Tad Bit Nippy

So I'm in Africa, Senegal to be specific. I'm wearing long pants, a t-shirt and sweatshirt and I'm comfortable, NOT sweating. This is a new sensation for me. I have left Kaolack aka 'the oven' to return to Thies for 3 more weeks of training and I really wasn't mentally prepared for the weather I found. Only a 3 hours drive and its about a 20 degree difference. Also a bit strange is that when I left Thies and my family here, I spoke and understood relatively little Wolof and I guess now I understand more, because now I can actually understand my family at the dinner bowl. It's really great to see the volunteers that I haven't seen in the 2.5 months we were at site and its also great to hear about the varied experiences we've had. This weekend there is a wild crazy time called WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament) where ex-pats, volunteers, etc from all the countries in west Africa descend on Dakar for a weekend of softball and general debaucherie. We are all looking forward to it because not only will it be a nice time to relax and have fun, but we will be able to network and get to know ex-pats and the other volunteers. Let you know how it goes.

Tabaski

So, Back on Jan 11 there was another holiday here; Tabaski. Tabaski celebrates Abraham nearly sacrificing his son - Ishmael (Judeo-Christian beliefis that it was his other son Isaac). The story goes that at the last second, God stopped Abraham from slaughtering his son and provided aram instead. Yeah, so the tradition here is for each family to slaughter a sheep so there has been an influx of adult, male sheep here in town the past couple weeks. For me, seeing these guys is like 'dead sheep walking,' its a weird feeling, *knowing* that these animals that I'm looking at right now will all be dead and lunch in a few days. So I decided to write a poem, enjoy.

"Something Strange is Happening"
(Written from the point of view of a male sheep, before Tabaski)
Something strange is happening,I don't know if I should be alarmed.
My boss has sent me and all the other males my age to the city.
There are many others like us here, thousands.
We're being herded to crowded marketplaces.
I see some being strapped to the roofs of cars.
I see some being lead, struggling, by a rope around the neck.
I see some being being taken in twos and threes.
I don't see any females or young ones.
I don't see any goats,
I don't see any cows.
Just myself and others like me,
and the people, herding, buying, taking home.
In the market people are preparing for something.
They buy new clothes, they buy lots of food, they buy others like me,and the they buy me.
Now, I am lead by a rope around my neck.
Now, I am put in a rice sack and tied to the top of a car.
I am taken off the car and tied up in a strange yard.
There are lots of smiling faces here.
There are lots of happy sounds in this yard.
It seems no one here needs to sacrifice.
I too am given all the food I can eat, and I eat.
They speak of tomorrow with great anticipation and send strange looks my way.
Something strange is happening, I don't know if I should be alarmed.

**End of Poem**

So as with the other holidays here, everyone gets fancy new clotheswhether they can afford it or not, the women all get new hair (I'm still getting used to the idea of everyone and their mother having giant hair extensions), and an animal is killed and eaten. Even I was sucked in this time, I had henna put on my hands and fingertips and I had my hair braided (it looked pretty silly, you can see photos at www.lespritdebecca.shutterfly.com). Tabaski is also the Muslim new year I guess, so Happy NewYear...again!

The Market

Kaolack is home to the second largest covered market in Africa, the largest is somewhere in Morocco. The market takes up 4-5 full blocks and is full of people selling just about anything – though not much of real quality. There dozens of boutiques that sell mostly small food stuffs like the bouillon cubes that are used in every Senegalese dish, pasta, rice, butter, powdered milk, instant coffee, sugar, etc – all of which can be bought it absolutely any quantity. For example, at a boutique one can buy a carton of cigarettes, or they can buy one cigarette – either way, much cheaper than in the US by the way, one can buy a tub of margarine or they can buy 20 CFA (4 cents) worth of margarine smeared on a piece of paper. Boutiques are also found in residential areas, in towns and in some villages.

