This is my life now!

WOW! We are finally here, and thank God that all of our luggage made it too! We left Orlando at 12:40pm on Thursday, August 20th and arrived in Liberia Friday around 7:30pm via Chicago and Brussels. We were welcomed at the airport by Olu Q. Menjay, the principal at Rick's Institute, and his wife. We drove about 40 miles into Monrovia, where we ate at a Lebanese restaurant inside a hotel. Holly, Olu, and myself all ordered Chicken Liberian Style. That means Spicy! haha. It was actually very delicious. We got to Rick's around 10:30ish, and immediately got settled into the guest house. Holly and I unpacked a little and went to sleep. It had been a long 24 hours of travel and we were exhausted. However, it did take time falling asleep with no air conditioner. We are learning very quickly that life here is very different than what we are used to at home. 

This morning Holly and I woke up at 7:45am. We realized in a matter of minutes that there was no running water. This meant taking a "shower" with a bucket. This was definitely a new experience, and a challenging one. We also had an encounter with a HUGE spider. After about 15 minutes of getting over our fear, we finally killed it. We both laughed at the thought that we were already freaking out about a spider. It will be interesting to see where we are 10 months from now.

We met Olu at 9:00am and were given a tour around campus. We had seen many pictures, but it is amazing how different it looked in person. Later this afternoon we were taken to the grocery store in Duala Market. This was an experience!! People crowded the streets, going from vender to vender. Taxi's cut in and out of lanes, and police officers guided traffic. I have never seen anything like it. I will honestly say that I was a little scared, or maybe way outside my comfort zone is a better way to say it. 

Now we are back on campus, getting ready to attend a farewell party of a friend of the Menjay's. I will try to update again in the next few days, when I have more time.