A trip to the hotel...

Hi! Things have been going pretty well. This past weekend, I worked 12 hour day shifts on the ward. We spent a lot of time talking and getting to know the patients, it was good. I was tired by Monday, though, and rested most of the day. Yesterday, I went to the market, bought some fabric to have a sun dress made at the tailors. I forget how exausting it is to go out into Liberia. Fun, but tiring. Its a city of a think 1 million people, after all, it is the capital city of Liberia, and there are more jobs in the city. So there are plenty-plenty people everywhere, its loud, lots of horns honking, music blaring, young men hollaring at us their affections. My favorite from yesterday was, "Hello, how are you? Fine? I looove you." another one, "Hi, I want to marry you". After some shopping, we walked up the hill and there is a big hotel that was really nice and beautiful before the war, and during the war it was ruined, but the structure of the building is still there, so we went up and had a tour of it. Here are a few pictures from the hotel. I guess it is now owned by the Libyan government, there was 2 security gaurds there, supposedly to keep people from living in the building and to show the visitors the grounds. We talked to a few people who live in the surrounding houses, who lived there during the war. Below is a picture of the hotel on the hill- its a view from the mercy ship.

A few views from the top floor of the hotel:

These other tall buildings were also damaged during the war.

Unfortunately, its not appropriate to take pictures up close within the city of houses, people, ect. So this is a small taste of Liberia from 8 stories up. :) Looking at some of the destruction of the war, I'm reminded of a quote by a teenage boy in a video we watched on the ship called "Sliding Liberia", he said, (and I'm paraphrasing) "when I was a boy, I thought the rebels were animals or monsters of the forest, I didn't realize they were human beings because of the terrible things they were doing. I didn't think people would do those things to each other!"

I am thankful the war is over in Liberia, and that they are in a rebuilding season. I'm glad I never lived through that.