Um, it's really hot outside!Fundraising is successful, but the initial honeymoon phase is OVER! I did manage to make $246.00 outside of a Safeway in Silver Springs yesterday. The community was so receptive and the people were lovely. That's so humbling and exciting. In these moments, you truly feel like you're directly working as a change agent, but everyday is not like this. Truth be told, I'm getting tired of begging on the streets for money. I know I'm not begging for myself and that I'm there as the face of an organization, as the face of IICD, but it's rough and kind of goes against everything we've been raised as hardworking citizens to do. Not to mention, after a long day, trying to convince restaurants to feed you for free. Our food stipend is tiny! Ten dollars a day with the expectation that we'll fundraise dinner or dip into our savings or....starve?!? A group of us did manage to get amazing Moroccan food tonight in Adams Morgan from Soussi, a Moroccan restaurant. That was however after asking seven other stores and getting NO!!!!!! Alright Boa Noite
Fund-raising
Fundraising in the greater D.C. area is amazing! I, for some odd reason, actually enjoy asking strangers on crowded streets for money? I made $115.00 today, and our team goal is $100.00/person/day. We have had so much success fundraising food also (big thanks to Chipotle Mexican Grill and Coldstone Creamery, yum... ).
It's so nice to be off of the mountain. When you're on the mountain, you don't always, at least, I don't always realize how isolated I am until I emerge and there's a world out there and life in America is happening. I almost feel on the mountain, that I'm not in the United States considering that there are so few Americans and the main language that I hear is Portuguese. It's so nice to be back home.
My team has been great so far, we're working hard and we work well together. Let's raise a toast to successful fundraising and a conflict-free two weeks. SALUT!
Where in the World will Sojourner be Working?
Ok, so it's official!I just received my assignment.
I will be working at the EPF Teacher's Training College in Benguela, Angola. Yay!! This is the placement that I wanted. Benguela is supposed to be beautiful, it's in the Northwest and is apparently lush and green, surrounded by a beach. The project leader there is also rumored to be great! I will be traveling with two other people from my team, so there will be three of us living together. Yay!!!!!!!!!
Star
we have an old dog13 human years many dog years sometimes she runs today she staggers and shakes...
Roach Haiku
large brown roachlength of two eyes in the moonlight ten minute scream
A Development Instructors Life at IICD Massachusetts
I'm online again! This is now a rare luxury. Actually, I'm at an internet cafe in Williamstown with my team. We've had so much research to do for our fund-raising trip coming up in September and our internet has been down, so field trip time.The last few days here have been busy however, this week-end was a free week-end and after finishing my papers and presentations which I will talk about later, Tamika, Valeria and I headed for New York. It's great showing people around New York for the first time. Valeria is from Argentina and her mouth was wide open the entire trip. Tamika who is from Baltimore was excited too, I think this was her second time in the City. Thanks Krista and Dawn for entertaining us on the Lower East side and super thanks to Krista for putting us up for the night. It was fantastic to be back in town, even if it was for one night only.
My time at IICD has been divided into many parts:
1) Planning the IICD Olympic Games which our school in Massachusetts will be hosting (there are two other schools in the US - Michigan and Cali). The games will be held this week-end and the activities are crazy (scavenger hunt in the woods, paint ball, sprint up the side of the mountain, biggest splash in the pool, tug of war, etc...) I'm conducting the opening ceremony and have prepared a speech and will be donning a toga.
2) Preparing for our first fund-raising trip which will be to Washington D.C. from September 3-16th. We need to secure permits, accommodations, strategies etc... We need as a team to fund-raise approx $86,000.00. We will have four two week fund-raising events. The strategies include door to door begging in residential neighborhoods, setting up tables in front of stores such as Wal-mart and Trader Joe's, setting up booths at colleges and universities, speaking at churches, and anything else that we can come up with. (YOUR IDEAS ARE VERY WELCOME!!!!)
3) Preparing a presentation on the Berlin Conference. Basically the Berlin Conference was when the various European nations decided to get together and slice and divide the African continent. The country borders that we see today are a direct result of this conference which marked the beginning of Africa's official colonization. You'll notice that certain countries around Lake Victoria in particular are cut irregularly because every European country wanted a piece of the lake or a piece of a particular beach/coast. It was a terrible thing obviously, families were split apart, apartheid became the political norm, Africans were virtually enslaved all over again and subjugated and forced to work for the Europeans in order to make money to pay the taxes that were imposed on them, Africa's natural resources were robbed and used to fuel Europe's economy and further their industrial revolution, farmers were forced to abandon growing the crops that fed their families and were forced to grow cotton so that it could be shipped to Europe and starvation grew ramped and soil was leached, to name a few consequences... Don't get me started, I could go on and on all day! My focus is on Portugal and how they received Mozambique, Angola and Portuguese Guinea. Which is perfect because I will be going to Angola. My presentation will be on Tuesday.
