Strong names...great convo...better haircuts!



Trying the haircut thing one more time...I wasn't in a hut this time!

Keeping it rollin' guys...another fulfilling weekend!  I trust you all are being enriched following my experiences as much as I am sharing them with you.  Saturday morning rounds were uneventful.  Everyone from Friday's surgeries had good nights and the rest of the orthopaedic service is doing well.  Remember that guy I mentioned with the really bad forearm infection?  He's not doing so bad surprisingly!  His arm is showing signs of improvement.  It's remarkable how resilient some of these patients are even in spite of all that they go through.

Me and friends at beach right down the street from Thinkers!

 I tried to take a nap after I rounded, but got a call again that someone was coming into the ER who was injured playing tennis.  I ended up having to go back to the hospital to see the patient.  Turned out that the patient's friend is some bigtime guy who now wants to support the HEARTT program that I'm here volunteering through!  They were apparently pleased that everything worked out and  were able to be taken care off when I was there.  Gotta always take care of everyone the same-never know when a "VIP" might come through for you! LOL!



"Kashif Alexander," Lydia, and "David Alexander!"

I was invited to another friend's home Saturday afternoon to hang out.  Another amazingly beautiful home (I still have to get used to the social stratification)!  Our host Joyce and her husband were so gracious!  She had all this great food (I finally had fufu and soup-Saturday Liberian dish!) and chocolate and wines (I didn't drink any) that I couldn't pronounce.  They had this really nice sitting garden with a gazebo which was the arena for one of the best social gatherings I've had in a long time..

So the best part of the evening was meeting 3 gentlemen with really cool names.  We were acting all silly like we had these strong sophisticated names.  We all were introducing ourselves using our first and middle names shaking each other's hands like we were all important and stuff!  It was too funny!  It was like: "Good afternoon sir, I'm Kashif Alexander.  Well nice to met you, my name is David Abraham!  Ok gentlemen, my name is Abraham Albert-Lee.  And your name young man?? David Alexander!"  I don't know how it ended up turning into all that, but it was hilarious!  2 of them were there with their wives who were clowning!  They were like "I don't know why you guys are acting like your names are that tight!!"  Guys will be guys!  Anyway, speaking of great names-you should've seen their faces when I told them the name of my nephew and niece: Thadius Kristopher and Trinity Kyla!!  Bout knocked their socks off!! LOL.  I guess you had to have been there...

Look J-me and Adei!  Doing great!

We all sat down in the garden and were just talking about everything under the sun: Liberian socioeconomics, education, politics, relationships, healthcare, finance-everything.  We sat there for like 4 hours just having a very stimulating dialogue full of commentary, disagreements, agreements, jokes, etc.  I haven't had such an invigorating conversation like that in a very long time!  It was quite enriching!  I guess we were all trying to engage ourselves in this deep conversation b/c we thought we had these great names! They were all professional businessmen into petroleum, diamonds and gold, real estate and tourism.  It was cool to get all of their perspectives and insights on different things.  Good guys...

Today was a busy day.  I've been having a problem with the ATM machine close to the hospital so I got one of the drivers to carry me to an ATM at Mamba Point Hotel.  And it worked!  What a relief!  He then took me to the grocery store and then to grab brunch at Rozi's.  I've heard so much about Sunday brunch there and have been waiting to try it.  It was really good!  Before I went there I stopped by the barbershop-a real barbershop-to get a haircut.  I have to admit that I was a bit nervous especially after my first experience (you guys remember).  The shop was pretty cool though.  It reminded me of the barbershop I used to go to when I was a kid-Mr. Jerome's (R.I.P.).  There were people there waiting, socializing, and laughing with each other and the barber.  There was a light pepper dusting on the floor with all of the hair.  The clippers were humming.  It seemed like this place was one of the cornerstones of the neighborhood just like mine was when I was a kid-where you could go and just relax, renew, and get fresh after a hard week's work.  Amazing cross cultural institution-the barbershop.  Much better this time around.  Much better.

I was supposed to go to the beach with some friends from the hospital at noon so I was running trying to do everything early this morning, but I wasn't picked up until like 1:45!!  Same ol' thing even over here!  We were packed deep in the car too-I was really getting the Liberian experience today!  By the time we made it to the beach I had to get ready to leave-I had plans to go visit a friend's farm later in the afternoon.  Turns out that the beach was right by Thinker's Beach where Lydia and "Kashif Alexander" were (Kashif partly owns the resort there-Thinker's Village) so I caught a ride out to the farm.  It was about 45 minutes away on 168 acres-gorgeous.  I had some more traditional food and got a nice tour of the place.  It was so peaceful.  Gave me time to catch up on my writings in my personal journal.  It's amazing where you find yourself if you can put yourself in the right mindstate; I'm working just as hard-probably harder-than I do back in the states, but there's a peace here that I haven't experienced in all of my training...

Good night.

"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get."
-Dale Carnegie