I've got to admit it's getting better... a little better all the time

Hello! Happy Friday. Sorry I have been a little down this week, but thanks everyone so much for offering me words of encouragement, support and prayer. I really needed it this week and it got me out of my funk. Definitely still adjusting, but I have a new outlook. I had to accept the fact that I might not be doing everything exactly the way I thought I would here, but I have a great opportunity to learn a lot and hopefully help some people in need. I am supposed to be here and I will benefit from this experience. I might not be able to see the reason for being in Liberia now, or even before I leave, but I will eventually.

That said, I am still happy that the countdown is now in the 50's. Less than 2 months. Although I am happy to be here and happy to be doing work and happy to have the opportunity to learn... I am not happy about the bugs, spiders, bucket showers, lack of electricity, practically living alone etc. I probably will never be used to those things, but I can suck it up for the next 59 days :) Eyes on the prize... I already have a hostel booked for the end with a real shower and everything! Very much looking forward to my 2 week vacation after I leave and before school starts up again. Focus Nicole! First Liberia.

My week has gotten better every day and I have started to feel happier and more like myself. Overview of the week:
Monday- met the staff. Great people- very nice and welcoming. Worked on some assignments. Some that I was given, some that I took the liberty to complete to pass the time.
Tuesday- Kept working... all day in the office. It's hot in here! Crappy ventilation.
Wednesday- Finished up most of my assignments. I have been working on a nutrition database of commonly consumed foods in Liberia, nutritional guidelines for children 0-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-12 months, 12-24 months and 2-5 years and sample menus for each age group. It was a little difficult because they eat a lot of different foods than I am used to working with (cassava, fufu, bugs-seriously) and they call things different names (mangoes- German plums, eggplant-bitterball, fish with bones- boni, sesame seeds- Benny seed, avocado- butter pear, etc, etc), but I got it done. I have some adjustments to make, but on the right track. With that info I am going to go out into the field and observe some meals being prepared in various villages. I will weigh and measure the food and then be able to do a full workup and nutrient analysis of the main dishes eaten in Bong County. The whole process will probably take all summer.
At night I went over to the American couple's house that I met last weekend. It was nice to have a nice home cooked meal and good company! Thanks again Kristen and Tate and little mya!
Thursday- THE DR IS FINALLY HERE! And he brought with him a fan sent from the Monrovia office! My room is much cooler now, at least while the generator is on. 3-4 hours a day is better than nothing! Dr. George helped me download some software I will need on my computer and introduced me to the program. He pointed me in the right direction and I have been reading up on all the past data from the project. It is still in the pilot phase, so it is interesting to see all of the trials and errors.
Friday- Same stuff as yesterday. Lots of reading, but at least I have a purpose. I will hear summaries from the staff regarding their Positive Deviance inquiry on Monday and they will give a brief presentation about the community members they selected to be community health ambassadors and village health educators. Then Tuesday- Saturday (hopefully) I will go out into the villages with them to assist/ observe the training of the CHAs and VHE. I am also hoping to use this opportunity to go into people's homes and observe meal preparation and begin that part of my the one project. After next week, hopefully I will know enough about the program start heading up the clinical nutrition portion of it a bit more. Another thing I am hoping to do soon is go to the main hospital here and observe the treatment of the sever acute malnutrition cases. I met a Peace Corps worker and she is working in the hospital's acute care nutrition center. Hopefully I will get to shadow her sometime soon. It will be very sad, but a necessary part of my training and education.

Another answer to prayer... there is another person coming up here later in the month! A 25 year old Canadian girl! It will be nice to have the company. The Dr. is here now, but he pretty much keeps to himself. Another person to converse with will definitely make the time here more bearable.

So- thats my week. Tomorrow I still have some more reading and work to do here, and if I have time I want to go to the tailor to get some skirts made. I bought pretty fabric (they call them lappas here- big pieces of fabric that women use as skirts, dresses, and to sling their babies on their back), and to get a skirt made it is only about 5-8 USD. Good deal! Sunday I am going to a BBQ/ potluck with about 10 expats from the area. Looking forward to something normal.

One more thing. I would like to thank everyone who contributed towards the financial costs of my work in Liberia. After Tufts only gave me $800 rather than the $2000 they originally quoted, I thought I would have to pay a lot out of pocket. As of right now, I am only about $600 short of my projected costs ( including living expenses for the next 2 months- it could be less) and my current costs are almost covered. $600 out of pocket is MUCH better than I was expecting and I am truly grateful for all of the support! An extra special thanks to Renee and Jon! Wouldn't have come close without your help! I will do my best to do good work here and prove to be a good investment! And big thank yous again to the wonderful William, my parents and all my great friends for their support and words of encouragement these past two rough weeks!

Well goodnight, the generator is shut off now- which pretty much indicates time for bed! Hope you enjoyed the pictures from the last post!

-Nicole