As I've said before the classes are very interesting and we are very busy. The people on this mountain are interesting, some are fantastic and others are completely crazy and I wonder why they are even participating in this program. Certain people and things are larger than life and you wouldn't believe me if I told you so I'll spare you those details.
Last night was so fun. A group of about ten of us decided to play flashlight tag around midnight. Have I mentioned that our mountain is pitch black at night, it was a crazy game. Then some of us went for a walk in our "haunted woods", as protection we took Bear, one of our dogs with us in case we ran into a bear or something else. So four of us, including myself are brave or stupid enough to enter the woods while everyone else waited outside. At first things are great, we're walking and joking and singing and suddenly, Bear stops leading us, he gets really quiet and still. He looks left and then right and then looks at us and whines. This crazy dog then jets, he left us, so we followed suit screaming and running wildly with vines and branches smacking us in the face. It was really funny.
Education in Angola
Here are two essays I have written regarding educational policy and Angola. I would love to hear your feedback. As I study and learn about the issues facing various countries in southern Africa, I will share what I have learned here on the blog and it would be great if a dialogue could occcur. America is wonderful, but it is importatnt to look at what is going on outside of the country and recognize other peoples news, problems and successes as being important as well. Enjoy!
1) The Education System in Angola
Angola has established an ambitious education plan. The government of the Republic of Angola in 2002 created a National Action Plan of Education For All (NEPEFA). With this plan, Angola hopes to meet the Millennium Development Goals as established by the United Nations in ensuring basic primary education (grades K-4) to all by the year 2015. According to the Conference of the Ministers of Education of African Member States in 2002, Angola’s education policy is based on the principle that “knowledge is an essential means for the rise of the indexes of the human development and particularly the living conditions of the populations” (UNESCO- 2002). With the adoption of the NEPEFA, the government of Angola hopes to extend education and education related social services to the most vulnerable and underprivileged rural and urban populations in an attempt to reduce the level of absolute poverty in the country. Along with the reduction of poverty, it is hoped that there will be an increase in the national internal manpower, which will result in a stronger economy for Angola allowing it to compete on a global scale with other nations.
Currently, Angola is far from meeting their goal of primary education for all. There are many factors that contribute to this. It is important to take into consideration that Angola, as an independent nation is extremely young. Following Angola’s independence, the country faced years of civil war, which left the educational sector in a state of chaotic disarray. Between the years of 1992-1996, it is estimated that more than 1,500 classrooms were destroyed. There was an enormous civilian life toll that was taken as well, many of whom were teachers, professors and other educators. Angola must initially start from ground zero to re-establish and define their educational system and goals. The National Action Plan of Education For All is a first step.
The ministry of Education of the Republic of Angola has a long road to tread. They face the enormous challenge of increasing the number of children in primary schools from “an estimated 2.1 million in 2003 to 5 million by 2015 in order to achieve universal primary education while keeping up with the rapid growth of the school-age population. In 2001 UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) showed that only 56% of the children of primary school age attend the first level of basic education (grades 1-4)”. (UNICEF study 2006). The government of Angola recognizes these key problems and is taking into consideration the fact that primary school enrollment has shown great disparities along gender and socio-economic groups. Currently it is estimated that at least one million primary school age children are not attending school, the majority of these being girls.
The government of Angola is working to meet their educational goals by 2015, however many factors are working against them. Training teachers is often expensive, therefore, the people that can afford to go to school to learn to become educators amount to a small segment of the population. There is a severe shortage of trained teachers. Those that are trained as teachers rarely can be convinced to teach in the most desperate rural areas and opt for major cities instead, therefore an entire demographic of the populations educational needs are being ignored. In addition, schools tend to lack sufficient sanitation, water may or may not be available to students and the quality may be questionable. Schools tend to be overcrowded and multi-age groups work together without any clear curriculum or guidance. Most schools lack, basic school materials and teaching and learning materials, which significantly affect the quality of education the students are receiving. The challenges that the Angolan government faces are many. Despite these challenges, there has been an increase in primary school enrollment as well as an increase in adults training to become teachers. The question at hand is will this be enough?
