In a Routine

I have been in Liberia for a month. I think I have fully adjusted to the way of life and to the new observer job at hand. I can assure you of one thing; it reiterates to me on how blessed we are as Americans to have the infrastructure and amenities to make living more comfortable. I am coping just fine without TV, restaurants, 24-hour electricity, and A/C. I haven’t turned “native” just yet, but maybe I will here soon.

I have really enjoyed the patrols. It is a chance to get out of the office and see the land and also talk to the local people. Yesterday, I drove into Monrovia to drop off a teammate (who is going on leave) and to pick up some radios and other items. We were able to stop at the market to buy some provisions. On the way back, we drove through the Firestone Rubber Plantation. This farm has millions of rubber trees inhabiting it and Firestone takes the gum to their facilities to produce tires. The drive to and from Monrovia uses the only paved road in Liberia. This road is no I-40, but it does the job. I was traveling at 90 kph and had to slow down at many places to avoid sink holes and bad stretches of road. Some parts of the road were just plain treacherous. It is nice to be only 3 hours away from the city, but also nice not to be in the city. It is just too expensive and too darn crazy. Gbarnga is so much more relaxed and not crazy.

I have gotten myself into a nice routine. I get up around 7am every morning and am in the office at 8am. We don’t have to be in until 9am, but I like to get in early to get some A/C, use the net and electricity, and eat some breakfast. The team introduced me to this small bakery that makes really good bread. Every other day we will stop at the bakery to pick up a fresh loaf. Each loaf is 20 LD (about 30 cents) and is about half the size of a loaf of bread in the US. It really is very tasty. I also buy bananas almost every day. Based on the amount of bananas I eat per day, I will either turn into a banana or have to be rushed to the hospital from a banana overdose. In the mornings ill eat a few bananas and a few slices of bread with peanut butter of jelly on them. Our morning brief is every at 9am. Here, the entire teams gets together to discuss yesterday’s happenings and to discuss what today’s operations will bring. The meetings are called briefs, but they are not at all brief. They usually take a painful 45 min to 1 hour to complete. After morning brief, everyone is free to go about his or her business. If you are scheduled to go on patrol, you usually take off right after the brief concludes. If not, then you will get your work done and surf the net. I finally received my “job” here at the team. I am the Military Information Officer (basically an Intel weenie) and the Assistant Operations Officer. For the MIO job, I have to report on what the local papers are printing and what the local people are talking about…. News, current events or upcoming events. I have to submit a weekly report to the sector headquarters. If you are on Patrol, you take off to your town(s). Depending on the location, it could take anywhere from 1 to 7 hours to get back. The county that is assigned to us (Bong) is the largest in Monrovia, so we have a lot of area in our responsibility. If you are not on patrol, you just hang out at the office, go to the market, and do what you need to do. Lunch at the Bangladeshi and Pakistanis camps starts at 130pm, so we normally try to him them up early. I have been going to the gym with Clayton at 5pm everyday. I’m normally out of the office between 6 and 7 and head back to the house. The power comes on at 7pm, so if I get home any earlier, I sit in the dark in my room and wait for the power to turn on. Since dinner at the camps begin at 9pm, I have been eating dinner at the house. Everyday I have been eating a can of tuna, a few bananas, cheerios, and some bread with peanut butter. Yum! After dinner, I take a Liberian shower and head to bed to do it all over again the next day. It is nice to get in a routine… it helps the days happen quicker.

There are a few markets near to where I live so I am able to buy bottled water and canned goods there. They don’t have much of a selection, but it will do.

I finally received word that both the UN and the US DoD has approved my leave. Shannon bought my ticket yesterday for me, so I guess I am officially coming home on 25 Oct – 13 Nov. You can probably already guess that I am VERY excited about this.

This is some of the roads we traveled on today. This photo does not give it justice. The Offroad driving school I went to has sure come in handy.

A sing indicating the town we visited today.

The man in the ivory colored shirt is the District Commissioner of Sanayea District.

This is the town of Gboyea. The town Chief is the man in the the white shirt.

I bought these bananas today for 70 LD.... which is $1. Delicious!

How much longer??

Unfortunately I had to edit the 32 week photo.  Please keep the Berger's in your thoughts and prayers during this sad and difficult time.

