June 10, 2007

Small talk; Weather and Politics
As with most awkward conversations the two most common subjects are weather and politics, so I figured if I get them out of the way now I won’t have to deal with them later.
The weather here can only be described as uncomfortable. It is not so much the heat (80-90 degrees)as much as the humidity (90%). Right now it’s the rainy season so I’m told it’s a lot cooler then last month thankfully. Another positive thing about the humidity is my skin seems to be very soft, but other than that the heat can get very annoying and inconvenient. One other thing different about the weather is the rain, it’s a lot different than where I grew up (near Seattle), it comes down very hard and in big drops unlike Washington where its just the opposite. Monrovia rain feels warm and pleasant to stand in where as Washington rain was just really depressing.
Politics here are also very different than in the “states”, I saw a policemen pull over a taxi so he could “check it out” the other day, later I found out the policeman was probably hungry and was hoping the driver would bribe his way out of what would be a very long and thorough inspection. On the good side however the UN is helping to fix this problem by assigning UN troops as secondary police. (note to those who want to visit) If you get stuck with a Liberian policeman asking you what you are doing or when your birthday is for over an hour, flag down a white UN vehicle with red doors (UN police) and most problems will go smoother. One more fact I’ve noticed about the police here is none of them have guns (or any weapon at all), only the UN has guns (I guess this is good, because violence is most of what this country has seen for the past two generations. Well I think I’m going to stop there, I could go on and on but this is just small talk right?