In the market fresh food can also be bought. There is a fish market that stinks to high heaven and has scales all over the floor. There are several places were fresh veggies can be bought and there is also a butchery type area that I try to avoid. No matter what the food, there are usually dozens of flies buzzing around each table and crawling over all the food, this doesn’t bother me, I can’t remember if it ever did. There is also a bigger, open room that appears to be devoted to spices. There are several tables set up with rice sacks overflowing with spices that I couldn’t begin to tell you what they are, but all mixed together they certainly smell funky.

The Fukki Jaay section is a bunch of stands selling second hand clothes, mostly from the U.S. and Europe. It is usually quite entertaining to see the Senegalese walking around in these t-shirts that are so out of place, and its also entertaining to look through the piles, I always get a kick out of seeing a shirt that connects back to my life in the states, and the other day I saw a Family Land, Wisconsin Dells shirt and a WIAA Okonomowoc Girls State Basketball tshirt. I keep wondering if some of the clothes my family has donated has ended up here, I did see a pair of Umbro shorts the other day that looked very familiar.

In the clothes department there are also slightly nicer looking shops that sell knockoffs of Puma, Adidas, Nike, Dolce and Gabana, Converse, you name it. They also sell the newer looking of the second hand t-shirts – I had a guy try to sell me the t-shirt off his back the other day, it said “Democrats are sexier. Who ever heard of a fine piece of elephant?” In the end I offered a price lower than they would except because I knew that its just funnier on a young Senegalese man who doesn’t know what it says.

There are also rows and rows of fabric shops and tailors. I have heard that the fabric here is cheaper because it comes in, illegally no doubt, from the Gambia. There are some plain, colored fabrics in just about any color you could want but there are also some great patterns that often incorporate something like cell phones, chickens, the New York Yankees symbol or (like one of my fabrics) umbrellas and parasols. Many of these fabrics have color combinations that I’m sure would be found atrocious by most westerners, but, as I found when I went shopping with my aunt and neighbour for fabric for my Tabaski outfit, Senegalese think is beautiful. I ended up getting a fabric that has orange and a deep burgundy along with turquoise, and I think it has a mosque or something on it. To get a woman’s outfit made, 3 to 4 meters of fabric are needed and together with what the tailor charges the total cost is usually about $20 – 10,000 CFA.

The market has a very narrow aisle of beauty supply stores that sell hair, hair products and shoes, some clothes. The hair is sold in plastic packages, I’m not sure if one package is enough to complete extensions on an entire head and I’m not sure how much they cost, but I do know that it took sessions of several hours per day for 3 days for my aunt to finish this woman’s hair for Tabaski. The hair was black at the top and reddish pink at the bottom, which must have been stylish this year because I saw a lot of it. I may be nuts but I’m thinking of trying out the fake hair. I’m curious, and here everyone does it, I wouldn’t be able to get away with it back home. I’ll be sure to take pictures if I ever do get that crazy.

The rest of the market is made up of random shops that sell jewellery, peanuts, ready made Senegalese clothes, office supplies, cell phones and Senegalese household and kitchen supplies. The paths that lead between the shops are cement slabs, some of which are covering a crude drainage system. Some of this drainage system is uncovered so I find myself looking down much of the time so I don’t step into something unsavoury. This also gives some parts of the market a…distinct odor. There are also public toilettes that I really hope I NEVER have to use.

The market is sort of set in a grid and the walkways are pretty narrow, some of them are very narrow and tend to cause traffic jams on the average day, but leading up to Tabaski it was a while different story. The market was jam packed with people trying to buy stuff for the holiday. I was constantly being shoved and having to shove to get anywhere. It was absolutely nuts in there.

All that being said, I have to say that the market is one of my favorite places in Kaolack, even with the vendors tripling the price for me because I’m white, even with the annoying but necessary haggling, even with the less than pleasant smells, I look forward to learning my way around it and meeting the people that work there. I think it’s because it makes me feel like I am really in Africa when I’m making my way through the maze.

