I just had to interrupt the Liberia story stream for this.
Check it out!
Perhaps the most disturbingly funny thing I have ever seen on the Internet.
Wow.
More stories will be out, but may I remind you impatient ones, that blogging takes a while, and I have lots to write.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Liberia Stories (Part 3)
Arriving at the guesthouse was a relief after the hours of travel, and interesting to see where we would be staying for 2 weeks. The first dinner was rice, cassava leaf, crab, chicken, and some awesome mystery meat, pineapple, and plantains. Delicious!!
Our room was very nice, the main attraction being an air conditioner. There were only two beds, but we were prepared for that contingincy! We had an air matteress! What we did not have was a way to pump up that air matteress, because the pump was dead. :| Yeah, I had to share with Tony. The next important step was setting up the mosquito nets. The room was fairly large, with cement walls and ceiling, so there were only a few nails around the room. Baker decided that we needed to put a nail into a joist in the corner above his bed, so he got a hammer, and got up there, and tried to put it in. He failed, understandably so, because the stance that was required was fairly difficult, and did not lend itself to hammering a nail. I offered my help, and I got up there, and as we passed, the bed broke. We were both standing on basically the same spot, and that is a fairly heavy load, so the fault is not entirely with the bed. This breaking was pretty loud, and follow by several exclaimations, and some laughter, then Baker fixing the bed, loudly. Problem solved! We then put the mosquito nets, and crashed out. I slept hard, except for Baker's talking in the middle of the night. "mumblemumble mumble Reversal mumble mumble!" No clue what he was talking about.
The next morning was a time of attempting to process all that I had seen so far, which was pretty overwhelming, considering my sudden introduction to a totally different scale of poverty, a different kind of urbanism, a different mentality in government, and a different history as a nation. It was fascinating to see another society, but disturbing to see a society that seems so radically different, and not always positively, in its basic structures and activities. My shower was......interesting, invigorating, novel, crude, unsatisfying, and ineffective. The method was scooping about 2 cups of water out of a barrel, then pouring it over body, I started with the head, so the most area possible was covered with each pouring. I have done this before, including a delightful variation while camping, using a 5-gallon bucket and warm water. This, this was not warm water. This water was whatever temprature it wanted to be, and that was usually cold. I would pour it, and it would run down my back, and my breath would catch in my chest. What a way to start the morning!! Then rinse, and dry off. Partially dry off. Dry off as much as possible, considering the humidity. Dry off just enough that there are no drops of water, but my shirt still sticks to me. Fun.
Friday was my first introduction to the Liberian economy, and marketplace. We were going for a Liberian shirts for Baker and I to wear to church, because we didn't bring "church clothes". It was like Disneyland and Mall of America mashed together, minus planning. The only thing that felt planned was the streets, and by the streets, I mean the physical roadway, where vehicles are supposed to drive, the rest seemed pretty organically generated. People selling things off of their heads, people selling things to people driving past in cars, 3 different offers to braid my hair. The sheer amount of merchandise, and merchants, and noise, and people trying to get someone, anyone's attention. A blanket of commotion, seemingly one big mass, but really made up of individual threads, and those threads can be picked out, with enough concentration. The most overwhelming shopping experience ever, but I have never gone to the mall with a group of teenage girls late at night. The shirt store was pretty funny. The more plain shirt I wanted was $15 (the American dollar is common currency), and the seemingly more ornate one was $10. Didn't really grasp that concept. The Liberians who were with us were Edwin and K.J., and they were giving me input on which shirt would be good. I tried on one of the shirts......it was like wearing a tie-dyed tent, with starch. I asked it was supposed to that big, and the storeowner answers "One size fits all." I looked at Edwin (this is where his size is relevant), looked at K.J., looked at Tony and Baker, and chuckled to myself, and bought the shirt. A picture will be forthcoming in my Picture Edition.
