New Site

Don’t worry, I’m still alive! It's been an insane two months though. I had to have a site change, which kind of blows. I really loved my village, but just before Christmas my house got broken into in Kanwekan, and Peace Corps wanted me to move. I spend Christmas with a big group of volunteers in Robertsport. Arguably one of the nicest beaches in West Africa. A group of 5 of us then headed off to Sierra Leone for New Years. We spend two nights at Tiwai Island, a National Park in Sierra Leone. We saw 6 species of primates, and some pretty cool birds. They also have two troops of chimps, and pygmy hippos, but they were MIA. After Tiwai we took the 7 hour bus ride to Freetown. There we spend two nights at the awesome Peace Corps compound where they have a hostel that sleeps 20. Running water, 24 hour power, and an A/C room with computers and internet. It was a little shocking, but amazing. Then we went to Hamilton beach, near Freetown, and spend New Year’s. This place was paradise. We ate fresh lobster on the beach and I found my new favorite drink, Savanna Dry Cider. Then we decided to take the scenic route home. It took me 4 days of all day travel to get back to Monrovia. It was an adventure, but I’m ready for a break from minivans packed with 30 people and farm animals.

I spend the first week of January in Monrovia while my new house was getting some upgrades. This happened to be the same time our new group of 16 Peace Corps Response volunteers got into country I rode to the airport to pick them up with PC staff and tried to answer all the questions. I was around for a few days of their training before being sent up to Gbanga for a workshop of Perm gardening. It’s a pretty cool concept, and I hope to start a garden at site and maybe train a few of the Liberians on it.

I then headed back to Monrovia to discuss what I am going to be doing in Zwedru with the programming staff. It’s not to different from what I was doing before, but now I’m teaching 10th grade Biology and Chemistry. In addition to my teaching I am also helping tutor the 9th graders to try and prepare them for their National Exam in April.

I got to Zwedru on Friday and headed to Kanwekan to get the rest of my furniture. It was hard saying goodbye to all the friends I had made there, but I’m optimistic about my new site. The house is a palace compared to the old place, and there are 3 other PCV’s in town. I have power from 7-10 everyday, and a toilet that flushes (with the help of a bucket of water). Well, that’s enough for tonight!

PS- This post has been brought to you by the pressure of Jerome Parm!

More to come

I don't know how many people still check this, but I am getting a computer in two weeks when I go to Monrovia. I'm still alive, and having a good time in Liberia. Some random thoughts:
We have a colony of rats in our house. I say colony, even thought rats don't live in colonies, because there are probably 15 of them. The ceiling is their domain during the day. At night the decend on the house to do battle with us. TJ's weapon of choice is a shoe. I usually just try and make lound noises. We have tried home made traps made by the neighborhood kids out of pop cans, and even paid for an "american" rat trap. Not on rat has died. I'm in the process of asking all of my students, and anyone else who will listen, that I am looking for a cat.

We were told in training that Peace Corps life is like living in a fish bowl. I didn't know they meant that there will literally ALWAYS be children staring in our windows. I've also gotten to the point where I can tell who is crying by their high pitched screams. Two of the kids have decieded that under my bedroom window is the best place to cry in the mornings. I LOVE them. Liberians HATE to get wet. This makes throwing water on the kids an awesome strategy to get some privacy. I wont lie either, I get a lot of entertainment from throwing water on them. They think its a fun game, until they get soaked with a gallon of water from my bucket! But in all seriousness I think some of the most important things I will do here will be with those kids. There is about 5 of them that are around all the time. We teach here and they, and they also get practice listening to American English. They will by far be the hardest people to say goodbye to in a year and a half.

I've used enough of TJ's battery for now. More to come in a few weeks.

Holy Shit A New Post!

Hello All!
Greetings from Liberia! I've been here for 5 weeks as of today. Its been a kind of crazy. Internet has been pretty spotty, and technology has not been my friend. My laptop now has 5 spots where the screen is blacked out. I think this was probably due to pressure at some point during travel. My camera memory card decided to quit, and the y key on my keyboard no loner works(i have to copy and paste). All in all though, Liberia is pretty sweet. Training has been nonstop since arrival. Six day a week. My host family is pretty awesome. Sixteen people living in a 3 bedroom house. They are well off by liberian standards, so they have taken a lot of kids in. Pretty awesome people if you ask me.

