Sometimes I think because I’m living in Africa I will change my ways and just suddenly have the willpower to do things. For example, I was trying out a monthly resolution calendar. Every month I assign different things I hoped to accomplish, my attempt at it being realistic goals that I could actually achieve instead of huge yearly goals everyone forgets by March. Well, Februarys goal was to start P90x. February 1st fell on a Thursdays, so of course, I convinced myself that a monthly exercise program couldn’t start on a Thursday, it had to start on a Monday (hence my willpower comment). So, I started my resolution 4 days late, I started and #crushedit for a whopping 4 days ha-ha. I had such good intentions, but the 8th I was set to go to a workshop in Kataka, I even brought my exercise bands thinking I would continue in Kataka, well spoiler, I didn’t continue, hence the shortest monthly goal ever. Even as I type this I keep telling myself ill start again on Monday, why didn’t I do it today, well, its Sunday and who starts a monthly workout plan on a Sunday ha-ha. Moral of my story, just because you uproot your life and move to Africa doesn’t mean your bad habits and lack of willpower go away.
I have an older couple friend (older as in 50s) Ester and Amos, who have run into some terrible luck lately. A little about them- in town they own what use to be a small cook shop, the ma (Ester) who ran it is very overweight, being by the fire all day cooking took a tool on her health, so they closed the food portion, now they just play music/ sell drinks. The pa (Amos), is in the political scene here in Gbartala, running for representative of the district, and dabbling into different causes intown. Well, after school I sometimes sit inside and chat with them, this has become somewhat of a habit, visiting 2-3 times a week. About 1.5 months ago I noticed that Amos was starting to thin out, feeling pretty week, of course in Liberia anytime someone gets sick they assume its malaria, so with that assumption everything carried on as normal. The next time I stopped by Ester told me that Amos went “in town” for medical treatment. The following week he was back/ looked horrible, he had lost at least 40-50 pounds, was incredibly frail, and shaky. He told me that his sugar levels had spiked, and he was seeking treatment. He stayed home for about a week after his initial diagnosis, trying a new diet/ daily pills to help regulate his sugar. Nothing was helping, the medication/ diet was still causing massive sugar spikes and drops. Since resources are so limited here there wasn’t much for him to do at home, so, he went back to the hospital to be monitored. Phoebe hospital (30 min away) is one of the largest hospitals here in Liberia, he has been there for about 3 weeks now with no real resolution.
About 2 weeks into Amos being at the hospital Ester’s (reminder she is a very large woman) leg had swollen to twice its size. She was unable to walk anywhere and most defiantly unable to bring food or care to Amos (I’ll explain the hospital situation in a second). I asked her what happened, she said that she just woke up with a sore, she said she never hit her leg or fell, and to her knowledge nothing bit or stabbed her. She then told me that she did wake up one night because a rat was chewing on her big toe, but she said it as an afterthought, and not as a real concern (at least a concern to her). She went to the clinic, they busted the sore (gross I know), the nurse in town is keeping an eye on her, being she is unable to travel.
The hospitals here in Liberia are like nothing you have ever seen before, they run out of oxygen tanks, run out of current, they leave the windows open in surgery rooms (can’t even imagine the fly’s), they run out of medication, they have limited nurses/doctors, the list goes on and on. The biggest shock is when a patient is admitted to the hospital it is the families job to take care of all their needs. Meaning they need to come every day and bring food for that person to eat, clothes for them to wear and so on. The staff at the hospital is only there to take care of medical needs, any other needs that person has must be met by the family. The strain her family must be feeling now that Ester is unable to travel to the hospital to give food/care to Amos every day must be insane! This family has been through so much, it’s basically a massive waiting game to see what’s going to happen/ how long it’s going to take. The process is painfully slow /leave you feeling completely helpless.
