I added some links to blogs of friends that i think are neat. They are both friends from Wisconsin, Kyla is running around Europe being ridiculous and Ben is teaching in Chile for the next year. So if you enjoy blogs and you enjoy friends you should check them out!
Life in the old SP (South Pacific) is superidy duperdy! I could be going crazy but you know what they say, crazy is in the eye of the beholder...or whatever. I had another busy week running back and forth from the village to apia. I picked up 4,000tala worth of sewing machines, material, scissors, and thread for the women's committee yesterday. Thank you New Zealand aide and thank you to mrs. comings my second grade teacher who taught me how to write.
I found out wed that my principal signed Sina (my counterpart pictured in earlier blogs with cake) and I up for a special needs sports training for 3 days in apia next week. Apparently im going to learn how to play netball....
Anywho, gotta run, trying to decide whether to get on the bus or not...
Friday, March 14, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
Good deeds and pears
Last week was a week of good deeds…and pears! We started work on the computer lab at our school which was wonderful. Michael, who is a new peace corps volunteer living in Satalo which is a village about 10 min bike ride from me, is a very experience carpenter who has agreed to help build our computer lab. We put up screen and coco wire on the windows to help hinder some of the creepy crawlies from getting into the lab. We also discovered that I was a bit short on the measurements, so we could only cover about half the windows. No fear, though I made a trip to Apia this weekend to get more screen and coco wire.
On Wednesday Meghan and I were picked up by a Peace Corps car and taken out to Sapo’e to help set up a computer that was donated to the school there by another peace corps volunteer. I was mostly there for moral support as those of you who know me know that computers are not exactly my specialty (lets not get into why I am starting a computer lab at my school…its all very confusing here in Samoa…).
On Thursday during my afternoon jog I was hailed to a house of a good friend by a bunch of flailing children screaming “Lola sau!!” (Lola come here). The woman that lives at said house, Lise, is a wonderful lady on the Women’s committee in our village. I wrote a grant for their committee to get sewing machines which I have a check for, but we needed to work out logistics about when to pick them up and when we should start sewing classes, etc. Lise had been in American Samoa for the last few weeks so it was good to catch up with her again. As I was leaving she called me back to give me presents from her trip (in Samoa it is rude not to bring everyone and their mom presents after you come back from trips, more often than not presents are in the form of food). She sent her girls in the house and they come back out with a bag which she pulls out a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts and then she pulls out a pear!! This might not sound very exciting, but when you haven’t seen a pear in over a year the sight of the sweet savory fruit is beyond exhilarating. I, of course, freaked out a little bit, which I think surprised Lise as she didn’t even know what the name of the fruit was.
Later that night, after I chilled the pear, I bit into it while standing in my kitchen and collapsed on the floor in fruity bliss. Im not kidding. So that is my story of the pear.
I volunteered with the Red Cross again last Saturday. We were helping out with the Manu Samoa 15s try-outs. For those that don’t know Manu Samoa is our national rugby team. Some of the players were there which is about as close to a celebrity sighting as I have gotten in awhile. Quite exciting really.
Now that is what i call sustainable development!! It might be hard to tell that this is my entire school and they are all signing the national anthem! Malaki (my brother from another mother, i.e. the little boy i teach with a hearing disability) is in the bottom left corner.
My buddy Michael putting up the screens for the computer lab at our school. He had a lot of eager helpers...
Michael and the boys cutting the screen for the windows
Meghan showing off her work. This is the computer we (and by we I mean meghan) installed at Sapo'e
On Wednesday Meghan and I were picked up by a Peace Corps car and taken out to Sapo’e to help set up a computer that was donated to the school there by another peace corps volunteer. I was mostly there for moral support as those of you who know me know that computers are not exactly my specialty (lets not get into why I am starting a computer lab at my school…its all very confusing here in Samoa…).