And here is my 33 week pic with the baby's new sleeping quarters. 
Last night was my first night of Child Birthing Classes.  It was not as scary as I had anticipated, though there was a birthing video involved which was a little traumatic.  More so after a girl in the back started crying and saying how she didn't want to give birth.... should have thought about that 7 months ago pumpkin...  But my teacher is really great and my mom was there to lend support.  We are both taking notes to pass along to Ryan so he'll know what to do when he gets here.  From what I gathered, my 'coaches' are supposed to encourage me and get/give me anything I want.  I have 4 more weeks of class so that I will have some clue as to what is happening on D-day.  As Ryan has already posted, we have to push the induction back a week which is less than thrilling but I am sure it is all for the best.
I have at least one more trip to go on pre-baby.  I am leaving tomorrow for Myrtle Beach for a few days.  Dad, Valerie and Mason will be there for the week, and I am going to join them until Wednesday, when I have to be back for my Baby Care Class (different than Child birth class, which is on Thursdays).  So that will pass another week for me.  Ryan and I have a countdown going... 43.5 days and counting.  I have to get my bags packed for the hospital and have that stuff all ready... yikes!  Guess I should sign off and get to it then...

First Patrol

Today I went on my first patrol. We were scheduled to visit the villages of Dennis Town and New Building. It was an 85 km drive to get there and let me tell you, the “road” was out of control. Once we got off the main road, it turned into some serious 4x4 worthy terrain. There were creeks, puddles, giant potholes and large ruts that we navigated through. Evegeny drove most of the way and then turned it over to me to get us there and back to Gbarnga. One of the bridges crossed was pretty questionable (by my standards) but Evegeny said this was one of the better bridges, and that he has crossed much worse. When we got to the junction of the path where you normally branch off to New Building, we determined it was impossible to get there. There was no road, just a trail that led to the town of New Building. We drove on the narrow path for a few minutes and determined it wouldn’t be a good idea. We couldn’t continue on foot because the map we had indicated that the town was around 3km from where we stopped and the UN has strict policies about leaving the vehicle unattended in the bush. So we pressed on towards Dennis Town. When we arrived, we noticed that this village was off the main path as well, but only by 100m or so. We went the rest of the way by foot and went through their gate, (that secures the live stock) proceeding to the buildings. There was a few kids running around and a woman was with them. We asked her for the town chief, and she ran off to get him. We met Dennis Yulo. He is the town chief of Dennis Town (yes, the town was named after him) of 22 people and 2 houses. We talked with him for a few minutes and asked him all our UN questions. His son came out and he was able to speak better English, so we were able to talk to them both. Some of their main concerns was the location of their water supply. They have to walk ~ 5km to get their water…. And the water they do get is from a well and not safe to drink. Dennis stated that they cultivate rubber, rice and cassava and they raise livestock. There were pigs and goats running around everywhere. Even on the drive in, there were so many goats, sheep, and chickens always blocking the road. Apparently if you run them over, the locals get very upset and you have to end up paying for their loss. Thankfully we did not hit any (that I know of). Adult chickens run $10, baby chickens are $5, goats are around $35… and I don’t think you get to keep them. After our interview, we snapped a few photos and then walked towards the gate. We saw that they had a really nice coconut trees and so we asked how much he would sell some of his coconuts for. He sold us ten coconuts for 200 LD (Liberian dollars), which comes out to be a little under $3. One of his other sons climbed up the tree and cut them down for us and 4 different kids helped carry the coconuts (on their heads) out to the car. The drive back to Gbargna took around 3 hours to cover the same 85 km but we made it back safely. I have to admit, it was pretty awesome. Every town we would pass, the kids would smile and wave so energetically as we drove by. The people we talked to were very friendly and you could tell they were very intrigued with Evegeny and I. I don’t think they see too many white folks around. It was a great experience interacting with the indigenous Liberians and I am already looking forward to my next patrol.

Here are a few pictures I took:

This is the Office where we work out of.

This is what the road looked like for most of the way.

This is the booming metropolis of Dennis Town.

Here is Mr. Dennis Yulo (man on far left, next to me) and his sons. He is the Town Chief of Dennis Town.

One of Mr. Yulo's sons climbed up the tree to cut down the coconuts that we bought.

Here is myself in front of a Cocoa tree. You can use the fruit from this tree to make chocolate.

Here are the kids helping Evegeny and I carry the coconuts back to the Nissan Patrol.

Here is one of the bridges we crossed. Apparently, this was one of the better ones.

