Nationalization?

8 years. To an eight year old that is a long time. To the rest of us who have lived from 2000 to 2008 it's been a hell of a long time too. Hopefully we are learning. I just wanted to say something very quickly about the bailouts going on at home now. Viewed at from over here, it sure looks like nationalization. The United States has a GDP on roughly 13 trillion dollars. We're number #1! Our government has recently bought out 850 billion dollars of that. All of this can be found out on Google. I'm not making up the numbers. So one of the bigger stockholders in our economy is Uncle Sam. So maybe the 25th of September should become a holiday in America. The Day of Nationalizations. It's a holiday here. June 24th. It's a damn good holiday too.

Please don't think I'm saying America is doing things wrong. Trust me, after living here in Mozambique for 3 years I've come to love America. She does a lot of things right! I'm just hoping and praying and begging that we get our collective heads out of our asses and off our high horses thinking that the US way is the best way and only way. We get alot of things right, but we get ALOT of things wrong too. I'm just laughing, because it's seems to my eyes that America is having to save herself by dying her wool with the slightest hint of the newest red socialist. Lady Liberty is putting on the Little Red Riding Hood cape as she goes off to the free market. What's really wrong with that? This ain't Regeanism of the 1980's. Time's change and the only thing we're number one at anymore is (military) spending.

Don't we need something we can be proud of?

51st State

Okay, there are many jokes about Canada, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel etc... being the 51st state of America. But I just found an article that says otherwise. I've been doing some research and the voting population of America is roughly 215 million people. However, that the amount of Americans who are over 18. 75 % are actually registered to vote. That's 161 million people. But people who actually vote (because in our wonderfully enigmatic governing practices, voting is on a TUESDAY!) is about 57% of that number. So the grand total of 92 million people actually decide who "the leader of free world" Scary thought huh? But maybe an extra 4 million can make a difference.

200!!!!!!!!

SO in the spirit of my 200th post I thought I'd go WAY deep.

Enjoy!

So I was watching this movie I really love last night called SAVED! It is such a light and fluffy but hilarious movie. I was surprised how much I liked some of the writing. I pulled out some of the quotes. Having just finished this book called INFIDEL by a former Dutch MP, I’ve started thinking about religion a lot recently. What does religion mean to me? Can I really call myself Catholic since I’m by my very nature against much of what the Vatican decrees? Is religion about submission to a higher power or a conversation with it? I’m going to list the quotes now and give a slight explanation of them all. Enjoy, I know I am.

This (the bible) is not a weapon… YOU IDIOT!!!!

This is after the main character gets a bible thrown at her in an effort to “save her soul.” The Bible/Quran/Torah as a weapon… discuss….

You’re not born a gay, you’re born again.

I beg to differ…

Burn in hell you narrow minded tacky ass bitch!!!!

The only “Jewish” at an evangelical Christian school (who is actually the most “Christian” of them all) is yelling at this Bible thumping cheer leader who repeatedly tried to force JC upon her. Why is it that some of the most outwardly religious people are some of the narrowest minded?

You have everything…. What are you afraid of?!?!

A brother talking to his sister in the movie. I thought this could pertain to Americans right now too. After living will all this fear, I think it’s time to realize that as a country, we do have everything… so what is it that we are actually afraid of?

I know in my heart that Jesus still loves me!

The gay ex boyfriend of the main character who happened to get her pregnant in a effort to “cure his gayness.” This just says it all to me. Religion is about the feelings you have in your heart and not what you are told from outside influences. It’s all fine and good to do things in a group (we all love company) but without it coming from the heart, it’s empty.

No one fits in 100% of the time!

‘nuf said, could it be more obvious?

Why did God make us so different if he wanted us to be the same?

Really good question no? I mean how boring would it be if we were all black, white, yellow, or green. If we were all the same religion how would we get to experience wonderful feasts like EID or Seders? So I’m thinking we should get off each others backs and just let other people ‘do their thing.’ We can still think they are weird and strange though because what else would we have to talk about?

I think the Peace Corps needs to caution on some of their literature. We think we sign up for this to change the world and help others. I’m beginning to realize that it’s the world (Mozambique) that has changed and helped me.

I feel sorry for the Baracudas

I asked a friend of mine in Germany about the Germans view of the elections in America. I'm sure I don't have to get into it here. You probably all know what they think. The PS of her email to me is what got me though.