Saturday was supposed to be a planning day for the VBS, us meeting with the teachers we would be partnering with, and really getting some solid prep work done. What happened was totally different. We showed up, and got mobbed by a bunch of kids, the kids we did not expect to be there. We ended up working on the VBS, but also spending time playing with the kids. Tony invented a game where a ball is rolled between two people holding their hands a foot apart, and the goal is to get the ball between the other person's hands. I lost 23-25, Tony lost 20-25. That kid was pretty good. We also saw some awesome potential for there to be really constructive partnership with the Liberians, particularly on the part of Lo Pou (pronounced Low Poo) and Shepard (pronounced Shepard), Lo Pou being the administrator who runs around putting out the fires, and Shepard being the teacher, and great communicator to the children. It was pretty amazing seeing how gifted Shepard is.
Sunday was amazing. The church service was unlike anything I have ever been a part of. The sheer energy was amazing. The worship broke every stereotype I had regarding what "church" looks like. I think I really got the picture while they were singing the song which had a chorus of "Shake your body for Jesus! Shake your body for Jesus! Shake your body for Jesus!" They were so thankful and joyful, despite the civil war that plagued their nation for 20 years, and the poor sanitation, and the shortage of healthcare, and the minimal education, and the hard jobs for under minimum wage, and the effort required to get food for a day, and the lack of inspiring prospects for the future. I was stunned, and convicted. Here I am, living in the U.S. with so much of all of that, and they are more thankful than I am. Why? The whole service had a very communal feel, which was so cool. I love community, and don't see it very often in the U.S. (This community is a recurring theme) After church, we went back to the guesthouse, and took it easy for the rest of the day.
That brings us to the end of this entry.
I feel like I didn't explain how this is going to work.
Every couple of days I will have an entry, and then at the end, when all the days have been covered, I will have a post which is entirely amusing anecdotes, curious musings, and thought-provoking stories.
Our room was very nice, the main attraction being an air conditioner. There were only two beds, but we were prepared for that contingincy! We had an air matteress! What we did not have was a way to pump up that air matteress, because the pump was dead. :| Yeah, I had to share with Tony. The next important step was setting up the mosquito nets. The room was fairly large, with cement walls and ceiling, so there were only a few nails around the room. Baker decided that we needed to put a nail into a joist in the corner above his bed, so he got a hammer, and got up there, and tried to put it in. He failed, understandably so, because the stance that was required was fairly difficult, and did not lend itself to hammering a nail. I offered my help, and I got up there, and as we passed, the bed broke. We were both standing on basically the same spot, and that is a fairly heavy load, so the fault is not entirely with the bed. This breaking was pretty loud, and follow by several exclaimations, and some laughter, then Baker fixing the bed, loudly. Problem solved! We then put the mosquito nets, and crashed out. I slept hard, except for Baker's talking in the middle of the night. "mumblemumble mumble Reversal mumble mumble!" No clue what he was talking about.
The next morning was a time of attempting to process all that I had seen so far, which was pretty overwhelming, considering my sudden introduction to a totally different scale of poverty, a different kind of urbanism, a different mentality in government, and a different history as a nation. It was fascinating to see another society, but disturbing to see a society that seems so radically different, and not always positively, in its basic structures and activities. My shower was......interesting, invigorating, novel, crude, unsatisfying, and ineffective. The method was scooping about 2 cups of water out of a barrel, then pouring it over body, I started with the head, so the most area possible was covered with each pouring. I have done this before, including a delightful variation while camping, using a 5-gallon bucket and warm water. This, this was not warm water. This water was whatever temprature it wanted to be, and that was usually cold. I would pour it, and it would run down my back, and my breath would catch in my chest. What a way to start the morning!! Then rinse, and dry off. Partially dry off. Dry off as much as possible, considering the humidity. Dry off just enough that there are no drops of water, but my shirt still sticks to me. Fun.
