Bugs in My Rice

So, my first time at the grocery store in Liberia, bought some rice, cooked it, put the rice bag in a Ziploc bag – pretty uneventful. A few days later I looked at the bag and saw two very small bugs crawling inside the bag towards the top. I was like, “How did they get in there?!? I thought I sealed the bag all the way…” I killed them, made sure the ziploc bag was closed and put it in the fridge for safe keeping.

The next time I cooked rice, after it was boiling on the stove I saw 5 or 6 of the same kind of small bugs floating in the top of the water!!! I was like, “What is going on here?!?” I googled it to see what the bugs were, if I needed to be concerned,  if the rice should be thrown away or if I could scoop the bugs out and still eat it. (In America I think my first reaction would have been to throw it out, but living around people who don’t get enough food to eat every day kinda changes your perspective. I also have had to become a little more go with the flow with eating here - lol)

I have never experienced the bugs in the rice phenomenon, but apparently everyone else in the world knows that you should wash your rice. In America the rice is sprayed to kill the bugs, but in other parts of the world, you wash your rice or just get extra protein… Mmm…

Washing it just involves rinsing it in water a number of times. The number of times seems to depend on the kind of rice and where you are in the world, but washing it gets rid of the bugs that may be in it as well as dirt and excess starch. It actually improves the quality of the rice. Since I’d already started cooking my rice and found that the bugs aren’t harmful, I scooped out them out, let the rice water boil a little longer than usual, said a prayer and ate it. J No complaints.

The next time I made rice, I rinsed it 3 times. I saw recommendations for everything from 2 – 9 times or to just put it under running water until the water is clear. The water isn’t safe to drink here, so I couldn’t do the latter, but I figured I’d rinse it until the water looked ok. The first time the water was really cloudy and bugs floated to the top. The second time it was clearer and only a few bugs. The last time it was pretty clear, so I let the rice sit for a bit, stirring it with my hand from time to time to make sure nothing was trying to hang on and then cooked it. SUCCESS!!! Not only were there no bugs, but the texture and taste were so much better!! Learn somethin new everyday! 

The Vice President Stopped by the Office

So far one of the most exciting days at the office was the day that the Vice President of Liberia, the Honorable Joseph N. Boakai, stopped by for a visit! I work for OIC International, and we have an affiliate in Liberia, LOIC. The Vice President was on the Board of Directors of LOIC for several years, and he wanted to stop by and see how things were going.

We were told he was coming at 11:00, so we all arrived by 10 to make sure we were there and everything was ready. A few of the staff from OICI and LOIC as well as the Board of Directors for LOIC waited for him in the boardroom as he was to address us first and get a tour of the facilities and compound and meet the rest of the staff.  When he came in the room he shook hands with everyone at the table, and then we all sat down. We had an opening prayer, then the Board Chair addressed the Vice President, then the Vice President spoke to us. He wasn’t what I expected. I thought he’d be tall and dynamic, but he is short and soft-spoken and moves kind of slowly and deliberately. He seemed like he was just speaking from his heart, but at first he didn’t look at us when he was speaking – he looked down at the table. As time went on, he started looking around the table.  He never visibly did anything to make me feel this way - during the tour he was very gracious to everyone, but I somehow had the feeling that even though he is older, quiet and slow moving, he is someone you don’t want to mess with.

Next we went on a tour of LOIC and OICI. When we came to OICI, the Director of LOIC introduced my boss and me to the vice president.  My boss then explained our program to the VP (using materials I helped create and put together!). He met a few more people and then went on to his next appointment for the day.

I’m not gonna lie, inside I was like, “I can’t believe this is happening!!! I was sitting at the same table with board members who are on the board because they are from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Youth and Sports , Directors of banks and other things like that and the Vice President of a country! There was only one other woman there and she was in her 60s. The rest were all men who were at least 10 years older than me! How crazy is that?!? I met the Vice President of Liberia in my first month here! I think this is going to be a good year J

The Wire...

There will be more on this later, but one of the highlights of my week has become going to the grocery store. On Valentines Day I went to the grocery store and got one of my new favorite things, Savannah cider from South Africa. I went to the store on my lunch break, and when I went home I cooked my dinner. After dinner I went to drink my cider and realized it needed a bottle opener and I don’t have one!!! I tried a few things around the apartment and came to the conclusion that if I cut my thumb while trying to open this bottle I was going to be very bitter. I decided I’d have to ask my neighbors.

I hadn’t met anyone on my floor, so I figured I’d just start to right and keep going until someone had one.  I knocked on my neighbor’s door, heard some noise inside and then the door flings open and this tall, lanky, middle-aged Australian man with salt and pepper hair is standing there and exclaims “Hey!!! It’s so great to see you! Come on in!” I was a little confused because I’d never seen him before and I wondered if he thought I was someone else, but this all happened in seconds and I was on a mission so I went inside.

Once inside he was like, “How are you? Would you like to sit down? Would you like some water? Would you like some tea?”  I held up my Savannah and was like, I actually was just wondering if you had a bottle opener… He was like “Oh yes!!! Let me open that for you!!!” And he took it and opened it and said, “I was just watching The Wire. Do you know that show? Would you like to watch an episode with me? Do you have a free hour or so?” I was like, “The Wire – the American tv show?”  He said, “Yes that’s the one!” I had never seen it but heard it was good and I did have a few free hours, so I said, “Ok. Sure. Would you like a cider?”  He said sure and I went and got one from my apartment.