PS: Was Sarah Palin betrifft: ich finde jeder Satz über sie ist ein Satz zu viel. Mir tun nur die Barracudas leid, die mit ihr verglichen werden!

I'm giving the sentence here so ya'll can Google translate it too. This is what she said.

PS: In relation to Sarah Palin: I find that every sentence about her is one sentence too much. I'm just sorry for the Barracudas that are compared with her!


This coming from a country that has elected Angela Merkel! Who by the way comes from a Party that makes Republicans look like the "liberal pansies" they are so scared of. Yet somehow she can't stand the touch or sight of George Bush, as seen below at a G8 summit in Russia.
What a face!




I'd be scared too! He's probably not that good of a masseur.


This same friend was at the rockstar event in Berlin. 250,000 people right in the center of the city. Could just anyone get that? Also, he was able to speak at Brandenburg Gate. Wow...










Poor woman looks happier here.

A View From Hell

A view from Hell.

Don’t yell at me, call me names or say I’m racist please. After all, I’ve lived here for 3 years. But I live in my personal view of hell. For those of you that have seen my pictures, you may be confused or think I’m whining – but I’m not. This past weekend I went to a town about 80 km south of Maxixe (50 miles.) I had a wonderful ride down, I even got the front seat. But when I was sitting there in the front of the car watching BEAUTIFUL Inhambane Province roll by, I realized Africa is only going to change if Africans change it. The entire first world could come here and do 2 or 3 years of work but that’s only a surface band-aid. I realized it is hell for me because people don’t question. People accept the status-quo and have resigned themselves to it “because we are poor and we can’t change a thing.” This idea, never to question always to accept just gets my blood boiling!!!!! There’s about a billion people on this continent, while the “West” only has about 700 million people in it. Look what we were able to accomplish! Took a long time, but now 99 percent of the west has running water, electricity, etc. Imagine what Africa could accomplish if people stopped accepting the status quo. I noticed this status quo so much this past 24 hours. Here are some examples.

When I was coming back from Inharrime, I went to the chapa stop. I was excited about getting the front seat again. Then I noticed the chapa was empty. These chapas won’t get going before they have at the VERY LEAST 15 people in them. It was going to be a long wait – an hour and a half long. It didn’t matter because I had this really good book to read. But reading it for an hour and a half straight sitting in the African sun isn’t that enjoyable. People FINALLY started coming. The ride should be about an hour long, but could be as long as 2… or so I thought. We started off finally and went straight to the gas station, even though the driver had left the car idling for about 40 minutes. (think of the saved gas!!!) We proceeded out of town and stopped about every other tree. A cute girl would run out to stop the car, low cut shirt, shapely skirt, you get the idea and the driver would stop. An old grandmother that probably needed to go to the hospital came out to stop the car. No luck, we passed her by. By the third every other tree, I got so pissed. I’ve seen bus queues in England longer than what the difference was between trees. Then the music started. That is the one down side of sitting in the front. You see, in the front, you control the windows, don’t usually have someone sitting next to you, have ample music and the broken sound system blaring right in front of you. The volume level usually needs to be loud enough for EVERYONE you pass by to hear it. I looked back into the main part of the car and everyone was clearly in discomfort, BUT NO ONE SAID ANYTHING. I finally acted like I was reaching into my bag and pulled the wires out of the radio. This is a trick I learned early on and have used on multiple occasions. J I personally am in principal TOTALLY against the act of waiting for a car to fill up a longer time than it takes to get to where I’m going. Does that make sense? Yet no one questions the logic. They’ll just say, what other way is there to do it?

This morning, when I came into the office, the straw broke my back. I’ve been opening email accounts for everyone here. The newest thing is to send chain Powerpoint presentations around. Most are pornographic. Today’s is mainly geared at women but two men are reading it right now. (30 and 45 respectively) It’s about signs of breast cancer. I thought it would be very informational and maybe helpful for them to use because breast cancer is on the rise here. Nope. It was obviously written for male pleasure only. There are white women posed very naked in the back of each slide. These two horn dogs are laughing about it still… it’s clearly achieved it’s goal…

Following a friend's advice

A friend of mine recently wrote a glowing review of apple's new iTunes 8. Something to do with geniuses or something. I decided to download the new software because I had not upgraded my iTunes in quite some time. Generally I tend to avoid downloaded of more than 10 MB. Broadband here is SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Well, iTunes 8 is 64.5 MB. It made me remember the days of my dad's dial up modem in America. I came in to work at 8, started the download and am now finishing.

