It has become obvious that life in Liberia is vastly different than the high-speed, must-do-it-yesterday life Americans have grown to love (or loathe). This fact becomes more apparent with each passing moment out here. Today was another example of this divergence from American life.
We couldn't send word to Pyne Town, which is in Sinoe County, of our impending visit. This, in turn, prevents us from travelling out there since we wouldn't reach the school in time to visit the children before they are dismissed. Sending word allows the teachers to delay releasing the children for the extra half-hour. As such, we opted to return to Nixon School today.
Students were continuing their 2nd Period testing today. Testing here is not like America. You don't sit in a classroom and have the teacher hand out the exams and then continue on with the day after the exam is finished. Instead, each subject teacher uses a specific classroom to administer the test. The teacher will then write the exam on the blackboard. The students, during their appointed hour, will arrive to the classroom, receive a blank piece of paper (with the school's seal stamped in the corner), and begin their examination. No student is allowed to enter or leave during the exam, either.Because of this, the classes are staggered for their exam schedule. The lower grades, 2nd through 5th grade for example, will arrive on one day for their exams followed by the upper grades the next day. This will go on for a week, beginning on Wednesday and finishing on Tuesday the following week.
Because there was not much to do today, I thought I'd take the time to talk more in depth about the food. If you want to eat in Liberia know one simple fact; you will eat rice ever day you are there. If you do not like rice one bit, there is little chance you will enjoy anything in this country. Fortunately for me, I enjoy rice quite a bit.
The concept of three square meals, or six small meals as many nutritionists will tell you is healthier, is lost in this nation. Instead, you have one large meal prepared for the day. It is typically served in the early afternoon. There will be a large dish of rice accompanied with a smaller dish of some type of "sauce." The sauce is the excitement for each meal. Everything I have had so far has been amazing. We've enjoyed a peanut sauce with beef, "greens" with duiker, potatoes with fish, and cassava with chicken. Everything is spicy and filled with exotic flavor. Especially the cassava. I think this is my favorite so far. It is funny because I don't like tapioca, which is made from the root of the cassava plant.
Cassava is an interesting plant. As I said, the dish was filled with flavor and spicy. There was a thickness to the texture of the dish, with the sauce saturating each grain of rice to ensure a dish filled with flavor. I wish I could compare it to a familiar dish, but unfortunately I cannot. I can say it is interesting to note if the cassava leaf is not cooked properly it can make you violently ill and consumption of the raw leaf can kill you. The leaf contains a chemical that leads to the creation of cyanide.
As I mentioned earlier, the meal is prepared in the early afternoon. Everyone will eat as soon as the dish is ready, but no one puts away the food afterwards. Since there is no central source of electricity, there is no concept of refrigeration or food storage. Instead, you leave the meal covered for the day and eat whenever you are hungry. Typically, Liberians eat twice daily.
Further, meals are not a family affair. The men will eat separate from the women and children. Men will sit in front of the home, talking about the topics of the day while the women and children eat in the back, near the preparation area. I'm not sure what they talk about, if anything, since I was never back there during a meal.
When we were in Zleh Town, the pastor of Trinity Lutheran invited us to visit his home. This, it turns out, means he wanted to serve us a meal. We sat in the main room, where the pastor's mother dished us the food, first with the rice in the bowl and then the sauce on top. This was the "greens" I had mentioned earlier. Now, this dish sounds bland, but it was by far the spiciest meal I had all week. If it weren't for 1.5L bottles of water, I don't think I could've lasted throughout the meal. Greens, in Liberian, mean the leaves of the potato finely chopped and served with oil, typically palm oil, and meat. As you can guess, I had never had the leaf of a potato before. Tastes pretty good if you ask me.
As soon as the woman served our dishes, she disappeared. We were left to eat alone and only saw her again after we had finished so she could collect the dishes and disappear again. The roles of men and women in this society are very defined and rarely blurred. Even when guests arrive, the men and women do not eat together. It was not uncommon for a woman to greet me, talk for a moment and then disappear to the back to eat while the men stayed up front.
I asked Joe about this later, and he said this was how the culture exists. It is a regimented division between the men and the women. He had mentioned it can lead to problems, especially in dating. I wasn't able to ask much more, but he touched on it briefly, stating that the couple will often be separated from each other during the date because of the requirements.
Somehow, I don't see how many young Americans, myself included among them, would find this aspect of Liberia culture enjoyable.
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