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."