Senegalese Wrestling

Over the weekend I attended two Senegalese wrestling matches or Lutes in Sokone and then there was a huge televised match on Sunday. Senegalese wrestling involves a lot of music, singing and dancing. In Sokone there was a group of drummers and a group of singers who where passing a microphone back and forth between two women so they could take turns shrieking into it. One thing I’ve noticed is that there are about 2 volume levels here for any sort of music – as loud as the equipment allows and add more equipment. The wrestlers are wearing a sumo sort of outfit with what looks like a speedo training suit under. They dance around to warm up, sometimes jogging, when they are ready there is a sort of patty-cake looking thing that happens and then someone makes a move to either get their opponent onto his back or get both knees and both hands on the ground. The most entertaining part for me was when someone wins, they, followed by all their fans in the crowd, sprint out of the arena while the loser is left laying in the sand. On tv I even saw the loser of a match crying, I guess it’s a big deal. There seem to be different weight classes and ability levels but these guys are usually pretty big and very fit.

With the fight on Sunday – the Tyson fight, my entire street cleared out as people went inside to watch it on tv. Tyson isn’t his real name, he actually took the name for himself from Mike Tyson and he regularly wears a sort of poncho made out of an American flag. He is from Kaolack and appeared to be the favorite to win. He was walking around before the match all cocky and full of himself so I started rooting against him. It was a pretty good match and Tyson ended up losing, I’m interested to see what it’ll do for his image – he’s in a couple commercials here and everything.

Transportation

While in Kaolack, my transportation has consisted of my feet, my bike and taxi’s most of which seem like they might fall apart at any moment. With the taxis, there is a choice of weather you want a regular taxi that will take you exactly where you want to go for 500 CFA (~$1) or route taxis that you share with other people and go to the various garages and markets around town for 100 CFA per person. In the route taxis – normal European car size, they normally have 3 people in back and cram 2 people, in addition to the driver in the front.

To get to Sokone I went to one of the garages (a lot where all the public transport to various parts of the region/country can be found, along with hordes of people venders selling food, clothes and other junk that no one really needs. I soon found myself surrounded by people who wanted to sell me something, kids (talibes) who wanted me to give them money and a couple people trying to help me (I think) find a vehicle going where I wanted to go. After about 15 minutes of complete chaos I found a sept-place, sept as in 7 in French. These are sort of like mini-station wagons and have two rows of seats in addition to the driver and front passenger seats. With three in each of the back rows that’s 7 not including the driver. This can be somewhat uncomfortable but is usually the best option. The trip to Sokone, which took a little under an hour, cost 800 CFA per person.

The road between Kaolack and Sokone appears to be decent, but appearances can be deceiving. Because of the potholes, the driver spent about the same about of time off the road as he did on it. When we were on the road we were usually swerving to avoid a pothole or another vehicle that was attempting to avoid a pothole, or a herd of longhorns crossing the road.

While in Sokone we decided to take a charette to Paul’s village. Think of a wooden flat bed with two wheels pulled by equine animal of choice. This is where we weren’t being very smart. There were 5 of us and we decided to take a donkey charette because there wasn’t a horse drawn one around. The poor animal was going so slow because of the weight and because of the mud and sand path we had to go on, that we really could’ve walked much faster, so we took turns walking next to the charette.

To get back to Kaolack, we took a mini-car, also known as an Alham, short for Alhamdulilah – Arabic for praise God. They are called this because most of them have the word painted somewhere on it. This vehicle is kind of like a small bus and has about 6 or 7 benches in it that can each fit 3 or even 4 people somewhat comfortably, but always have 5 people squeezing onto each bench. Alhams will stop for anyone on the side of the road as long as there is an inch of room inside or on top so they can be somewhat slow.

Final note on transport – it’s not unusual to see live animals strapped to the top of any of the aforementioned vehicles – oftentimes screaming bloody murder. Shocking at first but pretty funny later.