Friday was my first introduction to the Liberian economy, and marketplace. We were going for a Liberian shirts for Baker and I to wear to church, because we didn't bring "church clothes". It was like Disneyland and Mall of America mashed together, minus planning. The only thing that felt planned was the streets, and by the streets, I mean the physical roadway, where vehicles are supposed to drive, the rest seemed pretty organically generated. People selling things off of their heads, people selling things to people driving past in cars, 3 different offers to braid my hair. The sheer amount of merchandise, and merchants, and noise, and people trying to get someone, anyone's attention. A blanket of commotion, seemingly one big mass, but really made up of individual threads, and those threads can be picked out, with enough concentration. The most overwhelming shopping experience ever, but I have never gone to the mall with a group of teenage girls late at night. The shirt store was pretty funny. The more plain shirt I wanted was $15 (the American dollar is common currency), and the seemingly more ornate one was $10. Didn't really grasp that concept. The Liberians who were with us were Edwin and K.J., and they were giving me input on which shirt would be good. I tried on one of the shirts......it was like wearing a tie-dyed tent, with starch. I asked it was supposed to that big, and the storeowner answers "One size fits all." I looked at Edwin (this is where his size is relevant), looked at K.J., looked at Tony and Baker, and chuckled to myself, and bought the shirt. A picture will be forthcoming in my Picture Edition.
Saturday was supposed to be a planning day for the VBS, us meeting with the teachers we would be partnering with, and really getting some solid prep work done. What happened was totally different. We showed up, and got mobbed by a bunch of kids, the kids we did not expect to be there. We ended up working on the VBS, but also spending time playing with the kids. Tony invented a game where a ball is rolled between two people holding their hands a foot apart, and the goal is to get the ball between the other person's hands. I lost 23-25, Tony lost 20-25. That kid was pretty good. We also saw some awesome potential for there to be really constructive partnership with the Liberians, particularly on the part of Lo Pou (pronounced Low Poo) and Shepard (pronounced Shepard), Lo Pou being the administrator who runs around putting out the fires, and Shepard being the teacher, and great communicator to the children. It was pretty amazing seeing how gifted Shepard is.
Sunday was amazing. The church service was unlike anything I have ever been a part of. The sheer energy was amazing. The worship broke every stereotype I had regarding what "church" looks like. I think I really got the picture while they were singing the song which had a chorus of "Shake your body for Jesus! Shake your body for Jesus! Shake your body for Jesus!" They were so thankful and joyful, despite the civil war that plagued their nation for 20 years, and the poor sanitation, and the shortage of healthcare, and the minimal education, and the hard jobs for under minimum wage, and the effort required to get food for a day, and the lack of inspiring prospects for the future. I was stunned, and convicted. Here I am, living in the U.S. with so much of all of that, and they are more thankful than I am. Why? The whole service had a very communal feel, which was so cool. I love community, and don't see it very often in the U.S. (This community is a recurring theme) After church, we went back to the guesthouse, and took it easy for the rest of the day.
That brings us to the end of this entry.
I feel like I didn't explain how this is going to work.
Every couple of days I will have an entry, and then at the end, when all the days have been covered, I will have a post which is entirely amusing anecdotes, curious musings, and thought-provoking stories.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Liberia Stories (Part 2)
Since we arrived at the guesthouse, this will be a good time to briefly introduce some of the Liberians that were with us through the week, and the other North Americans that were with me.
Tony-Pastor of Mission Mobilization and Outreach at my church. Age 29, world-traveler, married, he was also the youth pastor at my previous church for 9 months or so.
Baker-International Compassion Experience (ICE) team leader. Age mid-30's, third time in Liberia, married.
Marty-AHEAD volunteer. Age 65. Missionary kid in Brazil, actively involved in mission most of her life. Many visits to Liberia, currently there to teach small Bible study leaders "The Discovery Method". Loves mangoes.
Jennifer-Age 27. RN, from the US, volunteering for a month at the Cynthia Nelson Clinic (right across from the guesthouse).
Oscar-President of AHEAD, former denizen of Corporate America. Liberian-born, graduate of University of Liberia, joint-citizenship of United States and Liberia.
Sunday-Cook at the guesthouse, employee of AHEAD. Mid-40's. I was told I could call her "Ooma", which is Liberian English for "Old Mother".
