pop culture- the craken, the squid thing in pirates of the carribean. Well I thought it was a stupid name, well I was reading moby dick and the craken was mentioned in it. Apparently it actually was a mytical creature back in the day. So it a silly name but atleast the pirates creators can't be faulted for making it up.

 

weather- I have been sweating since sept. 15

 

frisbee- Still undefeated. We had a central pcv vs. every other pcv in zambia game, we won 7-1. Then a education vs health pcv we won 7-1. So thats nice.

 

Things I don't appreciate- Do not write stupid things in books. For example I was reading the odyessy and someone wrote every thought in their little head out onto the margins of the book. things like 'Epic Simile' or 'uh-oh' and 'watch out' and brilliant character descriptions as 'dirt ball' or 'scum bag'. I can see underlining favorite phrases but I dont want your dumpy phrases all over the page. I can't read the poem with your thought coming into my head. Rain, I know its important, but I have mild meltdowns because I think my roof will collapse. Risk the board game. This is the only game in the house, so people will play it, but obsessivly. I think it is quite silly, they'll sit for hours and play the dumb game. Lonely planet for calling serenje a "unremarkable town". Serenje it quaint and pretty and I am there so it had to be somewhat remarkable. Coke distributers for not letting pepsi in to put out Dr.pepper. My cloths I ripped 1 pair of jeans and 2 shirts and 1 underwear in two weeks. I stiched them up just fine thou.

 

Work- Next aug. we are having the same girls camp that we just had. I am going to be one of two organizers from serenje, along with two from mkushi. So I get to plan all that, so it should be fun.I had a teacher training about two months ago, it went well I think. Matt and michelle two ed volunteers came to assist alittle. we enjoyed ourselves. Other then that I'll have another training in december and I am also traveling alot in my zone just visiting schools and doing pta trainings. In addition to that making sure all the schools are recognized by the ministry of education, which can be difficult sometimes.

 

kitties- At about 5am on 7 oct. gentle my stupid prego cat decided to climb my roof and scream till I let her in. I was not happy, but she eventually got in. About an hour later I wake up again to more meows, apparently gentle decided to have kittens on my bed while I was sleeping. So that was cool. Alittle black slimy thing was crawling around my bed, it was gross. I eventually throw her in a bucket and put her in the porch and she decided to slide an orange one out. So now I have two kittens. Super.

 

a few days later...

So what do I do with these cats? I could name them thunder and lighting, cause that is what I'll be giving them when they jack around. But I don't even know it they are dudes or chicks yet. I am also curious as to when they will start getting fun, they are kind of lame know, eat sleep, lay around, and cry lots of that. Plus they are kind of goofy looking, little mice with smooshed faces. I don't know.

 

Anyways thats about it for now. I am still depressed, about the lake thing. No one is letting me live that down. It will be awhile before I get over it. Well ok things are basically fine here. see everyone later, Dan.

Ok I wrote out quite a bit to blog and I will get to that in a minute. First tho I must bring up something that is well it doesnt give me alot of hope for my overall game. I must start the story on monday of this week. I traveled to the copperbelt to go swimming at a lake that a pcv friend lives about twenty minutes from. Traveling took about from 7 to 7, I was the first one to leave with my friend richard but we were the last ones to arrive. Apparently I should have picked up on the attitude that fate had for my life this week. Essentially things mellowed after that, we went to bed woke up killed and cleaned a goat and traveled to this lake. The lake is gorgeous by the way, it is shaped like an ugly circle with a sheer rock face going straight down twenty feet or so to the water level. This allows us to go cliff diving and what not. Ok so the bad part. Let me preempt this quickly - I dont see alot of girls now, I live in the village and yea. So I kind of have to get in the mindset you know to work my game up. Things can't just go from zero to whatever with out some prep time. I am not saying I run mad game but at least I have the ability to get words out of my mouth. Alright here it goes, Richard and I jump off the cliff and start swimming to exit to get out. Basically out of nowhere this girl appears, I haven't seen a girl that looked like this ow since probably ten months ago. Well richard and I were alittle stunned, and then she actually talked to us. I'll continue the rest in dialogue.

"are you guys from america?"

"um yea"

"Where from?"

As richard responsed because I couldn't get a word out "philidephia , and.... /brief pause cause rich forgot where I was from and I couldn't speak cause well I reverted to being a 13 yr old boy/  minnesota"

"ow I am from illinois"

This is followed by a brief awkward pause

Then I killed game. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" This was blurted out of my mouth somewhat forcefully and yea I suck.

"I am in a rotary exchange" She was there with her host family.

"MY MOM DOES THAT" this was my response. Honestly, what is happening to me. In Namibia and Lusaka I was just fine, but I wasn't prepared at all. And this is how I responded. Essentially after this there was no recovery and after another awkward pause we left and I killed the game in the worst way possible. We never spoke again.

 

So five days later I am still depressed, and I have now when crowned the "The Game Killer of the Month" for october. I even had a certificate posted at the house in serenje with my name on it. So now you all know how bad it truely has become. now on to slightly less depressing exploits.

 

As of late what have I been doing in Africa?

Construction- Cement is a pain, don't get to comfortable with it or it will turn on you in a heart beat. Example, apparently you are suppose to lay down a layer of rocks then put cement on top. I get that but I forgot to stomp on the rocks so my cement looks like it has waves in it. Fortunatlly this happened in my hut not in the pool. The pool is just fine, don't worry. But then I also miscalculated and left about 2 square feet, which I didn't have enough cement for. Next making charcoal is hard. Plus I have aquired a habit of breaking tools, 2 axes, 2 hoes, and a broom last month. I felt cool.

 

Gardening- Put seed in ground, lots of water, lots of love, and weeding. The first three I got down, the last not so much. But my vegtables are growing so its ok.

 

cooking- making popcorn is hard. I can't do it. I got so upset that I just chewed on the burnt kernals till my teeth hurt then i just went to bed. If you make coffee and then put it in the shade till it cools, and you close your eyes its like iced coffee, so thats nice. I am a magician with soup packets, bullions cubes and salt and pepper. Still haven't learned how to not burn my hands or turn my pots or pans black as night.

 

biking in zambia- yes a college grad can still fall off their bike on a regular basis. Apparently I am not that smart yet. Wading through a marsh in your underwear with your bike on your shoulder will make you angry. Duct tape will hold your bike together. Yes pigs will chase you when you are biking.

 

American pop culutre- Brad pitt, J depp, and now joe mauer are the only guys where admit it and say yea they got me beat, can't compete with that. Can people watch top gun, cocktail, and seperate that tom cruise from the crazy one.

 

I am going to do this blog in two parts.

Sorry it is has been so long inbetween blogs. Unfortunately it will be a bit longer, this internet is not good and it goes out every other minute. Hotmail closed my email address again, I did activate it but if you ever email me and it bounce back don't worry its just shut down cause i hadn't opened it that month. So I'll have a legit entry on in 2-3 weeks. Thank you talk to you later. Dan.