You do the math.

Thanks Liz :O)

...uh, thanks I guess...

My housekeeper Raquia called me at work. She said she was sorry for interrupting but obviously couldn't contain her excitement. I asked her what the problem was and she just said she was excited about what she had done at my house. I asked her what she did, but she wouldn't tell me. She just said I needed to come home and find it out. So I finished the day and went home. Raquia had dug a MASSIVE new garbage pit for me. Can't tell you all that I was very excited because she put crocodiles at the bottom of it "to try and recycle." All I could really say was thank you for trying to recycle and pay her her month's wages. I was very confused when I went out and told some friends. Everyone was very excited about it except for my friend Anne. She just kept telling me "that's not how you recycle!" I believed her but didn't know what else I could do. She came over to help and all of a sudden the crocodiles started coming out of the hole and attacking us. Kuri, my dog, jumped in the way to defend me and ended up falling into the hole. I'll miss her, I thought as I ran away. You can't really outrun an African Croc though, trust me! Anne, who's always been braver than me, stepped on the croc, keeping its jaw shut while screaming at me to get something to beat it with. I woke up with my broom in my hand...

Oh I "love" lariam...

I Like Republicans or...

Okay, before all of you attack me for that blasphemy let me explain myself. A wise man (my uncle) once told me that I should read up on my enemy (the republicans) before I attack them. So I have been and LET ME TELL YOU! This could not be a better time to want to read about the Republicans. Sarah Palin and John McCain have just provided so much entertainment. Some of the quotes will go down in history. I think "I can see Russia from my house!" is my favorite. I wonder if the word LIPSTICK will ever be heard the same way again. I envision future generations of budding politicians just shouting LIPSTICK at each other, it having become an insult thanks to a hick from Alaska.

But I can't really make more than inflammatory comments about what's going on over there. Trust me though it makes for very interesting dinner convos at Campismo restaurant here amongst us Americans. The Republicans have afforded me with such wonderful practice and I am truly grateful. My republican friends here (yes I do have republican friends) afford me the practice to become more elequant in my speech as I show them the error of their ways. Someone who has 5 children under 20, believes she can see Russia from the middle of Alaska, and belongs to a church where it's believed homosexuality can be cured in 21 days really shouldn't be running the senate - is something I tell my friend Scott on regular occaisons. At least he finally believes that sexuality is not a choice! We're working on him.

What I'm even more appreciativve of though is the ability I've developed and the opportunities I've had to look at things from a different angle. Life is not about iced chai lattes from Starbucks, the newest bag from LV, or who has the best golfing average. Don't get me wrong, those things are nice - don't think I really care for any of them though. I don't like Starbucks, am not partial to handbags (even though I do have a lot of shoulder bags here for work) and have never golfed in my life. But going back. None of my friends here in Maxixe have probably experienced any of my 3 examples yet they live happy lives. I was talking to an American in California per google chat today and this person was explaining what happened this week with some what appeared to be unshakable American financial institutions who fell FLAT on their faces. A friend of his' Dad lost 6 million dollars in investments. See for me now, that money is just a figure. I see on a daily basis what such a difference $5 can make to buy a new mosquito net for someone sleeping in a reed shack. I hear people grumbling about gas just going up to 45 meticais a liter. About a pound a liter or $7 a gallon. Mozambique was the UN's most destitute country in the world from 75 to 95. The majority of cars here are rusted tin cans with wheels and trust me, do not get very good gas mileage. But Mozambicans aren't stopping to drive, A vida continua is the daily mantra.

We, as westerners, need to learn that. Personally I see good eventually coming out of this. But just think how much respect will be garnered for America and the West if we pull ourselves out of a mess that the world has never seen before. It was done in Germany. So let's all calm down, sort things out again, let Sarah Palin enjoy the view of Russia and realize that we are connected and need to work together. I know Africa would appreciate it and love to be able to eat 3 times a day again.