Chipi-Guesthouse Manager, small-business owner, business school student. Age 27. He and Sunday called me "Chris-O".
Emmanual-Oscar's driver and righthand man when he is in Liberia. Age 29. Chipi and Emmanual dubbed me a "Junior Brother".
K.J.-Financial Officer for AHEAD Liberia. Cousin of Oscar. Called me "Chris-O". Works at the Cynthia Nelson Clinic.
Edwin-Clinic Administrator. Mid 40's. Spent 20 years in the Liberian Army. A relevant detail is his size. About 6'2", 230 lbs.
These are most of the main characters, other minor characters will be introduced as they appear.
With the main characters introduced, more stories will be coming.
Tony-Pastor of Mission Mobilization and Outreach at my church. Age 29, world-traveler, married, he was also the youth pastor at my previous church for 9 months or so.
Baker-International Compassion Experience (ICE) team leader. Age mid-30's, third time in Liberia, married.
Marty-AHEAD volunteer. Age 65. Missionary kid in Brazil, actively involved in mission most of her life. Many visits to Liberia, currently there to teach small Bible study leaders "The Discovery Method". Loves mangoes.
Jennifer-Age 27. RN, from the US, volunteering for a month at the Cynthia Nelson Clinic (right across from the guesthouse).
Oscar-President of AHEAD, former denizen of Corporate America. Liberian-born, graduate of University of Liberia, joint-citizenship of United States and Liberia.
Sunday-Cook at the guesthouse, employee of AHEAD. Mid-40's. I was told I could call her "Ooma", which is Liberian English for "Old Mother".
Chipi-Guesthouse Manager, small-business owner, business school student. Age 27. He and Sunday called me "Chris-O".
Emmanual-Oscar's driver and righthand man when he is in Liberia. Age 29. Chipi and Emmanual dubbed me a "Junior Brother".
K.J.-Financial Officer for AHEAD Liberia. Cousin of Oscar. Called me "Chris-O". Works at the Cynthia Nelson Clinic.
Edwin-Clinic Administrator. Mid 40's. Spent 20 years in the Liberian Army. A relevant detail is his size. About 6'2", 230 lbs.
These are most of the main characters, other minor characters will be introduced as they appear.
With the main characters introduced, more stories will be coming.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Liberia Stories (Part 1)
To give a summary of the trip in a sentence, it was totally awesome! I'm planning to tell a bunch of stories, and hoping to have them paint a somewhat coherent picture, and to be in something close to chronological order. With that bit explained, I'll just jump in.
Our plane flight was.......long, interesting for a while, but pretty uncomfortable, and pretty tiring. The layovers were just long enough to be boring, but not long enough for us to leave the airport. When we arrived at the airport in Monrovia, things got interesting.
The air was humid, felt like getting hit in the chest with a wet hand, and smelled indescribable. Smoky, stale, and chemical air. It stung my eyes, and felt heavy in my lungs. By the third day, I had stopped noticing it. Clearing security at the airport was amazingly simple, we gave our passports, got them stamped, and then walked around Customs. Around Customs!! Oscar, the President of Agency for Holistic Evanglisism And Development (AHEAD), told us later that he had sent a letter to Customs ahead of time, and that is why we didn't have any of our bags checked. We then walked outside, where we waited for 45 minutes, or perhaps a hour. I didn't have a watch, or any kind of time-keeping device, so all my times are approximate. Finally the AHEAD van showed up, and we all piled in, fitting 10 in a van that has seats for 7.
