Sorry for the week-long blog absence. Last week was rather hectic, however, things are getting back to normal. Anyways, there’s no point in getting too reflective when work still needs to be done, so here’s the headlines…Oh ya, and a quick shout-out to the Malayasian dude that keeps reading this thing…Ya I see you! (Note: I’ve got some really good videos and pictures from this weekend, so check out my facebook for those).
RIP Malaria:
-I regret to inform you all that our cat will not be coming down for breakfast (and yes we named the cat Malaria after last week’s events). Although we are still unsure of what exactly happened to the stupid cat (“paka” in Swahili), the only conclusion that I’ve been able to draw from his demise is that everybody’s health is improving. Good Riddance!
Hamna Pipi (“No Candy”…Is it bad that I still laugh when the kids ask for pipi…pronounced “peepee”?):
-In a little over a month, Stephanie has handed out 740 Dum-Dum Lollipops (There are literally 10 left). I’m pretty sure she’s gotten every kid in the village!
1st Communion-A-Palooza/Corpus Christi:
-Sunday was absolutely crazy. A bunch of people from the neighboring villages came to Ndolelejii for Mass. Over 150 kids received their First Communions, which was niiiice…(Btw, official Mass Time: 5+ Hours…but who’s counting right?!). Later that day, Fr. Michael, Stephanie, and I attended a First Communion party for the daughter of the primary school’s Head Teacher. While everybody was very kind to us, the party featured uncomfortably close, male-on-male “straight” dancing (no girls allowed…I’m not kidding…). All I could think about was that picture of Tyler Seguin and Noseface breaking it down on the bar…
-In addition, we took part in the village-wide Corpus Christi celebration. I’ll be honest, the only thing that I knew about Corpus Christi was that it was some place in Texas. For whatever reason, Fr. Michael was visibly disappointed in my lack of knowledge on the subject (even going as far as asking me: “How much money did your parents spend on your education?”…I always thought that the Irish were the only people that drilled guilt down your throat…
…Speaking of Stereotypes:
-What better way to end this entry than welcoming Whitey home! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to keep up with this story because the internet has been awful this week. Was he really just hanging out in LA without a car? All I know is that there’s gonna be a lot of seniors claiming memory loss…In my opinion, we should crack down on everybody over the age of 80. Replace the ‘War on Drugs’ with the ‘War on Old People’(…and you know how much I hate hippies!)
P.S.:
White Men CAN Jump:
-Oops…I almost forgot the most important thing of all. Today, I can confidently state the following: “Sean White (Note 3rd person emphasis) is the best basketball player in the village.” Seriously though, Sean White thinks that this comment will be valid for like a day. Sean White is very impressed with how quickly the kids picked up the game…Ok, it’s getting obnoxious. In closing, I can absolutely see a couple Dikembe Mutumbos cropping up in the future!
P.S.S. (I swear this is it!):
-The basketball court has officially been weed’ed out. Although the hoops are made out of bamboo and there are no backboards yet, I decided blow up a few balls and play around with the kids. Thanks again to St. Jerome’s for the donations. The kids are having a blast!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Stuff We Did This Week: Stanley Cup Edition
-Shopping for Sugarcane:-
On Tuesday, we took a trip down to the river (without that weird dude Charles) to attend to some important business. Stephanie brought some kids to help us negotiate a fair price for the “Muwa” (sugarcane). Although we caused a pretty big scene, it seemed like the people in the village enjoyed the excitement. I think we paid pretty close to market value (1,000 Tsch…Less than $1 USD) for the 3 huge sticks of muwa.
- Thanks Chapman:- On Wednesday, we connected with Chapman Middle School in Weymouth. Once again, the Weymouth schools brought their A game! (Still unemployed…just sayin!) Thanks again, to Mr. Miller and his class!
-Half Chicken, Half Duck:- Move over Napoleon Dynamite, there’s a new animal that’s replaced the “Liger” I don’t even know what to call this thing…It has the body of a duck, but chicken feathers!
