The funny places you get cell phone reception...

So I'm at my site and my roommate and I are moving into our flat when we realize we have absolutely no coverage. We do, however, have reception if we walk 1-2km toward our workplace and either: 1) stand by the tilting pole, 2) stand by a patio where the women gather or 3) go in my roommate's office. That one floored us when we found that out today!

Things are going well. The site is amazing - misty clouds passing by jungle covered mountains. Yeah, it's rough. Only problem is mud. Mud and clay. It's everywhere. I'll upload a couple pics I took of our three and a half hour journey to travel 100km to the site. Three and a half hours to go about 62 miles. Would have been stuck twice if not for the incredible navigation/sliding skills of our driver. All this mud sure makes running a more interesting adventure.

They don't have coffee easily available so a teacher trainer (and former PCV) at the site gave us a cola nut, a bitter tasting nut loaded with caffeine. After eating only a quarter, it was like downing three shots of coffee!

We get power (they call it current here) from 4am-7am and then again at 7pm until 11pm or midnight, so we can charge our electronics. Hooray!

Gotta run. Time to head back to the flat. If you want to get in touch with my by phone, you'll need to call while I'm at work, probably sometime between 5 and 11pm my time (am 5 hours ahead of Minnesota time). If you don't get through, just wait and try calling again later. I'll be around.

Some more specifics for Liberia

The plane ticket came today, so the green light is on! There are 10 other people heading over and am excited to meet them all - we’re all Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.

I’ll be serving as an assistant to the Rural Teacher Training Institute (RTTI) Principal in either Zorzor or Kakata.

You can send mail to this address:
Micheal Miller
Peace Corps Volunteer
P.O. Box 707
Monrovia, Liberia
West Africa

Yeah ... about the mail service, from the Liberia Resource Handbook:

“Letter mail may be received at the above post office box number. Parcels may also be sent, but delivery is not reliable. If parcels are sent it is recommended to keep the tracking number for reference. Please keep in mind that mail delivery is nearly nonexistent in Liberia, so Volunteers should not count on receiving a lot of mail. Email is the best bet, but access will vary according to location.”


The civil war destroyed 80% of the schools. Currently there is no national power grid, meaning any electricity comes from generators or solar chargers. The telephone lines were destroyed as well, so my cell phone will be the means of communication and many of them also offer Internet access.

The foods that make up a Liberian diet are rice, plantains, fufu and dumboy (paste balls made of root vegetables), meat, pineapples, bananas, papaya, coconuts, mangos and other vegetables.

I COS in the last week of June, 2010.

Information about Liberia from wikipedia

Map of Liberia from google maps

from National Geographic

Peace Corps Response - Liberia

I've been keeping a lid on this to most people, but I applied, accepted the invitation and passed medical, dental and legal for a 10 month job as an assistant to the principal at a teacher training center. It's different than the PCR position I applied for last year, where I would have taught English/Math to students. Just found out that I will fly out Aug 22nd in the afternoon. Will post more about the position in a couple days.

Whoo hoo!