CALM DOWN!!!! Ian

So I have less than 3 months left. I've outfitted my house to good standards. I still live in a shack by western standards I am sure. But I have a fridge, lots of books, furniture that isn't a plastic chair. I've got pretty curtains and just a variety of nick-nacks that most people here don't have or don't know what they are. Honestly though, the majority of what I have has been collected over the years and passed down from volunteer to volunteer. I counted once, I've got over 200 books! You think I schlepped them over here? I may have brought ten.

Anyway, the vultures are starting. Every day I get some phone calls saying "Oh your leaving soon, can I have this?" I get these phone calls from people I don't even know! Or people I haven't heard from in MONTHS! There are some people I wouldn't mind giving things too. I'm going to do that. Other things I want to sell. I'm not going to sell them at full price - or even a markup (I'm not the Bush Administration) But it's things I paid for!!!! Last night was the worst of the phone calls. I got a phone call from someone yelling quickly HEY HELLO GUY, I WANT YOU..... then the phone would cut off. Needless to say I was a little freaked. I sent a message out and found out who it was but the phone network has been very weird recently so I couldn't get to talk to him. He wanted me to give him my laptop and camera... for free... grr. Today I got two phone calls asking for my iPod for free. Maybe I should do that since it's broken. One of the phone calls was from a student from Homoine. My best student.

Really you think you know people. I almost feel that Africa is more materialistic than the west.... well maybe not.

2nd annual AAA MTn

I'm alive and well after my second trip down the road of theatre direcrting/organizing hell. But I survived! I had 11 schools participating and 11 PCVs came along for the ride. What a ride it was!

My day started with nerves. My nerves were stretched taunt because all the week before it was overcast, "cold" and London-rainy. I woke up at one point in the night, having already taken "Betasleep" from South Africa to insure a night of verligting van slaaplosigheid, and heard the cacophony of rain on my tin roof. I just cringed and tried to sleep another hour or two.

I woke up to my friend Justino knocking on the bedroom door. I've known him since 2005 and he agreed to be a judge for me. Since he lives about 75 kilometers away, I told him he could stay the night. I woke up, nerves streched beyond belief. I could only stomach black tea and we went off to the camp ground where the competition was going to be. Oh yeah, this was after I had already gotten a text. I was expecting it from Anne, my closest neighbor and someone who helps me a lot in my projects here. Nope, it was from Rachel, the PCV with a group from Mapinhane, a town 200 kilometers away. SHE WAS ALREADY HERE!!! It was 6 o'clock in the morning!!!! Oh boy.

I had to run to get some chairs, tables and the bastedor which I stored at a house closer to the city center. A bastedor is just a giant sheet that acts as a backdrop but here in Mozambique, without the sheet there is no theatre. It gets me so frustrated because.... well I'm not going to go into it because it's not worth me getting this mad over. I run to Anne's house and get the keys from here. Justino and I unload everything from the office and put it out on the front lawn. We get to the office at 7:03 AM so I didn't think I was late, especially by African standards. I relax though, because Anne comes and then the girls who have be using this office as a rehearsal space come as well. I notice it's 7:30 AM, still no car to bring these props to the south side of Maxixe. I get another text message... two more groups have shown up and they've all said that the guard to the camp ground didn't know anything about the competition. I didn't expect him to, but I still was panicky at this point. I spent the rest of my cell phone airtime credit calling my brother the night before so all I could do was send text messages to the driver asking where the hell he was. He showed up at 8 AM. Thank God the south end of town is only about 5 minutes away.

Got there and got set up. Thankfully I have such good friends here and we were able to get the stage set in 10 minutes. My old students from Homoine were there as well (some who were involved last year) and they asked right away if they could do anything. My housekeeper came. I had given her a day off earlier in the week so I could get her to come. She's a wonderful lady because she controlled the food all day long and is fasting for Ramadan! More power to her because I certainly do not have that will power. :)

