Day 9,
Just another day of office orientation, trying to figure out what the computers need in order to run, also reconfigured my office in order to maximize efficiency.
Day 10,
One of these day’s I need to climb Mt. Jejebe, I bet the view from the top is amazing, Finally received a mop today (Yay!) so I figure tomorrow I’ll have a go at the territories of the fungoldew republic, (yeah, apparently there was a military coup, led by a general Moldius, who disposed of the ruling family, the fungi’s, who had been ruling the monarchy for close to two micro-organism centuries {almost two weeks our time} well see if anything actually changes)
Day 11, Aug 22, Sun,
Today we celebrated the assumption of Mary, (In the Ethiopian calendar, they celebrate it later than in the Gregorian calendar that most of the other nations use, actually, in case anybody was curious, they are actually in the year of 2002, with the new year coming at the end of the first week of September.) The mass was very beautiful, although it was very long.
Normally I wouldn’t mind long a long Sunday service, but on Sunday’s it is translated into three different languages, none of which I understand, which can make it somewhat hard to stay focused for the 2+ hours it take to get through it.
Thankfully, God gave me the foresight to bring my “young man’s guide” which contains a whole transcription of the Tridentine rite, (In Latin and English) but it also contains a cornucopia of prayers meant to be said during mass.
Combine that with my bible that I brought and it makes for a very enlightening morning.
The length of the mass was abnormally long today not only because of the feats of the assumption, but also because it was the ordination of a new deacon, so there was much joy in the air today.
Afterwards I was invited to lunch with the deacon and his family, friends, and fellow religious for a meal, which was a very tasty Ethiopian spread, which included injaara, stewed potatoes & carrots, several different kinds of simmered legumes, and a few different kinds of meat toppings.
After that there was some song and dances put on by the local youth, it was very entertaining to watch, and it became hilarious when some of the elders and religious joined in.
Once lunch had ended I had the whole afternoon to myself, so I decided to see how the civil uprising that had taken place in the fungoldew republic was faring .
After close study, I discovered that in place of the monarchy, the general had established a dictatorship, forcing his people to build great towers in his “honor”, the tallest reaching several thousand nanometers into the sky, so after locating a cylindrical Hydrogen2Oxigen containment device (In civilian speak, a bucket) I started the suds flowing and released chemical warfare upon them, hurray!
Let’s see, other than that I spent some time practicing at sketchup7, which I am starting to get quite handy with.
Abba larcher has not been feeling well of late, and I was informed that he has and does suffer from several ailments, but regardless of his condition he strives forward, always with a cheery and prayerful disposition, and I have to say my admiration of his character grows more and more every day.
Day 12, Aug 23, Mon,
Br. Endalkachew has asked me to act as salesian chronicler while I am here, keep and update a scrapbook of sorts that list major campus happenings such as graduations and such.
I was able to enter one for a graduation class today in fact.
My schedule changed a bit today, instead of heading to the church for morning prayers and mass at 6:00am, we met at the chapel for Morning Prayer at 6:45.
Although I enjoyed getting some extra shuteye, I must confess I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn’t get to go to mass.
I was put at ease though, for I was informed by Br. Ephrem that mass would be held at 6:45pm, and much to my delight it was celebrated in English.
The only thing that kind of threw me off was at communion, instead of receiving the Eucharist from the priest, we all went up and took it ourselves.
I have experienced this before at a couple other masses, and although I somewhat understand the rationale behind it, (an attempt to imitate the last supper) But for me I have always found it uncomfortable, and I much prefer the Host being administered straight to my mouth, for me it has always kinda seemed like “manhandling,” if you will, the Precious Body, I am always afraid that a piece might fall to the ground, ETC, and I had never known what to do with my fingers afterwords, because if you watch what the priest does after communion, he washes his hands.
And I was in a bit of a dilemma after mass tonight, until I offered my discomfort to Jesus and asked Him what I should do, and almost immediately an image of washing my fingers over a cup, and then drinking the water, (like the priest does) came to my mind, and the discomfort was replaced with peace of mind.
Still, I don’t really want to repeat the experience, so I think I shall ask Abba if it’s alright if I received like I normally do.
Day 13, Aug 24, Tue,
I am very tired today, I woke up several times throughout the night due to the Waterfall, errr, I mean rain that was coming down on the roof, holy smokes was it loud.
I received a bit of a sunburn today, and that mixed with the lack of sleep, and the protest of my bowls at lunch this noontime (twas very oily) has left me a bit under the weather, no pun intended, so I shall be retiring tonight to hopefully catch up on some sawing of the logs.
Day 14, Aug 25, Wed,
Not much happened today, fixed a monitor for Bayu, that’s about it, although I have noticed a great deal of quartz crystals laying strewn about the grounds, This bears more investigation.
Day 15, Aug 26, Thu,
Had my first official day at the office, lol, if you can call it that, all I really did was study the and try and come up with a good course layout for class, and draft a letter addressed to the local populace informing them of the upcoming educational calendar.
Turns out I shall be teaching a two week long course, containing basics in Microsoft word, Excel, Access, as well as typing practices, rudimentary networking, a basic understanding of common Multimedia’s, and a rudimentary course in 3d modeling, But I am only going to be able to teach 5 students at a time until we can fix more of the computers.
It was nice to do something productive for a change.
Day 16, Aug 27, Fri,
The power was out for almost the entire day today, which made work at the office next to impossible, supposedly sometime in the future a generator is going to be set up just for the office and classrooms so that this docent happen, but we’ll see about that.
So today I mostly read up on material I will be using to teach class, kind of scary actually, I have never used Microsoft Access, and in about two weeks I am going to be teaching a class on it, lol.
Day 17, Aug 28, Sat,
After mass Br. Endalkachew informed me that on these next few Saturdays, the salesians help out with ground labor that the kids do to make keep up the condition of the compound, so after breakfast, (and a good 20 min bout with indigestion, yay) I went work on the Southside of the compound, where they were cutting the grass.