On Thursday during my afternoon jog I was hailed to a house of a good friend by a bunch of flailing children screaming “Lola sau!!” (Lola come here). The woman that lives at said house, Lise, is a wonderful lady on the Women’s committee in our village. I wrote a grant for their committee to get sewing machines which I have a check for, but we needed to work out logistics about when to pick them up and when we should start sewing classes, etc. Lise had been in American Samoa for the last few weeks so it was good to catch up with her again. As I was leaving she called me back to give me presents from her trip (in Samoa it is rude not to bring everyone and their mom presents after you come back from trips, more often than not presents are in the form of food). She sent her girls in the house and they come back out with a bag which she pulls out a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts and then she pulls out a pear!! This might not sound very exciting, but when you haven’t seen a pear in over a year the sight of the sweet savory fruit is beyond exhilarating. I, of course, freaked out a little bit, which I think surprised Lise as she didn’t even know what the name of the fruit was.
Later that night, after I chilled the pear, I bit into it while standing in my kitchen and collapsed on the floor in fruity bliss. Im not kidding. So that is my story of the pear.
I volunteered with the Red Cross again last Saturday. We were helping out with the Manu Samoa 15s try-outs. For those that don’t know Manu Samoa is our national rugby team. Some of the players were there which is about as close to a celebrity sighting as I have gotten in awhile. Quite exciting really.
Now that is what i call sustainable development!! It might be hard to tell that this is my entire school and they are all signing the national anthem! Malaki (my brother from another mother, i.e. the little boy i teach with a hearing disability) is in the bottom left corner.
My buddy Michael putting up the screens for the computer lab at our school. He had a lot of eager helpers...
Michael and the boys cutting the screen for the windows
Meghan showing off her work. This is the computer we (and by we I mean meghan) installed at Sapo'e
Friday, February 22, 2008
Estimated Prophet
So i found some pics from all sorts of random things that i thought everyone might enjoy. Life is pretty swell here. I am starting to get really excited about going back to america for a visit at the end of april...vacation from vacation is good.
One of the peace corps girls in the group that came a few months before me is getting married to a samoan guy next month so we have bachlorette things to look forward to in the next month. Other than that, school has been keeping me the opposite of busy, but Ella (malaki's mom) is now a full time and paid teacher's assistant to help in malaki's class. This is very exciting because samoa has never had paid teacher's assistants before. Sustainable development! That is what i do!
My little pal Sina and I playing with a plate at the wedding. Lets hear it for the bright organge puletasi eh? Do i have style or what?
Meghan and I went to a wedding in my village...like 3 months ago, but whatever. It was our friend Tina and it was at the mormon church. So this is what a wedding in samoa looks like. Check out the cake on the right! Too bad only important people get the cake...luckily since the palagis (i.e. white people i.e. meg and i) were a package deal that apparently made us important. So we got half a round of cake. We were pretty siked.
Dylan, me, meghan. There is no time for fun in peace corps....
This is me and "baby dan" at meghan's house in siumu. Ok i know i say that i love every samoan kid, but baby dan is a pretty cool dude. He really wanted to wear my helmet even though it was all sweaty from my bike ride over. So i thought i would just give him a little practice run on my bike...in meghan's house. Im not really sure why she puts up withme...
This is Luisa and Malaki at school in apia. We made life-size cut outs of them that day and painted them the color of their school uniforms.
My boy Malaki playin with his new christmas toys on the beach.
Santa does come to samoa! He even came to Tafatafa beach...along with the rest of the special ed class of Senese school in Apia. Senese is the school that Malaki goes to on Fridays. He is in a class with 2 other little girls who live in villages and have hearing disablities. The whole crew joined us out at our beach last december. I am playing the part of santa's helper behind the picnic table.
Santa and Malaki
One of the peace corps girls in the group that came a few months before me is getting married to a samoan guy next month so we have bachlorette things to look forward to in the next month. Other than that, school has been keeping me the opposite of busy, but Ella (malaki's mom) is now a full time and paid teacher's assistant to help in malaki's class. This is very exciting because samoa has never had paid teacher's assistants before. Sustainable development! That is what i do!
My little pal Sina and I playing with a plate at the wedding. Lets hear it for the bright organge puletasi eh? Do i have style or what?
