The Lord is my Shepherd Frozen Foods

That's a sign that you can see twice on the way from camp to Kokrobite,
clearly a chain of some sort. Other funny signs I saw this weekend,
or recently:
-"Original I see you" on the roof of a buildign selling timber
-"I saw doctor" on a shack right next door - eye doctor?
-"Mobile Water Industries" with a picture of a mobile phone
-"Expensive Contents" on the side of a truck
-"Highly Inflamable: no smoking" on the back of a gas truck

So, some random different stories and thoughts and such.

Moses, the soldier who picked us up at the airport, came to camp I
believe last Thursday (the 16th or so) in full uniform. Walking
around camp he got quite a few stares, of course, because the Liberians
saw a Ghanaian military uniform and were either scared or curious
or both. He complained that he was a nice guy, etc and the staring
seemed to bother him. He came back today and we ahd a nice chat
and a soda and he invited us to dinner for some real Ghanaian food.
He wasn't in uniform and he got confused a few times for a Liberian
so he's planning to wear it if he comes back to camp again. When
we went up to the top of camp to see Moses off today we encountered a
crowd in the trotro area. It's called the airport because every time
people are "repatriated" as they call it ehre (accepted by US, Canada,
etc for resettlement) they all depart from that place to a big crowd
of (jealous but happy) see-ers off.

I was going to type up some of my journal from this Thursday, the
day after I wrote that last entry. I was quite homesick that day,
but the next day I had a good day at school and was enjoying myself
so I wanted to show the positive contrast. But now I'm too lazy to
do that after spending two hours online here and at the other place
at the top of camp attempting to listen to the Red Sox game. First
I had to retrieve my password, then install a pluging several times
on several computers...no go. I can however watch on gameday and be
happy about how well we're doing and how many players we'll have on
the allstar team.

Friday night Alex, who's been going out at night with some LIberian
friends, took me out as well. Friday night on the town, refugee camp
style. Walking up camp around 10 it was interesting to see what
people were doing. Lots of clubs playing hip hop (American and African)
and people gathered around tiny TVs to watch old bad movies or play
video games. I even heard a bollywood song. Also about 40% of the
music they play is that god awful whiney song "Lonely" which is somehow
Ghana/Buduburum's biggest hit this summer just to torture me. Between
that and Amazing Grace pumped at 5am from the loudspeakers.... Anyway,
it was interesting to talk to these guys at night in a social setting.
Lots of playing pool, etc. The particular group we were with doesn't
immediately propose marriage, though they still hit on the white girls
a bit more than I'd prefer. I was able to talk to a few of the guys
about how they need to go out, even though some have no job, just to
maintain some sort of sanity and spend time with friends. I heard a
phrase along the lines of "This is real" over and over again. One guy
kept going on and on about how perfect America is with freedom of speech
yadayada...true that the US is far better than Liberia for that sort of
thing, but I kpet tellinghim it isn't perfect. He was going on as if
the streets were paved with gold...

Saturday, yesterday, was Beach Day for CBW. This was a fiasco from
before it even happened, when the international volunteers found out
it was mandatory and even if the locla volunteers didn't attend the
25,000 cedi charge would be deducted from their 150,000 monthly stipend.
Eventually after a ridiculous meeting in which Semeh tried to call
it a tax for the good of the organization and it seemed like they
were trying tomake money off of it they made it not mandatory. So
we showed up at 7am for the trotros that were to take us to Kokrobite
and of course they weren't there. We all left around 9, not the whole
organization but some of the teachers and various other staff and even
our cook for our hosue with her son. We went to Big Millie's where some
of the internationals were getting rooms for the night and I got a bit
of food, etc, but they kicked the locals off their volleyball court
and back onto the beach. I understood this - the place was booked for
the weekend and you don't want your paying customers disturbed, but then
they tried to kick the LIberians off the stretch of beach that is public
solely because they are Liberian. The owners of the place are Dutch
or something, but they still hadthis xenophobia, and the Ghanaian staff
were talking lots of trash. Of course the beach is clearly public, with
villagers sellign things and leaving their boats there, and the locals
even wander in and out fo the resort. It's too bad they are such
assholes as I really did enjoy the weekend I spent there. Anyway
peopel still seemed to have fun, good spicy rice and frolicking in the
waves like kids and playing football and this game invlving paths
and squares. Waiting for the trotro home I was comparing with one
of the local volunteers the prices here vs. america, but also
the salaries here vs. america. First he was envious fo the salaries
then he said with those prices it must be tough...didn't make the
connection that they're both higher so it works out.

Despite the rudeness, it's made for a relaxing weekend with lots
of reading and napping.

I'm almost out of time but quickly I wanted to note that I've been
thinking about the education here, how bad it is compared to the
education systems at home that I"ve spent my whole life complaining
about. I still will go on thinking it can be better at home, but
in America we're lucky to have what we do and it's good to have
gotten this perspective on things.