Home Sweet Home

I arrived in Gbarnga (pronounced like a bongo drum, but with an “A” at the end) on Monday. I was a little surprised we even left the Monrovian airport because the weather was very bad and raining pretty hard. The Ukrainian pilots took a few swigs of vodka and off we went. The flight out to Gbarnga was quite long. We made 2 stops at other locations prior to my stop in Gbarnga. We flew over dense forests and jungles, which was quite beautiful. Occasionally you could see a small village with their thatch roof huts. By road, Gbarnga is only 2.5 hours away, but the helicopter ride to Gbarnga took 4 hours. Every time we landed at a site, the pilots would shut the aircraft down completely, step outside to urinate, and smoke a few cigarettes right next to the helo. Incredible!

So, I arrived at the Gbarnga airport and unloaded all my things. (The helo remained here due to the weather, so all the passengers were stranded). The Operations Officer, Maj Michael, from my team came to pick me up at the airport. He took me to our team site office and introduced me to the team and showed me around the area. After the brief introduction, the Ops-O took me to my accommodations. The house is a small place with 3 bedrooms and one bath. It has no running water, no A/C, and only has electricity from 7pm-6am. (There is a generator out back that they turn on for us.) The house is owned by a Liberian family that lives in the backyard in a hut. Their chickens walk around the yard all day long and they like to wake me up in the morning. The family takes care of the propoert and the house by providing the “security” for the house, cleaning the house, cleaning our laundry (by hand in a bucket) and wash our vehicle every night. Two of the boys’ names are Peter and Johnson, and they seem to be good kids. The UN has a strict policy for housing... The house has to have a fence completely surround the area (2.5 m in height min) with razor wire sitting on top. Our fence is made of Bamboo. The house also has to have 24-hour security. The UN reimburses us for the fuel costs for the generator as well as the costs for the security. Now, the security really isn’t “security”, they are just there to open and close the gate to the fence when we depart and arrive at the accommodations. The neighborhood we live in is quite remote and poor. We get the strangest looks from the adults as we drive by, but the kids absolutely love us. They always yell, “it’s the white man” or “U-N, U-N”. They smile so wide and wave so frantically, it truly is warming. I quickly had to learn how to take a Liberian shower. The bathroom has a tub, but again, has no running water. To bathe, you take a small bucket and dunk it in the trashcan full of water that is located in the bathroom. You just keep recharging the bucket as needed to rinse off. I also had to learn how to flush a Liberian toilet. The house has a toilet, but again, no running water. So you take the same bucket, fill it up with the water from the trashcan, and dump it into the commode. If you have enough water with enough pressure, you force it to “flush” and the contents happily go to who knows where. The evenings are interesting as well. With 100% humidity 24-hours a day, and no A/C, it makes for a nice sweaty slumber. It really is just the bare necessities here, and we only try to come here to sleep. The office has A/C and decent Internet. So that is where we spend most of the time. Since our job has no weekends, we are at the office a lot during day or either on patrol. The Team (ten people total) occupies three houses. In my house, I live with a Romanian Capt, who is a Doctor, and who is currently on leave back in Romania. There is also a LtCol from Ethiopia. The Romanian (Tudor) is a great guy and speaks excellent English. The LtCol from Ethiopia…. Well, not so much. The team leader is from Ghana (name: Americah), the deputy team leader is from Benin, the Ops-O is from Zambia and the other team members are from Brazil, Russia, Gambia and Nigeria. So far, I have really bonded well with the Brazilian (Clayton), the Russian (Evgehny), Tudor, and the Gambian (Landing). They seem to be on the same wavelength as I am. The food has been decent. We have mostly visited the Bangladeshi Logistics camp. It is located approximately 5 min from the team site, so it is quite convenient. We also visited the Pakistani Battalion once for dinner. The Bangladeshi food is very very spicy, but I’m beginning to enjoy it more and more as my stomach gets used to it. Everyday to and from work we stop to buy bananas. There are banana trees everywhere in this country. I normally buy 5-10 bananas for 10 LD (Liberian Dollars). 1 US Dollar = 74 LD. You do the math, but you can see it is very cheap…. Around 70 bananas for $1 US. They also sell fresh pineapple, coconuts, and limes which are quite tasty.

For the first full day of work here at the Team site, I was stuck with duty under instruction. It was a crash course of how to complete the required reports and what tasks I need to complete. Then, the next day (yesterday) I had duty all to myself. I get to go on my first patrol today. We are going to visit 2 villages in Bong county.

I have visited the UN gym every night as well. The gym is very… humble. It only has a few things, but is good enough. It has A/C and it is something to do.

