The day before my birthday I went to the market and bought all the supplies necessary to make cookies for my students. I looked up a baking powder-less recipe online and decided I would attempt to fry the cookies as my way to baking. I fixed the dough, even putting M&M inside, and when the kids got back from school we started the production of frying the cookies. I borrowed a small coal pot from Surprise house, dropped 4 cookies inside, and they all came apart instantly. Surprise suggested we bake the cookies, something I had not done yet in Liberia, I told him I wasn’t quite sure how to do it, he said okay, went back to his house and came back with what was basically a large cookie sheet. We took coals from the bottom of the coal pot, leaving only a few, put the pot back on the coal pot with the cookies inside, placed the tin sheet on top of the pot, and added the remaining hot coals on top of the tin. The first batch burned quick. The bottom of the cookies burned before anything else had time to bake. We took some of the coals from the bottom of the coal pot and tried again. Second batch burned. Third batch burned. For the fourth batch we took almost all the coals from the bottom and added them to the top tin. This batch came out significantly better, the only issue now was that the cookies were overly sweet/dense as shit/ were coming out hard as rock ha-ha. That second issue was clearly my own fault, something faulty in the making of the dough/recipe (luckily Liberians love hard food). After what felt like forever, we finished baking the cookies, the kids all appreciated the 3 failed batches as they got to eat all the scraps/burnt ones, one of them literally licking the oil pot/baking pot clean.
March 7th- My birthday! I woke up, got ready for school, made coffee and was off. I arrived at school, most my students knew it was my birthday so the second I walked into 10th grade (happened again when I went into 11th grade) to teach math, they broke into song singing me happy birthday. They all asked how old I was turning to which I replied, 70. I don’t want my students actually knowing how old I am because some of them are older than me, so every time they ask I make up an age. They all respond with your not 70, to which I reply, well if I was 69 yesterday and today is my birthday that makes me 70 today. Everyone gets a real kick out of attempting to guess my age, which in concept is fun, until one of them blurts out 30 or some shit which is not appreciated ha-ha. Tto make teaching on my birthday the easiest thing ever, I planned open notebook quizzes in both math and physics, after they finished the quiz they got a rock-hard cookie and they were free to go.
The last month or so I had been having a mosquito issue at the house. The issue was in my bathroom, mosquitos were coming out of my shower drain and entering the house PLENTY. I told my counterpart, he sent someone to the house to fix the issue, and he put a net over all the entry points on the outside of the house. We were hoping that fixed the issue, but they were still getting inside, I told PC again and they decided to send someone out to take a look. It just so happens that the day they came out was my birthday. I got a text that morning confirming it, along with a text from my coordinator, Ernlee, telling me she sent them with 2 doughnuts from Monrovia for my birthday (DELICIOUS) AND my HUGE birthday package. They arrived at the house, started fixing the drain, and gave me my package. There were some spaces on the side of the drain that mosquitos could escape from, they plastered up the sides, checked around the house for any other entry points, and called it a day. Once they left I IMMEDIATELY opened my birthday package, NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO EXCITED. It had my sewing machine, Easter toys, a scale (which I asked for/ with the package contents was still hurtful haha), honey mustard pretzels, teddy grahams (gone), doughnuts (gone), wafers, tootsie rolls, Twix, sweetish fish, M&M, beef jerky, and so much more. I also got the list of all the people who pitched in to send my massive box- I owe a HUGE/MASSIVE/GINORMOUS/ thank you to everyone who chipped in to send me my birthday package. Thank you so much to the following loved ones-Heather Haas, Mom/Dad, Sarah Thorpe (AKA Schmock), Carly Hubbard, Little child of mine (AKA Katey Cook), Jessica Clough (AKA Carey), Jenna Huffman, and Lyndsey McGee (AKA Gouldey). Alright side note- the letter that Heather sent me with all the names on it has all the original last names on it for all you married folk... this whole changing last name thing is messing me (and apparently Heather) up ha-ha. Words can’t express how much the package meant/means to me and I am forever thankful that you guys chipped in to make my birthday the best it can be! I also got a letter saying the following work friends chipped in- Maxie, Cornelius, Maricel, Ismael, and Robert. Thank you so much HSP for the continuous love and support you guys give me, it means the world.
Juice, popcorn, music, this is how people celebrate birthdays here. When someone asks you if you will celebrate, what they are actually asking is, if I come over will you have juice, music and popcorn. I decided for my birthday to half celebrate, which I’ll explain. The boys and I decided we would cook pumpkin soup outside. This means Jojo cooks the rice (sometimes Surprise does) and I fry the chicken/ make the soup. The general rule is, if you get your own bowl you either helped me cook or you will clean. During soup making process we also borrowed uncles small coal pot and started making the popcorn. Jojo decided to take over this task and would pop the popcorn, hand me up the bucket, and I would put in tie bags, so we could hand them out. At first, I was confused why JoJo would agree to this task, until I realized that they were “sorting” the popcorn, meaning any piece with burn color they put in a separate pot, as to not be handed out, but to be eaten by them in that moment. After the soup was eaten, the popcorn bagged, and the dishes finished we went house to house in the community and handed them a birthday popcorn bag. This is what I mean but half celebrating. I had food, I had popcorn, I had music, I just didn’t have people at the house and I didn’t have juice.