And by cutting grass I don’t mean like we do back state side, this was Frankenstein grass, they had to use machete’s and sickles to cut it, so all of it had to be done by hand.
All of the cutting implements were being used, so I located a rake that was not in use and went at it with gusto.
It was nice to do something physical for a change, few of the kids were of the same inclination I think, becouse as soon as the supervision left, they started to form groups of talkers, who eventually just ended up on the ground resting for the majority of the two hours spent.
There were a few hard workers though, One kid was helping me by picking up the piles of monster grass I was raking and throwing them in an ever increasing mound, and he was keeping up just fine.
I think I overdid it just a bit though, because I received several blisters from the rake I was using, but hopefully I gained some brownie points with the kids I was working with, although it turns out that they were all getting paid, so I basically gave the lazy kids free money, lol.
During a quick break, I taught (Sort of) the kid who was helping me how to make one of those grass “reed” instruments that creates animal calls, and he was thrilled with, and whenever he had a free second he would find a blade of grass and practice, by the time we were done working, I think he was better than I was.
Day 18, Aug 29, Sun,
Yesterday night, after my shower, I noticed that I was completely deaf in my left ear, this had happened a couple time before, so I went to sleep, expecting to wake up with it gone, not so, wasn’t much I could do about it as I had tried cleaning it to no avail, so I just went about my day as normally as I could.
Because of my hearing difficulty, I have found that my patience is a bit stretched today, I and I became very frustrated with during mass, by the end though, I had been restored to peace by the Lords graces.
Today was the feast day for the founding of the sisters of charity, (The group of Religious sisters that Mother Therese founded.) So Abba Thomas had asked me to set up a projector this evening to share a short montage about Mother Therese with the sisters this evening, (which reminds me, I forgot to mention in any of my other post that there was a compound belonging to the sisters in gambela, and I think there are four or five of them there.)
After evening prayers the sisters and the salesians were invited to dinner at the bishops, and great scot they had CHICKEN!!!!!! Oh how I did savor the delicious flavor of that toothsome fowl.
(It was a rather big deal because I have been unable to eat the meat due to how they prepare it {it’s very fatty and oily}, as it leaves my guts thrashing about like a wild mustang, so needless to say I dove into the chicken with gusto.)
After that most fulfilling of dinners, I felt like stargazing, for the sky had cleared up, and there was a most impressive display of galactic finery on display, thankfully I had brought a par of binoculars with me, so even though I didn’t have my telescope with me, I was still able to see some breathtaking sights.
Day 19, Aug 30, Mon,
At the office today I tried to boot one of the computers in the lab that wasn’t working with some Xp system disc’s I had found, but they were too scratched up to be of use.
Something of interest for you guys, today the government of gambela met, (and will continue to meet during the next few days) to determine the next ruling party, and Abba larcher offered the grounds and buildings of our compound for them to use, as a gesture of good faith, so as a result there are a lot of guards strolling around, makes for an exiting day.
Day 20, Aug 31, Tue,
Recently my stomach pains have been afflicting me more than normal, and due to my absence from prayers due to said affliction, Br. Enalkatchew decided that it would be best if we made an appointment to see a doctor in the nearby town of abobo,, so yeah, only two and a half weeks in and I’m seeing a doctor, I hope this isn’t a sign as to what is to come for the rest of the year, lol.
Also no power today, lol.
Day 21, Sep 1, Wed,
Went for my checkup, and while we were waiting to see the doctor we had a chance to tour the nearby salesian compound, and meet the very friendly peoples there.
Turns out we weren’t able to test today, so get to go tomorrow, Blargh.
Day 22, Sep 2, Thu,
Went again for my checkup, but due to equipment failures I wasn’t able to get tested again, lol, but that is okay, because yesterday I took some travel medicine that I had brought with me, and today I am feeling spiffy, so I think it was just my body trying to get used to the country, and after talking to the doctor and explaining my symptoms, she agreed.
I did get my ears cleaned though, holy clogged ear canals batman, the amount of wax that was removed from my ear was approx the size of a marble (which at first docent sound like much, but think about how big your average ear canal is.) Now I can hear EVERYTHING!!!!! It’s like being superman.
Since it was too late to head back to make it in time for lunch, I was invited to lunch with the abobo Salesians, and after a very fulfilling meal, I really do feel quite better.
Day 23, Sep 3, Fri,
Tried to learn Access today (whenever there was power), Holy mackerel it’s complicated, and I have to admit I have some reservations about my ability to teach this, Let’s hope I can learn enough to be of use.
On a lighter note, as I’ve been walking to and fro my office, I have been paying close attention to the crystals that I had mentioned were strewn about the ground, and at first I thought they were brought in with construction material, but now I am not so sure, because as I was digging around some of them, I find a clay-like deposit when I dug deeper, just like what we used to see when I went rock-hounding with my Dad and my Brother.
This calls for an excavation!
Day 24, Sep 4, Sat,
Today was Br. Ephrem’s last full day here, so I made sure I had gotten all his contact information so I can keep in touch with him, also exchanged some songs and computer programs and such.
Today I started my Crystal project, I started digging up some of the quartz, Great leapin’ lizards (which I have actually seen a great deal) some of the gems I’ve found are huge, most of them aren’t very pure, as in there is a lot of regular stone mixed in with them, but still, very neat.
Day 25, Sep 5, Sun,
After mass today Ephrem set off for the airport, I will sorely miss him, as he was the closest to my age out of the rest of the salesians.
Yesterday I had introduced Br. Legesse to a Mario game that I had brought with me, lol, and I hope I haven’t created a monster, becouse he has been playing it non-stop.
Power keeps flickering on and off, driving me crazy; Br. Endalkachew mentioned that it gets worse in the summer, so I guess I better start learning some card games
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
The start of the rest (one year) of my life.
Greetings my homies, just got a connection, so I thought I would drop a line when I had time, so here ya go!
