First 3 weeks in Africa

Before I begin let me tell you that these are my opinions only and not the views of Peace Corps, The United States of America, or The Gambia. Also, I only have 5 minutes left in this internet cafe so let me hurry this up... Week One: After an entire day living at different airports we arrive in the Gambia! It is hot a muggy inside of the airport and I wait in the only formed line in the entire country for our security check. They look and see its another Toubob (foreigner) and just wave me through. We grab all of our bags and cram into a van. We meet all of the reps for the Peace Corps and some active volunteers. We go to the transit house in Kombo to glorious Air Conditioning (a rare sight in this country) and unpack and walk to the beach. We see some bumsters telling all of the new volunteers that they love them and want to come to America with them. (A bumster is a male prostitute that hangs around the cities trying to hitch a ride to some older white ladies tryin' to get their grooves back!) We come back to the house and take showers (they really are spoiling us with this indoor plumbing). Afterwards we have a lovely feast of fried chicken and rice. For the next few days we are herded like sheep to and fro all around Kombo. We are given a ton of vaccinations, drugs and medicines to not die in The Gambia. (There really are a Million Ways to Die in The Gambia!) We are given tons lectures, sign tons of documents (I am now a legal alien of The Gambia. I've never been an alien. I still don't enjoy probing.), interviews and learn some greetings in the local languages. The Gambians are HUGE on greetings. After 5 days of our little African vacation, the real work begins! Week Two: All 19 new volunteer trainees (after a week of bonding time) are split up into small language groups (I am learning Mandinka) and dropped off into different villages to different families to really learn what life in The Gambia is really all about. The van drops me and 3 other trainees into the village of Kaiaf! We are greeted by at least 100 of the cutest, most filthy Mandinka children. The roads are all sandy with animal feces and mango seeds scattered about. The houses are made of sticks and concrete with metal sheet roofs stuck together and surrounded by a gate of big sticks and metal sheets. Each family lives inside of one of these compounds (or kundas). Our language teacher also lives in the village and shows us each to our family compounds. Time is up. I'll finish this next time I find electricity!!

Rolihlahla

Nelson Mandela died today. This news brings me great sadness. However, greater joy I feel when I think about his legacy. He changed the world for the better. Not many others can really say that. He always believed that education is the key to changing the world. He just informed the world of the injustices of South Africa and was punished for it. But he kept repeating the message until it changed everything. RIP Mandela.

My Top Ten Movies

So here I wait and need to occupy my time. For no rhyme or reason I decided on a top ten list. Tis the season for movies galore: Movies with heart, movies with gore, and everything else in between. So read my list if you're so keen...

10. The Big Lebowski

This was a movie I saw in college (of course). At first viewing I didn't get what the big deal was. But the more times I watched it the more I realized why it is a staple of college culture. The Dude is iconic for young men looking to expand their minds. His completely zen slacker minimalist approach to life makes him the perfect model for young men who have nothing and do nothing all day except learn silly facts and party. This movie is just a really strange chapter in The Dude's life. In the end it doesn't mean a whole lot. It just is... a masterpiece.

9. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

The voice of a generation of twenty-somethings trying to find some purpose. Love is the purpose. The world is literally against Scott Pilgrim when he has love. He has to rise to the occasion and kick some ass!

8. The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars was a perfect movie and Empire just makes Star Wars better... HOW THE HECK DOES THAT HAPPEN?!?! However it happened, I'm glad it did.

7. City of God

Finally a gangster movie that is not full of white people. It is set in the slums of Rio and filled with a very eclectic collection of child gangstas. Dark but colorful, heart-breaking but uplifting, horrifying but fantastic.

6. Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2

This really is one movie with an intermission so I put them together. Although the final fight between The Bride and Bill is over in the blink of an eye I still maintain that Vol. 2 is the superior half. It is still as comically viscous as Vol. 1, but with even more surprises and deeper character development.

