Hello! This could be the last post for a while, I think Angela and I are going to be taking a small break from blogging over Christmas. I could be wrong. Angela's mother, father, and sister Larisa are flying in tonight at 5:40, and we're not going to drag them to the school so we can check our e-mail and blog. Then on Monday, we're all flying down to Bongolo, which is a Christian Missionary Alliance (CMA) Hospital.
I'm excited about that, because it's in the rainforest, which means more chances to see wildlife that is non-existant in Libreville (although Wednesday I saw a Barn Owl fly over my head. It was very cool). I may have said this before, but Gabon has a terrible (read: pretty much no) road system, which means loggers have not been able to get into the interior much. Because of this, Gabon is still something like 80% untouched rainforest, which is the largest concentration of virgin rainforest, with Brazil not too far off. A guy named Micheal Fay (I think that's how his last name is spelled) walked across the entire country a couple of years ago, which was approximately a 2,000 mile trek, and National Geographic made a documentary about it (which I actually haven't seen). So with any luck, I'll be posting a picture of a Gabonese Viper on here one month from today.
That being said, have a merry Christmas everyone, a happy new year, and we'll post pictures in early January, when we're back.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
My Musical Niche
After a listening to a lot of different music, over a decent period of time (I would say I’ve been listening to good music, consistently, for about four years. There was a transition year that went from my senior year of high school, to halfway through my freshman year of college, that I’m not counting), I think I’ve found a musical niche in Country music. Not that I was ever looking for one, because I wasn’t. But yesterday I was listening to Hank Williams Jr. sing, “All My Rowdy Friends,” and I realized that out of all the other music available to me, that’s what I want to listen to.
I know it’s not exactly where I fit with life circumstances, because I’m not from the South, I’m not poor, and unlike the main characters in Williams’s, “A Country Boy Can Survive,” I cannot brew my own whiskey or smokes—but I find the music relaxing, and enjoyable to listen to. Every once in a while I relate to the songs. Now, I should say that I’m using the word “Country,” rather loosely, and contrary to what I’m sure most people are thinking, I’m not specifically referring to the likes of Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw, although I certainly enjoy both of them—they’re actually more toward the bottom of my list.
Country music, like all musical genres, has a lot of sub-genres, the names of which you will probably only hear, either if you spend time talking about music with other people (labels help clarify discussion), or do some investigating. For instance, singers like Garth Brooks, and Tim McGraw, are called neo-traditionalists. The music that really appeals to me is the older stuff- guys like Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt—and then the newer, alt-country music—such as Ryan Adams, Okkervil River, and, dare I say, Bright Eyes and Iron & Wine (I dare). It gets debatable with some bands/artists, but I would say both the latter are folksy enough to fit under the alt-country label.
If you just angrily exclaimed, “That’s not country music,” without thinking through what you said, you may be at a point where you refuse to listen to reason from me. Perhaps you felt an immediate rage take over, and have written this off as artsy-fartsy. If that is the case, before you read any more from me, here’s a few lines from Alan Jackson, who says it pretty well:
Well the folk scene's dead, but he's holding out in the village
He's been writing songs, speaking out against wealth and privilege
He says I don't believe in money, but a man could make him a killin'
Cause some of that stuff don't sound much different than Dylan
Really, it doesn’t. That’s from, “Gone Country.” I would tentatively say that newer music—the alt. country—is somewhat more appealing to me stylistically, and lyrically. It’s modern, so I relate to it on a more immediate level. The older stuff, I appreciate the style, the stories that most songs tell, and how they often interweave with the life of the actual song-writer.