The drive to Monrovia, and through Monrovia to the guesthouse was my first look at 3rd world poverty, and it was pretty shocking. The countryside around the airport was amazingly beautiful. Lush, verdant jungle. Huge trees standing up above the bushes, thickly packed bushes, and ant hills on the side of the road. It was so cool to see how close nature is to civilization. Once we hit town, things got a little more stark. The traffic was unlike anything I have seen. People running across the road, cars passing on the right side, people selling things on the sides of the roads from wheelbarrows, blankets, and cardboard boxes. Buildings made out of sticks, buildings made of thatch, and the "nice" buildings made that are made entirely from cinder blocks. Those were the buildings that were under 3 stories tall, almost all the buildings that were over 3 stories tall, particularly the government buildings, were totally shell-scarred, and stripped down to the cement framework. The symbolism was hard to ignore. After about 2 hours of driving we finally arrived at the guesthouse, and that is where I will pick up from next post.
Now, I need to fix dinner.
Our plane flight was.......long, interesting for a while, but pretty uncomfortable, and pretty tiring. The layovers were just long enough to be boring, but not long enough for us to leave the airport. When we arrived at the airport in Monrovia, things got interesting.
The air was humid, felt like getting hit in the chest with a wet hand, and smelled indescribable. Smoky, stale, and chemical air. It stung my eyes, and felt heavy in my lungs. By the third day, I had stopped noticing it. Clearing security at the airport was amazingly simple, we gave our passports, got them stamped, and then walked around Customs. Around Customs!! Oscar, the President of Agency for Holistic Evanglisism And Development (AHEAD), told us later that he had sent a letter to Customs ahead of time, and that is why we didn't have any of our bags checked. We then walked outside, where we waited for 45 minutes, or perhaps a hour. I didn't have a watch, or any kind of time-keeping device, so all my times are approximate. Finally the AHEAD van showed up, and we all piled in, fitting 10 in a van that has seats for 7.
The drive to Monrovia, and through Monrovia to the guesthouse was my first look at 3rd world poverty, and it was pretty shocking. The countryside around the airport was amazingly beautiful. Lush, verdant jungle. Huge trees standing up above the bushes, thickly packed bushes, and ant hills on the side of the road. It was so cool to see how close nature is to civilization. Once we hit town, things got a little more stark. The traffic was unlike anything I have seen. People running across the road, cars passing on the right side, people selling things on the sides of the roads from wheelbarrows, blankets, and cardboard boxes. Buildings made out of sticks, buildings made of thatch, and the "nice" buildings made that are made entirely from cinder blocks. Those were the buildings that were under 3 stories tall, almost all the buildings that were over 3 stories tall, particularly the government buildings, were totally shell-scarred, and stripped down to the cement framework. The symbolism was hard to ignore. After about 2 hours of driving we finally arrived at the guesthouse, and that is where I will pick up from next post.
Now, I need to fix dinner.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Liberia
I said that I was going to use mobile blogging, but unfortunately, it only works for US numbers, and all the phones here are Liberian numbers.
Things are going so well, I finally got past the humidity, and the culture shock, and am functioning fairly well. There will be tons of stories when I get back, but for now I wanted to explain why I won't be posting often, and to say that I am doing well. Thanks to you all for your prayers!!
Chris, Tony, Baker=The ICE team
Things are going so well, I finally got past the humidity, and the culture shock, and am functioning fairly well. There will be tons of stories when I get back, but for now I wanted to explain why I won't be posting often, and to say that I am doing well. Thanks to you all for your prayers!!
Chris, Tony, Baker=The ICE team
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
My Endless Education
One of my favorite things in life is to learn things, I love it. I never want to stop learning, and I try to not make education something that happens at regular intervals, and not at all in between those intervals. This post is mostly about some education that happened over this last week, and some education that is going to happen.
Saturday and Sunday are going to take up most of this post, due to the sheer amount of fun that happened on those days. Not only did I go to church, but I took part in something called "Splash!" which is a program at Stanford University, where current Stanford students, grads, and students from other universities teach classes to middle and high schoolers. I will attempt to have some structure to my recounting, but it will most likely degrade into scraps of memories.
