On Travel: Monrovia, Liberia

hi all. this is really just a quick note to let you in on an amazing adventure I'm experiencing. You remember this post about my visa hassle from last week? Well that visa hoopla was all to return to LIBERIA! for those of you who either don't know or have forgotten, my family is from Liberia and this is where I grew up until I was 10 and the civil war led me to a whole different set of adventures.

despite my little visa hiccup last week, on Saturday, I flew off to Monrovia arriving on Sunday evening. It's been about 2 full days since I've been here and I really wish I could explain everything I'm experiencing. However rather than over analyzing everything, I'm trying to focus on just enjoying being back in Liberia after over 22 years.

but just to give you a tiny snippet of my trip....over the last few days i've subconsciously noticed my english slipping into "liberian english." I can see the curious look on the faces of my Liberian colleagues, many of who don't know i'm "from" here and then start asking. this is particularly funny because in the U.S. i've reached the point where i couldn't even fake a "liberian english" if i wanted to. but here, i've immediately felt comfortable speaking english the way it's "suppose" to be spoken, broken. as a mini reward, I walked to the reception desk of my hotel to "quarrel" because they hadn't replaced a blown extension cord in my room and the guy asked me how i learned how to speak liberian english! The swell of pride that overcame me cannot be described, nor can i properly explain why one would take pride in someone telling me I can speak the most broken version of the english language, yet nevertheless my eyes grew moist with joy!

I can't wait to share more with you, but for now, here are two mini photos that I've taken when I haven't been attending the meeting that I'm here for...the first a sign that I thoroughly enjoyed especially the "mama" liberia part, and the second taken while enjoying a sunset (rainbow included) on golden beach in Monrovia.