The other volunteers are pretty awesome too. I have definitely met some people here who undoubtedly will be friends for life. Not to much wildlife yet, and the one picture I could put on facebook took 35 minutes to upload. Hopefully it will be better once I get to site. We swear in as official Peace Corps Volunteers two weeks from tomorrow. It will be bittersweet. I am ready to be done with training, but not ready to say goodbye to all the other volunteers and my host family.

Not a fan of the food. Enough said.

We have been teaching model school for the past week. It looks like cheating and students being behind are going to be the 2 big challenges. They tell us to expect sixty plus students in a class, and ages ranging from 15-40.

All in all I am loving the shit out of Africa. It has been everything I have expected and more. I miss everyone from home a lot! Please think of me when you eat anything american. I'm jealous, but then again I'm in freakin Africa! So you should be jealous too. If you are interested I have a cell here, so let me know if you want the number.

Peace out america!

Packing List

I've decided its time to post my packing list. This is by no means my final list. I've gotten most of my stuff already, but I'm concerned about the weight. I can have 1 large bag that weighs up to 50lbs, a smaller bag that weighs 30lbs, and a carry on. I have already packed my small bag, and it weighs 29 lbs! Hopefully I can come in under weight, if not I know there are some nonessentials. My only concern is the difficulty and price of shipping stuff if need be. I also have a history of overpacking. I always think I need more stuff than I really will. I'm aware that some of this stuff I will probably never use, but here goes:

Packing List
1. Random
• 20 Passport pictures
• Lock for Training
• Luggage locks
• Nalgene bottle
• Aluminum water bottle
• 2 pairs glasses
• 1 pair prescription sunglasses
• Money Belt
• Sleeping bag
• Swiss army knife/Leatherman
• 2 packs of quart sized Ziploc bags
• 1 pack of gallon sized Ziploc bags
• Dictionary
• Umbrella
• Spices
• Hat
• US Stamps
• Watch
• Pillow
• Playing cards (Uno, Skipbo, Playing)
• Solar calculator
• Planner
• Duct Tape
• Gladware set
• Can Opener
• Vegetable Peeler
• 3 bottles zantac (for spicy Liberian food!)
• 30 day supply of Claratin D
• Head Lamp
• Poncho
• Journal
• Sleeping Bag
• Passport Wallet

2. Electronics
• Eton Shortwave radio
• Headlamp
• Camera
• Laptop
• Iphone (for music)
• Kindle with case and light
• Flash Drive
• Surge Protector
• Headphones
• Binoculars
• Ipod Speakers
• 20 AA Batteries
• 10 AAA Batteries

3. Toiletries
• Loofah
• Towel
• 4 toothbrushes
• 3 tubes of toothpastes
• Mouthwash with fluoride
• 2 bottles Face wash
• Shampoo
• 2 bottles Body Wash
• Razorblades
• Nail clipper set
• 2 bottles 50 SPF sunscreen
• 1 bottle 100 SPF sunscreen
• Travel soap holder
• Q-Tips
• 4 sticks Deoderant
• 2 packs of floss picks

4. Clothing
• Shoes
i. Tevas
ii. Brown Eccos
iii. Black Eccos
iv. Tennis Shoes
v. 3 pairs Flip Flops
• Pants/shirts
i. 4 Polos
ii. 5 T-shirts
iii. 2 pairs Khaki pants
iv. 3 pairs of gym shorts
v. 2 pairs of Khaki shorts
vi. 1 dress shirt
vii. 1 pair black dress pants
viii. 1 pair jeans
ix. Zip up hoodie
x. Swimsuit
• Other
i. 20 pairs of boxers
ii. 1 pairs of black socks
iii. 3 pairs brown socks
iv. 5 pairs of white socks
v. 4 ties
vi. Buff
vii. 4 Bandanas
5. Luggage
• Eagle Creek backpack
• High Sierra large rolling duffel
• High Sierra small rolling duffel

Suggestions would be welcome. I've been stressing over this shit for a while, and just kind of threw this all together going off of the few lists PC gave us, and what I really think I will use, or miss.

Packing/Flight Booking

I sat down yesterday and tried to finally make a rough draft of a packing list. I honestly had thought it wouldn’t be to bad, but my first list was entirely to long. I am just not good at planning what I will need. It doesn’t really help that we found out shipping stuff is going to be pretty expensive, and difficult. I have to know all the contents of any packages I am going to get before they get there, and there is no postal service in Liberia, so it could take months for a package to get to me once it reaches Monrovia (Liberia’s Capital). Once I get a more finalized list I will post it, but knowing me that could still be a few weeks away.