The Village

Paul’s village, Bambougar Malik Ndeye, was an interesting sight. About 4km from Sokone, the village is made up of buildings with cement walls and grass or tin roofs. Most families live in a compound (like I do in the city), which is basically a group of several small buildings surrounded by some sort of fence. Each room, bedroom, kitchen is its own building with a courtyard-type thing in the middle where, in some cases there are animals (dogs, goats, sheep, chickens). The strange thing about Bambougar is that it has electricity thanks to an NGO (Non-Government Organization) that came through recently and gave everyone in the village solar panels. Most villages do not have any form of electricity and no running water. For water to drink, bathe in cook with and wash in there are deep wells, also likely installed by an NGO. The women of the villages bring large plastic basins to the well at various times during the day and fill them up by pulling buckets of water up (10m or so) by hand. Latrines in villages are made up of a cement slab with a hole in it, covering a septic tank-like structure. These are usually surrounded by a grass fence and is also where people take their bucket-baths.

I’m planning on visiting a couple more villages in the near future so I can get a feel for the life of a rural volunteer.

Happy New Year and intro

Happy New Year! Hope that 2006 is a great, prosperous year and may you all find peace, happiness and love.

I spent New Years in Sokone, a small town nestled in the mangroves of the Sine-Saloum Delta. I visited a town-based volunteer and a village based volunteer, went swimming in the mangroves twice, went to two traditional, Senegalese wrestling matches and had lots of fun with the transportation.

The following entries are my take on various parts of life in Senegal:

Photos

Look at that - I'm posting twice in less than a month. I was inspired I guess by other volunteers blogs. Anyway, this won't be long because the counter is flashing at me that I have 3 minutes left till meltdown. All of my photos can be viewed at www.lespritdebecca.shutterfly.com

Enjoy....And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Oh the stories I'd tell...if I could remember them

I am a lousy blogger. There are plenty of times where I’m like, “Oh this is a great idea of something to post on the blog!” But whenever I get in front of a keyboard, I promptly forget everything I was thinking of posting. I think they mostly had to do with funny observances here (now, Kaolack, Senegal, West Africa) – For example: Last week I was walking down one of the sandy paths they call roads here, along side one of the filthy, green, foamy cesspools that serve as drainage or sewers or something…Anyway I hear this sheep. Now there are a LOT of sheep and goats here. To the western eye the sheep and goats all look the same since the sheep don’t have fleece, but now, I am proudly able to tell the difference. Anyway, last week I saw these two sheep; a momma sheep and an adolescent sheep. They were bleating quite loudly and running faster than I’ve ever seen sheep run, from corner to corner of this (for lack of a better word) intersection. It was quite funny and in my mind I made up a story about how the little sister of the adolescent sheep was lost and these two were frantically searching for it. “Sally! Sally! Baaahhhh! Where are you?!?! Baaaaahhhhh!!”

Fin
Anyway, things are up and down here, and I feel overwhelmed and under whelmed at the same time. It’s just an overall strange feeling. With the holiday season approaching and me not with family, and no chance of snow x-mas eve, I get a little down sometimes. On the bright side, I am a 10 min bike ride from a regional house with lots of dvd’s and a Worldspace radio on which I can listen to NPR which makes me very, very happy. I have also found an African version of BBC news on my short-wave radio, which is good because it helps me feel a little less removed. I am also rarely at a shortage of Americans to talk to since the regional house is right down the street and there are always volunteers wanting to escape their villages for a day or so. Today I also found a place to swim – at a hotel here that is no doubt mainly for wealthy tubabs coming through Kaolack for one reason or another. In exchange for swim time I’ll just put the hotel’s name on my swim cap when I do the Goree Island swim next year. Finally, I think I’m going to start French and Wolof lessons this week at the Alliance Franco-Senegalese this week. The building looks like its made out of psychedelic Lincoln Logs – I’ll take a picture if I can ever figure out how to get my photos uploaded here.

A Day in the Life of Becca in Senegal

Follow along with the pics found here: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IZNnDJq2asUU

5:00am - Startled awake by the early call to prayer, blasted through the loud-speakers on the top of the Mosque two doors down from my house. I think they found the worst singer in all of Thies to moan"Allaaaaaaah" into the microphone too.

6:40am - Alarm goes off and I peel myself from my sheets, duck from under the mosquito net, put on the dress I need to wear over my shorts and tanktop to get to the bathroom, have to be decently dressed at all times.