I was reading a story about Merle Haggard, and how he went to a concert by the late Johnny Cash. After the show, he went up to Johnny Cash, they talked for a few minutes, and Merle Haggard said, “I really enjoyed your show at San Quentin.” Johnny Cash was surprised, and said he didn’t know Haggard was playing with his band than, and Haggard told him he wasn’t-- he was in the crowd. Merle Haggard was incarcerated something like nine times, and did 15 years in San Quentin. Also interesting, he was later pardoned by Ronald Reagan, who was than Gov. of California. Interesting stuff. If you found any of this the least bit intriguing, here are two things to check out. The first is an essay by Nick Hornby (He wrote the movies About A Boy, and High Fidelity, and is also a music critic.) about the Ryan Adams song, “Oh My Sweet Carolina,” which is one of my all time favorite songs, on every level.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/song/hornby.html
The second item to check out is on Marc Buwalda’s blog.
Follow the link on your right, and scroll down to his November 14th blog entry entitled, “Leave Me Alone! I Like My Hootie CD!” It has some good insight on acquired taste in music, and why, out of my many years of listening to music, I consider only four of them worth mentioning. Cheers.
I know it’s not exactly where I fit with life circumstances, because I’m not from the South, I’m not poor, and unlike the main characters in Williams’s, “A Country Boy Can Survive,” I cannot brew my own whiskey or smokes—but I find the music relaxing, and enjoyable to listen to. Every once in a while I relate to the songs. Now, I should say that I’m using the word “Country,” rather loosely, and contrary to what I’m sure most people are thinking, I’m not specifically referring to the likes of Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw, although I certainly enjoy both of them—they’re actually more toward the bottom of my list.
Country music, like all musical genres, has a lot of sub-genres, the names of which you will probably only hear, either if you spend time talking about music with other people (labels help clarify discussion), or do some investigating. For instance, singers like Garth Brooks, and Tim McGraw, are called neo-traditionalists. The music that really appeals to me is the older stuff- guys like Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt—and then the newer, alt-country music—such as Ryan Adams, Okkervil River, and, dare I say, Bright Eyes and Iron & Wine (I dare). It gets debatable with some bands/artists, but I would say both the latter are folksy enough to fit under the alt-country label.
If you just angrily exclaimed, “That’s not country music,” without thinking through what you said, you may be at a point where you refuse to listen to reason from me. Perhaps you felt an immediate rage take over, and have written this off as artsy-fartsy. If that is the case, before you read any more from me, here’s a few lines from Alan Jackson, who says it pretty well:
Well the folk scene's dead, but he's holding out in the village
He's been writing songs, speaking out against wealth and privilege
He says I don't believe in money, but a man could make him a killin'
Cause some of that stuff don't sound much different than Dylan
Really, it doesn’t. That’s from, “Gone Country.” I would tentatively say that newer music—the alt. country—is somewhat more appealing to me stylistically, and lyrically. It’s modern, so I relate to it on a more immediate level. The older stuff, I appreciate the style, the stories that most songs tell, and how they often interweave with the life of the actual song-writer.
I was reading a story about Merle Haggard, and how he went to a concert by the late Johnny Cash. After the show, he went up to Johnny Cash, they talked for a few minutes, and Merle Haggard said, “I really enjoyed your show at San Quentin.” Johnny Cash was surprised, and said he didn’t know Haggard was playing with his band than, and Haggard told him he wasn’t-- he was in the crowd. Merle Haggard was incarcerated something like nine times, and did 15 years in San Quentin. Also interesting, he was later pardoned by Ronald Reagan, who was than Gov. of California. Interesting stuff. If you found any of this the least bit intriguing, here are two things to check out. The first is an essay by Nick Hornby (He wrote the movies About A Boy, and High Fidelity, and is also a music critic.) about the Ryan Adams song, “Oh My Sweet Carolina,” which is one of my all time favorite songs, on every level.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/song/hornby.html
The second item to check out is on Marc Buwalda’s blog.
Follow the link on your right, and scroll down to his November 14th blog entry entitled, “Leave Me Alone! I Like My Hootie CD!” It has some good insight on acquired taste in music, and why, out of my many years of listening to music, I consider only four of them worth mentioning. Cheers.
Cheetah
Some friends have a turtle as a pet in their back yard that we discovered after being here a couple months. We finally got to see it the other week when Dad was here so I thought I would post a couple pictures of the little guy.
