After Frosh, the UW triathalon.

Well, Frosh week is finally over, it seems to have taken forever.

It's Monday, and I just had my first class, Chem 120. My proffessor, Robert Le Roy, is really interesting. He went through this whole talk about what science does for the world, with himself as the subject. He's a survivor of cancer, went through being a paraplegic, to walking, to having a creeping paralysis, which is where he is right about now. He's a loud robust guy with a 'under the chin' beard, and I think I like him.
Pretty much all we did was cover what we are doing in the class, and OMG my final exam is worth 60% of my final mark.

60%!

So, I feel a little down about that, and I'll probably be studying for 3 months before my exam and become a total recluse, but, hey...

Frosh week was good, but I don't think I could do it again. So much... everything!
I met my roomie, Justine, pretty much first when I moved in. She's nice and I'm sure we'll get along fabulously, like we have been so far, but I'm not sure if we'll end up being close friends. She's a real party girl.

I went home for the weekend, and skipped out on the Toga party, I was way to exhausted anyways. The Monte carlo, our semi formal was good though, and I met a whole bunch of new people there.

So far I've met about 2 people that I could actually consider friends here at UW, or maybe one... Nadia and J. They're pretty cool people, most of the time we just hang around in the lounge and play games or whatever. Our favourite is Scruples, the game of moral dilemma. Sounds strange but it's pretty rad. It's obviously really relaxed here at UW, but not for long if 1/2 of us have a 60% exam too...

I'll try to post every week, but I've been pretty busy running around and such...

With much love and no further adieu,

Heather.

crisp.

i came across this today as I was walking through the windy plains in afghanistan.

i smelt them before i saw them.

cuff me in irons, mate

So I got booked yesterday by the cops.
For being, as the ticket says: "person under 19 years having liquor".


$125.

There goes food.


Granted, I have been living and partying in and around the Toronto area for quite some time, and they aren't as anal compared to the folk down here, so walking around with an unconspicuous bottle containing a delicious mix of apple juice and vodka(its really not that bad) would not be a problem in the slightest! I guess this was one party I missed out on that taught me a valuable lesson...

ST. KITS SUCKS! GET PLASTERED AT HOME!

Apology for the Kenya Series

Hey guys - this is Gina if you didn't read the whole series through. Just wanted to apologize for the ten frikkin' entries for that one journal entry day. It's just that I wrote the whole thing, then pressed 'post' only to discover that it couldn't handle my mojo. So I had to break it up into ten pieces because I couldn't give it the satisfaction of beating me (and besides, all that effort would've gone to waste). So please read the few posts behind my huge Kenya one!

And yeah, this is all just one day. =]

Kenya 귀역해 Part X

Some kids asked me to walk them to the toilet while I was sitting outside the sanctuary writing in my journal. They were only the first in a long procession of impatient bladders. I developed serious rock-hard leg muscles traipsing up and down the stone path. After saying goodnight to the last of them, I peered back at the sky and noticed the absence of the orange blot. Turns out they had rain after all, while we didn't recieve a single drop.

I entered the tent I shared with Sarah, Mary, and Ruth and crawled into my sleeping bag. I didn't worry about musquitos tonight.

-Gina

Kenya 귀역해 Part IX

On the way back up to the church, I happened to look back and spotted a matte orange sun on the inky black horizon. David completely lost it and thought it was lava from Mt. Kilimanjaro. Sarah and I raced up to the church and asked Joseph what it was.

It was a huge fire started by people. It must be huge for us to be able to see it from such a distance. It widened, plumped, spread, and undulated, its edges a seeping red like a reverse Shirley Temple. He told us that people started the fire only because they knew rain was comiing - and it seemed to be true. Earlier we noticed the sky becoming darker than usual, the stars and moon shielded from our eyes by huge clouds, spraying lightning to illuminate the cloud edges. Winds had picked up, and the scent of rain was in the air.