-Conflicting Dreams:- Ok, so apparently Jesus made an appearance in Stephanie’s dream the other night. Coincidently, I also had a powerful revelation the same night…I ate a bacon egg cheese croissant and washed it down w/ a large ice coffee(Ya, I know this is a pretty good indicator of a variety of things…)
-The 39 Year Curse of Dale Arnold is Over:- Congrats to the B’s on the huge win! I’m not gonna lie, the Bruins were definitely 4th on my sports barometer (I still know more about them than most Miami fans know about the HEAT…Get out while you still can Israel!), however, the one thing that I can take credit for is getting Dale Arnold off the air. You see, just about a week after I left for Africa, WEEI shook up their line-up and removed the most boring radio personality on the face of the Earth. While I am still unable to find a direct link between the two, many signs point to this scenario being significant! Finally (and most importantly), hit the streets hard tomorrow and enjoy the parade!
P.S. I spotted a Dora the Explorer van in Mwanza a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, Tanzania doesn’t allow me to send pictures from my cell phone to the Web. Honestly, I think this would be the perfect mode of transportation for Adolpho’s Drunken Recaps…Visual evidence will be available in August!
P.S.S. I’m going to do my best to try and find Canucks “Championship” memorabilia…Please forward me along any possible 3rd World markets that you hear about as potential locations!
On Tuesday, we took a trip down to the river (without that weird dude Charles) to attend to some important business. Stephanie brought some kids to help us negotiate a fair price for the “Muwa” (sugarcane). Although we caused a pretty big scene, it seemed like the people in the village enjoyed the excitement. I think we paid pretty close to market value (1,000 Tsch…Less than $1 USD) for the 3 huge sticks of muwa.
- Thanks Chapman:- On Wednesday, we connected with Chapman Middle School in Weymouth. Once again, the Weymouth schools brought their A game! (Still unemployed…just sayin!) Thanks again, to Mr. Miller and his class!
-Half Chicken, Half Duck:- Move over Napoleon Dynamite, there’s a new animal that’s replaced the “Liger” I don’t even know what to call this thing…It has the body of a duck, but chicken feathers!
-Conflicting Dreams:- Ok, so apparently Jesus made an appearance in Stephanie’s dream the other night. Coincidently, I also had a powerful revelation the same night…I ate a bacon egg cheese croissant and washed it down w/ a large ice coffee(Ya, I know this is a pretty good indicator of a variety of things…)
-The 39 Year Curse of Dale Arnold is Over:- Congrats to the B’s on the huge win! I’m not gonna lie, the Bruins were definitely 4th on my sports barometer (I still know more about them than most Miami fans know about the HEAT…Get out while you still can Israel!), however, the one thing that I can take credit for is getting Dale Arnold off the air. You see, just about a week after I left for Africa, WEEI shook up their line-up and removed the most boring radio personality on the face of the Earth. While I am still unable to find a direct link between the two, many signs point to this scenario being significant! Finally (and most importantly), hit the streets hard tomorrow and enjoy the parade!
P.S. I spotted a Dora the Explorer van in Mwanza a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, Tanzania doesn’t allow me to send pictures from my cell phone to the Web. Honestly, I think this would be the perfect mode of transportation for Adolpho’s Drunken Recaps…Visual evidence will be available in August!
P.S.S. I’m going to do my best to try and find Canucks “Championship” memorabilia…Please forward me along any possible 3rd World markets that you hear about as potential locations!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The Week That Was…
This week, Fr. Donnie, Stephanie and I made a surprise trip to Mwanza. Fr. Donnie had to a few errands to take care of, so he invited us to travel with him. Although we spent most of our time in the car, here are a few highlights:
-Dining on Lake Victoria: Fr. Donnie took us to this restaurant that sits right on the water. I ordered a steak and it was AWESOME!
-Web Chat with Weymouth High: This was pretty cool. We connected with Ms. Curran’s class for a video chat. The students had a lot of good questions. Feel free to contact us if you’d like to try and set something up...Why aren’t we charging for this??
