"We just throw you over the fence and see if you can make it home on your own." About an hour into my time here in Liberia this is what a fellow expat tells me over dinner. 24 1/2 hours of travelling with little to no sleep and this is exactly what I want to be talking about, my ability to survive. Granted the night went exactly as I thought it might. I get off the plane, hop in the UNHCR borrowed vehicle and immediately get a phone call: "Welcome to Liberia! Have the driver bring you to dinner."
By the end of the night, the entire IPA office was there to meet me/watch me struggle to stay awake at the table. At some point, fries were brought to the table. I'm using the terms fries here because they we cut up and fried, but whether they were actually any vegetable that I had ever seen is yet to be determined.
Alot of the time was spent talking about a new project IPA is looking in to starting....and what exactly the Monterey Institute does over this internship period. Shoot, give me an opportunity to talk about the Monterey Institute over a plate of mystery fries and it's bound to be a good time. My director and I went back and forth for awhile over the "uniqueness" of the choosing process. She didn't choose me to begin with, I was offered up to her. She had many others to choose from, just none from MIIS. Not receiving a long list of people was foreign to her. I didn't choose them to begin with, I was given to them. So neither one of us chose the other, but hey "we're happy you're here now!" Thanks...
After too many minutes talking about the choosing of interns, they move on. "What happens if an org rejects the intern?" In theory we have back ups, but I didn't have those. You take me or I stay in Monterey. "Oh don't worry, if you can't hack it, we'll still send you home. There's plenty of time for that." I hate to break it to you buddy, but if this doesn't suit me, I'm sending myself home. Speaking of home...I've been up for 28 hours now, take me to my apartment. I need to rest for the coming months of free slave labor you'll be putting me through. Free on your end of course, not mine.
oh and by the way, if you threw me over that fence, I'd so make it home on my own.
What the heck??? Yesh, That'd turn me off. Glad you're being a trooper about it. We had two different interactions with our respective employers hahaha.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're safe! Oh and glad to hear you were safely picked up at the airport. Heh.
you're quite the rock star.
ReplyDeleteYou sooooo would, Brit!
ReplyDeleteJess hahaha yea, I think I would! Jacob I think even with my 3 day experience at this point you would have been more than turned off, i'm going to go with you'd be over it. After all veronica thinks i'm a rockstar, psh.
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