Don't let Cheetah fool you - he is not really eating. He is just inching his way towards his real goal. . .
Pushing Brett off of the sidewalk! Kind of a crazy picture but a fun one to share. I am curious to hear what Brett says to me about the post.
- Angela
Thanksgiving
Palm Trees, flip flops, and hot weather have created a new feeling for Thanksgiving this year! We went over to Sablier - a neighborhood across town - and got together with some friends for dinner. Despite the absence of cold weather, Christmas commercials, and family we had a great Thanksgiving here in Libreville. Here is a picture of our Thanksgiving feast!
I know it is way past Thanksgiving time and onto Christmas but I hated to post nothing from Thanksgiving!
- Angela
Friday, November 30, 2007
Girl Fights and Sao Tome
I was debating on whether to update about recently finishing Far From The Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy, or Angela and I's recent trip to Sao Tome, when a series of angry shouts from the street interested me enough to stand up, and look out the window.
I was on the second floor, so I had a clear vantage over the wall surrounding the school, to where two groups of girls stood facing each other next to a little road-side stand. I know they were two separate groups, because half of the girls were wearing white shirts and bright turquoise skirts, and the other half had white shirts and navy skirts. Each group seemed to have a "spokesperson," who would shout and shake their finger in the other's face. This went on for two or three minutes, when a boy wearing only whitie tighties ran out from an alley and grabbed one girls arm. She put the palm of her hand in his face and pushed him (he looked thirteen or fourteen, so no toddler, and old enough to be wearing pants), and while she was distracted the other girl went to town, first landing a few solid punches before settling on an impressive looking choke.
My first instinct, perhaps unfortunately, was to find someone to show, so they could watch as well, but this presented two problems:
1) I did not know who to show. I played with the idea of tapping the two seventh grade girls who were talking behind me, but somehow it seemed inappropriate, and
2) I did not want to leave the window, and miss something good.
They fought for a few minutes, with the young gentleman in his underpants dancing around everyone like a trained monkey, until some adults came and tried to get in between to break it up. If the fighters were anything though, it was persisitent. One would run away, and circle around behind the group, then rush in for a surprise attack. Anyway.
Sao Tome was great. Saturday, we had a taxi driver takes us 30 minutes along the coast to a mostly abandoned beach, where we swam in turquoise tinted water, so clear that fish could be seen out in the lagoon.
For those of you that don't know, Sao Tome is an island nation off the coast of West Africa. It's tropical, they speak Portuguese, and their national currency is the Droba, although the airport would not accept it. Here are some pictures.
These two are taken where we went swimming. The first one reminded me of Lost.
A Golden Orb-Weaver spider.
A few pictures of the hotel we stayed at for two night.
Very nice, Angela!
I was on the second floor, so I had a clear vantage over the wall surrounding the school, to where two groups of girls stood facing each other next to a little road-side stand. I know they were two separate groups, because half of the girls were wearing white shirts and bright turquoise skirts, and the other half had white shirts and navy skirts. Each group seemed to have a "spokesperson," who would shout and shake their finger in the other's face. This went on for two or three minutes, when a boy wearing only whitie tighties ran out from an alley and grabbed one girls arm. She put the palm of her hand in his face and pushed him (he looked thirteen or fourteen, so no toddler, and old enough to be wearing pants), and while she was distracted the other girl went to town, first landing a few solid punches before settling on an impressive looking choke.
My first instinct, perhaps unfortunately, was to find someone to show, so they could watch as well, but this presented two problems:
1) I did not know who to show. I played with the idea of tapping the two seventh grade girls who were talking behind me, but somehow it seemed inappropriate, and
2) I did not want to leave the window, and miss something good.
They fought for a few minutes, with the young gentleman in his underpants dancing around everyone like a trained monkey, until some adults came and tried to get in between to break it up. If the fighters were anything though, it was persisitent. One would run away, and circle around behind the group, then rush in for a surprise attack. Anyway.
Sao Tome was great. Saturday, we had a taxi driver takes us 30 minutes along the coast to a mostly abandoned beach, where we swam in turquoise tinted water, so clear that fish could be seen out in the lagoon.
