The white cinderblock walls surrounding the Doe Palace complex are topped with wire, but that is the only evidence I've seen that this country is only 10 years out of a 'civil crisis'. Everyone we talk to loves having us here and wants to make us welcome to Liberia. The training staff are amazing, and my fellow trainees are already like a new family.
Yesterday, our group (39 Peace Corps Volunteer Trainees) was split up and sent out into the city of Kakata with a current volunteer for orientation and introduction to the crazy-weird-wonderful world of the market.
Our leader took us on a wandering tour through the maze of Kakata's market. The jumble-pile of ramshackle tin roofs housing the wooden market stalls sits at the bottom of a red dirt(mud) road down the hill from the main road into the city. The collection of buildings features dirt (mud) paths and wheelbarrows or stalls piled high with recycled american clothing, dried rice and beans, pots, shopping bags of coal, gorgeous printed fabrics, and every other kind of sale-able good you can imagine. We visited the stall where our leader's girls' group gets the fabric they use to make amazing crafts. Some of us bought fabric, and most of us changed some small-small American money for LD or Liberian Dollars at a pretty decent rate of 75LD to the dollar. Then we were treated to a thrillingly enjoyable tour of the covered concrete slab that hosted the food sellers. The dark, cavernous space smelled exactly as wonderful as you would expect it to with little piles of fresh or dried fish and other unidentifiable pieces of meat, tiny spicy red and green peppers, baby eggplants, and sundry other equally appealing options.
Once we made our way out of the labyrinth of the market, we got a tour of the finer things along the main road: the tables where you can change money and buy scratch cards to add minutes to phones, Lebanese stores selling household goods like soap and beer, and a gas station that could be a transplant from home complete with air conditioning, a clean bathroom, and (wonder of wonders) a trash can.
Our route home took us through a residential neighborhood of nice homes, some of which will become our home-stay houses next week. Everyone greeted us with smiles, handshakes (more on those later), fist-bumps, and a general air of welcome. Two ladies were playing a dice-and-board game kind of like Sorry or Parcheesi When I asked, they told me the rules, but I think they let me win... We also joined these kids who were playing a game called Lappa. It's like dodge ball played with a sock full of sand and a bunch of 'slippers' or rubber/plastic sandals. One person stands over a mixed-up pile of shoes and teams on either side try to hit them with the sock. While dodging or catching the sock, the middle person has to match pairs of slippers with each other. If they get hit with the ball they lose, and if they match all the shoes they win. This involves lots of sideline heckling, cheering, and backseat matching. I was, of course, terrible at it, but they all seemed to love that I tried.
The tour of Kakata was scheduled as part of our Pre-Service Training. So far, that consists of lectures on Safety and Security, Liberian English, and the Peace Corps mission. We are gearing up to head out to current volunteers' sites on Sunday to see how it's done by LR-2 and 3.
After an interlude for a delicious meal this evening, followed by an impromptu dance party (of awesomeness), the trainees of LR-4 are all gathered in the common area of our dorm doing tomorrow's reading, checking email, blogging, and having a jam session (for those who brought a guitar, banjo, mandolin, or violin. It's as noisy as that holiday dinner or family reunion but without any awkward uncles. I feel like I'm at the eye of an amazing hurricane.
I am welcome to Liberia, and I'd like to extend the same hospitality to you!
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