Happy New Year

Where did 2010 go? It seems as if we just brought in 2010. I hope you all had a nice Christmas and a wonderful New Year. This past week was pretty busy. I ended up driving into Monrovia on the evening of the 25th, so I was able to spend the whole weekend with the other Americans. I really needed that. I was pretty bummed out that wasnt home for Christmas, so this was better then being in Gbarnga by myself. When I arrived in Monrovia I had a few presents to open. I had 3 boxes from Shannon's family that were filled with absolute goodness. Wow. It's incredible what a box of goodies can do. I had some more goodies that I ordered online and a few Christmas cards from friends and family. We ordered some Liberian Fried Chicken and watched its a wonderful life on DVD. The nightcap was a few hours of Halo on the Xbox that one of my roommates just received. Not the best Christmas, but good enough. Saturday and Sunday was reserved for relaxation. We went and ate some good (for Liberia) food, relaxed in the A/C and took plenty of hot showers. We then picked up our new team leader on Monday, and back to Gbarnga. The new team leader is great. He is from Paraguay and this is his second posting. We also received another team member from Jordan. Both of them have been good additions to the team site.

Last night for New Years, a few of us got together at the UN club house. They had food, drinks, music, and a few Christmas comedy DVDs playing. It was a good time.

I hope you all have a prosperous 2011.

Here is your standard football (soccer) field in Liberia. This one is actually nicer then most. Soccer is by far the most popular sport here. Everyone keep track of all the international leagues and players. Most Liberians support the team ' the Arsenal'

Here is a guy drying out some spices from a tree. It smelled really nice but after seeing him walking on it all in his bare feet, I declined a sample.

This is your standard termite mound. Many of these, some smaller, some larger, can be found everywhere in Liberia. Termites are a big problem because the Liberians build their houses using sticks and bamboo an mud, and apparently termites love to feast on these delicacies.

Here is our deputy Team leader (Ukraine) with some people from the town of Borlola.

Here is Maj Mwale (Zambia) with some people from Borbor Dolo. The guy told us that the town has 450 people and only 7 houses.... hmmm. Something doesnt add up.

An NGO (non-government organizations) group was constructing this water hand pump for the people. There are plenty of NGOs that are active in Liberia constructing wells, homes, roads, water pumps, schools, clinics, etc.

I was talking to the town chief of Boepa here.