I had a panel of 3 judges that took their work very seriously and my little buddy the cashew seller (James, I DO know his name) came and kept time. If it weren't for him, I would still be there. The rule was for each school to perform for 10 minutes. I gave them a choice of either Portuguese or English and naturally the majority chose Portuguese but the ones that chose English were hysterical and really thought out. Unfortunately, I don't remember the plot of a single one. I don't remember much of the day. I'm still tired from it today but really enjoyed myself. We were able to get 11 groups of students together just to joke and chat and watch some theatre. TO MY eye it looked like it was all the same, but some students got some messages out of it I'm certain. It was a generally festive enviroment. We had morning snack (I felt like a kindergarten teacher all day counting, counting) and then whipped through 11 shows before the scheduled break for lunch at 1. Had lunch, gave out the prizes and kicked everybody out by 3 PM. Thank GOD!!!! No surprise though, the car was a half an hour late coming back to pick up the theatre pieces and bring them back to my office. Now, thanks for all the rain dances, the bottles you may have buried and the prayers I know were thrown my way. It DIDN'T rain. As you'll be able to see from the pictures, it was one of the most beautiful days I've seen here in a long time. I wish I could just remember more of the actual theatre!

That's all folks...

PSA

Hey guys, I didn't realize people held my writing skills so high. Deepak Chopra wrote the blog about Obama and the Palin effect. I wish I could write that well.

Check him out at

www.deepakchopra.com really interesting stuff.


I

Obama and the Palin effect

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the

national psyche

even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly

illustrated by the

rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican

convention in

Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice

President Dan

Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial

expertise in the

complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than

700,000

residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of

running one-tenth

of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering

international

figure. Palin's pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness,

but her real

appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow,

deriding his

idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In

psychological

terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of

sight, countering

our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed

to face:

anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the

other." For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings,

but they

don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our

higher

selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory

kind. (Just

to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the

fact that Sen.

Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his

arrival on the

scene.)

I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually

not welcome by

the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here

to understand

Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a

rousing call to

those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a

higher vision.

Look at what she stands for:

--Small town values -- a denial of America's global role, a

return to

petty, small-minded parochialism.

--Ignorance of world affairs -- a repudiation of the need to repair

America's image abroad.

--Family values -- a code for walling out anybody who makes a

claim for

social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't

need to be

heeded.

--Rigid stands on guns and abortion -- a scornful repudiation

that these

issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.

--Patriotism -- the usual fallback in a failed war.

--"Reform" -- an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out

corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who

doesn't

fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right,

which has been

in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that

minorities and

immigrants, being different from "us" pure American types, can be

ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is

a foreign

threat. The radical right marches under the banners of "I'm all

right,

Jack," and "Why change? Everything's OK as it is." The irony,

of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the

same time. She

can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing

forty years of

feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of

women who

stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are

voting against

their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national

elections by raising

shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and

narrow-mindedness.

Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a

vacuum.

The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just

conservatives possess a

shadow -- we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the

two forces of

progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its

furtive appeal

become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov.

Palin is that

she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming

debate honest. It

would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona

was a stalking

horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the

demoralized state

we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.



Something I found on the internet. Good reading for ALL

Really?

This is just too good. I've been following things through a variety of news sources about the elections of super stars. Obama v. Palin. I'm sorry but McCain is just an accessory at this point. You gotta hand it to him. It's like Obama is running against Hillary again and it's kind of scary because people may vote for the republicans just because they have a woman on the ticket and not because of her track record... oh wait she doesn't have much of the latter. :) Take that Obama-bashers. But I found something interesting on the BBC website which made me laugh so hard.

It's called SARAH PALIN: 10 Things We've learnt
A couple of the points about things we've learned have shown me her "true" character. I know that's an oxymoron, you can never learn the true character of any politician. Number one caught my attention. It has to do with the names of her gaggle of children. The woman likes to live in Alaska. Why invite her to Washington? She's so tied down to Alaska that her children are burdened with geographic coordinates as names... thanks Mom. Number 4 quotes actor/presidential candidate (why do actors always go for the Republican party?) Fred Thompson as saying that Palin is "the only nominee in the history of either party who knows how to properly field-dress a moose" And that's an important trait for the leader of the senate why? I guess there could be lots of moose in DC some day. Number 8 just tickled my funny bone to no end. I'm still laughing about it now. I want to know WHY HAS RELIGION BECOME PART OF POLITICS? What ever happen to separation of church and state? Being "religious" doesn't automatically make you a wholesome or good person. I remember this family of religious nutters that lived down the road from me growing up. They were some of the most stereotypically religious people yet some of the most hateful, ugly, and down right mean people I've ever met. So having a leader of the senate (remember the VP does have a constitutional job to do) who belongs to a non-denominational fundamentalist church that believes they can convert gays through the "power of prayer" just makes me want to go for the job myself. I guess the most basic thing for me is we don't need to burden a 44 year old mother of 5 (and soon to be grandma) with a son in Iraq, a pregnant out of wed lock (like that really matters in the 21st century) daughter and a child with down's syndrome, with all of our problems. She's got enough of her own!!!

