Hi. Ivy here! I’m going to tell you some of the things I miss most about Zuannah Town. I must continue to write until I have finished answering the questions Andrew Dee Jones wrote out for me.

1. I miss that place (I wrote “that place” because  Zuannah town is too hard to write). I miss it because….. Because the cooking was really good.
2. I loved the river too. I love the river because you can go swim in it, and you won’t get eaten by piranhas.

My life changed when we moved from the village to a private compound in Bible College because I had a lot more friends my age to play with (at the orphan home the kids were younger or older than me, but we were still friends). All of my friends at Bible College were really nice to me, except for Tina. But she was like, 25. Angela and Tina were the best Lappa players. Jaqualine was my friend too, but she left. She was very nice, but sometimes she didn’t wear a shirt! And she was a sort of grown up girl.

Lappa is a game you play with three or more people. You split into teams with an equal number on each side. If you just have three people in the game, then two people stand on the side and one person in the middle. That person is trying to line up all of the slippers while the other people on the sides try to throw and hit the person in the middle with a ball that is made from a sock filled with sand and plastic and then tied. If there are five people and you want to split into even teams, one team gets three people and the other team gets two. And the team with two people chooses the best person on the team to play for the last man. If you line up all the shoes and then scatter them, it’s called, “making a game”. If you make a game, then everyone on your team that’s out, can get in again.

So, all in all, I liked living in the private compound in Bible College better.

The way I grew and changed in Liberia….

1. My dogs really made me happy. They made me laugh. I was the only one who took care of them. One time during a rainstorm, Cosmo was hiding in a corner on the porch. So I took a blanket and covered him so only his head was sticking out. I learned that dogs have a lot of energy and love to play.

The things I learned from making friends in the neighborhood is…..

That Angela is a very naughty girl. But she will always be my best friend there. I also learned that some Liberian kids will set their mind to something and then try really hard to do it, until they know it is impossible. Like, one time… Like, all the time… someone would kick the lappa ball onto the roof. And they really try to get it down until they do.

3.13.17

Hi. This is Ivy. Today I will be blogging about my dogs, and a few other things. Let’s get started!

I have two dogs. A girl and a boy. The girl is Olympia, and the boy is Cosmo. Well, we’re still thinking about the boy’s name. It’s either Cosmo, The Cuteness, or pup. I bought him with my toothfairy money. He cost five hundred L.D.= five U.S. dollars. He’s so tiny (and fat) (and soft)! And I love them so, so, so, much! That’s why every morning before I do literally anything, I go to greet my best friends. When The Cuteness gets really excited, his tail wags so enthusiastically that his whole entire rear end is wagging too. It’s so funny and cute when he does that! Olympia ran away a couple of times. Last time it was for like three days! But she’s always sitting at the gate waiting for us to open it so she can get in and eat. But last time she ran away, I was sick. And I didn’t go outside for a while. Then I finally realized that I hadn’t seen my dearest, precious, darling daughter for a while. So I went outside to greet my dearest, precious, darling daughter. Man, you should have seen how excited she was to see me! The way she ran towards me and her ears flipped back in the wind and I swear that I saw her smile.

Today I was thinking about our trip to Hawaii. A couple of years ago, we went to Hawaii. I remember snorkeling at the beach. And then I saw a turtle. It was rather big, and then I found a way to get behind it. I distinctly remember reaching my hand out and touching its shell. Just a little bit. It was cool.

BYE!

12.27.16

Hello! I have not written in awhile because of my dog attack (not MY dog, but A scared dog that attacked my body). You did see the pictures, didn’t you? Well, if you didn’t, you should. Because then you just have to see how brave and tough I am! I got about eight punctures altogether. Two on my left hand, three on my right hand, two on my face, and one on my neck. The one on my neck is less then half an inch away from my juguler vein. And if it was actually on my juguler vein, my dad said it would be a danger to my life.

Of course the dog died, (I’m not telling you how) and then it fed a hungry family. (They eat dogs here don’t ya know.) I had to get stitches that very day.:( It was a long drive to the clinic, my dad singing primary songs almost the whole way. We started somewhere in the afternoon, and ended when it was really dark out.

