Admitting defeat
ARG. I've spent the last fifteen minutes fighting with both blogger and haloscan. DAMN this debugger and what it does to my comments! I CAN'T set them up. So if anybody at all could take a stab at it? anybody? : P

Zebras and Giraffes
So, today i took a tour of Hilton boys school. Oh. My. Goodness. This place makes it look like I was raised in a slum. I kid you not. They have an ESTATE, and you can't SEE to the other side of it. The buildings are well maintained, and they are BEAUTIFUL. All is south African dutch architecture, except the chapel, which looks (in layout on the inside) like a mini replica of St. Georges cathedral. This makes EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL in Vancouver look like a relic of the stone age. They wake up in the mornings, stare out their windows and see hte beautiful valleys rolling by.
They have game. I kid you not: Hilton Boys school has a ZEBRA and a GIRAFFE. My response? "Well, we had rats at SD..."
Next time i'm up there I'll try to take some photos.
heh. Anybody want me to bring them home a hot South African? Just say the word (and fix my comment box...) and I will.
On a different note, there was one guy who reminded me SO MUCH of Mike N. It was kind of weird.

So, other than *watching* cricket (c'mon! Can't they just play baseball?) I've successfully done very little.
So, short entry.
ta for now

Sweet Memories
Aww. I just spent like, two hours reading through (most of) the HIstory from my weblog. I HAVE had subsequently for a long time! Aww. : P

And the HUGEST THANKS go out to Kora, who designed this amazing layout for me. I would have thanked you the first time I got it up...but man,i was NOT a happy camper. Sorry. >_< Did you get my email, Kit? I was hoping for a response...but a lot of it got worked out. Email me sometime today (night) and I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

and finally
My comments are all wonky. I'll fix them tomorrow or something.
ta

heh heh heh

Fine. Really.
If you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm. I'm not fine. In fact, I barely clear the 'okay' mark. The only thing keeping me above 'heap of goo' is the fact that Barbs gave me a pill for my aching head, which doesn't ache so badly. I thought i would try to have a happy, lighthearted entry for today...but then decided no. This is MY place: i don't have to pretend, do i?
The school was small. and i mean tiny. The room we were in was small as well. Take a standard classroom, shrink it, then put over fourty students in it. There was dust everywhere. We were lucky, apperantly. Our school had electricity. Teenagers, I've come to learn, are universal. There is nothing about a Canadian teenager is that a Zulu teenager isn't, unless you count skin colour, which is mostly irrelevant. Oh wait, no. The Zulu kids are POLITE. (which is a big thing in the Zulu society. Sibongele was explaining it to me earlier. I'll get around to relaying the info eventually.) The school we were in had been (under the aparteid) an Indian school. there was a marble plaque saying taht. The teachers were subsequently all Indian. They were very polite, and listened so graciously...
But the thing that struck me. They have nothing. The school was nothing. They had very few posters on the walls -- the paint was chipping and the toilets...the ones for the students were worse than any camp bathroom I have ever seen in my LIFE. There was a man going around replacing the bars on the doors, and as he was using his welding torch.. he didn't have anything to cover his eyes with. So he didn't.
As we walked into the school all the children stared and said the Zulu word for "white person". We were, in fact, the only white people in the school. I imagine that not very many of these children have much contact with white people, if any. It was the strangest feeling: I knew i was an anomaly, yet I didn't feel like one. The young kids got out of school earlier than the older ones, and they came to come and peer anxiously into the classroom to see the white people. I didn't mind. The program was like anything that we have in Canada. you know the ones -- where the 'cool' guy comes in to give a talk on everything. Jobs, sex, STD's...and the students act all blase and bored. It was almost identical. It's amazing how so many things are universal. He was a very good teacher. He caught and held their attention for three hours, no breaks. Except there were two students who fell asleep...and he made them stand on their desks.
It was great. Overwhelming, though. Afterwards I went to work and read my emails...only to feel completely and utterly overwhelmed by everything. Yes, i did get them all. Some ichose not to respond to -- i'll get back to you eventually. Maybe.
It made me think, though. About home. About how lucky we are. I have never been so thankful for my family before in my whole entire life. And, as much as you may hate them.. suck it up. At least your mother doesn't pay you to leave the house on weekends so she can screw her new boyfriend. there is nobody who can convince me that they have it worse than some of these poor, rejected children.
And that's not all
I was reading the South African seventeen magazine, and you know what it said? That if you use a condom and are on the pill, not only will you NOT get pregnant (something that is untrue) but that you are protected from STI's and HIV. Now, read that again, and tell me how a country that is swimming with AIDS can put as their "Sexpert" someone who doesn't know anything?! I read the magazine on Sunday, and since then have found myself so upset by it. EVERY SINGLE letter she answered...there was some flaw in her logic. A girl wrote in, obviously addicted to sex and she said that it was normal. There's...arg. I don't understand.
And the worst bit of it all
Is the fact that i can't DO anything. That against this monstrosity I am completely and utterly helpless. All i can do is watch and pray.

So I'm sorry
if I'm a little vague or unhelpful this next little while. I'm struggling on many, many, many fronts and if you can pray (or send some good vibes or something) for me it would be muchly appreciated. I'll try and take some pics from the school tomorrow, so you can get an idea --if not now, then when i get home.

And finally...for my sake. For the fact that you have parents who care at least a little, be thankful. Be grateful that we are free. That we have health care. That we have decent schools and enough food. Be thankful for everything we have. Specifically everything YOU have. Because if you're anything like me, you have NO idea how much it really is.

Blogger bites back
With what? i don't know. It's strange, electronic teeth.

Today is good. Tomorrow i go into a school with Michelle and some guy (Shawn, i think). I'm looking forward to it, and to getting out of the office for awhile. ARRG. My mood swings have been worse than normal lately. And i can't even blame it on PMS. This gland in my neck is swollen, and it really hurts. Ithink I'm fighting off a cold or something.
I can't think of when i've ever drank this much coffee before -- except when i was doing HAIR last year, and was really tired and sick and stuff. Remember? i was averaging like, four cups a day. Plus i was obsessed with the idiot, which didn't help much. I didn't know i could actually consume THAT MUCH COFFEE. Ididn't knowi could drink that little water and still stand.

So. Officially I am coming home in May. Now WHEN in may is the question. but it will definately be before the fourht -- it HAS to be, otherwise i could (and probably would) go to jail...ugh.

Ow. My neck is sore. Ten bucks for whoever wants to meet me here and rub my neck! no takers? blast.

bah. nothing to type: believe it or not -- life is fairly slow right now.

It's getting so damn creepy...
So, this weekend was uber fun. Spent the days floating down the river on a barge, sipping wine and enjoying the hot hot weather. There were crocodiles in the river (which was salty), but i didn't see any. We're going back in April, so i might be able to see one then. Hopefully. It'd be NEAT to see a WILD croc.

Other than that nothing of significance is happening to me currently. Honest. And I'm TRYING to think of things( I would post about Goliath, but that would require me getting up etc). So how about another"IOU" post?
: P
I know, i'm horrible.

Anything...
Ugh. So, I get to work today, and mountains of paperwork decorate my desk, not to mention that i'm going to be out of the office Thu-Fri AM to do a training. Somewhere. I'll update on that later, and, if ican, i will write a longer entry later.
I miss you all and am still alive. : P