5. The Breakfast Club

This is a movie that has stood the test of time. Even as an 8 year-old kid I knew that this movie was special. Anytime it came on television I watched it regardless of how many commercial breaks there were. It captures children who feel trapped by society because they have already defined them. It breaks those barriers through pain and dance parties. I pray to God that one day the extended John Hughes director's cut is released to the public. The characters are like your best friends. You really can't get enough of them.

4. Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron the director is such an artistic nerd he doesn't drive a car, he hops into an imaginary silver surfboard and still is able to get to work before you even had your oatmeal for breakfast. This movie has soooo much going on that watching it multiple times makes you love and appreciate this movie more. It is political, satirical, bleak, hopeful, stunning, suspenseful, heart-pounding, and almost completely unpredictable. 

3. Dumb & Dumber

I know every single line of this movie. Every single one. Jim Carrey is at his best. Insane, creepy, incredibly stupid but somehow very endearing. You root for him. The plot is farfetched but the movie sells it. And OMG has a poop joke ever been so funny! It's hard making "stupid" clever and interesting, but this movie knocks it out of the park.

2. The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2

Yes I know they are two separate movies, but Part 2 is the better movie. It is probably the best movie of all time, but the only way you understand or appreciate Part 2 is by witnessing the original Godfather. These movies still give me the chills every time I watch them. I still haven't brought myself to see The Godfather Part 3 because you can't tempt fate 3x and live to tell the tale.

1. Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is and will probably always be my favorite movie of all time. It is just about a simple man who goes on an incredible life journey because he doesn't know any better. Forrest shows us the story of America by just talking about himself. Forrest is full of life and curiosity and acceptance for everyone, even if he doesn't understand everyone. He is all around a wonderful person without malice or greed or ambition. Wherever he goes he takes his whole heart with him. It is rare that you ever see a character so undeniably good that doesn't bore you to tears. Forrest is always fascinating and funny and kind and generous and wise beyond his own understanding. "Sometimes there aren't enough rocks."

What is it about having children that makes you a wussy?

As my generation grows up and begin having families of their own, their tolerance for danger goes down. From the time I was a kid through my adolescence I did several activities this new parents group now finds unsuitable. Which would be fine except for the fact that I know everyone my age did several idiotic activities in their youth as well. Now every new parent is a total hypocrite in how they allow their own children to interact in the world. Now that they are old they completely justify each tug on the child's leash, but I think that is BS.

When I was a kid we had a trampoline. My older brother Fredy used to jump from the roof to the trampoline sending him skyward in a trajectory unknown. When I became a teenager I did the exact same thing. I would climb out my window onto my roof outside of it and jump from the roof onto the trampoline below. When we had an above ground pool I would complete this daredevil feat by bouncing into the pool to create the world's biggest cannonball! Granted attempting the pool jump was severely dangerous and stupid, but boy howdy was it fun.

My cousins and I spent lots of time on my roof when I was a teen and I never let any of the younger kids jump from the roof. Most of them were content with just sitting there. I always made sure no one horsed around on the roof or moved around too much. But we had a latter to get down to the ground and a window to crawl back into once you got your fill of the sloped roof experience.

So now my brother Fredy's girls are 10 and 8. One time they came over and I thought they should have the roof experience that my brother Marlon's kids received. They were both a little weary of being up so high, but their curiosity won out in the end. They spent about two minutes on the roof and got off. My brother was upset with me for letting them go on the roof, something that our nieces had done, something he had done himself!

My brother Fredy grew up in the 1980's aka THE LONGEST STREAK OF VIOLENCE AND SEX AND DRUGS AND RACISM IN AMERICAN CINEMA. He loves movies like The Terminator, Rambo, or The Running Man. All of these movies have indulge in violence to the point where you think you need to have a weapon and kill someone just to be cool. When I asked him if had seen The Hunger Games (another stylized violent movie not unlike Battle Royale, The Running Man, or Death Race in its concept) he said he could not watch that movie. I asked him was it because its rated PG13 so it wouldn't be bloody enough to satisfy his lust? He said no. He said it was because they kill kids. So what? Violence is violence. Killing innocent children is horrible anyway you look at it, but there are plenty of innocent adults who do not deserve to die either. If anything adults have more of an impact on the world around them if they died. They have met more people, done more things and touched more lives then any child ever has.