-$55 USD on Candy: The title says it all. Stephanie and I found this store called the “U-Turn” that had an entire room filled with chocolate! In a moment of weakness, we grabbed as much candy as possible and ended up dropping an egregious amount of money. We’re currently hiding the stash in an undisclosed location back in the village…pretty much like the scene in Heavyweights!
-Street Court: Speaking of movies and TV, we found the greatest show of all time on one of the satellite. From what we’ve been able to piece together, the basic premise of “Street Court” is as follows: This dude from the NYC/ NJ area, “Judge Mazz”, finds people who are fighting on the street and offers his input on how the conflict should be resolved. I’m really not doing you any justice by explaining it, so I’ll just post an episode of it on my facebook.
*P.S. This just in: African babies freak out whenever they see white people. Thus, we’ve decided to start keeping track of how many babies cry at our very sight…So far the we’re at 12…Stay tuned for updates!
-Dining on Lake Victoria: Fr. Donnie took us to this restaurant that sits right on the water. I ordered a steak and it was AWESOME!
-Web Chat with Weymouth High: This was pretty cool. We connected with Ms. Curran’s class for a video chat. The students had a lot of good questions. Feel free to contact us if you’d like to try and set something up...Why aren’t we charging for this??
-$55 USD on Candy: The title says it all. Stephanie and I found this store called the “U-Turn” that had an entire room filled with chocolate! In a moment of weakness, we grabbed as much candy as possible and ended up dropping an egregious amount of money. We’re currently hiding the stash in an undisclosed location back in the village…pretty much like the scene in Heavyweights!
-Street Court: Speaking of movies and TV, we found the greatest show of all time on one of the satellite. From what we’ve been able to piece together, the basic premise of “Street Court” is as follows: This dude from the NYC/ NJ area, “Judge Mazz”, finds people who are fighting on the street and offers his input on how the conflict should be resolved. I’m really not doing you any justice by explaining it, so I’ll just post an episode of it on my facebook.
*P.S. This just in: African babies freak out whenever they see white people. Thus, we’ve decided to start keeping track of how many babies cry at our very sight…So far the we’re at 12…Stay tuned for updates!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Just Say No!
Disclaimer: If you have a weak stomach, it might make sense to skip today’s blog…
Yesterday, I discovered that a WORM was living inside of me. Although the very thought of it still makes me want to puke, I would like everyone to know that I’m getting better now so nobody needs to worry (except for the worm). It’s weird, when you’re passed out on the floor after throwing up ALL night, a lot of things go through your head… “I wonder what time it is”, “Maybe Jack Kevorkian wasn’t as crazy we all thought” (RIP Doc), “I would’ve totally rather had my finger bitten off by Alex Burrows”, ect...With that being said, the prevailing thought that was running throughout my mind was this: “So, I’m finally paying the price after my mom wrote my AWARD-WINNING DARE essay!” (Sorry Mrs. Puleo). In hindsight, my feelings of remorse are mainly due to the fact that my web of lies has finally caught up with me. Had I simply “DARE’d to be Different”(rather than caving under the peer pressure from Fr. Donnies’ researchers to join them for mid-morning tea) I would’ve never found myself in this predicament...Oh well, looks like I should figure
Yesterday, I discovered that a WORM was living inside of me. Although the very thought of it still makes me want to puke, I would like everyone to know that I’m getting better now so nobody needs to worry (except for the worm). It’s weird, when you’re passed out on the floor after throwing up ALL night, a lot of things go through your head… “I wonder what time it is”, “Maybe Jack Kevorkian wasn’t as crazy we all thought” (RIP Doc), “I would’ve totally rather had my finger bitten off by Alex Burrows”, ect...With that being said, the prevailing thought that was running throughout my mind was this: “So, I’m finally paying the price after my mom wrote my AWARD-WINNING DARE essay!” (Sorry Mrs. Puleo). In hindsight, my feelings of remorse are mainly due to the fact that my web of lies has finally caught up with me. Had I simply “DARE’d to be Different”(rather than caving under the peer pressure from Fr. Donnies’ researchers to join them for mid-morning tea) I would’ve never found myself in this predicament...Oh well, looks like I should figure
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