I arrived at 9 (thanks Dad!!), and had an hour to kill, so I took a little look around the campus, just a tiny look, and then indulged in some fun people watching. This event was like a light and moths, except for nerds. Perhaps the largest gathering of nerdy people outside a conference on comic books or Star Trek or such extraordinary event. I am a nerd, that is fine, I am comfortable with that, but I am a more subdued nerd, and most of these people were flaming nerds. I can even handle kid nerds, but the parents were the ones who really pushed me over the edge. Some parents stayed all day, and quite a few were walking their kids to classes, eating lunch with their kids, and other such irritating behaviors. I used the term helicopter parent. I felt bad for these kids, and really wanted to say something to their parents, but, I kept my mouth shut. Another parent behavior I observed was yet defined "college grooming", where the parents graduated from Stanford, and are now forcing their children to take part in events like this, as well as go to prestegious schools, test well, and do other things that greatly increase their chance of getting into Stanford. I wouldn't mind being groomed, but I wonder, is that because I wasn't groomed? I think that parents wanting to help their kids is great, but only if the kids want it.
Now that I am done with the parents, on to the classes. It was striking how average I was, average intelligence, average coolness, average desire to be there. My first class was about social change, microfinance, etc. The class was pretty cool, but the time where we worked with our classmates was absymal. I got two guys who were conservative (in the negative way), pessimistic, contrary, and able to quote statistics with memorized skill. Our topic was governmental reform, and these guys were able to sweep us into deciding that we needed to lessen the punishment for minor crimes, and harshen punishments for major crimes. Not what I thought would be decided in our discussion. I hate people who have nothing to say except negativity.
My second class was about logic, and was really good, but not very funny. Except for when the teacher gave us some snacks. If Teddy Grahams, Plain Triscuts, and Pepperidge Farms Entertaining Collection counts as snack. His apology? "I thought of this this morning, and went by the campus store. This was the best they had."
My last class of that day was Public Finance in America, which was made tons more fun by the closest to thug there. Caucasian, looked and acted like he actually lived in a ghetto, and talked like it too. Some of his more choice sayings of the class. "Yeah, incarceration is when the bacon bust yo ***, and you get locked up.", "I'm saying dat crime down, cause dey hatin' on gangs and **** like that", "I know dem Mexicans be paying most of dem taxes, cause dey don't want no IRS busting they ***** and sending them back to Mexico or wherever.", "I know what dem projects like, like some little culture or some **** like that. Any po-lice that go in there gonna be ****** up real good." I must give a round of applause to the teacher, a mild-mannered MIT student, who showed no surprise at this out of place language.
I was exhausted after that, so slept fairly well, and was feeling pretty well rested for the next day. Sunday was pretty normal, except for when the lead pastor came in to talk to the youth. I can usually pay atttention, but this was so dry, and Brad's voice is so lullingly sing-songy, I was nearly falling asleep. Not kidding.
Classes were a blast on Sunday. First was a intimate class on "Saving the Planet", which was made up of 4 students, and one teacher. The teacher was a passionate Mechanical Engineering PhD, who is really concerned about the environment. Really cool. I'm not the only passionate one.
The next class was on immigration and the border. In the class of 15 or so, only 3 people had not immigrated, or had their family immigrate within the last 15 years. We were the awkward white guys, but at least I have experience with immigrants. The teacher really, really, knew his stats, and did a great job making all his points clear.
The last class was about capitalism, viewed through the lens of masturbation. I wasn't sure about it, but Mom encouraged me to check it out. (Thanks Mom!!) The teacher had some interesting ideas on the topic, but my favorite part was the colorful discussion. Just great, and hard to express. That's it for what has passed.
On Thursday, at 5:30 a.m., I will be at the airport in San Jose, and off by 6:30. San Jose to Chicago, Chicago to Brussels, Brussels to Monrovia. I won't be back for 2 weeks, but I will be posting, via mobile. (As they say there)
This video was found looking for a song I heard on my Pandora, and wanted to hear again. Not only is the music great, but the idea is so fun. I have actually done this, but not as goofily as that man, and not on camera. Enjoy!!
That's all for now!!
God Bless!!
