Us surrounded by our families on our wedding day.

Currently, there is no running water or an electrical grid in the whole city.  Few latrines, 90% unemployment and appalling health statistics.  Life is a bit—beach, atleast on Sundays  it is.

Despite its struggles, Liberia is an incredibly rich country resources.  Thousands of miles of pristine coastline, diamonds, rubber, timber, gold – you name it it’s here.  So in an effort to add to the local economy revenue, I didn’t mind sipping on cold beers last Sunday at the beach with my colleagues.

I learned that a half acre of beachfront land costs about $6,000. 

The owner of  BET (Black Entertainment) is also supporting and investing in Liberia before the mobs come.  He just opened up Monrovia’s finest hotel a few months ago. Come before its all taken!

On a similar but different note, have I mentioned how strange it is to not only be living and working in the same place with all your colleagues?  I felt a tad strange stripping to my bathing suit in front of my supervisor, but do as the Romans do I suppose.

On another note, people at work have been incredibly nice and I’ve had NUMEROUS party invitations…so many in fact, that I am on my way to my 3rd dinner tonight!  First BBQ started at 4, second dinner at 6, and now going out friends at 9:30.  I guess that’s what happens in places where there is no social infrastructure – you rely on one another.  Just wanted to check in because I feel like I am out of it!  TTYS!

When I was ushered into a vehicle to attend an event yesterday, I thought the highlight would be the refreshments.  But when I realized the President would be there and saw EJS’s motorcade pull up my palms got clammy and my heart started pounding.  This was only further amplified when I realized she was sitting 6 feet away from me.  To add to the excitement, there was a female group  of students singing passionate gospel during the event.  In a country where over 50% of girls under 18 have been pregnant (most of them through rape), their parents murdered by their brothers, and all of them without any formal education for 15 years, the main refrain of their gospel song, “We still have joy, after all we’ve been through, we still have joy, we still have joy” brought tears rolling down my face.

Loving Liberia~

I accepted a dinner invitation with a colleague whom I met in DC months ago.  She told me she was meeting some friends from an NGO for dinner at the swanky sushi restaurant across the street from my apartment – perfect.  As we were walking up to the table of four, I saw J, my Peace Corps friend from Senegal and we nearly rolled on the floor crying/laughing.  I hadn’t seen her in 3 years!  Moreover, she has refused to join Facebook so I haven’t gotten any updates on her although I always wondered.  I was actually the first Peace Corps volunteer she met in Senegal.  I had been there a year when she started training and was sent to my village for a “demystification” visit days upon her arrival.  I like to think I showed her the ropes, you know…how to eat with your right hand, pee in the bush and how to pick the best tailor to make j-crew like dresses with African fabric.

We just spent the last two hours reminisching and gossiping, err…catching up on everyone from Peace Corps Senegal.  It’s amazing how comfortable I feel here, and how many people I know, not having ever been here before.  Like I said in Mali, Peace Corps was the most exclusive club I’ve ever been in – way better than any social club – and the one that keeps on giving and whose network I continually use.

I was blown away when I was dropped off at my apartment for the month.  Beachfront, 4 bedrooms with bathrooms, TV, DVD, washer dryer, A/C, etc….  Nice.  Within 5 minutes, I had to go out back to check out the crashing waves, and as soon as I did, the door slammed shut behind me and I got locked out   Thankfully, a neighbor was home and she called the security people up who came with an extra set of keys an hour later.  I knew the trip couldn’t be totally stress-free.  The internet in my place hasn’t been set up yet so I am across the street at a beautiful hotel, wet with sweat from the humidity, drinking an overpriced beer but  listening to the waves crash which makes it all worth it.

It won’t all be so pleasant – I was given a binder with my name on it with a copy of my jam packed schedule for the month beginning tomorrow morning at 7:30am.  So, I’m off to prepare.  More tomorrow!

But it occurred to me to start again, since I am en route back to Africa….  I am sitting in the Brussels airport about to depart to Liberia.  This is a work trip and I will be there for about four weeks.  Although I expect to be working in an office nonstop in Monrovia, hopefully I’ll leave the confines enough to share some insight and stories into the culture.

More from Monrovia later!

I tried it today.

I got over the first bridge.  And stopped.  Into Sisley.  Into J-Crew.  Into cute boutique #1.  Into cute deli #1.  Into cute boutique #2.  Into Anthropologie.  You get the gist.