Period 3 exams were on the 5th and 6th. I pulled material from period 1 and 2 and added it to their test. The idea is that all the material has been a stepping stone for the newest material and you are unable to do one without the other. I tried a new method of testing for the period 3 exam. The test was multiple choice, they had to show work, then use a scantron to bubble in the correct answer. The reason for introducing a scantron like test is to familiarize them with it before they must take the national exam in 12th grade. I made separate tests for 10th and 11th, sat them in alternating rows of 10th graders and 11th graders. This in theory should have stopped them from cheating, this theory was completely incorrect. I took cheating points from at least 10 of my 30 students. What kills me is they aren’t even good at cheating. It’s obvious, then when caught staring at there phone using the calculator (not allowed to use calculator in either class) they act all shocked/innocent like I’m the bad guy when I can clearly see the application solving 4 times 3 for them. In general, I was happy with the results of the final, those who come to class regularly /put in the effort passed, those who I suspect should stay back a year, failed. Clarification- I don’t want anyone to fail, but there are students who were passed last year that I suspect should have been held back.
I was betrayed in the largest way this week. As we all know, hell opens at night and all the creepy crawly “friends” that stay hidden during the day come out to play. I have, for the most part, accept this as my life. I understand that if I’m walking around my house there are several insects I could see, I know I will need to deal with them. That being said, there is one and only one “safe zone” at my house. Safe zone being my bed. My bed has a mosquito net covering it, is tucked into my bed, meaning nothing can come in (technically also meaning anything inside can’t go out). WELL… it was time for bed, I had taken my bath, done my spider check, and laid down. It was about 10:30pm, I was watching a show on my computer, and in the light of my computer I see something flutter behind it. My first thought was, it was the wind blowing a hair or something, then I remember I’m in Africa / I’m not that lucky. I turn on my light to see a big ass spider. I swiftly move my body, and get the hell out of my net. I then freeze and think, OMG I’m going to have to Liberian style kill him with my bare hand! Luckily my slipper was next to my bed and from the outside of my bug net I hit it with my shoe, BAM. Being it was on my bed there was a little bounce back, which creeped me out, causing me to hit it 2 more times for assurance it was dead. It was dead, and instead of cleaning it up right away I decided I needed picture evidence of my nemesis (see pictures below), I them swept him up, and put him in the toilet. I did another, much better, spider check before getting back into bed and laid there contemplating where the little bastard hid/ when he got inside. I didn’t come up with any actual logical reasons, but I did come up with these: what if he was in my pillow case and he has a family and they are all still in my pillow case waiting to escape, what if he was hiding in the crease of my bug net, dropped down on me and was scrambling to run to the corner to hide, and what if he somehow squeezed his way under my bed frame, up through the corner, passing where the frame meets the bed getting onto the bed with me. Clearly all very logical… realistically I left the bug net untucked, he hid in a corner waiting for hell to open before he made his presence known. I also had thoughts when I went to pee later that night (dead spider being in the toilet) of: What if I go in there and he climbs out of the toilet, what If I go in there and he is swimming in the toilet and what if he climbs out of the toilet and touches me ha-ha. I think its safe to say Spider 3, Rachel 0.
The 7th– 8th my friend Melissa came to stay with me here at site. We both signed up for a training in Kataka for Grassroots soccer (ill explain on a different post) being she lives far from Kataka she figured it would be easiest to break up the travel and stay a night here. We ended up making pumpkin soup outside with the boys, watching a movie on the couch and just chatting. I still had things I needed to prepare for my week-long training in Kataka, so I did those things and we just sort of relaxed all day. You never realize how boring of a life you live until someone comes to visit. Entertaining here is VERY different then entertaining in America, its like you realize the other person is probably bored, yet there is nothing you can do about it, so you just accept it as a fact of life and move on ha-ha. Luckily, she is another volunteer, so she is very aware of our day to day life. The boys were very excited to meet her, and Surprise let the complements roll (not really)! Surprise told me he was taking her to be fine, but that I was still fine / his woman, so I shouldn’t worry. He also asked her age, she responded with a very old age, he said that it wasn’t possible because I was 26 and fat therefore, he knew she must be younger than 26... logic there= excellent ha-ha. The morning we left Melissa wore a long maxi dress, Surprise again gave us his excellent opinion. He said he liked her dress a lot, but I couldn’t wear dresses because I was fat ha-ha, I then told him I wore dresses literally every day…he was silent…. Hahaha. That ladies and gentlemen is my little best friend Surprise ha-ha.