Flight to Gambela was uneventful, was met at the airport (if you can call it that, it was literally just a landing strip next to an old hanger) by Br. Endalkachew, (I think I spelled that right) and on the way to the compound we gave a ride to a British couple who were there on holiday, turns out they worked at the British embassy in Addis! Made it to the Salesian site in time for the competition phase of summer camp (called Summer Together) they were running, which involved 550 youths. Met my superiors as well as several of my fellow Salesians, Abba Larcher, Br Ephrem, Br. Lagesse and Abba Thomas, after the camp we prayed the rosary with a couple of the kids from camp, and at 6:45 we performed the evening liturgy of the hours, followed by a very tasty dinner, consisting of stewed potatoes & carrots, injaara, a stewed meat (either goat or cow, not sure which), as well as thick bean sauce/soup.
After supper the rest of the Salesians grouped in the meeting area to relax and watch some E.T.V. (Ethiopian Television) I declined, unpacked into my temporary room, and retired early, (not without reservations though, there were bugs EVERYWHERE!!!) I woke up several times during the night, I think the temperature hovered in the lower 80's the whole night.
The next morning, Day 2, we headed of to a nearby town, Pignudo, about an hour and forty five minute drive from Gambela, for the commissioning of a new hall with the bishop of Gambela. The service involved several choirs from different groups, each sung differently. Afterwards we gathered for the blessing of the hall, which was followed by song's from the choir, and several dance's from groups in the community, (including a very skillful Italian salsa) had lunch there with the Bishop and the group of Italian Salesians who were working there, got back for evening prayers, watched some Ethiopian T.V. then retired, (again with much reservation)
Day 3, Mass this morning was wonderful, the liturgy is the same as in the U.S., except that most of it is in various African dialects, and the music was decidedly Ethiopian, with a drum and a different rhythm that they sing to.
In the Afternoon the Salesians continued the Summer Together camp, it’s amazing how many youths turned out. (although I don’t suppose there is much else to do) in the evening I learned that Br Ephrem had never played chess, so after teaching him the basics we engaged in heated battle, and for his first game he played well, and by the second game he had almost fully grasped and was taking advantage of strategy.
The mosquitoes were out in force that night, and the thought that one of these little suckers could be carrying malaria is always in the corner of my mind, not much I can do about it though, except use bug spray, wear long sleeved clothes in the morn and evenings, and most important of all, prayer, because I see it like this, if God wants me to contract malaria to learn some sort of life lesson or virtue, then It’s going to happen, whether I like it or not, so I try and not worry about it toooo much by putting in the hands of God.
That night My fellow salesians took me out on the town for dinner in celebration for my offered service.
Day 4, Noticed some sort of white fungus that was starting to grow on the stone tile, at first I thought it was mold, but it’s was growing way to fast to be mold, so I think it is probably mildew of some kind, (probably has something to do with the leaking plumbing from the toilette and the sink) whatever it is, I’m allergic to it, so after flying halfway around the world I am confronted with the same situation when I left, *shakes fist* confound you allergy’s!!
Aaaaanyway, today I got my “office” (which actually is pretty cozy) and I got to work on my computer lab, and at first it looked pretty good, there were 22 compy sitting nicely in 4 rows, decent brands, not too old, but then it turns out that there were only five!?! That actually worked, the rest had various problems, lol, when I had signed on to do this, It was described that the needed someone to help teach kids how to USE computers, turns out they could have benefited from and IT techie, aaaaand they're stuck with me. Thankfully I am not one to turn down a challenge, and I do know a little about computers, (mostly overheard or gleaned knowledge from my mother and my brother) so we set to work testing comp’s to try and see what was wrong with them, (and by we I mean my secretary and myself, yeah that’s right, I have a secretary now, more of an apprentice {don’t know how much I can actually teach him, odds are he know just as much or more than me.} I don’t know how to spell his name, but it’s pronounced like the word Bayou…..I think.)
First thing we did was just start up as many of them as we could, and as was expected, 5 powered on, however, one of them wouldn’t load windows, so that one was out of the picture and we were down to four, slightly discouraged, but nonetheless determined, I preceded to open up the guts of the 4 working consoles, after comparing them to find out how they were supposed to look like inside, I opened up the rest of the computers and compared those to the working ones, (thankfully all but two were different models) and after locating what was missing, which wires went where and the like, I managed to get one more working.
Invigorated by this triumph, I preceded to disconnect a power supply from one of the working computers and went one by one and replace it into a compy that wasn’t working, in this way I got 8 more to power on, one of them even booted up perfectly, however the rest of the of them would only power on, nothing would display on the monitor, and a couple of them emitted a loud beeping, (much like you would hear from a laptop that is low on batteries) I suspect it might have something to do with the display adapter, but I am afraid this is out of my realm of knowledge, so if any body has suggestions, feel free to comment.
So, needless to say, that evening I was quite tired, so sleep came rather quickly despite the 89.6 degree weather, no before I checked my colony of Fungus/Mold/Mildew, which had at least doubled in size over the course of 16 hours, so I decided I would attempt a “cleansing”, so after sweeping the floor I filled a water with hot water and soap, poured it on the floor and removed what I had hoped was the rest of it.
Day 5, first thing I checked was the bathroom, not only was the Fungoldew (Hmmm, has a nice ring to it) back, but I am pretty certain that had developed a hierarchy as well as national boundaries and a central government.
There wasn’t any thing else to do about the computers for the mean time, so I focused on planning what I would be “teaching” and came to the conclusion that the most useful things the youths would take away from this would probably be Typing, Excel, and Word, as almost any job involving computers can benefit from knowledge & practice in the use of them.
After holding a discourse with Br. Endalkachew I learned that most of the students I would be teaching have a basic understanding of excel and word, so more practice would benefit them greatly. I had been trying to come up with something that would be more enjoyable to learn when I stumbled across Google sketchup7, it’s a 3d modeling program that is free, the file size is fairly small, and it’s fairly comprehensive, much like the program that second life uses.