6:45am - Am given new life by the cold water in the shower and nice minty tooth paste

7:00am - Am already sweating by the time I walk the 5 paces from the bathroom to my room, get dressed

7:10am - Meet my closest trainee neighbor, Evan, aka Bas on the corner

7:10-7:25am - Walk to the center, pass stray cats fighting, step over hundreds of squished frogs in the road, greet everyone we pass inWolof.

7:25am - Arrive at the center, greeted by a stray I named "Santa's Little Helper" and then the center guards. Go get something to eat, french bread with pb and j along with tea or nescafe. I know frenchbread might sound all romantic to you, it did to me the first couple days but after a month of no other kind of breakfast,,,I would almost rather eat anything else.

8am - 10am - Wolof class, no french or english unless its absolutely necessary

10 - 10:30am - Break, sit around and speak english as if our livesdepended on it

10:30am - 12:30pm - More Wolof class!!

12:30 Lunch - many people look forward to this because the center lunch varies a lot more than the dinners with our families. The main thing most of us look forward to eating at the center is chicken, served a couple times per week at the center, and I have yet to eat it at home, and I live with a very wealthy family

After lunch - 2:30pm - Break, people nap, read, write letters and journals, play guitar and sing, study language, the crazies go running or play soccer(I say this because mid day I would guess that its about 105 degrees and humid here with the sun beating down)

2:30 - 4pm - Medical session - Only once per week(other times we have tech sessions pertaining to our specialties) today is about malaria. We learn that there are a few different types of malaria, the most deadly one is prevalent here but if we keep taking our meds it'll keep us from getting too sick with it. The mosquitoes that carry this kind of malaria are most active from 10pm to 2 am so bed nets are very important. We also learn that malaria starts out a lot like the flu, but it attacks the liver and we learn how to prepare Malaria smears, sticking our fingers and putting blood on slides.

At some point during the day - Get 2 more shots while the med people are here. Typhoid and Rabies 2 today, Typhoid hurt the most out ofall 10 so far.

4:30 - 6:00pm - Session in the Disco Hut on the Economics of Senegal, or Islam or an other cultural topic

6:00pm - Walk home, greeting even more people, griping about how sweaty and dirty I feel.

6:20pm Get home, usually greeted by everyone in the family, they areready to break the fast

6:30 pm - Break fast with tea and bread and a date Work on my Wolof a bit but usually my brain has turned to mush long ago so mostly revert to French

7:15pm - Eat dinner, sometimes with hand sometimes with spoon, all the time on the ground with the entire fam eating from one big dish. After dinner, sometimes go over to the cyber cafe, sometimes just hangout, talk, practice Wolof and try not to sweat too much. Maybe watchsome Married With Children in French, some Ninja movie (Idy'sfavorite) in French or Munica Brava - An Argentinian soap opera in French. Shower, read a little, go to sleep and start the wholeprocess over again.

Here are some more pics of a trip to the pool (Idy's first) and ourtrip to the coast to a nature reserve http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IZNnDJq2asU2

Differences and simlarities

I am sure I will be adding to this all the time but here are some comparisons between the good ole USA and Senegal

Things that make me go "Hmmm..."
-I feel like my fingernails haven't really been clean since I got here
-The Mosques here have loud speakers pointed out at the neighborhood, I am lucky enough to live right next door to one, some dude sings into the microphone at various times during the day, including 4 a.m. On thursdays this loud strange singing goes on from 10pm to about 2am
-Having a big ass is a good thing for women here (see previous post)
-All th vehicles here are castoffs from Europe and maybe the US and thus most of them bemch out black smoke much of the time

Things that make me say "This is the developing world?"
-Shirts with 50 Cent, Eminem, Susan G Komen, Von Dutch, etc on them
-Reruns of "Married with Children" and that terrible soap opera "Passions" (both in French) on the tv
-Ice cream and french fries
-Internet across the street (thankfully)
-My family with their kickass house

Tubab Jaay Fonde

Tubab Jaay Fonde [too bob ji fonday] that may be my mantra soon.