For those of you that don't know, Sao Tome is an island nation off the coast of West Africa. It's tropical, they speak Portuguese, and their national currency is the Droba, although the airport would not accept it. Here are some pictures.
These two are taken where we went swimming. The first one reminded me of Lost. A Golden Orb-Weaver spider.A few pictures of the hotel we stayed at for two night.
Very nice, Angela!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Today I was checking my mail before school started, when another teacher sidled into the lab and began hovering around me. If he had papers, he would have been shuffling them. After a minute or so of being ignored, he leaned in close and whispered to me, approximately, this: “I am busy. Can you do P.E. by yourself today?” After a long pause, during which I opened another e-mail, I said: “Ok. Do you have anything planned today?” No, shockingly, he did not. I said sure, and minimized my mail so that it could not be read. Ten minutes later I was outside sipping a cup of coffee, and watching the kids play an international version of capture the flag. About halfway through the game, one of the girls got her foot caught in netting of a soccer goal (the students use them as prisons), and stood hopping on one foot, struggling to get it out. A little fifth grade student saw the plight, and ran over to help, just as the caught girl fell over, pulling the back posts of the metal soccer goal out of the ground. The whole thing started to fall forward just as the little fifth grader arrived, and the top bar came down right on the bridge of her nose, pushing her little glasses sort of up into her face and knocking her down, and of course completely bowling the older student over, and trapping her in the net. I had to laugh, it was so comical to watch. My reaction time isn’t so quick in the morning either, and I was kind of hoping the fifth grader on her knees with her face in her hands was covering her embarrassingly loud peals of laughter. The other students swarmed over like concerned ants, righting the soccer goal and gathering around their downed comrades. “Ok, ok,” I said as I made my way over. I told them to get back to their game, and pulled the older girl’s leg (she was still struggling like a caught fish) out. Then I took the little fifth grader up to the office, put some ice on her face, and got her a drink of water. Twenty minutes later, I saw her gingerly making her way down the fire escape. Very funny. Other news, our apartment flooded for the third time this week, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal. We soaked it up with towels, shoveled it with dust pans, and poured it down our stairwell in big plastic buckets. It was because our water-heater had broke in the night, so we got a new one installed on Tuesday, courtesy of our landlord. 
Here are the pictures- for once, I have delivered. The top photo is obviously Angela, with her multi-cultural classroom. They are in the process of show and tell.
This is a photo from a time we were trying to drive to a beach that was suppose to be incredible, called Santa Clara. The roads outside of Libreville are awful, and if it wasn't for the giant four wheel drive Mercedes SUV we were in, we would have gotten stuck like everyone else we passed. You can see me in the side mirror, considering what road we should take. (We choose wrong, and never ended up making it to Santa Clara, although we did come upon some French Military running excercises in the Jungle.)
Finally- would you want this guy making your pizza? I think not.
Here are the pictures- for once, I have delivered. The top photo is obviously Angela, with her multi-cultural classroom. They are in the process of show and tell.
This is Angela on her October 19th, celebrating her big 2-4, with a big Jean Philleas. (I think that's how it's spelled.) We were at Tivoli's, a place we really enjoy.
This is a photo from a time we were trying to drive to a beach that was suppose to be incredible, called Santa Clara. The roads outside of Libreville are awful, and if it wasn't for the giant four wheel drive Mercedes SUV we were in, we would have gotten stuck like everyone else we passed. You can see me in the side mirror, considering what road we should take. (We choose wrong, and never ended up making it to Santa Clara, although we did come upon some French Military running excercises in the Jungle.)
Me at a different beach we ended up at.
Angela and I at Vicki's, a CMA Missionary here.
Finally- would you want this guy making your pizza? I think not.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Parent Teacher Conferences
This number represents your childs effort in class and the number for conduct reflects their behavior in class. Here is the pumpkin that he made in class. . . Two half days off this week for Parent Teacher Conferences (its good because they only really take up 1/2 of 1 day)!! Two days off school last week for All Saints Day, two half days this week, and two days off later this month for Thanksgiving makes for a quick month!
