So I've been trying to, err, vacate this past week. The whole team and I returned to Robertsport for three days of serious lounging, surfing, etc. Robertsport is a gorgeous little town at the far northern end of Liberia, far removed from the commotion and general nastiness of the big city. It was once beautiful, as you can tell from the hollow shells of once-ritzy hotels and even the shape of the streets. But development is only now beginning to reach there as infrastructure allows tourism again.
We ended up crashing a wedding on new year's eve -- one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, pure elegance on the beach at sunset. It was a South African and a Norwegian getting married, so the crowd was quite a mix and the music was 85% ABBA... I ate like a king, enjoyeda glass of champagne for the first time in aaaages, learned that dancing on sand is incredibly hard work, swam in the phosphorescent sea under brilliant stars, and finally turned in the following year at midnight......Eastern Standard Time.
The whole day I was simply mind-blown. The surfing, the company, the glow-in-the-dark ocean, everything. I couldn't catch my breath all day for the beauty. It's something I'd recently realized I was missing: since leaving Canada, I hadn't really been struck by beauty, and it's always been natural beauty that's made me feel closest to God. Liberia truly is a gorgeous country, and I am SO incredibly lucky to be here, doing this. It's humbling, and it's more than I ever asked for!
I hope, wherever you are, you too had a spectacular new year. And I hope that 2009 will be better than you expect -- better even than you know how to ask for.
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