Kenya 귀역해 Part VIII

We were called to hurry up so we could enjoy the goat (I was running late). The entrance of the sanctuary now had three benches blocking the way, supporting the team, teachers, a few Maasai, and the grill being used to cook the goat. The meat turned out the be very tough and chewy, veins of inseparable fat making the texture unpleasant, and the salt did nothing to improve it for my tastebuds. The Kenyans avoided our hot pepper paste, but they gulped down the goat meat with ease. I could only manage 3-4 bites and a rib before giving up. I didn't want to risk vomiting the little I'd forced down with the next bite.

Eventually it was time to call in the kids from dinner and watch the rest of the David movie. I said hello to as many as I could, and tried to keep up with all 186's names. A small group of the team meandered to the toilet afterward to brush our teeth and use the concrete rooms/"stalls" with a small rectangular hole in each of them in the floor. This night, since it was windy, it didn't hold the same stench as usual.

Kenya 귀역해 Part VII

Back at the base I had found a breezy alcove to hide from the intense sun. But I was dragged out by the kids to play another round of frisbee with them - they numbered 20 but then kept growing! Many of them didn't know how to properly throw a firsbee, and it kinda became a frisbee game and a dodgeball game to avoid injuries.

By the time I returned to the shade I was red, hot, and sweaty. This called for a shower and some laundry. As soon as 5pm rolled around, Sarah, Mary, David and I set off for the shower rooms. We discovered that the men had a separate shower room and we went our different ways. During the forty blissful minutes we had in the concrete rooms (with only one fawcet and a few plastic tubs) we chatted and indulged in water. I had missed how great it felt to shower and wash my hair with shampoo and conditioner! <3

Kenya 귀역해 Part VI

The kids converged in the church to watch David the King on the screen (Missionary Kim has a DVD machine), and two Maasai tribesmen joined us, their jewelery clinking gently in the background. Edward and Missionary Kim's husband returned with our four lost pieces of luggage at about the same time, and we set about to setting up the two large tents for our 9-person mission team. Edward complimented me, saying that I had teaching talent. But I don't do anything out of the ordinary - the kids are so easy to get along with, and I repeat educational games I'd learned as a kid. The teaching I did before helped out as well.

From now on it was basically free time for the kids - we brought out four frisbees and some of the teachers plus 50 students participated. I escaped for a brief walk with a few other teachers to see an anthill taller and wider than my own height! We had to skirt around cow dropping however, and they really do resemble how the Koreans draw them in their manhwa.

Kenya 귀역해 Part V

Class was a bit subdued when I returned to the church, seeing as there is no classroom large enough to hold all 70 students at once. I noticed William walking around with his disciplining stick, and I wondered if I should ask him to put it away. But soon the kids were enjoying themselves once again, and by 10:20 the pictures were incomplete. I promised them to try and wedge in time for them to finish the crayon drawings on Monday.

I realized today a small part of what make these children sometimes more appealing than the kids back home. They don't clamour for attention, or thrust themselves in front of you for it, but seek it quietly with shy eyes and tentative smiles. They try to understand what I say, and are so humble for being so young. They act older than their age. But this is due to their environment, and if they were raised in our society they would probably be 'normal'. But that doesn't change the fact that it is so easy to fall in love with these people. A large factor for their generosity and kindness is probably due to our being foreigners (they call us "muzungu", or "white man" sometimes), and it's appreciated.

Kenya 귀역해 Part IV

The dogs were slavering away at a bowl tinted with red liquid (probably blood). I absently told Rev. Chung where I was going when he inquired, unable to take my eyes off the goat even though I was aware the other men were looking at me as well. I heard him explain that I'd probably never seen anything like it as I walked away on wooden legs.

With extra papers in my hands borrowed from Sarah, I crossed the ground again to the church. This time, I noticed two other goats tied to another tree a short way away bleating, perhaps knowing that they'd be killed much in the same way as the first. They were for the children, and apparently the adult goat was for the teachers. I don't think I felt a stir of pity for them after I got over my initial shock from the first time I crossed the grounds.