I am excited for Dad to come back into town next week. He is coming through Libreville where he will catch his flight for the USA -just about in time for Mom's birthday! It is nice for us but a lot of traveling for him because we only have school for two weeks in December and then he is coming back out with Mom and Larisa for Christmas in Bongolo! Who knew that would ever happen . . . EVER - it is perfect timing though. Brett and I are here and Dad has this building project going on at the Bongolo Hospital all at the same time. God is good!
I am going to make no promises of when I will get more of our pictures up because I have not been living up to my promising of pictures. However at some point I will post a picture from my birthday when my Dad opened up the world of Le Meridien to Brett and I. It is just a two minute walk down our little dirt road and Voila! Le Meridien! (I just found some pics on the internet!)
This is the lobby - it is like a real deal hotel. This is shocking because it is extremely different from everything else we see. I mean we walk on a dirt road to get to the hotel.
I am excited for Dad to come back into town next week. He is coming through Libreville where he will catch his flight for the USA -just about in time for Mom's birthday! It is nice for us but a lot of traveling for him because we only have school for two weeks in December and then he is coming back out with Mom and Larisa for Christmas in Bongolo! Who knew that would ever happen . . . EVER - it is perfect timing though. Brett and I are here and Dad has this building project going on at the Bongolo Hospital all at the same time. God is good!
I am going to make no promises of when I will get more of our pictures up because I have not been living up to my promising of pictures. However at some point I will post a picture from my birthday when my Dad opened up the world of Le Meridien to Brett and I. It is just a two minute walk down our little dirt road and Voila! Le Meridien! (I just found some pics on the internet!)
This is the lobby - it is like a real deal hotel. This is shocking because it is extremely different from everything else we see. I mean we walk on a dirt road to get to the hotel.
This is the cool spot by the pool where Dad surprised us for my birthday. They had a grill guy who would grill the fish, beef, or chicken that you picked out. Then they had a buffet with new things I had not tried before - all very good. We still love our Commador Shwarmas but this was a nice change of scenery!
This is the bright workout room where we go to get all buffed up! They are overly nice and helpful. It is the best place for me to practice my French. However picking up a weight, looking confused, and pointing to one of my arm muscles is a quick and easy way to be introduced to a new exercise. (and it requires no French)
Brett and I have only spent one day at the pool but it did not take me long to decide that this is my favorite spot! The ocean is behind the chairs and it is just beautiful!
I have probably lost all complaining priviledges because it looks like my life is just a day at the pool here in Africa! I miss you all very much but am having fun getting e-mails from everyone and checking your blogs! Thanks for keeping in touch:)
- Angela
Friday, November 2, 2007
Wednesday Afternoon
I am well aware that 1) This blog has not been updated for some time, and 2) I have been promising video footage soon. Although I'm happy to rememdy the first issue, I don't see the second happening today. I have two videos transferred from our camera to the computer, however I'm experiencing technical difficulties in uploading them onto the blog. I see videos being posted in the next month though, so take heart.
Not a whole lot is new in Libreville, the weather continues to get hotter, and it still rains just about everyday. There's a power outage every now and then, so we keep flashlights and candles handy, and we stay after school most days to get on the internet, and check our mail. That's about all I have to say right now, but more is to come.
Not a whole lot is new in Libreville, the weather continues to get hotter, and it still rains just about everyday. There's a power outage every now and then, so we keep flashlights and candles handy, and we stay after school most days to get on the internet, and check our mail. That's about all I have to say right now, but more is to come.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Pictures!
Our Apartment
This is Brett on the front stairs with Puffy - the neighbors cat. She is always trying to get into our apartment! We are taking the water jug in front of Brett to school with us because they have filtered water there. We bring it home and use it!!
This is our living room. We were surprised because its bigger than our apartment
in Kentucky!
This is our bedroom. It is weird to just use sheets for blankets, but we don't really need them!