I spent most of the day fiddling around with it (as well as another program called minos 2.2, it’s a bit more professional, and as a result is a bit more difficult, however it is more reminiscent of CAD, so it may prove useful) and I have to say, it is incredibly entertaining, I highly suggest it to anyone who is into 3d modeling.
That evening was spent updating the computer in the living room of the compound (I was trying to get it to play videos, I managed it, but due to the connection speed over here, I had to wait 22 min for a 1min 45sec video, lol, so I gave up), and after laying siege to the Fungoldew kingdom with a broom one more time, I retired for the night.
Day 6, the weather cleared up today, and I think the hotter climate has put the Fungoldew kingdom into a recession, as they have not grown at their usual rate.
Another relaxed day, I spent most of the day learning the ins and outs of Google sketchup7, as well as starting an actual schedule for the class lessons.
Although I did discover a book on one of the shelves here (in English, yay.) called shadows in the grass, and it’s about the Sudan – Ethiopia border history from it found sometime in the late 19th century and modern times, very interesting.
Day 7, This is a declaration of war, I hereby state that, due to unrelenting terrorist attacks on my nostrils by the Fungoldew kingdom, and despite my many attempts at negotiation, all of which have gone unanswered, I have no choice but to engage in open warfare.
Bombarding their citadels with air-to-ground brooms has done little to ebb the flow of attacks on my allergies, and although I have considered SND (Strategic Nuclear Deployment) I have come to the conclusion that the resulting fallout from said attack would less than acceptable, so, having no other course of action, am left but on alternative, Chemical Warfare!
Having procured a copious amount of charcoal from the locals, I preceded (after bombarding them again with strategic broom air strikes) to carpet the area in a layer of the charcoal, and, after getting the previous stated broom moist, continued to spread the charcoal mixture over the entire surface of what once had been the Fungoldew kingdom.
After letting it dry, I checked by, several hours later, and the results were promising, although it seemed as though there had been a few survivors who had formed frontier colonies, so after another use of a air strike, I again carpet bombed the area with Charcoal, we shall see what the results of my raid is tomorrow………………….Ohhh, and we had adoration today, soooo, other than the day was fairly uneventful.
Day 8, My attack has failed, although it has managed to slow the advance, though just barely.
I am at a loss as to what I should do, if I had access to bleach or some sort of Lysol, I would use that, alas, for the moment those are out of reach.
Oh well, for the moment I will continue my air strike campaign, and I guess maybe a few souls might be relieved in purgatory eh?
Did some more work planning, did a computer assessment to see which parts we needed so the list could be sent to Addis in preparation to do a part gathering trip, and I went with brother Endalkatchew on a short sight see about the town, twas enjoyable, (learned that there are quite a bit of crocodiles in the river Baro, and I also learned that that weird round thing on Google maps was actually Mt. Jejebe)
Flight to Gambela was uneventful, was met at the airport (if you can call it that, it was literally just a landing strip next to an old hanger) by Br. Endalkachew, (I think I spelled that right) and on the way to the compound we gave a ride to a British couple who were there on holiday, turns out they worked at the British embassy in Addis! Made it to the Salesian site in time for the competition phase of summer camp (called Summer Together) they were running, which involved 550 youths. Met my superiors as well as several of my fellow Salesians, Abba Larcher, Br Ephrem, Br. Lagesse and Abba Thomas, after the camp we prayed the rosary with a couple of the kids from camp, and at 6:45 we performed the evening liturgy of the hours, followed by a very tasty dinner, consisting of stewed potatoes & carrots, injaara, a stewed meat (either goat or cow, not sure which), as well as thick bean sauce/soup.
After supper the rest of the Salesians grouped in the meeting area to relax and watch some E.T.V. (Ethiopian Television) I declined, unpacked into my temporary room, and retired early, (not without reservations though, there were bugs EVERYWHERE!!!) I woke up several times during the night, I think the temperature hovered in the lower 80's the whole night.
The next morning, Day 2, we headed of to a nearby town, Pignudo, about an hour and forty five minute drive from Gambela, for the commissioning of a new hall with the bishop of Gambela. The service involved several choirs from different groups, each sung differently. Afterwards we gathered for the blessing of the hall, which was followed by song's from the choir, and several dance's from groups in the community, (including a very skillful Italian salsa) had lunch there with the Bishop and the group of Italian Salesians who were working there, got back for evening prayers, watched some Ethiopian T.V. then retired, (again with much reservation)
Day 3, Mass this morning was wonderful, the liturgy is the same as in the U.S., except that most of it is in various African dialects, and the music was decidedly Ethiopian, with a drum and a different rhythm that they sing to.
In the Afternoon the Salesians continued the Summer Together camp, it’s amazing how many youths turned out. (although I don’t suppose there is much else to do) in the evening I learned that Br Ephrem had never played chess, so after teaching him the basics we engaged in heated battle, and for his first game he played well, and by the second game he had almost fully grasped and was taking advantage of strategy.
The mosquitoes were out in force that night, and the thought that one of these little suckers could be carrying malaria is always in the corner of my mind, not much I can do about it though, except use bug spray, wear long sleeved clothes in the morn and evenings, and most important of all, prayer, because I see it like this, if God wants me to contract malaria to learn some sort of life lesson or virtue, then It’s going to happen, whether I like it or not, so I try and not worry about it toooo much by putting in the hands of God.
That night My fellow salesians took me out on the town for dinner in celebration for my offered service.
Day 4, Noticed some sort of white fungus that was starting to grow on the stone tile, at first I thought it was mold, but it’s was growing way to fast to be mold, so I think it is probably mildew of some kind, (probably has something to do with the leaking plumbing from the toilette and the sink) whatever it is, I’m allergic to it, so after flying halfway around the world I am confronted with the same situation when I left, *shakes fist* confound you allergy’s!!
