"Two boiled eggs dot blogspot dot com?"

I interrupt my infrequent blog update on my new life in Liberia for this comic relief.

Last night, I was having dinner with several people, one of whom I just met. The topic turned to my blog. The new person asked what is my blog address.

"tuborgx dot blogspot dot com", I replied with a mouthful of cucumbers. Tuborgx is pronounced too-borg-x.

"Two boiled eggs dot blogspot dot com?"


On a more serious note, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was in Liberia yesterday and today.

Liberia Living – Home Sweet Home

Some of you are probably wondering what my cabin looks like onboard the Africa Mercy. In this post, I will give you a glimpse into my humble abode.

There is a wide variety of cabins on the ship, family cabins, couple cabins, and cabins for 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 persons. Based on my gender, age, length of commitment, position, and previous Mercy Ships service, using an undisclosed formula and points system, HR assigned me to a 4 berth cabin. This means that I share a cabin with 2 bunk beds with 3 other guys.

There is a tiny bathroom called the wet unit, and due to limited water supply, when we shower, we can only use 2 minutes worth of water.



A narrow hallway leads to the 2 sleeping compartments, each has a bunk bed, closets and cupboards. I have the top bunk in the 2nd compartment.





At the far end of the cabin is the lounge area, where we can supposingly chill and relax. However, given the minuscule size of the room (lounge can just fit 3 chairs, so where does the 4th guy sit?), I rather hang elsewhere on the ship.



In the beginning, I found my cabin inhumanely small and the bunk an accident waiting to happen. I used to live by myself and had lots of space. There is hardly any storage space in my cabin. After many days of agonizing, I was finally able to fit all my worldly belongings in my one closet and cupboard. I never slept in a top bunk in my life, and remember how sick I was when I first arrived? Climbing up that ladder on the first night felt like climbing a mini-Kilimanjaro. Climbing down was worse. There is a horizontal bar on the top bunk designed to prevent people from falling off while sleeping. However, the bar is flush with the mattress, so it offers no protections whatsoever. The only good it does is when I roll around in bed, and my knee bangs against the top of that bar, I am painfully reminded of the threshold.

One night, I rolled around in my sleep and all of a sudden, WOOSH! I felt cool air all around me, and a weight was lifted off me. Then I heard a soft THUD. Fortunately, it was my duvet, not my body, that fell on the ground. I got out of bed, climbed down, picked up my duvet, put it back on the bed, climbed back up, and went back to sleep. That was annoying, embarrassing, and funny at the same time. However, I was too sleepy to laugh.

After living in the cabin for a month, I am getting used to it. I appreciate its easy-to-reach-ness. Once I was already in bed when I realized my alarm clock (aka cell phone) was in the cupboard. Instead of having to climb down, get the phone, and climb back up, I simply leaned over, opened the cupboard, and retrieved the phone. I also developed a method to safely climb up and down the ladder in low light environment while half awake. This is not the best cabin on the ship, but also definitely not the worst. I suppose this is all a matter of perspectives, and I think I am beginning to gain some.

Soon, I will introduce you to the rest of the ship. A la prochaine!

Liberia Living - Month #1

Finally, a post on life in Liberia.

I've been living on the ship for a month now. There have been ups and downs, moments of assurance and anxiety, fun and frustration. I am settling in nicely, getting accustomed to ship life.

In upcoming posts, I will describe, in words and kilo-words, the ship I live on, the people I live with, and the city I see, hear, and smell everyday.