But if she puts on some more lipstick, we may just have the Alaskan Evita. Oooo can't wait for THAT musical!!

What my mother taught me...

My mother taught me many things, but one thing I remember in particular is she always told me it's not polite to stare. Truthfully, I thought she was crazy. Now coming on to the middle of my 36th month in Mozambique (hot damn) I really understand why it's not polite. Walking to work this morning, two things happened to me that made me really look forward to the day when I won't be the mulungo anymore.

I was hacking out my 5th lung of the morning. My head cold still hasn't gone away. Some one in front of me started laughing. She came up and asked me if I were sick (I thought it was pretty obvious) and then just started laughing. I couldn't stop coughing, so I kept walking and so did she - right into a telephone post. She was too interested in my coughing (whoa! white people cough too!) About 5 feet later, the same thing happened. Not someone laughing at me in pain, but someone walking into a tree because they were more interested in me than in where they were going!

Am I that interesting?

Only in Africa

My dog is in heat. You know what that means. She drips across the floor, gives herself an examination and then fines it ABSOLUTELY necessary to come over and try to lick my face. I can deal with all those things because I'm usually able to tell when she's about to come over and keep her away. The thing I can't stand are the 5 to 10 horny romeos that come and circle my house like a pack of wolves almost every night. I try to keep Kuri inside because she is a smaller dog and I've seen some of the male dogs in my neighborhood and it wouldn't be a pretty picture. Kuri wouldn't have it at all though. She whined and whined and whined until I let her out! Two hours later I get woken up by this scared sounding bark coming from Kuri's little doggy ditch she dug under my wall to get in and out. I'm a little nervous for her so I go outside. She's desperately trying to get in under the wall, but for some reason can't. I try pulling her but either she (or something) is pulling back. I go and get the keys to unlock Fort Knox and go outside. Kuri is no longer on the other side of the wall, but I can hear her off on the other side of the compound. Keep in mind that this is all happening with my in my pj's and a small little maglite flash flight so I can see. "White man running around at night in his shorts" was not the local newspaper heading the next day, because we don't have one. Anyway, I start getting this feeling that someone is looking at me. KINDA FREAKY because it's about 1 in the morning at this time. I call Kuri, she comes running over hackles raised and stands between me and the darkness barking into the darkness. I'm freaked at this point and slowly raise up the light to see a HUGE dog like creature staring back at me. The dog was up to my waist I feel and just huge. I backed away slowly, grabbed my dog and ran into the compound. Did I mention the thing was huge? I think it was an African Wild Dog, but I talked to my neighbor the next day and he said I should be careful because there are reports of werewolves in the area. I thought I didn't understand him first, but then he said that it was a person changing from a human to an animal.

Gotta get me my mistletoe and silver dagger to keep next to my airhorn and pepper spray now.

Linguas

The human tongue is an amazing thing. It can make noises, it can lick your lips, it can hurt, it can taste, it can love. One thing I've tried training it to do is speak many different languages. I'm a complete dork and in my down time would gladly decline a German adjective. (Honestly, it's not that hard!) You just need to memorize 16 different endings and then figure out what part of the sentence the word is in. For example... no I won't bore you. Anyway, I pride myself in my language ability. It's the one thing I know I'm good at. Until I got to Mozambique anyway. Most Mozambicans can speak 5+ languages. My housekeeper speaks Portuguese, Xitswa, Bitonga, Ronga, Arabic (she's Muslim) and I'm teaching her some English. My best friend in Homoine speaks Portuguese, Machope, Bitonga, Xitswa, Changaan, Ronga, French, English. Here comes along the white man with his English, Portuguese, German, Spanish and I feel inadequate. Anyway, we went to our local bar the other night and my friend Scott asked the owner (who happened to be born in Austria) whether or not I spoke German well. He said, yeah I do but just a little slow. Considering I haven't been to a German speaking country in 3 years... I took that as a compliment! The reason for this post though is that I've slowly noticed over this past year how my brain and my tongue just don't keep up with each other. It doesn't matter what language I speak in, I speak slow. Here's a visual, the Simpsons making fun of starving philosophical artists speak. Or for those that know Noel... :)

I like to thing its my brain hard wiring me to speak like an interpreter. Like Nicole Kidman in that movie.

