Homestay family adoptions were on Sunday, and since then, I have been living with a Liberian family. It is rather interesting to say the least, but I'm surviving :)
I live with Anthony & Cynthia Mulbah and their family. I guess you could say they're my ma and pa, but that is still weird to me. I have three sisters and a brother who live in the house and two more sisters who live in town. The family situation is still a little strange to me -- who is my sister exactly? and who is my niece? -- but I am getting it figured out. Also in the house is one niece (5 years old) and a nephew (19 years old). My pa works for the Ministry of Finance as a tax collector, and my ma is a nurse; they are working to open up a clinic in Gotumo (the community within Kakata that we live), and I am excited for that to happen one day! The house sits on a compound of sorts; the family house we live in, another house that they rent out to another family, a long building that has been converted into three one-room spaces, the original clinic building, and the new building that is in the midst of being completed.
I have been provided with my own room, which is nice. For once, I'm finally able to unpack everything and see what I brought with me! In the house that I live is Ma & Pa's room, my room, and a room that my three sisters and niece share; additionally, there is a nice bathroom, a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. The boys live in the original clinic building for now (one brother and a nephew) - I'm wondering if they had my room before I moved in.
The family has hosted two Peace Corps Volunteers before, so they are pretty good at knowing what to do with me. Things are still a little strained, but they seem to be getting better every day. My Pa speaks pretty good standard English, as does my middle sister; everyone else speaks broken standard English and really fast Liberian English -- if anything, it is forcing me to learn the new language at a quick rate! Meals are alright; I told them that I love eating eggs for breakfast, and now for two days in a row, it has been eggs. This is alright, though -- after a sardine & onion sandwich for breakfast the first day, I will take eggs for breakfast every day for the next five weeks, haha.
One luxury in this family is the fact that they have a generator that they run almost every night. They turn it on around 7 or 8 pm and it shuts off around midnight. Our evening entertainment translates into watching awful Nigerian films that focus on cheating wives, murder, sex, or a combination of all three. Some of the ideas are pretty risque, but interestingly enough, the family does not see a problem in the 5 year old watching any of these things. There is a light in the dining room and a light in Ma & Pa's room, but otherwise the electricity seems to be only for the TV and DVD player. What a different world this is.
My sleeping habits have changed, but I love it. I go to bed around 9:00 pm every night now, and I find myself waking up around 6:00 or 6:30 every morning. I sleep so well here - I think my body is grateful for a chance to catch up on all the sleep I missed out on during college! :) Living with a host family has also allowed for me to become a master at the bucket bath - that will definitely be a useful skill when I return to the States!
In other news, training has continued. Every day is filled with sessions and lectures about best teaching practices, ideas for dealing with Liberian classrooms, and Liberian culture stuff. It is interesting, but I can already see why every other volunteer here says that training is by far the hardest part of one's service. Every day drains all of us, and by the time we leave for our host families, we are on edge and ready to bite each other's heads off. Everyone deals with stress differently, and with 38 of us, we are bound to get on each other's nerves. I should enjoy this now, though, because I know that by the time Christmas comes, I will be missing everyone plenty-o.
I hope everyone back home has a wonderful Fourth of July! We are planning a bbq here, complete with potato salad and hamburgers. I'm interested to see how it works out, but I'm also excited!
Much love,
Caitlin
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