Meghan and I went to a wedding in my village...like 3 months ago, but whatever. It was our friend Tina and it was at the mormon church. So this is what a wedding in samoa looks like. Check out the cake on the right! Too bad only important people get the cake...luckily since the palagis (i.e. white people i.e. meg and i) were a package deal that apparently made us important. So we got half a round of cake. We were pretty siked.
Dylan, me, meghan. There is no time for fun in peace corps....
This is me and "baby dan" at meghan's house in siumu. Ok i know i say that i love every samoan kid, but baby dan is a pretty cool dude. He really wanted to wear my helmet even though it was all sweaty from my bike ride over. So i thought i would just give him a little practice run on my bike...in meghan's house. Im not really sure why she puts up withme...
This is Luisa and Malaki at school in apia. We made life-size cut outs of them that day and painted them the color of their school uniforms. My boy Malaki playin with his new christmas toys on the beach. Santa does come to samoa! He even came to Tafatafa beach...along with the rest of the special ed class of Senese school in Apia. Senese is the school that Malaki goes to on Fridays. He is in a class with 2 other little girls who live in villages and have hearing disablities. The whole crew joined us out at our beach last december. I am playing the part of santa's helper behind the picnic table. Santa and MalakiMonday, February 11, 2008
Im not so smart
Look what I did on the first day of school! Yes, I’m a moron. Last Monday was our first day of the first term (school is on New Zealand system so we start in Feb instead of Sept). I started the day like any other, rolled out of bed, made coffee, put on my spankin new outfit that I purchased in Thailand and set off for Peace Corps round 2. I got about 10 feet from my front door when I stepped on a rock and turned my ankle quite painfully causing me to crash to the ground. My bag flew over my head and my precious coffee spilled everywhere. Well this was a predicament! I tried to gather myself and survey the damage and found a few cuts on my legs and a pool of blood in my right flip-flop (I turned my left ankle). Then I felt the pain in my toe and saw that I had a scrapped most of the skin off the bottom of it (see pic if you can’t remember what it looked like).
So I did what any self-respecting foreign volunteer would do, I sat there feeling sorry for myself. Eventually Tina, friend and teacher, came down and scooped my off the ground, picked up my scattered belongings and said, “I think maybe you should go home.” But, I was determined to get further than 10 feet from my front door on the first day of school. Together we hobbled up the hill to school. I cleaned my foot off at the spigot (same one the kids drink from...) and stumbled into the office.
Ana (our principal) was talking with parents so I didn’t get too much attention initially. Tina, meanwhile, went to get the school “medical kit” which turned out to be a metal box with a ½ full bottle of iodine, a couple of cotton balls, and a mystery ointment. I decided to go with my gut and sent one of the kids to get my Peace Corps issued medical kit from my house. I felt a little snotty, but the pain won out. Tina told me to put my feet up on a chair which I was thankful for because usually that would have been a major culture faux-pas. She then went to work snipping off all the dead skin which may or may not have been the right thing to do, but she was doing it so lovingly and cracking jokes the whole time about being my nurse. How could I stop her?
Later that afternoon when I was limping home on the road I went by my neighbor/protector/samoan father figure Leapaga who was sitting on his porch staring at nothing (a favorite pass time of samoans). He yelled in Samoan if I had hurt my lef and I said yeah, because I was a stupid palagi (whiteperson). Then he suggested that I should just go back to sleep. I thought that was the best idea I had heard all day.
WOHOO!! This is my computer lab/library...just not quite put together yet. But it is all there and ready to go. I hear the computers will be in country any day now...
This is my counterpart and bff Sina. Her 25th birthday was on 4 days before my 25th birthday (that would mean christmas day). I was deteremined to celebrate my birthday this year because Samoans don't usually celebrate their birthdays (most dont even know their birthdays). So I made a brownie/chocolate cake and put in some american flags from grandma so Sina and I could have a b-day party on christmas. That is my boy Leapaga behind us (also sina's father).Thursday, January 31, 2008
Where is Casey Jones?