Unfortunately, before they sew the stitches in, they have to give you shots around the wound. I’m not gonna say how many because I don’t know. All I know is that it depends on how many stitches you’re gettin’ in that dang old hand. I had to get sitches on every wound except for the ones on my face and neck. And man, when they put those dang shots in it hurts so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so dang bad! Man, I was screamin’ so loud in Dr. Bobby’s ear! The dumb thing is those shots are suppost to make it not hurt. That’s messed up. But my mom hugged me tight and dad gave me a blessing and kept telling the doctors what do to.

The second container came last week. There were two things that I was really lookin’ forward to. The Christmas tree, and the keyboard. Well it turns out that there ain’t even a Christmas tree in that ol’ container. Well, what do I know, maybe there’s a Christmas tree in that container. In one of the boxes. There are hundreds of boxes! And the keyboard is probably in one of those boxes, too.

Merry Christmas! I got some treats, I got some clothes, we moved into the dome house, ok. See ya’ll later!:)

Ivy

Hi! This is Ivy! Remember me? I moved to Africa about four months ago. We’re at our halfway mark, I think. I don’t know what to write about…

I wonder what we’re gonna do on Simon’s birthday this week!

We are taking a break in Monrovia while my dad makes some “changes” or something like that. Living here is… AWESOMELY AWESOME!!!! Last week we went to this pretty-much-American ice-cream shop! It had a bunch of different flavors and everything! I got a ginormous ice-cream cone!:) I got some good flavors too.

I made a friend here that lives next to where we’re staying. Her name is Tia, and she’s from Lebanon.

I don’t really like writing blog posts. That’s why I only write one every two weeks or so. Hahaha! Just kidding. Not funny. I’m forced to do it.

Monrovia is really crowded. The first time I was in Monrovia was at the airport. But the second time I was there I was actually outside, where it was SO crowded. I was Christmas shopping. It was so crowded that I almost started crying.:( Bye! 🙂

10.29.16

When I wake up in the morning, I usually have to go to the bathroom really bad.:( I go to the bathroom and then I come back to the room that I share with all of my brothers and sister, and lay in bed for a while longer. Then I eventually get up and get ready for breakfast. I like oat meal for breakfast the best. I allways eat a golden plum with my breakfast. Thats probably my favorite food here. I have to peel it with a nife then eat it, but the pit has a bunch of like ropes on it. Then I wait around for a while goofing up with Charlie. And then the Mom is ready for me to come and do homeschool. After I finish allmy math, we go and eat lunch. Then we do the other part of homeschool.

10.6.16

I “have not yet learned to appreciate” (hate) sharing a room whith all of my two brothers and sister.

I “very much looking forward to” (can’t wait) until we move into the dome house. That will be so fun! We don’t have doors to the rooms in the dome house. We just have curtans.The only door we have in the house is the front door.

We used to have a pet dog but he got eaten after he chomped on Charlie. So we are getting a new dog! This one is going to be a girl. Mom and I want to name it Alice.

There is also another pet that we own, but we did not really plan on having it. There is this family of a cat and its four kittens. They are so cute! Sometimes I catch one that is not very afraid of me because I have caught it so many times. Sometimes I feed it. One time I cought one of Bingo’s sisters. Bingo is the cat that I usually hold that is not very scared of me. (Bintu named it.) And Bingo’s sister was way more scared than Bingo. That’s why I let it go after like five seconds (ouch).

Bye!

10.2.16

I am at church right now. I am watching general comfrence on a t.v. I kind of wish I were at home staying in my p.j.’s all day, eating my box of ceareal. But sitting in an uncumterble chair at church with a bunch of other people is not that bad.I did not like public school here so I am now doing home school here. At least the church that I am in has fans.

friends: Flecia is very nice Small Princess is very social. Maby a little too social.

It is really hot here all the time exept when it is raining. and it is’nt even dry season yet! I DO really like it here so much a lot very good!

