T.I.A.--"This is Africa"

This is a popular explanation to many of the situations that happen around here. T.I.A.—This is Africa. To branch off of that, I’ve been making a list called T.I.L.—This is Liberia. So far I’ve got 3 pages of things….and I want to start sharing them with all of you. Please feel free to post your own T.I.A. or T.I.L. experiences. Here’s my first 15.

1. You sweat all day, every day.
2. You have a cutlass by your front door, along with a broom and a baseball bat.
3. Your hallway décor consist of 8 body boards leaning up against the well.
4. You begin to shiver upon entering any air-conditioned establishment.
5. A pint of Hagen-Daz ice cream has a $25USD price tag!
6. If you’re not eating rice or bread- well, then you probably aren’t eating.
7. You have forgotten what it’s like to shower with hot water, and without wearing flip-flops and bathing suit.
8. You use a bucket of water to flush the toilet, your sink is propped up with a stick and you spit your toothpaste into the tub; and you don’t use the sink or tub for their intended purposes.
9. You drive down the road honking your horn—for no reason really, but nobody minds because everyone else is doing the same thing.
10. There’s no point in using a wallet—you need a small bag to carry around $20USD worth of Liberty.
11. You greet everyone with “ah-lo” and ask “how you coming on”—even though you already know the answer.
12. When asked “how you coming on”, you answer with either “aright” or “trying small”—no matter what.
13. You crave milk, beef and salad (or maybe that’s just me?).
14. Any round, typically green-ish, fruit-like thing is a “plum”.
15. You respond to “wha mah”, “chinee mah” and “auntie” and tend to not respond to “fin jew” or the Liberian smooch sound. (translations: white man, Chinese man and fine jewel)
    
    AND....you are told there will be a 30 minute intermission from the internet while making a blog because they need to refuel the generator!