Well I survived the Savaii mid-service conference. What a glorious week. We arrived at our beach fales Monday afternoon. OUr APCD, the man, the myth, the legend, Fata Esera, allowed us some "free time" before a session that lasted about 10 min. We then committed ourselves to a few cocktails and a bowl of ava of the beach as we watched the sun set of the the south pacific waters.
I should maybe mention here that the point of this mid-service conference is to get together with the group we came to Samoa with, 77, in the middle of our service to discuss various topics pertaining to our service in Samoa. Fata is a pretty laid back guy so most of the conference was pretty laid back, but we did get to share information on various secondary projects we were involved in a the different kinds of diseases we had picked up over the past year. All very enlightening. Afternoons were mostly put aside for personal refelection and un-facilitated group discussion i.e. napping. All in all it was good to hang out with the old gang, even if we are down to 9 at this point.
We arrived back in Apia this afternoon for errands, etc. I have a couple meetings up at the hospital tomorrow. One meeting is with the one and only Samoan eye doctor who can hopefully find a safe home for the eye glasses mom sent over recently. Another meeting is with the head of the hospital in order to get permission for Chief Dad to come back over to Samoa next July and do some surgery and speeches. Should all be very interesting.
School starts on Monday which means 3 weeks of watching the kids weed and clean. No worries, I have lots of books to entertain me!
I should maybe mention here that the point of this mid-service conference is to get together with the group we came to Samoa with, 77, in the middle of our service to discuss various topics pertaining to our service in Samoa. Fata is a pretty laid back guy so most of the conference was pretty laid back, but we did get to share information on various secondary projects we were involved in a the different kinds of diseases we had picked up over the past year. All very enlightening. Afternoons were mostly put aside for personal refelection and un-facilitated group discussion i.e. napping. All in all it was good to hang out with the old gang, even if we are down to 9 at this point.
We arrived back in Apia this afternoon for errands, etc. I have a couple meetings up at the hospital tomorrow. One meeting is with the one and only Samoan eye doctor who can hopefully find a safe home for the eye glasses mom sent over recently. Another meeting is with the head of the hospital in order to get permission for Chief Dad to come back over to Samoa next July and do some surgery and speeches. Should all be very interesting.
School starts on Monday which means 3 weeks of watching the kids weed and clean. No worries, I have lots of books to entertain me!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
oopps
How could i forget?!
I also read Dreams of My Father, Barak Obama and it was really quite lovely.
Am in Apia for the night before we head to Savaii for our mid-service conference. Mid-Service! That means half way done, or half way undone, whatever frosts your cookie. Of the original 16 of group 77 we are down to 9. I might just add that all the girls are still here. That is neat. Wish me luck on the boat!
I also read Dreams of My Father, Barak Obama and it was really quite lovely.
Am in Apia for the night before we head to Savaii for our mid-service conference. Mid-Service! That means half way done, or half way undone, whatever frosts your cookie. Of the original 16 of group 77 we are down to 9. I might just add that all the girls are still here. That is neat. Wish me luck on the boat!
Friday, January 25, 2008
ping-pong
New Years Resolutions:
1) Get in shape
2) Eat better
3) Drink less
4) Blog more!
I’ll get back to you in a year and let you know how it goes…So I really actually don’t have that much to report, but its still January which means I have to keep with my resolution at least ‘til the end of the month. Even though I have been back for over a week I am still totally messed up with the time. I can’t fall asleep until 1am and I wake up at 11am. I know I should force myself to get up earlier, but technically I am still on vacation and it is rainy season so there really is no reason to get out of bed. Which means this week has been pretty lazy to say the least. After rolling out of bed I make some coffee and scrambie eggs. I then proceed to stare off into space for about 30 min followed by commencement of “work”. I am currently having what we refer to as a mid-peace corps crisis which is the time of one’s service where one freaks out about what one is going to do after Peace Corps. This crisis can be channeled to do productive things such as re-write my resume, make a personal statement, inquire staff about letters of recommendation, etc. Since Meghan is in Australia I borrowed her computer for the week to get some work done (did I mention that I currently have 2 of my own computers here and I can use neither of them to type documents?).