We sat down to watch the show and talked for a little bit while we waited for the show to come on. He was very chatty (as he mentioned later, he never really gets visitors) so I didn’t really get to see that much of the show. About halfway through he realized he was talking a lot and was like, “Oh my goodness! I’m talking a lot! I should just let you borrow these. And that way you’d see them from the beginning.” I wasn’t going to argue with that! The little bit I saw was really good! And my three channels – CNN, Africa Magic and 24 hour soccer – had already gotten a little old.

I hate to admit this, but I watched the whole first season of The Wire in one week!!!! I can’t believe I didn’t start watching this show until I moved to Liberia and my Australian neighbor lent it to me! Hahaha – that is also one of the reasons I didn’t blog last week… I was following the lives of Avon, Stringer and McNulty in my free time… Mess, I know…

In case you were wondering, I’m on season 3 now. But! In my defense, he didn’t have season 2, so I’ve only watched a season and a half… Good times J

Mike, my Australian neighbor, has turned out to be very nice. If he’s going into town to go grocery shopping or something he always invites me along. He’s leaving Liberia on Saturday so I only have a few more days to finish watching his Wire dvds… ;) I don’t think it will be a problem.  People are discouraged from walking around at night, so most people stay home after dark unless they don’t mind driving in Monrovia at night. I’m going to have to blog about driving in Monrovia sometime – it’s an adventure for sure!

Apartment!

I’ve been in Monrovia for a month already!! Time has flown! Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. I got a little busy… Major events since I last wrote are:

·         I moved into my apartment

·         The Wire…

·         I met the Vice President of Liberia, The Honorable Joseph N. Boakai

·         Grocery shopping

·         Bugs in my rice!

I will separate entries for all of these things because otherwise it’d be long, and if you’re anything like me, you’d be like “mmm… too much talking…” and not read it. Lol. So, let’s begin.

It took two weeks to find an apartment for me. The staff here helped me look for places. Because of the differences in standards of living, expats tend to live in about 5 areas in Monrovia. The first day we looked at apartments, I saw a place I liked, but it was full and wouldn’t have vacancies until the middle of February. We looked at the rest of the places and none of them felt right. There was also a problem because my organization had allotted a certain amount for my housing, but there were no apartments available for that price. The Liberian staff took pity on me and took me to some places they knew of.  Those didn’t really work because they ALL had some type of hole in the wall or the walls and ceiling didn’t always connect to each other.

I thought a possible solution was to have a roommate, plus, that could also mean someone to do things with. I met up with 2 women also in their 20s working for NGOs.  We went to see a place together and neither of them noticed the 1 ½ foot hole in the ceiling above the kitchen.  I asked the man showing us the house, “What is that?” My prospective roommates were like “Oh yeah! Wow!” He said “it’s a hole” like it was no big deal. I just kept looking at him – ha probably not with love – and he explained there was a problem with the roof so a man went up through the hole in the kitchen.  I wanted to know what the problem with the roof was. He wouldn’t tell me but did tell me not to worry about it. The problem was fixed and they’d put a board over the hole. I knew at that moment roommates were not the way to go and this was not the place for me. Hahaha.

I ended up living in the first place I saw and liked, an apartment building in Congo Town, a neighborhood of Monrovia. I’d heard good things about the building. It has electricity from 5 p.m. – 9 a.m. on the weekdays and 24 hour electricity on the weekends (I get so excited about 24 hour electricity on Saturdays, you don’t even know!!! ), 24 hour running water - HOT AND COLD (beautiful!!!) air conditioning, tv (it has 3 channels – ha, they did not mention that), a weight room, free laundry facilities, a bar/restaurant and 24 hour security. So far, it’s been really great. I’ve met a few neighbors – all very nice. And interestingly, when Liberian people find out I live in Congo Town they get excited. Most expats live in another area of Monrovia. Lol – one person even told me she finds Congo Town to be "… too Liberian for her taste", but I’m liking it. There’s a market just down the road and I’d prefer being here than with all the other Westerners. I think it’s going to be a good experience. J

There are pictures on Facebook. I was going to post some here but the internet’s too slow for that now… You can also see the apartments if you google “TGH Apartments in Monrovia."

First Liberian Holiday!

Yesterday was the first holiday I have experienced in Liberia. It was Voter Registration Day! ...Yay!

That might not seem like a big deal for us, but for a country that was in civil war for 14 years, elections are a big deal and being able to register to vote deserves a holiday. Everything was shut down, stores, offices, etc. Liberian people who had not yet registered to vote had the opportunity to do so. I spent the day relaxing and ate Lebanese food. J Why Lebanese? My hotel is owned by Lebanese people. I noticed Lebanese people control quite a bit of property here…

I also recently saw my first parade here in Liberia. It was a “Pay Your Taxes” Parade! People had t-shirts, hats, banners and signs. Bands played. People danced. Good times. This is the moment when I knew I MUST have my camera with me at all times.

You might think, why would you need a parade in support of taxes??? We in America sometimes take for granted all of the things our taxes do for us. We’re able to have roads, sidewalks, public transportation, traffic and street lights, electricity, waste management, police, public officials and so much more because our tax dollars help pay for those things. Liberia doesn't have a lot of those things. It's still recovering from the war, so in many ways, they’re starting from scratch. Many children don’t get to go to school because there aren’t schools for them to attend. There are only roads in about 10% of the country and there are no traffic lights. Liberia’s police force started 5 years ago. Many of them don’t even have guns or weapons of any kind because they don’t have money to get them. (This also leads to corruption but that’s a story for another day…)