Tubab in Senegal has come to mean white person or non-native, it started out meaning French person in colonial times. Jaay Fonde is a big old booty, I forget what the literal transation is but those of you who know me know I have a tubab jaay fonde. Here jaay fonde is a big compliment, women who dont have jaay fonde are made fun of more than women with.

Today fellow PCT (peace corps trainee) Emily and I went with Rebecca, the PCV(peace corps volunteer) to hand out diplomas to a group of women she had taught some business classes to. We are staying with Rebecca for our demystification in Richard Toll, a city right ace Senegal river from Mauritania. Anyway a celebration insued at the graduation and dancing commenced, Im working on my african dancing and shaking my Tubab Jaay Fonde, the women LOVED it.

The sun has gone down here and its still about 90 degrees, hot.

La Shannah Tova


Becca

Embarking...

Why am I awake at such a silly hour, just typing on the computer? Why have I been awake for over an hour, the first 30 minutes spent tossing restlessly in bed, waking George the cat in the process?

Nerves.

I leave on what should be a 27 month long adventure today. Luckily enough my trip to a foreign land starts with a few days in the city that had been my adopted home for the past three years so there is a small stepping stone for me from the known to the completely unknown.

This part is probably what's getting to me the most, the unknown. Usually, at least if I know what's coming I can talk myself into a lot of stuff. In this case, I've done a bunch of reading on my destination and still have no idea what's in store. I'm hoping my stomach will settle when I meet some of the group I'll be traveling with, and get started.

Nervous and excited, yay adrenaline, boo adrenaline at 5:30 a.m.

Au Revoir,
Becca

Things done/not done

Before I write the rest of this post I'm going to make a plea that anyone reading this contact their local government and volunteer to take someone into your home who has lost theirs due Hurricane Katrina. Help your fellow Americans as you would hope to be helped if it were you!

Things I meant to do this summer but haven't yet:
-Write packing list to help me decide what to bring away with me for TWO YEARS
-Go camping
-Put my photos in albums
-Post to blog regularly
-Read several books
-Fix broken US government
-Study up on my French
-Dance more
-Play some Ultimate Frisbee

Things I have managed to do:
-Go on a couple short road tips
-Put entire music collection on MP3 player
-Read a little and watch way too much tv - damn you cable tv!!
-Swim across Devil's Lake 4 times
-Run around Lake Wingra once
-Spend some time with the BF
-Think about how much different my life is going to be

Long time no write

Yikes! I almost forgot my login name it's been that long. I guess it's been a month - Bad blogger! BAD!

So, not too much new here, my time in the country is ticking away, I'm working on getting everything set for when I leave. My parents are going to be empty-nesters soon. My middle sister is moving to another State (a red one blech!) for a job, my little sister is going to another State for college (this one is kinda purpley) and by the time I leave they'll both hopefully be settled in in their new homes. Not too sure how the folks are going to take it. I hope they are able to use their new-found free time for things they enjoy.

I've learned a little more about Senegal in the past month, I bought a Lonely Planet guide book for Senegal and the Gambia and it's proving informational.

I know this is off topic, but can I just say, I love Jon Stewart.

Thank you, Jon Stewart for your clever, sane and wonderful remarks in a civilization that is proving to be none of those things lately. However, I'm a little disappointed that you didn't ream Santorum a new one last week when he so stupidly came on your show to promote his silly little book.

Hope that you all are enjoying life.

-B

Going to Senegal!

So over the past few days I've been out of contact because I was working a swim camp, visiting with friends and traveling all over half the continent. But while I was away I found out that I will be stationed in Senegal next year. This is very good news because it was one of my top choices and one of the more progressive countries in Africa. I'm scheduled to leave home at the end of September for a two day orientation States-side and then off to Senegal for two more months of training. Check out more on Senegal. There are lots of things I have to read over and fill out in the next few days so I'll write more when I know more.

Au revoir mes amis

Armageddon anyone?

Disclaimer: If you are a member of the religious right pretend it's opposite day, just like in junior high and you might enjoy reading this post.

