaming the area ran over, grabbed the bananas and ran off! Why you little.... So Jack only got one of the bananas that we brought for him. It was pretty neat though! We will definitely be back to visit.
This was him eating the banana. His owner said he was really nice and hasnt bit anyone. I still didnt trust him so I didnt get too close.
This is at one of the rubber buying stations in Gbarnga. These "balls" of rubber come out of the cups that collect the rubber that drips from the trees. Apparently they have to heat them up and add some acid to make it transform into the "rubbery" substance. The pile that im in front of is just under a ton. Today, the buying rate is $1,300 USD per ton. It really stunk too.. I still have the smell on my hands as I type.
Firestone has these buying stations everywhere in Liberia. Once they have a good amount of rubber at the station, they will call in a truck from the Firestone plant and they will come get the rubber and transport it to the plant.
I bought some sugar cane. I have never tried it, or for that matter, seen what it looks like. I bought a 7 ft piece for 10 LD (15 cents). I had to ask Jawo (my teammate from Gambia) how to eat. So he broke me off some more manageable pieces, peeled it and showed how to eat. You just stick the piece in your mouth and chew/suck the juices out. It was pretty good. I was impressed on how much juice came out of it. It is very tough and fibrous, but quiet tasty. Tasted like...... ummmm..... sugar.
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