Head for the Hills - Bomi Hills!

First, sorry it has been a few days since my last post - the internet has been a little finicky - but no worries, I'm back with lots to share!

The sports teams here play some games within a league, and then some games are just arranged by individual schools.  We were recently invited to travel to another school to play, so Friday we ventured out on our first trip out of Montserrado County and into another part of Liberia - Bomi County!  The process leading up to the trip had been quite interesting - up until the beginning of last week we were told that the school we were playing did not have a female basketball team, so we would not be going.  Wednesday, however, we found out that the school was going to put together a team, so we were set to go (in the end it turns out the school was not able to put together a team, but we got to go with our girls anyway!).

Friday morning we loaded up into Ricks' vehicles - two 15 passenger vans and Old Blue (the school's bus) and headed to Bomi.  The drive only took a little over an hour - Bomi is the next county north from Montserrado - but it was a beautiful drive.  We saw all kinds of trees, including rubber trees, one of Liberia's many natural resources, and we even saw... hills!  Bomi county is apparently known for its hills (the road we took is actually called Bomi Hills Highway), but it helped me to feel a taste of fall to see hills surrounded by low-hanging clouds (in my mind I associate mountains and hills with fall in NC)!

After we arrived at the school and were welcomed by the principal, we knew we had some down time before the games started.  So Ann Elizabeth and myself and about 6 other teachers/staff loaded up in a van and headed over to Blue Lake, the major landmark of Bomi County.  Bomi used to be a major location for iron ore mining, until one day the miners struck... water!  Now, tucked behind a mountain is the Blue Lake, a beautiful lake that currently supplies a bottled water company on the lake.  The lake was a beautiful sight, and most of the teachers had also never seen it before.  It was so fun to experience the excitement of nature's beauty with a group that was so appreciative.  The teachers just kept exclaiming "Blue lake!" and "God is good!" as we drove around.  We eventually went down to the water - very clear - and walked around, taking it all in, and taking a few pictures as well.  Ann Elizabeth and I wished we had our bathing suits and the whole day to play, but we enjoyed just wading in a bit anyway!

After the lake, we hurried back to the school where the girls' kickball game was about to begin.  It was a good game, but sadly Ricks lost to Dewey.  From there we headed up to the basketball court where the boys were getting ready to play... then the rain hit!!  All day the clouds had been looming, providing some great shade.  When the bottom finally dropped out, however, it rained and rained and never stopped.  After hovering in a hallway for about an hour, the school brought us in to feed us lunch - potato greens (one of our favorite Liberian meals!).

After waiting out the worst of the rain, we moved to the soccer field.  Yes, after about 2 hours of driving rain, we were about to watch a soccer game.  Suffice it to say that it was undoubtedly the wettest, muddiest game of soccer I have ever witnessed.  Every player was drenched to the core, they all slipped and slid around the field and the ball often stopped mid-roll in a puddle.  It was definitely an amusing game to watch.  It rained throughout the game, and as I stood with my individually-sized umbrella, I had a few new friends... at one point there were 9 people including myself under my single umbrella - me and a whole lot of little boys!  It's amazing how a bond can form with strangers without a word being spoken.  Sadly, Ricks lost 2-1 after a last minute score by Dewey.

After the soccer game ended the sports tournament was done.  We finished a little early due to weather, so at the students' request, we took them all up to see Blue Lake.  This time we spent more time up at the water bottling factory.  Who would have thought that I would come to Liberia to see how water is bottled?!  It's an interesting process that would be long and boring to describe, but it was a wonderful experience to share with the teachers and students.

After leaving Blue Lake we headed back to Ricks.  The formerly short drive was now long and slow... Old Blue was having some issues, so we had to drive about 25 mph all the way back to school.  Normally, this would not have been a big deal... but at that point it had been about 12 hours since I went to the bathroom (I still haven't gotten over my modesty enough to learn to pop a squat!) so it was a little torturous!  Probably more information than you needed... haha.  Finally, we made it back home to Ricks, exhausted but grateful for the adventurous day.  It was fun to travel Liberia with our friends and experience something new together.  After being up in the hills for the day, I decided that I need the hills/mountains in my life.  They are good for the soul!