OK, so I just got done reading some emails and reading a bit of the New York Times and Slate.com websites and I have to say, I'm afraid...very afraid. This fear began to creep into my soul in 2000, strangely enough, just after the presidential election. It really wasn't a very big fear at this time, I still felt very secure and actually pretty patriotic, culminating in representing the U.S. in an international sports competition. However, this feeling of fear grew, slowly but steadily through Bush's first term, through the bogus quagmire some like to call a war and kind of spiked during the bogus quagmire some call a re-election. Having lived in liberal bastions in seas of conservatism my whole life, I was naively confident that the American people would make the right decision and vote how I voted. Boy, was I wrong!

Anyway, skip back to present day and I don't know if it's just that I'm more informed than I had been in the past or if it really has gotten worse for those of us who are liberal leaning but 2 out of 3 pieces of news I read make me physically ill and kinda like I'm in the twilight zone. For example;

- I received 3 emails from separate entities that told me that the House of Representatives is leaning toward major cuts for PBS and NPR(IMHO: untainted sources of information for thinking Americans, as well as educational programming for children and adults)

- At the end of one of my favorite columns: Savage Love the columnist notes the Pope's announcements from last week. While it's no surprise it still makes me angry to see it. Apparently he condemned divorce, masturbation, birth control, in vitro fertilization, living together before marriage, and same-sex marriage as anarchic freedom. I guess all I can do is hope that this dude's influence continues to decline and hope that Santorum isn't able to complete his crusade of making all of this religious ranting into American law.

- In my search for more information about the pope's statements I find some news about a referendum in Italy that took place this week. Apparently two years ago the Italian government passed some laws including restriction of in vitro fertilization(IVF) to married couples, banning the use of donated eggs or sperm the use of a surrogate mother, and Italian women are banned from fertilizing more than three eggs at a time, but they have to implant all of the resulting embryos simultaneously(regardless of genetic diseases, etc.). A doctor who violates any part of the law can be jailed for up to three years. This recent referendum was intended to overturn these laws but voter turnout was abysmal so the laws stay and Italians who want to have a baby must be married, women must be able to carry their own pregnancy and even if an embryo is found to have a genetic disease it must be implanted. Oh yeah, and after the eggs have been fertilized the law says the woman has no choice, they must be implanted, even if she has changed her mind. These laws stem from the idea of trying to make IVF as much like in utero fertilization as well as the phenomenon of giving embryos the rights and status as a person. Now, I know that the Italians had their chance to vote so hopefully they don't care too much about their reproductive rights but hmmm, giving rights to embryos sounds awful familiar...oh yeah! that's right! our government wants to do that!!

- as it turns out, Terri Schiavo, according to her autopsy, was going to be a vegetable for the rest of her un-natural life, and her husband never abused her. Thanks Dr. Frist for your invaluable services. Schiavo's brain had shrunk to half the size, there was no chance of recovery yet these people wanted to keep her "alive?" For whose wellbeing would that have been?

On a somewhat good note, while he still vehemently opposes gay marriage, Rev. Rob Schenk a leader in the religious right has agreed that homosexuality is not a choice and he's planning on sharing this view. A step is a step.

Sorry about the negative post, I'll try to dig up some good news for my next post.

Interesting things seen in the past few days...

1. Woman peeing on Market Street
We were driving down Market Street, a couple blocks from City Hall, right in front of the Gallery and there was a woman sitting on the bench at the bus stop, all of a sudden I see a rush of liquid from below her. I guess she had to go because she just decided to drop trough(as discretely as that can be done on a busy street at 11:00 am on a Saturday) and pee, "in front of God and everyone" as my mom was saying. The kicker was that she was dressed kinda like she was a tourist out for a day of sightseeing and she had a big smile on her face.

Lesson: Don't sit on public benches, especially if they look a little damp.

2. Dude at Indiana gas station...forgot something.
Stopped to fill up on our 15 hour trip moving me home and caught some commotion in the corner of my eye. Turns out this dude had pulled away from the pump with the nozzle still in his car. The metal connector flew off and hit the car filling up nearby. So what does he do? He takes the nozzle out of his car, places it neatly by the side of the pump and takes off. I guess accountability isn't really a trait Americans value anymore.