I book my flight this week, which was a good feeling. Every time I get some communication for Peace Corps it starts feeling more real. I evidently forgot to send 2 visa applications so I woke up to a message from SATA Travel demanding that I overnight another one ASAP. WOOPS! I went ahead and made a trip to cincy to send it and hangout for a day since everyone was done with finals.

I fly out of Columbus the evening of July 6th. From there I go to Philly for a day of training on the 7th. The morning of the 8th the 15 of us go get all the rest of our vaccinations, and head to Brussels that afternoon. We have a 4 hours layover in Brussels, and then arrive in Monrovia the evening of the 9th. We don’t spend much time at all in the capital. From the airport they take us to a town north of the capital called Kakata for training. We will spend a week in dorm style housing. After that they assign us to homestay families. These are families who we live with for the remainder of training. Training is usually 10 weeks, but since our departure got moved back a month, and school still starts in September I am assuming our training will be shorter. For any other country I would be a little nervous because of this, but since English is the national language I think we will be okay.

I have been thinking about some of the stuff I enjoy at home, that I will miss Lets make a top ten:

1. Hot showers, or showers altogether
2. A/C
3. Internet
4. 3G service
5. Television
6. Electricity
7. Chocolate
8. Sleeping with Blankets
9. Driving
10. Feeling altogether clean


This list is in no order whatsoever. I am sure I have missed many things, but I assume one day I will be writing a list of things I will miss most about Liberia. I just have to go into this awesome experience with an open mind, and be ready for anything. I’m going to try my best not to stress out! Well, this post is already far longer than I expected, so I’m done!

Another Wait...

So its been awhile, I'm bored, so I thought I would post and update. Departure got moved back a month. I found out shortly after putting in my two weeks notice at work. As much as I hated that place, It would of been nice to have had the extra cash from working a few more weeks. This really didn't change to much, but extended my stay with my parents from a couple weeks, to almost two months. Its been a couple weeks and the first few days were glorious. The boredom is starting to set in though. Its been awhile since I had any free time, let alone two months of it. Thank god I made the decision to buy a kindle though. I would be crazy without at least stuff to read.


I also seem to spend a couple hours every day scouring the internet for info on Liberia. They had a pretty nasty civil war from 1989 -2003 and they are stilll recovering. Peace Corps started in Liberia in 1962, but left in 1990 due to the civil war. Peace Corps Response Volunteers have been there since 2008. These are people who have already served their 27 months and decide to come back for short term projects. My group will be the first to go back to serve an entire 27 months. I have also found out there will be 15 people in my group. We will be meeting up in Philly on the 7th with 10 Peace Corps Response volunteers bringing the total to 25. I'm happy with the number, hopefully it will be a good mix of people. I get more and more excited and ready to leave everyday. I've been enjoying hot showers, moms food, and air conditioning as much as possible. Being the true procrastinator that I am, I am avoiding even thinking about packing as long as possible. I've gotten to the point where I realize I am by no means "moving" to africa. The vast majority of my stuff will stay here, I just still feel like I have no idea on what I will use, or not use. I still have 6 weeks...



P.S. I have seen two pictures of response volunteers holding chimpanzees. Badass!

"I've Decided to join the Peace Corps."

I really don't know what this blog will end up being. In my head I hope it will become something I can go back to after I'm back in the states to bring back good memories. I have spent the last 14 months reading other people blogs, and finding them extremely helpful. I thought it best to at least start one, just for good karma. I imagine this will be my place for awesome stories too. Anyone who knows me knows that I do enjoy telling stories. I've never tried to write, since by "story" I mean I say to my friends "Guess what crazy shit happened at work today". I spent the last 3 years working for a rental car company. Believe me, there are no shortages of crazy shit that happen at a downtown rental branch. Speaking, or I guess writing, of which I put in my two weeks notice yesterday. It was probably the best feeling I've had since graduating college. I will spare you all a tirade of how horrible my job has been. I have a month and a half of scrambling to get all my financial stuff taken care of, see all of the people I can, and try and figure out what 80lbs of stuff I want to take with me.

I'll work on a post about Liberia soon, there is a lot to tell.

MA