Saturday and Sunday are going to take up most of this post, due to the sheer amount of fun that happened on those days. Not only did I go to church, but I took part in something called "Splash!" which is a program at Stanford University, where current Stanford students, grads, and students from other universities teach classes to middle and high schoolers. I will attempt to have some structure to my recounting, but it will most likely degrade into scraps of memories.
I arrived at 9 (thanks Dad!!), and had an hour to kill, so I took a little look around the campus, just a tiny look, and then indulged in some fun people watching. This event was like a light and moths, except for nerds. Perhaps the largest gathering of nerdy people outside a conference on comic books or Star Trek or such extraordinary event. I am a nerd, that is fine, I am comfortable with that, but I am a more subdued nerd, and most of these people were flaming nerds. I can even handle kid nerds, but the parents were the ones who really pushed me over the edge. Some parents stayed all day, and quite a few were walking their kids to classes, eating lunch with their kids, and other such irritating behaviors. I used the term helicopter parent. I felt bad for these kids, and really wanted to say something to their parents, but, I kept my mouth shut. Another parent behavior I observed was yet defined "college grooming", where the parents graduated from Stanford, and are now forcing their children to take part in events like this, as well as go to prestegious schools, test well, and do other things that greatly increase their chance of getting into Stanford. I wouldn't mind being groomed, but I wonder, is that because I wasn't groomed? I think that parents wanting to help their kids is great, but only if the kids want it.
Now that I am done with the parents, on to the classes. It was striking how average I was, average intelligence, average coolness, average desire to be there. My first class was about social change, microfinance, etc. The class was pretty cool, but the time where we worked with our classmates was absymal. I got two guys who were conservative (in the negative way), pessimistic, contrary, and able to quote statistics with memorized skill. Our topic was governmental reform, and these guys were able to sweep us into deciding that we needed to lessen the punishment for minor crimes, and harshen punishments for major crimes. Not what I thought would be decided in our discussion. I hate people who have nothing to say except negativity.
My second class was about logic, and was really good, but not very funny. Except for when the teacher gave us some snacks. If Teddy Grahams, Plain Triscuts, and Pepperidge Farms Entertaining Collection counts as snack. His apology? "I thought of this this morning, and went by the campus store. This was the best they had."
My last class of that day was Public Finance in America, which was made tons more fun by the closest to thug there. Caucasian, looked and acted like he actually lived in a ghetto, and talked like it too. Some of his more choice sayings of the class. "Yeah, incarceration is when the bacon bust yo ***, and you get locked up.", "I'm saying dat crime down, cause dey hatin' on gangs and **** like that", "I know dem Mexicans be paying most of dem taxes, cause dey don't want no IRS busting they ***** and sending them back to Mexico or wherever.", "I know what dem projects like, like some little culture or some **** like that. Any po-lice that go in there gonna be ****** up real good." I must give a round of applause to the teacher, a mild-mannered MIT student, who showed no surprise at this out of place language.
I was exhausted after that, so slept fairly well, and was feeling pretty well rested for the next day. Sunday was pretty normal, except for when the lead pastor came in to talk to the youth. I can usually pay atttention, but this was so dry, and Brad's voice is so lullingly sing-songy, I was nearly falling asleep. Not kidding.
Classes were a blast on Sunday. First was a intimate class on "Saving the Planet", which was made up of 4 students, and one teacher. The teacher was a passionate Mechanical Engineering PhD, who is really concerned about the environment. Really cool. I'm not the only passionate one.
The next class was on immigration and the border. In the class of 15 or so, only 3 people had not immigrated, or had their family immigrate within the last 15 years. We were the awkward white guys, but at least I have experience with immigrants. The teacher really, really, knew his stats, and did a great job making all his points clear.
The last class was about capitalism, viewed through the lens of masturbation. I wasn't sure about it, but Mom encouraged me to check it out. (Thanks Mom!!) The teacher had some interesting ideas on the topic, but my favorite part was the colorful discussion. Just great, and hard to express. That's it for what has passed.