We got a puppy! The way we got the puppy was one day we went to the beach and we were walking home and the kids saw some puppies. They were newborns. We found out that they were for sale, and so we planned to buy one. We had already had a dog, but then we found out that he was violent. So we gave him to some people that killed him and ate him.

So anyway, we saw the puppies and planned to buy one. But they were still nursing, so we had to wait two weeks. When we got the dog, I did not go. But when they did come back whith her, she was twice as big, and sick, and smelled really bad. That’s because she puked during the car ride. Mom and I gave ger two baths, and then she slept in a towel the rest of the day. She slept in the hall by my room, and she whined during the night. She improved a lot the next day, and for dinner that night, we gave her some dry rice and milk. She liked it, and ate until the bowl was clean.:)
I wanted a puppy because it would be fun to train it from the start. Everyone here took a vote on names, and she is not named Olypia. The only bad thing is that she whines almost every night.:( But I like that she is very playful. There is a toy dog that we have. it has a cord from its neke like a leash. if i hold onto the leash so the toy dog is on the ground, and bounce it up and doun, she will fight it. and i also got a peice of rope whith a knogt at the end like a ball. i tied that rope to a stick. i hold onto the end of the stick, and she trys to catch the knogt at the end of the rope hanging on the stick. when she does catch it, we play tug of war wheth the rope. Me and Simon made a dog house for her.:)

I got my allowance on Monday. All the kids here in the orphanage get a monthly allowance. It’s different for different ages. I got $160.00! Well, Liberian Dollers. Which is the same as $1.60. But you can buy a lot of stuff with that!

I made a fort made out of palm leaves and sticks with Charlie and my friends and I like it.

It’s really hot at church and there’s only one fan in the whole Primary room and it wasn’t on today.

I like school in Utah better than I like school here. It’s really loud at my school because the walls dividing the classrooms don’t go all the way to the ceiling, so you can hear other classes when you’re trying to learn. And sometimes, kids just throw things over the wall and you’ll just be sitting in your chair minding your own business, and bam! You get hit in the head with a balled up piece of paper.

We went to the beach yesterday. It was fun. I always get lots of water in my mouth though and it’s gross. Also, myy eyelashes don’t cooperate right and I always get hit by the big waves and it feels like they’re getting pulled off.

Today is windy.

My feet are itchy.

On a scale of 1-10, I give this week a 7.

I’m going to go take my bucket bath now.

Bye.

I am having much fun here! My best friends are: Small Princess, Felicia, Big Princess, Decontee, and that’s it. My least favorite thing is taking a bath. You have to pump a bucket with teh water pump. Then you take it to the bathroom and you have a little cup that you take and scoop up some water. Then you wash and dump it on you. Then you are done. Other than that, I’m having a fine time. I miss all of my friends. for some reason, I have this thing called heat-rash. It is where I get all these tiny bumps all over my arms, and neck, and chest, and face. And it really itches! I have to put on this heat rash powder every night after my bucket bath. They call it a bucket bath.
School starts tomorrow, which is Monday. Today is Sunday. I stayed home from church today because we have so many people that we have to switch off every Sunday, and I went last week. There is no piano in any of the rooms, so when we sing songs, it is so plain – even in the sacrament meeting room! I miss everyone so much! I hope you are having a good school year. Wish me luck on my school year! I am going to go to the fifth grade. Simon, Ruby, and Charlie are also jumping up a grade.
Whenever I walk around in Zuannah Town or go into town, everybody stares at us because we are white. I miss you all so much! Goodbye!

I am kind of exited to go to Africa? I know that I’m going to be really  hot during the day and night. One thing that I’m really not exited about is the spiders! I don’t like spiders! I’m going to miss school because I don’t get to go back to it. I’m also going to miss all of my friends. But I know that when I come back from Africa, I’ll feel the same  because I know that I’ll make friends there. Anyway, I think that I’m going to have to do a lot of work there because washing the dishes takes all day there. And the clothes! YOU HAVE TO DO THEM BY HAND!!! I’m exited to go for the beach and friends. I don’t want to get bit by mosquidos. THE END