Brett found this little guy on our wall! He isn't like the lizards we see on the street - he is smaller and a bit slimy. We turned on the AC and haven't seen him since.
However we did come across this in the window sill. Maybe he is still around?!
Our washer was leaking all over the floor a couple times. The school found out and bought us a new one!! It is a crazy set up in there but we are so glad to have the new washer. I tried doing laundry by hand one day -all of it - I just know that washers are designed to wash clothes better than me!
Here is the lonely dryer. The apartments aren't designed for dryer vents and the walls are cement so I don't see one being put in any time soon. We open the window when the dryer is on but it makes it so humid we took everything else out! I will take an empty room any day if it means we get a dryer!!:)
Brett has been doing quite a bit of writing lately and the best spot is on one of the school's balconys. It overlooks the ocean and is beautiful!
This is a look onto the schools playground. The green fence is the end of it and on the other side - OCEAN! Not a bad view.
This is Brett on the front stairs with Puffy - the neighbors cat. She is always trying to get into our apartment! We are taking the water jug in front of Brett to school with us because they have filtered water there. We bring it home and use it!!
This is our front door (from inside our apartment.) We have lots of locks on our door but only one works with our keys - we are working on that:)
This is our living room. We were surprised because its bigger than our apartment
in Kentucky!
This is our bedroom. It is weird to just use sheets for blankets, but we don't really need them!Brett found this little guy on our wall! He isn't like the lizards we see on the street - he is smaller and a bit slimy. We turned on the AC and haven't seen him since.
However we did come across this in the window sill. Maybe he is still around?!
Our washer was leaking all over the floor a couple times. The school found out and bought us a new one!! It is a crazy set up in there but we are so glad to have the new washer. I tried doing laundry by hand one day -all of it - I just know that washers are designed to wash clothes better than me!
Here is the lonely dryer. The apartments aren't designed for dryer vents and the walls are cement so I don't see one being put in any time soon. We open the window when the dryer is on but it makes it so humid we took everything else out! I will take an empty room any day if it means we get a dryer!!:) Brett has been doing quite a bit of writing lately and the best spot is on one of the school's balconys. It overlooks the ocean and is beautiful!This is a look onto the schools playground. The green fence is the end of it and on the other side - OCEAN! Not a bad view.
Sorry it took so long for us to get pictures on the blog. Hope you are able to get a glimpse at our world over here. It is a busy and exciting time! We are in a transition time with getting a new teacher - hopefully that means I will only be teaching 1 - 2 grade levels soon. Thanks for your prayers!
- Angela
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Declined, Brother
I've noticed that the blogging world is unusually quiet, which says quite a bit about the lives of the writers who post in it. It's almost the end of September, and everyone is probably very busy with families, jobs, and school. Updating on the internet comes at the end of a long list of things, at this time of year.
Angela and I certainly keep active. We're actually walking a rather fine line of accepting, and declining social invitations, and so far we're batting 1000. (I can't say I actually know what "the best" possible batting average is, but "1000" came very naturally, and everyone knows what I mean.) In the past three days, we have accepted one invitation, and declined another.
On Friday Angela and I were walking back from school, and we said hello to a Lebanese man we had greeted once or twice before. This time, we actually stopped and talked with him for a few moments, and then he said, "You will have dinner with me." (Word for word, marc.) We said we would love to, and agreed to meet at 7 o'clock on Monday, at Comodre- which was last night. It was, really, a wonderful time.
His name was Youssef, and he is in the timber business, mostly ookume trees. When we met was the first time that he was going to eat that day, because of the feast of Ramadan. We talked about Lebanon, ignorant Americans (us), and he asked us questions like, "Why does America view Muslims the way they do." It was a terrific conversation, especially so because we had gone into the situation so conscientious of protecting information about ourselves. Youssef ordered for us, food we never would have known to get by ourselves, and then we went on to have dessert, and tea with him. He payed for everything, we exchanged phone numbers, and he told us to call him if we ever needed anything, or got into any sort of trouble.