After work time is play time/work out time. Running, biking, or kayaking are the choices for play. I went for a nice little sunset paddle yesterday and thought about maybe never leaving Samoa. All in all, not having to go to work every day is pretty awesome. I remember this time last year I was going out of my mind because I was so wound up about getting out there and doing Peace Corps things and saving lives and changing the world, etc. It is nice to actually sit back and enjoy time on a beautiful little island for once.
Speaking of projects, it seems that all of mine are going splendidly currently (lets all knock on wood now). While I was tromping around Southeast Asia, my new “counterpart” (I use quotes because we didn’t really give her a choice as to working with us or not) Sina, who is also 25 and lives across the street from me, was trained to be a sign language teacher’s assistant. She took the class along with Ela, Malaki’s mother. The Minister of Education also agreed to allocate funding for teacher’s assistants, so the plan is to have them work in Malaki’s classroom at school next year. Yahoo for sustainable development!
Before I left I also used funding from an anonymous and dearly loved source in the US to buy supplies for our computer lab at the school. All the lumber, fans, paint, nails, etc are bought and ready for the matais (chiefs) of the village to put them together. I was also informed by another anonymous and dearly appreciated source in the US that there are 4-5 computers on their way to Samoa as we speak!
In addition to all this wonderful news, I helped the Women’s Committee write a grant for new sewing machines that was submitted in December. I am also helping the committee to get funding and paper work together to submit a grant for a new committee house. The hope is to have funding by next month, start construction by March, and finish the project by May. That means construction from March to May which will most likely take longer because it is Samoa and oh did I mention that my bed is approximately 5 feet from the committee house? Who needs sleep anyway? Maybe I will move down to the beach. Seriously though, I am very excited for them to get a new house.
Teachers assistants, sewing machines, computer labs, OH MY! So for those of you who think I am just spending my time lying on beaches and deep-sea fishing…well you are pretty much right, but I do get stuff done in my spare time.
Alright and since it is a new year I thought I would tack on a little list here. When I first came to Peace Corps a wise and veteran volunteer named Julya gave me the suggestion of writing down all the books I read while I was here and the date I finished them, since, she so astutely alluded to, you will be reading a lot. So for all those who are dying to know what I read in the past year (mom) here goes…
The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff, 12/7/06- Not bad, Hoff is kinda on his soap box for this one
They Marched Into Sunlight, David Maraniss, 12/29/06- Awesome book on Vietnam and what was happening in America in 1967, starts off slow, but give it time, its worth it!
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 1/5/07- Ehhh, enjoyed the sarcastic humor, but..ehhh
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha, Sarah Erdman, 1/24/07- About a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, beautifully written, really captures volunteer life
Sex Lives of Cannibals, Maarten Troost, 2/20/07- Hysterical account of life in the South Pacific, wanna know what our life is like? Read this
In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson, 3/23/07- Ugh! If you wanna read 300 pages where Bryson tells you 300 times how big Australia is, be my guest
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, JK Rowling, 3/29/07- You love it or you don’t
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling, 4/4/07
The Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test, Tom Wolfe, 5/1/07- Awesome! Drugs, hippies, music, counterculture. Its probably a good thing I wasn’t alive in the 60’s
Harry Potter 3, JK Rowling, 5/27/07
On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 5/28/07- Read this in high school and just couldn’t appreciate it as much as I did this time around. Great classic
Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder, 6/17/07- And this is when I became interested in medicine. Amazing book about an amazing person (Paul Farmer) who dedicates his life to helping others
Left Behind, Tim Lehaye, 6/23/07- Oh my god the anti-Christ has risen and we are all gonna die!
Poisonwood Bible, *ekk forgot to write down author!, 7/26/07- Wonderful fictional book about missionaries in Africa, I wanna go to Africa…
Harry Potter 4, 8/1/07
Harry Potter 5, 8/8/07
Harry Potter 6, 8/13/07
Harry Potter 7, 8/26/07- Ok I know I went a little crazy here, but this was the last one and I wanted to be on my game!