Lesson: Make sure nothing is connected to your vehicle when you try to drive away. Also, what was pretty funny in the movie "Garden State"...funnier in real life.

3. Becca getting her big, old ass back in the pool this morning.
So I got up early with my little sister this morning and went swimming. I only lasted about half the practice because my arms were so fatigued. Oh, and also kids who are about half my age were swimming circles around me. Aging and being out of shape sucks...gotta stick with it though.

Lesson: Stick with it...you'll feel better soon.

3.1.Teenagers I haven't seen since they were little they tend to freak me out a little.
Saw a bunch of people who have grown a few feet taller and gone through puberty since I saw them last and maybe it's just the gawky teenage-ness of them but they look like freakish versions of their former selves to me.

Lesson: Everyone should move to Neverland

4. Gorgeous Rhett Miller
Went to see the Old 97s on Friday night, lead singer is hot and really energetic on stage, made for a good show, check them(him) out.

5. My stuff
My stuff filled up an entire pickup truck and now it is filling up a good portion of a garage. And the only furniture that includes is a desk and a chair, Most of my furniture was given to a second hand store or was left on the sidewalk, sprouted legs and walked away. Even my bed (sniff, the coziest bed ever) is now being cozy for some new UPenn student.

I get home to discover a bunch of old stuff that I haven't thought about in years that I must go through and thin out before I can move my new(er) stuff into the house. Photos from the ice capades, endless, half-full bottles of lotion, body wash and stanky perfume, big job.

Lesson(s): Thin out stuff every year, try not to accumulate so much stuff in the first place.

Ciao

Notes

1. Someone must've taken my dumpster-diving comment in my last post seriously because, sure enough, there was someone looking thru the stuff in the alley this morning at 4am while I was trying desperately to fall asleep.

2. I'm glad to have my eyesight this morning. Last night my right eye just started itching like crazy. Upon closer examination, and comparison to my other eye, my sclera (yeah, I just learned a new word, thank you internet), the white part, was sorta bulging out. It's better now.

3. Note to self: Do not, under any circumstances, drink coffee in the evening. I thought it was going to give me a boost for packing and cleaning, which it did, but it also helped to create a jittery, near-sleepless night, argh!

4. Another note to self: Try (harder) not to be a victim of road rage in the three days I have left here. This morning on my way in, I was driving on a three-lane, one-way street. I was driving in the right lane, going at the same speed as the van in front of me with a comfortable following distance when a woman passes me on my right (in the parking lane) and cuts right in front of me. I shake my head and when I pass her I shout at her to learn to drive. On the next pass she says something about getting my "old, piece of sh*t off the road." Hmm, didn't know that a 2002 Vespa scooter counted as more of a POS than her banged up, 1990 Buick. Stupid people are funny sometimes, but sometimes they're just dangerous.

Cleaning out the desk...

The past few days have been filled with a lot of cleaning out, throwing away, emptying electronic "recycling bins" for me. It makes me wonder what should be kept. I worked pretty hard over the past three years on assignments, papers and exams, many of which are in the "recycling bins" of computers that don't belong to me or are in folders that are now sitting in a trash can in the alley outside my apartment. All that work just to be trashed? But it seems totally insane to load up all one's work, lug it around in boxes that are never opened, each time one moves. So I, for once, took the minimalist approach and got rid of a crap load. So, if anyone is starting their MBA and feels like doing some dumpster diving, there is some useful info in the second trash can in the alley next to Becca's apartment.

I think that George knows that something strange is going on. He didn't eat for an entire day last week, and hes been talking a lot more than usual. Some people say that animals just know when somethings up, could be. Or maybe he's just wondering why all the stuff he used to lay on and get cat fur all over, is now in some cardboard box.

Tomorrow is when the whirlwind begins: Farewell happy hour w/friends after work then my last dance at the Tokio after that (during which the fam will be arriving for the big packing/graduating weekend)