June 23, 2007
How to cross a four lane highway (like a Liberian)

Step #1 – Balance a 5 gal bucket of water on your head. Acquired from the pump across the street from where you live.

Step #2 – disregard all crosswalks and walk directly to the side of the road.

Step #3 – quickly calculate the speed that the next car is traveling at and how fast you think you are, dash out on to the road.

Step #4 – realize that the car is traveling faster than you thought and isn’t going to slow down, compensate by stabilizing the bucket on your head and run faster.

Step #5 – stop on the centerline dividing the right and left sides of the road. Wait for another small gap in the traffic.

Step #6 – dash out into the other side of the road. Hope people slow down so you can make it the rest of the way across (if your not that brave repeat step #3)

Step #7 – Finish crossing the road and walk directly to where you live and empty the bucket of water so you can wash dishes and clean your shirt. (repeat all over again if you want water for drinking or rinsing)

It’s amazing how much the people here have to do for what we would consider an easy task.