Kenya 귀역해 Part III

Praise continued in the sanctuary, then we divided up to start classes. I had the Baby and Top class - 70 students to be exact ranging from age 3-13. Many were keen to help out, and the silence was breached a lot quicker than yesterday. William watched the kids as I ran out to get extra paper.

I crossed the sloped and rocky grounds and spotted Rev. Chung talking with a small group of men by the cooking shack. I looked in the direction they were facing and - surprise! - saw a goat hanging from a scraggly tree. The rope was hooked behind it's jaw bone by a deep slit, it's two forelegs were hacked off, the body half-way skinned, and by the looks of it, much of its insides were forced down to form a large 'pot belly' by gravity.

Kenya 귀역해 Part II

Missionary Kim led in a small group of children to the front of the sanctuary. Turns out they have to be disciplined for wetting the bed, and we pardoned ourselves from the church - both for their sake and ours. Their crying and screams of pain weren't exactly complimentary with our breakfast of pan-friend French toast and soup, and it would've been worse if we'd actually witnessed the beatings first hand. It was distinctly disturbing, far more so than watching a suicide bombing on the telly. It is this that I should have felt whenever I saw a death or a horror film instead of the excitement and anticipation they bring on. This is the price for entertainment - desensitization. A heavy price to pay.

The sight of a gazelle bounding by the inside of the gate briefly distracted us, and the dogs stood guard. Breakfast continued as the kids were finally released to eat their own breakfast of a tin mug of porridge. We hid and ate in our classroom/office.

Kenya 귀역해 Part I

Saturday, July 28th, 2007
African Inland Church
Mission Base
12:01
Namanga, Kenya

Last night's sleep was worse than before. At one point I was lying awake, stifling the will to drift off as I lay sweating in my polyester sleeping bag. My fear of being bitten by vicious disease-ridden musquitos and contracting an unknown malady kept me from throwing off the covers and soothing my fevered skin. But that's what we got for being forced to sleep within the church itself - the doors have barred windows at the top and some of the glass from the actual windows were broken. It's become a ritual now to soak ourselves in Off! spray every few hours. Then a warbling cry came in the direction of the cliff behind the church, and the bats decided to partyin the metal roof after it had died down. The other night, I saw two of them flying out of a bathroom 'stall'.

This morning the sky was filled with stars, it was incredible to see the sky so dark and the moon so bright. Kenya can't afford light pollution, to which I am grateful. The moon cast my clear-cut shadow against the stone path as Orion crept closer to the horizon, the stars like pin pricks shining from a flashlight from behind a dome of black construction paper.

Getting up at 4:30 is pretty tough, but then we had to re-enter the church by 5 to start the day with morning devotion. Basically that meant (for me) to listen to the fervent prayers of the missionaries for ten minutes, then the kids started trickling in. Once the first five benches on both halves of the sanctuary filled up, they started up their chants in KiSwahili - Pastor Lee caught some of it on tape. I hope to never forget the beautiful sound of the children's songs.

Random Question:

Random Question:

For your birthday, your aunt gave you a maple syrup dispenser shaped like a rooster. Please write her a thank-you note:

Dear Auntie,

Thank you so much for the automatic syrup dispenser. The fact that it is shaped like a rooster, and that my one and only phobia is of fowl livestock is uncanny, you hit it right on the button! Especially since that the syrup dispenses from the roosters mouth, dripping like thick festering blood, that sweet tangy smell, the way it dries and collects in the nostrils and on the end of that sharp, pointy, yellow beak. It gives every morning of mine with waffles a new, frightening meaning. Often I find it hiding behind the cupboard door, or peering out at me from behind the mayonnaise and milk jug (the one that you gave me, thats shaped like a rabid dog), and sometimes I'll walk in, and it's already there waiting for me, staring at me with those beady little murderous eyes from my kitchen table, ready to regurgitate the syrupy blood all over my morning snack.
Thank you so much auntie, your present gives new depths of paranoia to my life, what would I do without you?

With love,

Heather


- They wouldn't let me post it, they said it was too long... bastardos.