My first birthday in Liberia was a success! I was showered with love from my friends back home and from my community/PC here in Liberia. I feel so lucky to have the friends/family I have and hope everyone back home knows how much I truly appreciate them.
Also want to give a shout out to all the Facebook friends who wished me a happy birthday, and to Rachel C who was in Monrovia on my birthday and brought me back doughnuts as my birthday gift… you know... I’m just putting this new scale to use ha-ha.
March 7th- My birthday! I woke up, got ready for school, made coffee and was off. I arrived at school, most my students knew it was my birthday so the second I walked into 10th grade (happened again when I went into 11th grade) to teach math, they broke into song singing me happy birthday. They all asked how old I was turning to which I replied, 70. I don’t want my students actually knowing how old I am because some of them are older than me, so every time they ask I make up an age. They all respond with your not 70, to which I reply, well if I was 69 yesterday and today is my birthday that makes me 70 today. Everyone gets a real kick out of attempting to guess my age, which in concept is fun, until one of them blurts out 30 or some shit which is not appreciated ha-ha. Tto make teaching on my birthday the easiest thing ever, I planned open notebook quizzes in both math and physics, after they finished the quiz they got a rock-hard cookie and they were free to go.
The last month or so I had been having a mosquito issue at the house. The issue was in my bathroom, mosquitos were coming out of my shower drain and entering the house PLENTY. I told my counterpart, he sent someone to the house to fix the issue, and he put a net over all the entry points on the outside of the house. We were hoping that fixed the issue, but they were still getting inside, I told PC again and they decided to send someone out to take a look. It just so happens that the day they came out was my birthday. I got a text that morning confirming it, along with a text from my coordinator, Ernlee, telling me she sent them with 2 doughnuts from Monrovia for my birthday (DELICIOUS) AND my HUGE birthday package. They arrived at the house, started fixing the drain, and gave me my package. There were some spaces on the side of the drain that mosquitos could escape from, they plastered up the sides, checked around the house for any other entry points, and called it a day. Once they left I IMMEDIATELY opened my birthday package, NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO EXCITED. It had my sewing machine, Easter toys, a scale (which I asked for/ with the package contents was still hurtful haha), honey mustard pretzels, teddy grahams (gone), doughnuts (gone), wafers, tootsie rolls, Twix, sweetish fish, M&M, beef jerky, and so much more. I also got the list of all the people who pitched in to send my massive box- I owe a HUGE/MASSIVE/GINORMOUS/ thank you to everyone who chipped in to send me my birthday package. Thank you so much to the following loved ones-Heather Haas, Mom/Dad, Sarah Thorpe (AKA Schmock), Carly Hubbard, Little child of mine (AKA Katey Cook), Jessica Clough (AKA Carey), Jenna Huffman, and Lyndsey McGee (AKA Gouldey). Alright side note- the letter that Heather sent me with all the names on it has all the original last names on it for all you married folk... this whole changing last name thing is messing me (and apparently Heather) up ha-ha. Words can’t express how much the package meant/means to me and I am forever thankful that you guys chipped in to make my birthday the best it can be! I also got a letter saying the following work friends chipped in- Maxie, Cornelius, Maricel, Ismael, and Robert. Thank you so much HSP for the continuous love and support you guys give me, it means the world.
Juice, popcorn, music, this is how people celebrate birthdays here. When someone asks you if you will celebrate, what they are actually asking is, if I come over will you have juice, music and popcorn. I decided for my birthday to half celebrate, which I’ll explain. The boys and I decided we would cook pumpkin soup outside. This means Jojo cooks the rice (sometimes Surprise does) and I fry the chicken/ make the soup. The general rule is, if you get your own bowl you either helped me cook or you will clean. During soup making process we also borrowed uncles small coal pot and started making the popcorn. Jojo decided to take over this task and would pop the popcorn, hand me up the bucket, and I would put in tie bags, so we could hand them out. At first, I was confused why JoJo would agree to this task, until I realized that they were “sorting” the popcorn, meaning any piece with burn color they put in a separate pot, as to not be handed out, but to be eaten by them in that moment. After the soup was eaten, the popcorn bagged, and the dishes finished we went house to house in the community and handed them a birthday popcorn bag. This is what I mean but half celebrating. I had food, I had popcorn, I had music, I just didn’t have people at the house and I didn’t have juice.
My first birthday in Liberia was a success! I was showered with love from my friends back home and from my community/PC here in Liberia. I feel so lucky to have the friends/family I have and hope everyone back home knows how much I truly appreciate them.
Also want to give a shout out to all the Facebook friends who wished me a happy birthday, and to Rachel C who was in Monrovia on my birthday and brought me back doughnuts as my birthday gift… you know... I’m just putting this new scale to use ha-ha.