I think people are more upset about the death of child because children are just full of potential energy. They could potentially grow up and become anything, even the President of the United States. But most children will grow up to become something mundane like a salesman or an accountant who hate the president.

My sister-in-law got extremely mad at me because her 9 year old child waited 15 minutes to be picked up. I was only 15 minutes late because the child told me the wrong time to pick her up. Perhaps I shouldn't have relied on a 9 year old's perception of time? It's not like she has karate class every single week. Oh wait, she does! It's not like she was surrounded by adult teachers who know how to watch after a child. Oh wait, she is!

My sister-in-law said that if it was my child I would have been livid. Not really, people are late for things a lot. I understood that concept at a young age. I would wait to be picked up from school sometimes an hour depending on the circumstance. My biggest complaint would be that I was bored waiting to be picked up. However, I would be livid if someone who was supposed to pick up my child completely forgot to pick him or her up. That is complete irresponsible. Mind you, I was watching my sister-in-law's other three children at this time and no one was anywhere near danger even though we were working with knives (carving pumpkins).

In the end, I am not a parent. I do not have that bond when a piece of your heart and soul leaves your body. I cannot fully understand that connection, but I hope one day it happens. I just do not want to be a wussified parent who does not let their child experience any danger. Because if you don't let a child experience life, then they will never learn how to make the right decisions for themselves.

The Dancer

Curses on forgetting to save my draft. I had a long, wonderful musing on the modern idea of fun. You will just have to settle for booty dancers shaking their booties.

Happiness Is A Warm Fun

 

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." - Mahatma Gandhi

This is my journey to harmony. It may be treacherous, dangerous, and filled with perils, but the Thesaurus Rex will never tame me!!

I think it's peculiar that Thomas Jefferson coined the phrase "the pursuit of happiness." He could have stuck to the John Locke narrative of "Life, liberty, and ownership of property" and the Declaration of Independence still would have been the Hamlet of treason notifications. Did he realize that possession of property did not inherently bring joy? Did he have the foresight that all peoples of all lands could not own land? if they did there would be no room for many would always want more. Or did he write it to b*%#@slap King George to reinforce that they were not playing by their rules?



I suppose the ultimate question I ask myself now is "Am I happy?" If I answer honestly I would say "sometimes." My life is not bad by any means. I live in a big comfy house with three beautiful women (granted they have all had their menzies), I have wonderful friends and family (even though all my best friends have all found their soul mates and have no longer have time to hang), and I do not have a job (which stinks monetarily but does allow me to unlimited free time to pursue my interests).

I have an array of interests, but do any of them truly make me happy? Again I would say "sometimes." My interests include but are not limited to: reading novels, listening to scriptures, drawing, writing short stories, practicing the keyboard, trying to sing like Freddie Mercury, bike riding, listening to music, and watching more television than any family of 6 should ever consume in their lifetimes.

What I have come to realize is that all of my interests are more like self-interests. None of them have really help me grow as a person or benefited anyone but my "cool" image. Have I grown selfish or have I always been this way? In college I studied the change of the world around me. I read and wrote reports of great men and women who did great things and changed the world for the better (most of the time). I discussed with my peers the great things we could accomplish once we were no longer confined to this institution (of education). But it has almost been 3 years and I've held one decent job for 9 months. Never in my life have I felt like such a burden to my family. Never in my life have I been more disheartened.

If I have all this ability and desire than what am I waiting for? A god? A girl? A good pair of slacks? (They are all very difficult to find whenever you have a be-donk.) All I know is I am tired of life passing me by. I shall change my selfish ways and help my fellow man. I want to get a job, something with meaning and purpose (or the very least a salary). I need to stop half-assing everything I do. And I should lose some weight because I don't want to buy new clothes (again). 

Time to harmonize.