Aaaaanyway, today I got my “office” (which actually is pretty cozy) and I got to work on my computer lab, and at first it looked pretty good, there were 22 compy sitting nicely in 4 rows, decent brands, not too old, but then it turns out that there were only five!?! That actually worked, the rest had various problems, lol, when I had signed on to do this, It was described that the needed someone to help teach kids how to USE computers, turns out they could have benefited from and IT techie, aaaaand they're stuck with me. Thankfully I am not one to turn down a challenge, and I do know a little about computers, (mostly overheard or gleaned knowledge from my mother and my brother) so we set to work testing comp’s to try and see what was wrong with them, (and by we I mean my secretary and myself, yeah that’s right, I have a secretary now, more of an apprentice {don’t know how much I can actually teach him, odds are he know just as much or more than me.} I don’t know how to spell his name, but it’s pronounced like the word Bayou…..I think.)
First thing we did was just start up as many of them as we could, and as was expected, 5 powered on, however, one of them wouldn’t load windows, so that one was out of the picture and we were down to four, slightly discouraged, but nonetheless determined, I preceded to open up the guts of the 4 working consoles, after comparing them to find out how they were supposed to look like inside, I opened up the rest of the computers and compared those to the working ones, (thankfully all but two were different models) and after locating what was missing, which wires went where and the like, I managed to get one more working.
Invigorated by this triumph, I preceded to disconnect a power supply from one of the working computers and went one by one and replace it into a compy that wasn’t working, in this way I got 8 more to power on, one of them even booted up perfectly, however the rest of the of them would only power on, nothing would display on the monitor, and a couple of them emitted a loud beeping, (much like you would hear from a laptop that is low on batteries) I suspect it might have something to do with the display adapter, but I am afraid this is out of my realm of knowledge, so if any body has suggestions, feel free to comment.
So, needless to say, that evening I was quite tired, so sleep came rather quickly despite the 89.6 degree weather, no before I checked my colony of Fungus/Mold/Mildew, which had at least doubled in size over the course of 16 hours, so I decided I would attempt a “cleansing”, so after sweeping the floor I filled a water with hot water and soap, poured it on the floor and removed what I had hoped was the rest of it.
Day 5, first thing I checked was the bathroom, not only was the Fungoldew (Hmmm, has a nice ring to it) back, but I am pretty certain that had developed a hierarchy as well as national boundaries and a central government.
There wasn’t any thing else to do about the computers for the mean time, so I focused on planning what I would be “teaching” and came to the conclusion that the most useful things the youths would take away from this would probably be Typing, Excel, and Word, as almost any job involving computers can benefit from knowledge & practice in the use of them.
After holding a discourse with Br. Endalkachew I learned that most of the students I would be teaching have a basic understanding of excel and word, so more practice would benefit them greatly. I had been trying to come up with something that would be more enjoyable to learn when I stumbled across Google sketchup7, it’s a 3d modeling program that is free, the file size is fairly small, and it’s fairly comprehensive, much like the program that second life uses.
I spent most of the day fiddling around with it (as well as another program called minos 2.2, it’s a bit more professional, and as a result is a bit more difficult, however it is more reminiscent of CAD, so it may prove useful) and I have to say, it is incredibly entertaining, I highly suggest it to anyone who is into 3d modeling.
That evening was spent updating the computer in the living room of the compound (I was trying to get it to play videos, I managed it, but due to the connection speed over here, I had to wait 22 min for a 1min 45sec video, lol, so I gave up), and after laying siege to the Fungoldew kingdom with a broom one more time, I retired for the night.
Day 6, the weather cleared up today, and I think the hotter climate has put the Fungoldew kingdom into a recession, as they have not grown at their usual rate.
Another relaxed day, I spent most of the day learning the ins and outs of Google sketchup7, as well as starting an actual schedule for the class lessons.
Although I did discover a book on one of the shelves here (in English, yay.) called shadows in the grass, and it’s about the Sudan – Ethiopia border history from it found sometime in the late 19th century and modern times, very interesting.
Day 7, This is a declaration of war, I hereby state that, due to unrelenting terrorist attacks on my nostrils by the Fungoldew kingdom, and despite my many attempts at negotiation, all of which have gone unanswered, I have no choice but to engage in open warfare.
Bombarding their citadels with air-to-ground brooms has done little to ebb the flow of attacks on my allergies, and although I have considered SND (Strategic Nuclear Deployment) I have come to the conclusion that the resulting fallout from said attack would less than acceptable, so, having no other course of action, am left but on alternative, Chemical Warfare!
Having procured a copious amount of charcoal from the locals, I preceded (after bombarding them again with strategic broom air strikes) to carpet the area in a layer of the charcoal, and, after getting the previous stated broom moist, continued to spread the charcoal mixture over the entire surface of what once had been the Fungoldew kingdom.
After letting it dry, I checked by, several hours later, and the results were promising, although it seemed as though there had been a few survivors who had formed frontier colonies, so after another use of a air strike, I again carpet bombed the area with Charcoal, we shall see what the results of my raid is tomorrow………………….Ohhh, and we had adoration today, soooo, other than the day was fairly uneventful.
Day 8, My attack has failed, although it has managed to slow the advance, though just barely.
I am at a loss as to what I should do, if I had access to bleach or some sort of Lysol, I would use that, alas, for the moment those are out of reach.
Oh well, for the moment I will continue my air strike campaign, and I guess maybe a few souls might be relieved in purgatory eh?
Did some more work planning, did a computer assessment to see which parts we needed so the list could be sent to Addis in preparation to do a part gathering trip, and I went with brother Endalkatchew on a short sight see about the town, twas enjoyable, (learned that there are quite a bit of crocodiles in the river Baro, and I also learned that that weird round thing on Google maps was actually Mt. Jejebe)
Saturday, August 7, 2010
*Perspiring*
Wow, time has really flown these past two+ weeks, been crazy crazy, and now that I have a little free time, I figure I should update a bit, lol, seeing how it has been forever since the last time.
so, after miso, we headed of to port chester to help out with a summer camp the called "Salesian summer Daze", where we split up into groups and basically just interacted with the kids, holy smokes were we kept busy, thankfully every other day we also did other activities, for instance we went to the U.N. building for some talks on the role they played in the world, (where it turns out that the salesians have a Representative since they are considered the primary source of expertise on street children and gang prevention), and received a special guided tour, (check out my facebook profile for a very "revolutionary" picture, lol) as well as several talks about salesian spirituality and the like, not to mention that I think I have walked Manhattan end to end at least 7 times, lol.
we had 1 free day, so a few of us decided to head to the beach and take a swim, and compared to Washington's beaches, NY's was somewhat warm, HOWEVER....They CHARGE for admission to EVERY beach!! whats up with that? Coming from the west coast, where the beach is considered everybody's property (for the most part) this was a major shock.
