I cannot believe it is already December 10th! It does not feel like Christmas is only two weeks away and I think it is because of the constant 90 degree temps that show up everyday. As of right now, there are no plans for me to go to Monrovia for Christmas. More then likely I will remain in Gbarnga and celebrate Christmas solo with my tuna, easy mac, and bananas. Maybe we will do a BBQ or something…. Speaking of Monrovia, I drove into town last Tuesday with Clayton to pick up the head military observer. He is traveling to all the team sites this month to pass on some information and see how things are going. Clayton and I drove into Monrovia on Tuesday and left early Wednesday morning to drive back to Gbarnga. It was good to be back in town and I was able to stock up on tuna and other vital supplies. I was able to take a hot shower and even ate at Monrovia’s newest restaurant. A Lebanese family recently opened a fried chicken place called Monroe’s Fried Chicken, but it has already earned the name LFC (Liberian Fried Chicken). The chicken was surprisingly very good! We ordered an 18-piece basket that came with coleslaw and biscuits. They even had soft serve ice cream, but I couldn’t give myself that kind of gut bomb. That night I gave myself a haircut and slept under the A/C. What a treat! It was up early on Wednesday morning to rendezvous with Kat (the other Navy LT), the head Milob and the deputy Milob. (Kat works in the Admin dept in Monrovia so she made the trip out to the team sites with the Head Milob.) Once we got to Gbarnga, they briefed us quickly and then they wanted to go see the famous Kpatawee Waterfalls. I have heard about them and seen pictures but never had the chance to see them in person. I really didn’t know what to expect. Clayton and Tudor said they were really big, but I had no idea. They were really nice! I guess there is less water flowing now due to it being dry season, but they were still quite impressive.
The Ivory Coast situation is still fragile. Both parties are claiming victory and both parties have sworn themselves into office. Haha. The UN, the African Union and ECOWAS are still backing the opposition and asking the current president to step down. Most of the UN that were in IC have been evacuated to Gambia and they still don’t know what to expect. So far, there hasn’t been any violence but both sides are posturing for the worse.
We had a massive storm the other night which was the first rain we have received in the past few weeks. I was awoken to thunder and lightning and very heavy rainfall. It was good because things were very very dry. The roads are so dusty and the grasses that they cut are still catching on fire. Yesterday, there was another fire that came really close to the office. The fire trucks from the heliport had to come put them out.
Everything is still going good... The operations officer is away on leave so I have the operations helm for a few weeks. Mom and dad are in VA visiting my two girls. I know they are having a good time and wish I were there also.
Today, I am went on a long-range patrol up to the Salayea District in Lofa County. It we left at 730am this morning and returned to the team site at 3pm. The road was not too good, but passable. We visited the Telewai and Yarpuah which are both located on the Liberian/Guinean border.
This was the other fire that almost burnt the place down. Luckily the fire trucks at the helipad came over to extinguish it.
No comments:
Post a Comment