Unfortunately, as soon as I arrived in Gbarnga, I had to sit down with the team leader to discuss baby leave. This was a bit difficult for me to do since I am the new guy and already asking to leave, but I expressed my desires to go home for this monumental event. Of course, luck has it that the month I am requesting to take my leave, the rest of the team wants to go on their leave as well. The months of Sep and Nov are wide open, but for some reason, Oct is filled. There are policies in place to have at least 70% of the MILOB’s present at any given time. The dates Shannon and I were shooting for were the 17^th of Oct. This was one week before Baby C’s due date (Oct 23). I was going to fly back to the states and we were going to have Shannon induced the next day. The team leader and I came to the agreement that I can leave Liberia on 24 Oct (Sunday) to arrive in the states on 25 Oct. This happens to be 2 days past the due date, which means our little princess needs to stay put until daddy comes home. My leave paperwork was approved by the team leader and sent up the chain of command yesterday. I should hear back soon so that I can purchase my plane tickets. Luckily, Delta operates a non-stop flight from Monrovia to Atlanta every Sunday…. Which means I will leave Liberia on Sunday evening and arrive in Lynchburg, VA on Monday morning (~1130am). I will either be greeted at the airport by Shannon’s folks to take me straight to the hospital, or greeted at the airport by Shannon and my brand new baby girl. I am getting so excited!! Shannon and I continue to ask for your prayers that my leave will not have any hang-ups as it makes it way through the chain of command so that I can get home with a chance to see Baby C make her grand entrance into this world.

I think that is about it for the day. I will try to blog again soon to share my first patrol experience with you all.....

This was taken from the Helo. You can see the small village amongst the jungle.

This is my room.... aka the Penthouse.

This is the office. It has 4 computers and 4 desks.

The accommodations.

The bathroom. Notice the trash can on the right where the water is kept.

This is the airport at Gbarnga. The helo is the one that I rode on to get here.

A little hiccup

Last night was the first time that I felt Baby C have the hiccups.  She had them for about 20 minutes.  They were pretty faint, but that is definitely what they were.  I guess she is growing!  This past weekend we went with my Mom and Greg to South Carolina to listen to Greg's band play.  She was a BIG fan of the music.  She danced the entire show (either that or she hated it and was annoyed and squirmy the whole show... but it sounds cuter to say she was dancing).  According to the books she is over 4 pounds now.  Her Grammy and I set up her crib yesterday, so we are all set for her to come.  6 weeks seems like a very long and a very short time from now.  I am only sleeping well every other night now, which is not fun and I keep underestimating how far my tummy sticks out.  Other than that though, I am still feeling pretty good.  Still hitting the gym and now I plan to do a marathon in February as well as in June.  Hopefully I am not too ambitious.  It helps to have things planned to keep me plenty busy while Ryan is away.  He should be making some interesting posts soon about his new digs, so stay tuned!

So long Monrovia!

The week of indoc training is complete. For 8+ hours a day, we endured powerpoint lectures after powerpoint lectures. The topics we covered revolved around things that can get us intro trouble and what not to do while here in Liberia. Most of the briefs were painful, but some of the briefings were excruciating. The required language for the UN is English, so that is what all the briefers used, but, there was quite a variety in each of their capabilities to speak English. A technique that all briefers had perfected was talking on their mobile phones while instructing the class. It was great, and made for even longer lectures. Needless to say, I am glad the week is over.

I will be catching a flight on the UN helo (an MI-8 flown by the Ukrainian contingent) this Monday morning to fly out to Gbarnga. They are allowing me 100 kg of stuff to bring, so hopefully I will be able to take most of my stuff. They are informing me to bring some food. Since Ramadan is still ongoing, the Bangladeshi and Pakistani are fasting for lunch and not eating dinner until 9pm. Hopefully I can use my 100 kg effectively and take the necessities that I'll need while in Gbarnga. This weekend, I plan on packing up, relaxing and getting some exercise in. I am anxious to get to finally get to my team site to see what my future holds.

Here is a photo of my classmates and I after indoc. We had officers from Bangladesh, Croatia, the Philippines, Niger, and Nigeria in my class. Everyone was great.

Finally got the pictures figured out

Here I am at 31 weeks on the front porch at home.  Looking forward to sitting there with my baby girl and swinging with her.

I had a great weekend in Atlanta with Whitney and Hillary.  We are already planning to do it again next year....with a few additions ;-)

I hesitate to post this one.  Not my best angle, but a great one of my Memphis Training buddies.  Miss you guys!