Anyways, so that week went by quite quickly, and if it is any indication as to how the days are going to be passing in Ethiopia, I think this next year will will just fly by.
so, from there, I went on retreat with the rest of my fellow salesians to stoning point, NY, for a week long retreat.
This was a nice change of pace, to go from rushing around like mad peoples, to sitting serene like monks, lol, we had morning prayers at 8:00, followed by breakfast, then usually a talk or a prayer activity, which led right into mass, continued on with lunch, followed by more talks and discussions, which broke for an adoration holy hour, and then the talks and activities went on until evening prayer, which was followed by dinner, which the rest of the night usually somewhat free.
It is amazing how much bonding can happen over such a short time, I went from not knowing a thing about my fellow missioner's, to them becoming deep friends, I think a great deal of the reason why we have been able to grow so close is that we all have a common goal and cause which we are striving for, and I can't help but think this is what soldiers experience as they prepare for battle.
One thing is for certain, as we split up to go our separate ways, there was definitely a ache in my heart, because I know that, for whatever reason, I might not ever see some of these friends again, thankfully we didn't all brake up at once, about a third of us went back to port chester to wait for our flights, so the goodbyes were a little bit easier.
I can't believe it has been more than a month already, and by this time 2 days and several thousand miles from now I'll be in the heart of Africa.
Well, I have about 12 hrs left before I have to leave for my flight, so I thought I would try to go see the Museum of Natural history before I left, maybe catch a movie as well, so if I can i am going to post another entry later today, but if I don't get around to it, this will be my last entry from the USA, (and Hopefully not my last one period) So wish me luck and keep me in your prayers.
so, after miso, we headed of to port chester to help out with a summer camp the called "Salesian summer Daze", where we split up into groups and basically just interacted with the kids, holy smokes were we kept busy, thankfully every other day we also did other activities, for instance we went to the U.N. building for some talks on the role they played in the world, (where it turns out that the salesians have a Representative since they are considered the primary source of expertise on street children and gang prevention), and received a special guided tour, (check out my facebook profile for a very "revolutionary" picture, lol) as well as several talks about salesian spirituality and the like, not to mention that I think I have walked Manhattan end to end at least 7 times, lol.
we had 1 free day, so a few of us decided to head to the beach and take a swim, and compared to Washington's beaches, NY's was somewhat warm, HOWEVER....They CHARGE for admission to EVERY beach!! whats up with that? Coming from the west coast, where the beach is considered everybody's property (for the most part) this was a major shock.
Anyways, so that week went by quite quickly, and if it is any indication as to how the days are going to be passing in Ethiopia, I think this next year will will just fly by.
so, from there, I went on retreat with the rest of my fellow salesians to stoning point, NY, for a week long retreat.
This was a nice change of pace, to go from rushing around like mad peoples, to sitting serene like monks, lol, we had morning prayers at 8:00, followed by breakfast, then usually a talk or a prayer activity, which led right into mass, continued on with lunch, followed by more talks and discussions, which broke for an adoration holy hour, and then the talks and activities went on until evening prayer, which was followed by dinner, which the rest of the night usually somewhat free.
It is amazing how much bonding can happen over such a short time, I went from not knowing a thing about my fellow missioner's, to them becoming deep friends, I think a great deal of the reason why we have been able to grow so close is that we all have a common goal and cause which we are striving for, and I can't help but think this is what soldiers experience as they prepare for battle.
One thing is for certain, as we split up to go our separate ways, there was definitely a ache in my heart, because I know that, for whatever reason, I might not ever see some of these friends again, thankfully we didn't all brake up at once, about a third of us went back to port chester to wait for our flights, so the goodbyes were a little bit easier.
I can't believe it has been more than a month already, and by this time 2 days and several thousand miles from now I'll be in the heart of Africa.
Well, I have about 12 hrs left before I have to leave for my flight, so I thought I would try to go see the Museum of Natural history before I left, maybe catch a movie as well, so if I can i am going to post another entry later today, but if I don't get around to it, this will be my last entry from the USA, (and Hopefully not my last one period) So wish me luck and keep me in your prayers.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Behold!
Got around to posting my video's, check em!!
this one
and this one
Hey, here is another one.
Don't forget this one!
this one
and this one
Hey, here is another one.
Don't forget this one!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Chillin'
Sup people's, just gone done with today's activities, and I was free for the rest of the evening, so I figured I drop a line and let everyone know whats up, so, been really busy lately, last Thursday was introduction, Friday was enculturation of the church, followed by an introduction to over sea's current, Saturday was a program about The Aids Pandemic in the global south followed by discussion, afterwords was a cookout with two live bands, you can check out one of the bands, Andinay, here: http://andinay.ning.com/
The white guy with the glasses in the band is actually one of the admins for the salesian group I am going with, lol.
Sunday was story telling, each person was granted an opportunity to share there story with everyone else, then that Evening the sky's finally cleared up and I was able to set up my telescope and check out the night sky, and with help from a fellow salesian, Stephen, he located the globular cluster m13, Check it out here: M13
He also Showed me several of the prominant stars, so now I can locate Arcturus, Antares, Altair, danube and vega.
The next day we had cross-culture Prep which went into the evening, Wednesday we had A reflection day, for the first half we watched a program about race and it's genetic impossibility as well as social economic impacts on how race is perceived, then in the afternoon I headed out to Manhattan with a few of my fellow salesians for mass at St. Patricks, this time I took some video, so hopefully that will be up later this week.