This morning, we declined an invitation. Our house-keeper Rose said she had someone who wanted to meet with us in our apartment. When I pressed her, asking, "Who is this person," she smirked at me and said, "A brother from the church."
Thanks, Rose, but I prefer to hang on to my video camera and computer for another week or so.
Finally, I would like to address what an enormously profound day this is for album releases in the United States. The strongest line-up I have ever seen, hands down, and I would have dropped 80 bucks in Best Buy without a second thought. If you pick one of these up, let me know how they are.
Stars- In Our Bedroom After The War
Iron & Wine- The Shepherd's Dog (Great album cover as well. Intriguing.)
Will.i.am.-Songs about Girls (I'm not ashamed of this one. And the kicker is, I am well aware that Mr. Will.i.am. is almost certainly not being clever in the least bit. Doubtless he has filled up an entire CD with, literally, songs about girls. Oh well. I own Elephunk too.)
The Darjeeling Limited Sountrack (If there's one thing Wes Anderson can do besides make movies I love, it's make soundtracks I love.)
Matt Pond P.A.- Last Light (This is last, and also least. I really like Matt Pond, and would buy the CD, but he's out of his leauge today.)
Ok, that's all for now. Angela is going to put up a post with pictures later, so you don't have to visualize what is happening, or envision what we look like. You can just indulge your big fat peepers. Drop us an e-mail, we'd love to here from you-cheers.
Angela and I certainly keep active. We're actually walking a rather fine line of accepting, and declining social invitations, and so far we're batting 1000. (I can't say I actually know what "the best" possible batting average is, but "1000" came very naturally, and everyone knows what I mean.) In the past three days, we have accepted one invitation, and declined another.
On Friday Angela and I were walking back from school, and we said hello to a Lebanese man we had greeted once or twice before. This time, we actually stopped and talked with him for a few moments, and then he said, "You will have dinner with me." (Word for word, marc.) We said we would love to, and agreed to meet at 7 o'clock on Monday, at Comodre- which was last night. It was, really, a wonderful time.
His name was Youssef, and he is in the timber business, mostly ookume trees. When we met was the first time that he was going to eat that day, because of the feast of Ramadan. We talked about Lebanon, ignorant Americans (us), and he asked us questions like, "Why does America view Muslims the way they do." It was a terrific conversation, especially so because we had gone into the situation so conscientious of protecting information about ourselves. Youssef ordered for us, food we never would have known to get by ourselves, and then we went on to have dessert, and tea with him. He payed for everything, we exchanged phone numbers, and he told us to call him if we ever needed anything, or got into any sort of trouble.
This morning, we declined an invitation. Our house-keeper Rose said she had someone who wanted to meet with us in our apartment. When I pressed her, asking, "Who is this person," she smirked at me and said, "A brother from the church."
Thanks, Rose, but I prefer to hang on to my video camera and computer for another week or so.
Finally, I would like to address what an enormously profound day this is for album releases in the United States. The strongest line-up I have ever seen, hands down, and I would have dropped 80 bucks in Best Buy without a second thought. If you pick one of these up, let me know how they are.
Stars- In Our Bedroom After The War
Iron & Wine- The Shepherd's Dog (Great album cover as well. Intriguing.)
Will.i.am.-Songs about Girls (I'm not ashamed of this one. And the kicker is, I am well aware that Mr. Will.i.am. is almost certainly not being clever in the least bit. Doubtless he has filled up an entire CD with, literally, songs about girls. Oh well. I own Elephunk too.)
The Darjeeling Limited Sountrack (If there's one thing Wes Anderson can do besides make movies I love, it's make soundtracks I love.)
Matt Pond P.A.- Last Light (This is last, and also least. I really like Matt Pond, and would buy the CD, but he's out of his leauge today.)
Ok, that's all for now. Angela is going to put up a post with pictures later, so you don't have to visualize what is happening, or envision what we look like. You can just indulge your big fat peepers. Drop us an e-mail, we'd love to here from you-cheers.
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