I walked home in with my shoulders hunched over not as much in defeat, but because they were worn from carrying a gazillion shopping bags.  I need to find a new running path.  I think I better run on  Roosevelt Island (in the middle) next – it  doesn’t have anything but trees and paths, should be safe.

SO sorry I’ve been MIA for the last couple of months.  I cannot even begin to describe the whirlwind that took over my life.

But I will try.

Last you heard, I was on a fight back to Chicago from Mali, on what was a planned 2 week vacation to “take care of a few work things.”

Well, the “work things” panned out and I was offered my dream job in a seperate organization based in the United States.  I decided to stay in Chicago until my start date (next week) to catch up with friends and family and plan most of my wedding details.  I’ve set the date and chosen the venue, and if you are interested in more of my wedding details, I have been and will continue to blog about it every Tuesday on Elizabeth Anne Designs.

Now that things have simmered down, and are back on track, I finally have time to write again.

And so it begins, yet again.  I am moving this weekend to……

Washington D.C!

I got my dream job, kind of out-of -the- blue, when I was working in Mali.  It is a job that I applied for over a year ago but as soon as it became evident this was for real, I flew home and dove into the paperwork making sure it would come to fruition.  Although based in D.C., I will be traveling to Africa a few times a year to view programs.  The only thing missing is my fiance, who is finishing up school in NYC then moving to Houston in the Fall.  We are trying to figure out a way to be together by Christmas, but that will become clearer once we begin our jobs.

My Manolos are no longer on a Mission in Mali, but they certainly continue to be on a mission.  Hope you stay tuned.

When the advent of the internet as a household tool came around ten years ago, I was the first to use it to monitor my flight status or movie options.  A few years ago, I surprised my brother by ordering him a special meal without his knowledge.  I was SERIOUSLY laughing so hard I snorted, when I heard the stewardess exclaim, “34d, 34d, your Hindu meal is coming right up,” as my brother’s eyes grew wide with terror.  He was, of course, sitting in 34d (& the meal was way better than mine).

Since then, I regularly pep myself up before each plane ride by researching shops and restaurants of the airports I have layovers in, meal preferences and in-flight entertainment.

So I was psyched to discover how great Air France’s in-flight entertainment option was on their website.  Check it out yourself.  You can click on the little TV screen and learn which movies will be available on your flight, and then, you can watch previews of the movies!  I can’t decide which to watch first after 6 months without a TV: High School Musical 3, The Visitor, Rachel Getting Married, Nights in Rodanthe or W.

http://www.airfrance.fr/US/en/local/transverse/frame/genericIFrameAuto.htm?url=http://videocdn.airfrance.com/distractions/index_en.html

I also learned that I have enough time for a short layover in Paris.  Notre Dame Cathedral is right off the train line that comes from Charles de Gaulle airport so I am planning on having breakfast at a cafe nearby.  Is it ok to eat French Onion Soup and drink Perrier at breakfast?

I had been  envisioning brunching with my friends at an outdoor cafe on Wells Street.  Or running alongside Labradors and cyclists on the lake path.  I FORGOT that instead I will be darting quickly between my garage door to the car door and will need to warm up the seats immediately to defrost from that few second trek.  Eeek!

As much as I miss Chicago, I have never missed the cold.

That’s what my fiance and I would exclaim as I was putting together a DVD slideshow for one of my good friend’s weddings last year.  Here they are at…. 2 years old, 5, the 10, 16, 22, and so on and so forth.  Seeing it in a rapid slideshow makes it seem all the more quicker.

I remember the days however, when life came at you sloooooowwwwllyyy.  I remember how LONG it took for summer break to finally arrive.  I remember how long those 15 days until my birthday felt.  So why does it seem like my 20s are an absolute blur of activity that cannot slow down?  Since I turned 20, I’ve lived in 8 different places, on 4 different continents,  acquired two degress, tried to learn four languages and worked at 6 jobs.

I mean, I’m engaged now.  Shouldn’t that make me “settle down” as some would say.  Yes, that was the original plan, and my plan always is to spend the rest of my life with my wonderful fiance.  And we are getting there.  But life also throws you curve balls and one dropped in my lap earlier this week.  And…that’s why he loves me

More to come later, but I am taking an impromptu trip back to the States this week to sort out some things.  I should be back within a few weeks, so I’ll have more updates then.