After that we went searching for something to eat, (Everything is overpriced here, and it took us forever to find something affordable to eat, we finally settled for a little cart stand offering falafel, which was quit delish) and for the rest of the evening we just chilled in times square.
Yesterday and today we engaged in handling trauma as well as conflict management in interpersonal and small groups, which was actually really enjoyable as we did allot of interactive games and skits.
And now I am just chillin' while waiting for dinner, so that's what has been happening.
The white guy with the glasses in the band is actually one of the admins for the salesian group I am going with, lol.
Sunday was story telling, each person was granted an opportunity to share there story with everyone else, then that Evening the sky's finally cleared up and I was able to set up my telescope and check out the night sky, and with help from a fellow salesian, Stephen, he located the globular cluster m13, Check it out here: M13
He also Showed me several of the prominant stars, so now I can locate Arcturus, Antares, Altair, danube and vega.
The next day we had cross-culture Prep which went into the evening, Wednesday we had A reflection day, for the first half we watched a program about race and it's genetic impossibility as well as social economic impacts on how race is perceived, then in the afternoon I headed out to Manhattan with a few of my fellow salesians for mass at St. Patricks, this time I took some video, so hopefully that will be up later this week.
After that we went searching for something to eat, (Everything is overpriced here, and it took us forever to find something affordable to eat, we finally settled for a little cart stand offering falafel, which was quit delish) and for the rest of the evening we just chilled in times square.
Yesterday and today we engaged in handling trauma as well as conflict management in interpersonal and small groups, which was actually really enjoyable as we did allot of interactive games and skits.
And now I am just chillin' while waiting for dinner, so that's what has been happening.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Hey peoples, finally found time to actually post, so I though I would waist no time in doing so.
So the plane ride over to NY JFK was uneventful, (although I guess several other Volunteers were late because JFK had to close down on the 4th due to a bomb threat?!?!) All my luggage made intact (Mostly, thanks Dad, , although the strap on my backpack is starting to rip, so I need to get that repaired.)
Thanks to my Ma, I managed to find a place to sleep for the two days I had in between moving to the start of the salesian training, it was right next to time square, very cool place, although very hectic, went exploring a bit, got a bite to eat, (Fish N' Chips from an Irish pub) then hit the sack (somewhat) early, my three bunk mates for that night was a group from Australia, (or kiwi's, can't remember) and a guy from Vancouver, so we swapt itineraries before shuteye.
The next day I went to mass at St. Patricks cathedral, one of the most amazing Churches I've seen (the relics of St. Theresa the little flower were there), after which I went sightseeing, I saw Rockefeller center, Madison square and all them other class icy stuff, strolled through central park, saw the king tut exhibit at the exhibition center.
After the aforementioned activities, I met up with John and Marie, (fellow volunteers) and spent the next view hours strolling through central park (again) after which we decided to catch the firework show, so after acquiring directions as to where the fireworks would be held we headed of the the east side of Manhattan, a good 30 min walk, however, we noticed that there was an extreme lack of crowds, so after asking another passerby where the fireworks were she directed us to go to the complete opposite direction, the west side of Manhattan, however this time we wanted to make sure so after walking a few blocks we asked yet another pedestrian, and sure enough it was being held on the west side, so we booked and 40 Min's later, arrived on the west side only to be confronted with what possibly could have been the largest assemblage of people I have ever been in, so after fighting our way about a fifth of the way through the crowd, I became separated from my comrade in arms due to the police clearing the crowds from the streets onto the sidewalk, with john and marie on one side, and yours truly on the other, so of course the fireworks started to go off at this point, and of course there was several buildings blocking the spectacle, so the crowd started this mass emigration of epic proportions across the streets trying to get to a place with a clear view, and in the midst of it all was little me, being swept along like a cork in the ocean.
Eventually we ended up at a clearing between buildings, it wasn't perfect as there were some tall trees in the way, but I think that for whatever reason the crowd couldn't go any further, so I think everyone just gave up and decided to enjoy what they could see, (Thank God) The Firework show itself was quite nice, but I think I have been spoiled because I enjoy our family (or I should say my Fathers) firework show much more, of course being crammed together like sardines with several other THOUSANDS of people may have had something to do with my lack of enjoyment, although I have to admit that the finale was amazing.
Anyways, after the fireworks, the crowd started yet another Exodus, this time towards time square, and seeing how that's where our hostel was, I decided to go along with the crowd rather than fight it, the rest of the trip back to my bed was mostly uneventful, although I do remember one incident with much clarity, as the massive crowds flooded the streets, a child rushed out of a residence, followed quickly by who I assumed was the child's mother, as she grabbed her son to keep him from running headlong into the street, I heard her exclaim: what's going on??.
Two men behind me heard her as well, and replied jokingly that it was a Zombie Apocalypse, and I can remember thinking to my self that that is exactly what it looked like.
So I made back to the hostel in one piece and met up with John and Marie, who also had made it back unscathed, and after a round of comparing stories about the mob, retired for the night.
The next day, was rather uneventful compared with the previous night, we got a late start, attended mass at St. Patricks, went sight seeing for an hour or two, then packed our bags and headed to grand central station were we caught a train to ossining station, and after a 5 min taxi ride, we arrived at the Bethany house, our place of residence for the next two weeks, after unpacking, we met up with several of the other Volunteers, played a game of frisbee, had some pizza, played some cup games, then went out on the grounds and where we were engaged by a spectacular display of fireflies, after catching a few, we retired for the night.
One other thing I should mention, It is unbelievably hot out, like crazy hot, I guess there is a heat wave hittin' the east coast at the moment, lol, you know it's hot when you wake from sleeping, and your covered in sweat.
As for yesterday, it was all rather relaxed, so other then daily prayers, mass & getting to know the other volunteers, (and learning a bit about our expectations) we didn't do much, although when I went and put together my telescope, as soon as I had put it together, I looked out the window and guess what? The sky was covered in clouds, coincidence? I think not!!
