Happy St Patrick's Day from Liberia.
The Liberians have no idea who St. Patrick is and why Irish (whoever they are) celebrate.
After a very restless night I finally fell asleep about 4 am this morning and awake about 9 am.
Our first plan was to go to Gbarnga today to visit one of my Liberian daughters (Anna Kaydor Labala) who is the principal of the Tubman Gray United Methodist School. Under the order of the President of Liberia, George Weah, all schools are to be closed and the Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Liberia, Bishop Samuel Quire, all United Methodist Schools are to be closed for the next two weeks. Our plans were actually cancelled due to a gasoline shortage and we didn't want to travel about 2 1/2 distance to have and problem and not be able to get gas to return home.
Then, Jeff called about 10 am to tell us that he was having a problem with his car and needed to go to the garage to get it repaired. Therefore he didn't know for sure what time we would be able to come to us. We just did some sorting and checking and repacking some things. I took a nap and Jeff arrived around 2 pm. We decided to run some errands around town because it would take us and hour to get to the house only to be able to stay a couple of hours before we had to return.
We took off to go to the Brussels Airline office to check on our return flight. We had been hearing some rumors around and wanted to be sure what was going on. We got all they way downtown only to discover the airlines had been moved to 13th street in Sinkor. We are staying on 20th street in Sinkor. While we were in town I wanted to stop and get some sewing supplies so I could teach Jeff's woman O.Z. how to quilt. We parked and walked up the street to a sewing supply store where I was able to purchase 3 spools of thread, a pair of scissors, pins, needles and a ruler for about $3.50. I went to another shop where I purchased (you guessed it!) some more fabric so I would have enough for a wall hanging. For those of you who are quilters, I am going to teach her a simple 9 patch design with two prints and a solid. I had brought two king size sheets and she can use one for the backing.
Yes, of course, it is purple. What else could it be?
We returned to the car only to find that it had been booted by the traffic and parking attendents. Timothy had stayed in the car and they searched the car and asked if he could drive. He assured them that we had only stepped away for a few mintues and he did not know how to drive. We Jeff and I returned they wanted money to remove the boot from the tire. A boot is a metal frame that locks around the tire and will not allow you to drive away until it is unlocked and removed. Jeff offered them 300 Liberian Dollars ( the cost of parking is 30 Liberian Dollars). They refused. He offered them 600 Liberian Dollars, again they refused. They wanted $50.00 USD to remove the boot. I told them under no circumstances would I give them $50 dollars and that we would just continue to sit there until they released the boot. Several people came along and tried to argue with the police. Mostly that why would they keep me in a hot car and not release the boot. At this point they were only embarrassing themselves regarding their unrealistic demands, and did unlock the boot and allow us to leave. This took about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to endure. It always annoys me that just because I have white skin it is assumned I have plenty of money and was naive enought to give it to them.
We traveled on back to Sinkor to the Brussels office. After washing hands twice I was asked to stand outside in the line to talk to an airline personnel. They were coming outside to speak to us and then returning with the information required. More than one person was very annoyed at the responses they were receiving. Many were wanting to fly back immediately, the sooner the better. The security asked me to move down off the step around the building. This would put me in the sun and I had already had a reaction to the sun and a slight sunburn. I explained I was not able to stand in the sun and she allowed me to stay where I was. Soon the travel agent came out and inquired about my need. I told her I wanted to check my flight as we were scheduled to fly on the 25th. She told me to call back to the office. I do not have their number, so she asked that I return early Thursday morning.
I am in a quandry - do we return early only to be exposed to the virus on the plane and risk catching it or do we stay here where we are much safer and return when the airlines are flying again. We shall see and the answers will be made plain.
After all that, we returned to the hotel to climb to the veranda on the 3rd floor. A wonderful breeze was blowing cooling the air nicely. We had a beer/Sprite mix and Jeff had juice. Since we had not eaten at the big house, we decided to order dinner. Timothy wanted buffalo wings and we ordered a family size sausage pizza to share. The buffalo wings were like a deep fried wing with a very hot sauce to dip them in. I had one wing without the sauce, thank you very much. The pizza was huge and made with crust, mushrooms, ham slices, cheese and a little tomato with seasoning on the top. It was different, but very tasty and we finished it all. Jeff left to head home, and Timothy and I lingered for a bit having another Spite before returning to our room.
Showers, CNN news, a cold bottle of water and the computer. Our day is complete.
Until tomorrow
Peace and joy
Anne
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