Saturday, November 29, 2008

Turkey day without the turkey

Alright ladies and gents, no spine-tingling tales of death defiance today, just the run of the mill details of my everyday life, hope they suffice. First of all, I'm visiting my wonderful girlfriend which is groovy. We've now seen each other two more times than we expected to in this particular four month period, which is great but not enough. So it goes.
Selibaby Thanksgiving was spectacular and by seven o'clock there were fifteen people writhing on the floor in food comas. Literally. Those of you who called in that time, no I wasn't drunk, just full. Very very full. Okay a little drunk. ;)
Our funding for the M'Bout GMC has gone through, we asked for the stars and got the moon which was about what we expected. We should have four laptop computers arriving with our APCD the day after we get back in M'bout and we'll finally be able to say we did something! I was kindof looking forward to telling you that we were finally handed keys to a building for the GMC but, surprise surprise, no luck as of yet. The minister has to come and approve the move to the new building for the mayor's office which would default the old one to us, but he hasn't seen fit to visit yet.. despite saying he would come the past few weekends.
We've had a positive response from the school teachers and director which mostly makes up for the trouble we've been having with the mayoral office. Hopefully we should be able to get the GMC up for an open house in January when we get back from Early Term Reconnect (ETR) and before we leave for WAIST (West Africa International something or other.... Emily says Invitational Softball Tournament) So I hope everyone had an amazing time with Thanksgiving and lots of turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and candied yams... yum... sorry I'm not putting up any pictures, I know I'm a horrible son :P Cortney and Emily are both a lot better at pictures than I am, Cortney posted pictures of my house and Emily will have tons of pictures of Thanksgiving adventures involving baobab trees and way too much pie very soon. You can get ahold of those by going to their blogs which are linked on the right hand side of the page.
So happy holiday season and I'll be back online probably sometime in the next month or so when I'll have another excuse for having no pictures (I'm just being honest..)
Bye!

8 comments:

Judy said...

Hi, John. The mothers of your wonderful girlfriend very much appreciate that you are there to enhance her Peace Corps experience. It's great to know you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Looking forward to Emily's pictures. Tell her there are now many of us waiting with much anticipation :-). Congratulations on the progress toward the realization of your GMC.
Warmly,
Judy

Allison said...

Hi Kiddo!
Thanks for posting and telling us all about your fantastic Thanksgiving. It did my heart good to know you were having a great time with great friends.

I'll look forward to seeing pictures from Emily and Cortney. :P Maybe one day you can get everything together and figure out how to post some photos of your own, but I'm not holding my breath.

Safe travels heading back to M'Bout this week. Maybe when you get back the mayor will have come and gone and you will have your GMC keys!

Love and miss you lots!
Mom

Anonymous said...

Way cool! Four computers and almost a building! Well done John! :)
You should have taken photo's while you were stuffed so full of a turkey-less thanksgiving meal and not "drunk", just so the rest of us here in the snowy upper plains could see you enjoying sun and fun in sunny Africa.
It looks like another white Christmas will happen here as the temps have dipped a bit and the snow has started. Twice this week. Hmmm, suddenly Mbout is beginning to sound like a viable tourism destination.
We're delighted things are turning your way and hopefully the minister will manage to locate you on a map, come visit, then approve the new digs.
I'm proud of you.

Allison said...

BTW, Emily is right about it being the softball tournament. I'm not surprised, women are just like that, knowing all the answers and the like. :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.A.I.S.T.

Love you lots!
Mom

Anonymous said...

Hi John, So glad you had a fun turkeyless Thanksgiving. It was great to talk to you last week and hear you sounding so happy. I'm sure having Emily at your side helped that alot. :) It is snowing here at the moment and starting to stick to the ground, oh joy.. Take good care of yourself, be safe traveling back to M'Bout and stay in touch when you can. God bless you.
Love,
Grandma

Anonymous said...

Hey Kid!! I made candied yams in your honor... they didn't last more than an hour. I promise they will be here for you when you get home!! Love ya!!

andarenee said...

you are so lame. but i still miss you.....perhaps lamer. and now i shall play the clarinet, perhaps lamer still :) too bad you didn't have wine and cheese at your thanksgiving!
PS is it normal that i have abnormal difficulties with the word verifications......

Anonymous said...

Hey, JT,

Missed you at Thanksgiving -- not like we don't ALWAYS miss you, but it was just more obvious when there was nobody to fight me off the rolls or the pumpkin bread. Bought some wheat beer in your honor, and tried to make you proud by even tasting a bottle (or two). You know how much I hate beer....

I am glad you had an enjoyable holiday, and hope that you continue to be able to travel throughout your stay -- it definitely helps keep you sane (more saner? most sanest?? not sure how that works when you are marginal in that category to begin with). I am not concerned with your lack of picture-posting skills, as long as you bring home LOTS of pictures when you return.

You might ask why I sometimes sign in as your dad, sometimes anonymously, sometimes with other names -- I can't remember my damn username and password to save my life. Better hurry home while I still remember your name...