Today was also quite laid back, 8:00 was morning prayers, 8:30 was breakfast, 9:00 to 12:30 was learning more about our sites, 1:15 was my Psychological evaluation (YEAHH!!) 1:45 to 4:00 was more site information, 4:00 to 4:45 was a fun activity involving a sort of treasure hunt where we had to figure out incredibly vague clues and interpret them as an object or idea, at 5:00 we said evening prayers, after which we ate dinner, at 6:00 we had an activity where we had to assemble a group of activities for a youth camp that we will be helping out at in a few weeks.
From then till now I have been reading a new book I found titled: The Dante Club, so far it's a very interesting book, definitely worth looking into.
Well that's it for today, now that I'm caught up, hopefully it Will be a little easier to keep up, lol.
Oh, and guess what, still cloudy tonight.......Grrrrr.
So the plane ride over to NY JFK was uneventful, (although I guess several other Volunteers were late because JFK had to close down on the 4th due to a bomb threat?!?!) All my luggage made intact (Mostly, thanks Dad, , although the strap on my backpack is starting to rip, so I need to get that repaired.)
Thanks to my Ma, I managed to find a place to sleep for the two days I had in between moving to the start of the salesian training, it was right next to time square, very cool place, although very hectic, went exploring a bit, got a bite to eat, (Fish N' Chips from an Irish pub) then hit the sack (somewhat) early, my three bunk mates for that night was a group from Australia, (or kiwi's, can't remember) and a guy from Vancouver, so we swapt itineraries before shuteye.
The next day I went to mass at St. Patricks cathedral, one of the most amazing Churches I've seen (the relics of St. Theresa the little flower were there), after which I went sightseeing, I saw Rockefeller center, Madison square and all them other class icy stuff, strolled through central park, saw the king tut exhibit at the exhibition center.
After the aforementioned activities, I met up with John and Marie, (fellow volunteers) and spent the next view hours strolling through central park (again) after which we decided to catch the firework show, so after acquiring directions as to where the fireworks would be held we headed of the the east side of Manhattan, a good 30 min walk, however, we noticed that there was an extreme lack of crowds, so after asking another passerby where the fireworks were she directed us to go to the complete opposite direction, the west side of Manhattan, however this time we wanted to make sure so after walking a few blocks we asked yet another pedestrian, and sure enough it was being held on the west side, so we booked and 40 Min's later, arrived on the west side only to be confronted with what possibly could have been the largest assemblage of people I have ever been in, so after fighting our way about a fifth of the way through the crowd, I became separated from my comrade in arms due to the police clearing the crowds from the streets onto the sidewalk, with john and marie on one side, and yours truly on the other, so of course the fireworks started to go off at this point, and of course there was several buildings blocking the spectacle, so the crowd started this mass emigration of epic proportions across the streets trying to get to a place with a clear view, and in the midst of it all was little me, being swept along like a cork in the ocean.
Eventually we ended up at a clearing between buildings, it wasn't perfect as there were some tall trees in the way, but I think that for whatever reason the crowd couldn't go any further, so I think everyone just gave up and decided to enjoy what they could see, (Thank God) The Firework show itself was quite nice, but I think I have been spoiled because I enjoy our family (or I should say my Fathers) firework show much more, of course being crammed together like sardines with several other THOUSANDS of people may have had something to do with my lack of enjoyment, although I have to admit that the finale was amazing.
Anyways, after the fireworks, the crowd started yet another Exodus, this time towards time square, and seeing how that's where our hostel was, I decided to go along with the crowd rather than fight it, the rest of the trip back to my bed was mostly uneventful, although I do remember one incident with much clarity, as the massive crowds flooded the streets, a child rushed out of a residence, followed quickly by who I assumed was the child's mother, as she grabbed her son to keep him from running headlong into the street, I heard her exclaim: what's going on??.
Two men behind me heard her as well, and replied jokingly that it was a Zombie Apocalypse, and I can remember thinking to my self that that is exactly what it looked like.
So I made back to the hostel in one piece and met up with John and Marie, who also had made it back unscathed, and after a round of comparing stories about the mob, retired for the night.
The next day, was rather uneventful compared with the previous night, we got a late start, attended mass at St. Patricks, went sight seeing for an hour or two, then packed our bags and headed to grand central station were we caught a train to ossining station, and after a 5 min taxi ride, we arrived at the Bethany house, our place of residence for the next two weeks, after unpacking, we met up with several of the other Volunteers, played a game of frisbee, had some pizza, played some cup games, then went out on the grounds and where we were engaged by a spectacular display of fireflies, after catching a few, we retired for the night.
One other thing I should mention, It is unbelievably hot out, like crazy hot, I guess there is a heat wave hittin' the east coast at the moment, lol, you know it's hot when you wake from sleeping, and your covered in sweat.
As for yesterday, it was all rather relaxed, so other then daily prayers, mass & getting to know the other volunteers, (and learning a bit about our expectations) we didn't do much, although when I went and put together my telescope, as soon as I had put it together, I looked out the window and guess what? The sky was covered in clouds, coincidence? I think not!!
Today was also quite laid back, 8:00 was morning prayers, 8:30 was breakfast, 9:00 to 12:30 was learning more about our sites, 1:15 was my Psychological evaluation (YEAHH!!) 1:45 to 4:00 was more site information, 4:00 to 4:45 was a fun activity involving a sort of treasure hunt where we had to figure out incredibly vague clues and interpret them as an object or idea, at 5:00 we said evening prayers, after which we ate dinner, at 6:00 we had an activity where we had to assemble a group of activities for a youth camp that we will be helping out at in a few weeks.
From then till now I have been reading a new book I found titled: The Dante Club, so far it's a very interesting book, definitely worth looking into.
Well that's it for today, now that I'm caught up, hopefully it Will be a little easier to keep up, lol.
Oh, and guess what, still cloudy tonight.......Grrrrr.
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