3 years......

This month will mark 3 years of my living in Africa. I landed in Johannesburg South Africa on the 29th of September 2005 and let me tell you, my clothes show it! I remember when Sam was here, she said it's better for clothes to be hand washed. I'm sorry Sam, I have to disagree with you/her. My clothes are horribly faded from the massive amounts of washing powder used. Honestly though, that is ok. Most of my clothes are going to stay here in Mozambique with anybody who wants them. The thing that bothers me is about my boxer shorts. My maid has suddenly been able to massacre the elastic in almost every single pair of my boxers. I wish I had a camera to show some pictures but I don't have the 12 hours to upload a picture here. So, the thought is new boxer shorts with the money that Peace Corps gives me.

:) Good weekend to all and to all......

My drug habit

Lariam has struck again! Let me first preface it with some back story. My dog has been in heat. Dogs get that twice a year and it lasts for about two weeks, according to vet.com. So I've been keeping her inside at night. Mainly because I don't want to have to deal with puppies as I'm leaving in December. Last night, she woke me up at 3 in the morning whining like the dog in heat that she is. I let her out which requires me to be fully awake getting through 3 dead bolt locks and two doors. I'm saying this so you know the state of mind I was in.

Yesterday I was supposed to wait for the new print cartridge coming up from Maputo. Like everything in this country though, you don't know where its coming in or when. I think the bus driver thought I was stalking him. I don't really care though. :) But anyway, this cold got so bad yesterday that I just had to go home. I'm glad I did because I got to go to sleep really early. I missed the print cartridge though. My friend muhurube went to pick it up and he said he was going to leave it at his sister's shop in the central market but I never heard from him. So when I went back to sleep this morning, I was worried what would happen.

I went to the central market and the guy at the shop said I couldn't pick up the ink until I paid 1000 MT or $40. I didn't have it so he drained the ink and put it into this giant clear plastic container kind of like what you find from the container store. I couldn't lift the container to bring it back so magically some wheels showed up on it like you see on luggage at the airport. I spent the whole walk through the city worrying about not splashing too much of the ink and then wondering how I was going to get it into my printer....

then I woke up.

Karma

I just finished reading a book that ended with a what goes around comes around moral. I've noticed it a lot recently. Now, I've been trying to take a personal day this entire week to get my theatre project in order. No such luck. Every day the accountant has called me asking for some sort of help saying I can stay home the next day. Now I'm typing this with an obvious fever and sweats even though it is a cold day! I feel like crap....

Now that I've bad mouthed Sarah Palin in two or three blogs I wonder what the GOP karma coming back to me will be.

Palin's experience

Just got this off the BBC

* Has she travelled outside the United States at all - other than an official trip to the Middle East last year?

* Does she have any appreciation of foreign or national security policy? Or any personal vision of the uses of American power?

* Did she improperly use her position as governor of Alaska to force the sacking of a senior state official for personal reasons? An investigation is under way in the Alaska legislature, and Governor Palin has retained a lawyer

* Was she a member of the Alaska Independence Party - a fringe group advocating secession from the United States - in the 1990s? The AIP says yes; her campaign says no

* Was she a supporter of the conservative Pat Buchanan, the one-time presidential candidate whose political star declined, especially among Jewish voters, after he was accused of anti-Semitism?

* What is her attitude to "pork" - the practice of lobbying for federal dollars from Washington to fund local projects and keep local supporters happy? She says she fought pork aggressively. Newspaper reports suggest she was adept at securing federal money when she was mayor of the town of Wasilla

* Does she really support the idea of teaching creationism - the belief that God created the world in six days, as stated in the Bible - in schools?

* What is her view of the causes of climate change?

* Did she oppose sex education in schools? Some commentators have noted a possible irony if she did, given her own pregnant teenage daughter.


WONDERFUL!!!!