1776, David McCullough, 9/22/07- Interesting historical novel, but a little boring…
Hope In Hell, Dan Bortolotti, 10/1/07- About Doctors Without Borders, my new dream
Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose, 10/11/07- Even if you don’t know anything about WWII, just read this! Anyone can read Ambrose and it’s just so good!
Getting Stoned with Savages, Maarten Troost, 10/18/07- Troost goes back to the South Pacific for more fun adventures, ps- the first one is better
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hoseini, 10/22/07- Oh my god, rip my heart out! Wonderful book about awful things that can happen in the world, especially in Afghanistan
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, 10/26/07- Tragic comedy, very funny though. Had to read it after “acid test”
LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien, 11/19/07- Had to see what all the fuss was about…very long winded but not bad if you like elves and dwarves and magical places
The Te Of Piglet, Benjamin Hoff, 11/21/07- Apparently Hoff felt people were so inspired by his preaching in his first book that he felt the need to write a whole new book to preach some more…
Emergency Sex, *oops!, 11/27/07- About 3 UN workers; a doctor, a lawyer and a slut, whoops, I mean secretary. The doctor and lawyer stories were wonderful; the secretary goes over the line. I did very much enjoy the book over all
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson..only got half way through the 500+ pages- The next time I pick up Bryson somebody shoot me
Heart of Darfur, Lisa French Blaker, 1/22/08- Kiwi nurse working in Darfur with Doctors without Borders. So good, SO sad and extremely inspiring. Can I go to Africa now?
And now I currently reading Friday Night Nights courtesy of Papa Hanks. Tune in this time next year for the ’08 reads!
1) Get in shape
2) Eat better
3) Drink less
4) Blog more!
I’ll get back to you in a year and let you know how it goes…So I really actually don’t have that much to report, but its still January which means I have to keep with my resolution at least ‘til the end of the month. Even though I have been back for over a week I am still totally messed up with the time. I can’t fall asleep until 1am and I wake up at 11am. I know I should force myself to get up earlier, but technically I am still on vacation and it is rainy season so there really is no reason to get out of bed. Which means this week has been pretty lazy to say the least. After rolling out of bed I make some coffee and scrambie eggs. I then proceed to stare off into space for about 30 min followed by commencement of “work”. I am currently having what we refer to as a mid-peace corps crisis which is the time of one’s service where one freaks out about what one is going to do after Peace Corps. This crisis can be channeled to do productive things such as re-write my resume, make a personal statement, inquire staff about letters of recommendation, etc. Since Meghan is in Australia I borrowed her computer for the week to get some work done (did I mention that I currently have 2 of my own computers here and I can use neither of them to type documents?).
After work time is play time/work out time. Running, biking, or kayaking are the choices for play. I went for a nice little sunset paddle yesterday and thought about maybe never leaving Samoa. All in all, not having to go to work every day is pretty awesome. I remember this time last year I was going out of my mind because I was so wound up about getting out there and doing Peace Corps things and saving lives and changing the world, etc. It is nice to actually sit back and enjoy time on a beautiful little island for once.
Speaking of projects, it seems that all of mine are going splendidly currently (lets all knock on wood now). While I was tromping around Southeast Asia, my new “counterpart” (I use quotes because we didn’t really give her a choice as to working with us or not) Sina, who is also 25 and lives across the street from me, was trained to be a sign language teacher’s assistant. She took the class along with Ela, Malaki’s mother. The Minister of Education also agreed to allocate funding for teacher’s assistants, so the plan is to have them work in Malaki’s classroom at school next year. Yahoo for sustainable development!
Before I left I also used funding from an anonymous and dearly loved source in the US to buy supplies for our computer lab at the school. All the lumber, fans, paint, nails, etc are bought and ready for the matais (chiefs) of the village to put them together. I was also informed by another anonymous and dearly appreciated source in the US that there are 4-5 computers on their way to Samoa as we speak!
In addition to all this wonderful news, I helped the Women’s Committee write a grant for new sewing machines that was submitted in December. I am also helping the committee to get funding and paper work together to submit a grant for a new committee house. The hope is to have funding by next month, start construction by March, and finish the project by May. That means construction from March to May which will most likely take longer because it is Samoa and oh did I mention that my bed is approximately 5 feet from the committee house? Who needs sleep anyway? Maybe I will move down to the beach. Seriously though, I am very excited for them to get a new house.