On Thursday, at 5:30 a.m., I will be at the airport in San Jose, and off by 6:30. San Jose to Chicago, Chicago to Brussels, Brussels to Monrovia. I won't be back for 2 weeks, but I will be posting, via mobile. (As they say there)
This video was found looking for a song I heard on my Pandora, and wanted to hear again. Not only is the music great, but the idea is so fun. I have actually done this, but not as goofily as that man, and not on camera. Enjoy!!
That's all for now!!
God Bless!!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Book Reviews
A few posts back I mentioned our trip to the library, and the cool books I got. I also promised to have reviews for those books. Here they are!!
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond. Wow. I had heard good things about this book, but when I picked it up at the library, all I could think was "Is he really going to try to explain all of human history in 400-odd pages?" Yes, he did try, in a way. The point is understanding why Eurasian societies are dominant today, and why they have been dominant for several years. So not really understanding all of history, but understanding the events that brought about much of current history. That explained, this was a great book, partially due to the unique lens through which Diamond looks at history. So many people start with politics, but he starts with science, and particularly food. (I like food.) This book does take some work, even trying to explain it to my parent's required some thinking on their behalf, so read this book, but only if you want to put some work into it.
Journey to the Ants, by E.O. Wilson, and Bert Hölldobler. This book is actually on loan from one of my fellow MBA volunteers, not the library. I am not exactly a "scientific" person, I love science, and all the cools things that can be discovered, or made, due to advances in science. I thought that this book would be a little too science-y for a causualist like me, but it was perfect! A great collection of stories, with just enough theories to make me feel like I was thinking about smart stuff. I would whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone who finds nature fascinating.
The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell. Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor to This American Life, which is one of my favorite radio shows of all time. Sarah (we are on a first name basis) has such a fun take on history. She does great research and can draw parallels between seemingly unconnected events in history. Her tone is seemingly flip, but really just removes the over-reverence we have for history, and historical characters. Just because they lived hundreds of years ago, doesn't make them perfect, or above mocking. In this particular book she focuses on Puritans, and I learned more about them than I thought would be interesting. The theological minutiae, the historical context, and the hilarious anecdotes. Good only if you have time to kill, and don't want to be totally bored, but still want something with some redemptive value.
That is all for this edition of Hays Book Review.
I will have a post for the events of this week tomorrow. (Probably)
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond. Wow. I had heard good things about this book, but when I picked it up at the library, all I could think was "Is he really going to try to explain all of human history in 400-odd pages?" Yes, he did try, in a way. The point is understanding why Eurasian societies are dominant today, and why they have been dominant for several years. So not really understanding all of history, but understanding the events that brought about much of current history. That explained, this was a great book, partially due to the unique lens through which Diamond looks at history. So many people start with politics, but he starts with science, and particularly food. (I like food.) This book does take some work, even trying to explain it to my parent's required some thinking on their behalf, so read this book, but only if you want to put some work into it.
Journey to the Ants, by E.O. Wilson, and Bert Hölldobler. This book is actually on loan from one of my fellow MBA volunteers, not the library. I am not exactly a "scientific" person, I love science, and all the cools things that can be discovered, or made, due to advances in science. I thought that this book would be a little too science-y for a causualist like me, but it was perfect! A great collection of stories, with just enough theories to make me feel like I was thinking about smart stuff. I would whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone who finds nature fascinating.
The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell. Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor to This American Life, which is one of my favorite radio shows of all time. Sarah (we are on a first name basis) has such a fun take on history. She does great research and can draw parallels between seemingly unconnected events in history. Her tone is seemingly flip, but really just removes the over-reverence we have for history, and historical characters. Just because they lived hundreds of years ago, doesn't make them perfect, or above mocking. In this particular book she focuses on Puritans, and I learned more about them than I thought would be interesting. The theological minutiae, the historical context, and the hilarious anecdotes. Good only if you have time to kill, and don't want to be totally bored, but still want something with some redemptive value.
That is all for this edition of Hays Book Review.
I will have a post for the events of this week tomorrow. (Probably)
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