Twas the night before Christmas
The day before Christmas began as any other. I went to the office, tried to get some work done on a Saturday, accomplished something small (Liberian English) and went to the Royal restaurant (AKA – UN restaurant). The night kicked off at a friend’s place. His family is known to host dinners that should be termed feasts of plenty. The dinner was only outmatched by the Texas style fruit basket presented by one of the guests, Lloyd (a Texan). There was ham, apple sauce, potatoes, gravy, ceres fruit juices, a vegetable casserole, and yes, wait for it………turkey! I will let you in on a little secret. The turkeys in Liberia are amazing (both when they are on the Christmas Eve table and on the range.) The meal was delightful and complimented by the pear and apple pies for desert (topped with soft vanilla ice cream).
While washing the dishes we talked about the dead end jobs we have had in our lives. Some of them were classic. John Mark had the record for the highest number of great stories and feats, such as being the longest standing employee at a gas station (he was there for two months) to working as a door to door educational textbook salesman and having the police called on him more than once. There were other stories of standard dead end jobs including: clean up crew at the cement factory, quality control at the lumber mill (watching to make sure that the planks went down the line one at a time) to washing dishes at a gas station diner.
After the feast some of us headed back to ELWA (the compound / campus as people call it) where I live. We had a good ol’ Christmas bonfire near the beach. The warm night was accompanied by fifteen voices joining in on a wide range of Christmas carols. It is as Bing Crosby sings it, “Singing carols by the fire with their hearts all aglow.” No sleigh here Bing, just a couple of drums, a guitar and some good, good times. The night was led by Kofa “The Energizer” Swen and Bob “B-diddy” David. They began us with some of the classics and we all struggled through the third and fourth verses together adding in a little “la, la, la” as needed. I admit it was a little surreal to be singing Jingle Bells sitting in shorts and a t-shirt with the humidity pushing the temperatures up into the 90s F. (that’s somewhere around 30 C for all the Canadians reading this.)
We broke up the evening by reciting poetry (yeah that was my contribution), telling jokes, and putting out some mighty fine raps. B-diddy told a funny story about a blind man he met in the Freeport area of Monrovia. One day Bob was watching a man with sunglasses on begging for money. He was led by a little boy who pointed him in the right direction. Typically people give 5 Liberian Dollars (10 cents) and they go on their way having satisfied their uncomfortable feeling of guilt. Bob was watching the man when a passerby gave 50LD (nearly a dollar) to the man. The 50LD note fell to the ground. The little boy looked up at the blind man and with a mischievous smile put the money in his shirt pocket. The blind man scolded the boy and told him to put the money into the little box in the blind man’s hands. “That’s plenty money-o” That is Liberian English for “the man is not so blind after all.”
There was also an attempt at a rapping session. The rap prize goes to Kofa “the ganzta” Swen who has inspired many with his hip-hop dancing manouevers and outmatched only by his copyrighted lyric. It goes something like this (best rapped to a syncopated cha cha rhythm.
This song usually ends in uncontrollable laughter from all of us, the loudest being Kofa “50 cent” Swen. Kudos to ya Kof!
The evening continued with song and cheer as we all broke it down with a little “Lean on me” followed by “Oh Happy Day.” The crowd really got into these ones. I will try to post some audio versions of these renditions captured on my friend Kevan’s camera. Truly, it was a night to remember.
While washing the dishes we talked about the dead end jobs we have had in our lives. Some of them were classic. John Mark had the record for the highest number of great stories and feats, such as being the longest standing employee at a gas station (he was there for two months) to working as a door to door educational textbook salesman and having the police called on him more than once. There were other stories of standard dead end jobs including: clean up crew at the cement factory, quality control at the lumber mill (watching to make sure that the planks went down the line one at a time) to washing dishes at a gas station diner.
After the feast some of us headed back to ELWA (the compound / campus as people call it) where I live. We had a good ol’ Christmas bonfire near the beach. The warm night was accompanied by fifteen voices joining in on a wide range of Christmas carols. It is as Bing Crosby sings it, “Singing carols by the fire with their hearts all aglow.” No sleigh here Bing, just a couple of drums, a guitar and some good, good times. The night was led by Kofa “The Energizer” Swen and Bob “B-diddy” David. They began us with some of the classics and we all struggled through the third and fourth verses together adding in a little “la, la, la” as needed. I admit it was a little surreal to be singing Jingle Bells sitting in shorts and a t-shirt with the humidity pushing the temperatures up into the 90s F. (that’s somewhere around 30 C for all the Canadians reading this.)
We broke up the evening by reciting poetry (yeah that was my contribution), telling jokes, and putting out some mighty fine raps. B-diddy told a funny story about a blind man he met in the Freeport area of Monrovia. One day Bob was watching a man with sunglasses on begging for money. He was led by a little boy who pointed him in the right direction. Typically people give 5 Liberian Dollars (10 cents) and they go on their way having satisfied their uncomfortable feeling of guilt. Bob was watching the man when a passerby gave 50LD (nearly a dollar) to the man. The 50LD note fell to the ground. The little boy looked up at the blind man and with a mischievous smile put the money in his shirt pocket. The blind man scolded the boy and told him to put the money into the little box in the blind man’s hands. “That’s plenty money-o” That is Liberian English for “the man is not so blind after all.”
There was also an attempt at a rapping session. The rap prize goes to Kofa “the ganzta” Swen who has inspired many with his hip-hop dancing manouevers and outmatched only by his copyrighted lyric. It goes something like this (best rapped to a syncopated cha cha rhythm.
The United Nation
Out on the ocean
For a distribution
To the population.
This song usually ends in uncontrollable laughter from all of us, the loudest being Kofa “50 cent” Swen. Kudos to ya Kof!
The evening continued with song and cheer as we all broke it down with a little “Lean on me” followed by “Oh Happy Day.” The crowd really got into these ones. I will try to post some audio versions of these renditions captured on my friend Kevan’s camera. Truly, it was a night to remember.
Comments
feeling a bit homesick now, so reading your blog. brings back good memories. You write really well.wish I was on the beach right now, actually standing on a surf board would be cool. I'll be home in a few weeks!-Janelle