Teachers assistants, sewing machines, computer labs, OH MY! So for those of you who think I am just spending my time lying on beaches and deep-sea fishing…well you are pretty much right, but I do get stuff done in my spare time.
Alright and since it is a new year I thought I would tack on a little list here. When I first came to Peace Corps a wise and veteran volunteer named Julya gave me the suggestion of writing down all the books I read while I was here and the date I finished them, since, she so astutely alluded to, you will be reading a lot. So for all those who are dying to know what I read in the past year (mom) here goes…
The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff, 12/7/06- Not bad, Hoff is kinda on his soap box for this one
They Marched Into Sunlight, David Maraniss, 12/29/06- Awesome book on Vietnam and what was happening in America in 1967, starts off slow, but give it time, its worth it!
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 1/5/07- Ehhh, enjoyed the sarcastic humor, but..ehhh
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha, Sarah Erdman, 1/24/07- About a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, beautifully written, really captures volunteer life
Sex Lives of Cannibals, Maarten Troost, 2/20/07- Hysterical account of life in the South Pacific, wanna know what our life is like? Read this
In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson, 3/23/07- Ugh! If you wanna read 300 pages where Bryson tells you 300 times how big Australia is, be my guest
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, JK Rowling, 3/29/07- You love it or you don’t
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling, 4/4/07
The Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test, Tom Wolfe, 5/1/07- Awesome! Drugs, hippies, music, counterculture. Its probably a good thing I wasn’t alive in the 60’s
Harry Potter 3, JK Rowling, 5/27/07
On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 5/28/07- Read this in high school and just couldn’t appreciate it as much as I did this time around. Great classic
Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder, 6/17/07- And this is when I became interested in medicine. Amazing book about an amazing person (Paul Farmer) who dedicates his life to helping others
Left Behind, Tim Lehaye, 6/23/07- Oh my god the anti-Christ has risen and we are all gonna die!
Poisonwood Bible, *ekk forgot to write down author!, 7/26/07- Wonderful fictional book about missionaries in Africa, I wanna go to Africa…
Harry Potter 4, 8/1/07
Harry Potter 5, 8/8/07
Harry Potter 6, 8/13/07
Harry Potter 7, 8/26/07- Ok I know I went a little crazy here, but this was the last one and I wanted to be on my game!
1776, David McCullough, 9/22/07- Interesting historical novel, but a little boring…
Hope In Hell, Dan Bortolotti, 10/1/07- About Doctors Without Borders, my new dream
Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose, 10/11/07- Even if you don’t know anything about WWII, just read this! Anyone can read Ambrose and it’s just so good!
Getting Stoned with Savages, Maarten Troost, 10/18/07- Troost goes back to the South Pacific for more fun adventures, ps- the first one is better
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hoseini, 10/22/07- Oh my god, rip my heart out! Wonderful book about awful things that can happen in the world, especially in Afghanistan
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, 10/26/07- Tragic comedy, very funny though. Had to read it after “acid test”
LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien, 11/19/07- Had to see what all the fuss was about…very long winded but not bad if you like elves and dwarves and magical places
The Te Of Piglet, Benjamin Hoff, 11/21/07- Apparently Hoff felt people were so inspired by his preaching in his first book that he felt the need to write a whole new book to preach some more…
Emergency Sex, *oops!, 11/27/07- About 3 UN workers; a doctor, a lawyer and a slut, whoops, I mean secretary. The doctor and lawyer stories were wonderful; the secretary goes over the line. I did very much enjoy the book over all
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson..only got half way through the 500+ pages- The next time I pick up Bryson somebody shoot me
Heart of Darfur, Lisa French Blaker, 1/22/08- Kiwi nurse working in Darfur with Doctors without Borders. So good, SO sad and extremely inspiring. Can I go to Africa now?
And now I currently reading Friday Night Nights courtesy of Papa Hanks. Tune in this time next year for the ’08 reads!
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