2) Education Policy in the United States and Angola: A Comparative Study
To my surprise, I have noted many similarities between the education system in Angola and the education system in the United States. There are of course many differences as well that account for the difference between “Developing Nation” and “Developed Nation” however the similarities demonstrate that wherever you are, there is always a segment of the population that receives a substandard education that barely prepares them to function as active and productive members of society. That being said, there is also a privileged segment of a given population that receives a quality education, which will prepare them to contribute to society and make the economic gains necessary for a comfortable existence.
Angola is a country that has just emerged from years of civil war and conflict. In that way, the Republic of Angola is fairly new and is still establishing its education system. The government of Angola believes in education for all, and is in the process of establishing an education system that educates all: girls, boys, teen-agers and young adults, but this takes time. Currently, little more than half of the children in Angola receive a primary education. Many schools require that a fee be paid and that eliminates the very poor and majority of the population from gaining access to education. There is also a shortage of qualified teachers as a result of the expense of teacher training. The government of Angola has begun to implement programs to affordably train teachers and this is helping increase the number of trained teachers, however despite these efforts qualified educators are in demand. Furthermore, to exacerbate this problem, teachers who are qualified prefer overwhelmingly to work in urban and populated areas, this has created a huge gap and inconsistencies in education.
In the United States, a country that has been independent of colonial rule for over two hundred years, education is free and is mandatory for every individual from the age of five through at least sixteen. In every state, in every city, in every remote rural town, you will find free public schools designed to educate students from Kindergarten to the 12th grade. This is a great advantage and has helped establish and maintain the United States of America as a developed and affluent country. Upon further examination however, there are many gaps and inconsistencies in the American educational system. As in Angola, there is a shortage of qualified teachers. The teacher shortage is not as extreme in the United States, however it is a problem that the government is addressing. Of the certified teachers in the United States, the majority prefer to teach in affluent private schools, affluent suburban public schools or affluent urban public schools. Low-income urban and low income rural areas in the United States are suffering from a lack of qualified teachers, a lack of educational funds, a lack of teaching and learning materials and supplies and a lack of governmental support. In response to these problems, organizations such as Teach For American and Teaching Fellows have made the attempt to recruit young pre-professionals right out of college, to train them to become teachers free of charge. Such individuals attain free masters degrees in exchange for at least two years of service in low performing underprivileged urban and rural areas. Overall, these programs have proved to be successful, but they are still young and the achievement rate as determined by test scores and drop-out rates of students in rural and urban impoverished areas is still quite low in comparison to the national average.
Both Angola and the United States of America, have a long road ahead of them in terms of improving their educational policies. Angola of course, considering it’s history and current circumstance has a much greater struggle ahead of it, in order to establish it’s goal of providing basic primary education to all by 2015. Angola however, considering where they are in their development is in a similar place most currently developed countries were in at the onset of their independence or as in the case of Europe during the dark ages. With time, we will get a better sense of where Angola needs to make improvements in their education, because currently they are still establishing a system. Unfortunately as is the case in America, social class, gender and economic status, directly affect the quality of education that an individual will receive and this education directly affects the economic future of an individual.
IICD Massachusetts Development Instructor
I can't believe my team just started on Tuesday.
Busy, busy, busy... I'm so excited about what I will soon be doing, but there is a lot to do in the meantime.
There are 15 of us on my team, it's huge considering that we are together as a group from 8am to 10pm with few breaks. We will love each other and we will hate each other and my team is full of interesting characters (which putting it mildly). Before we go to our various countries in Africa, we must as a team fund raise $96,000.00. This will occur in a series of four two week long fund-raising trips. Our first trip will be in Washington D.C. in September. ;-) Living on a mountain in a commune-like community is growing on me day by day. At first I suffered from culture shock (post-honeymoon period of course) but things are really good right now. I've met some of the most amazing people from all over the world, people I would have never encountered otherwise. One of my favorite people here is my friend Valeria from Argentina. We are so similar! We've got the same sense of humor, share a love of yoga, music and spontaneous dancing, we just don't really speak the same language even though we communicate very clearly. I can't explain it.
I discovered a path through the forest that I've been walking for about a half an hour every morning. It's so peaceful and beautiful and damp and green I really love it. There's a bridge and a creek and one of my favorite activities is standing ankle deep in the freezing cold water in my flip flops letting the water rush over my feet. My senses are more acute here.
Yesterday, I swear I heard a bear. I don't know what they sound like, but I was splashing away just happy as pie and something somewhere made a noise and I fled.
Greylock, my favorite kitten is helping me write this right now. He has found his way over the bridge and into my building. There are five of us, sitting outside on the internet. Everyone is excited to have it, a weed-whacker ran over our connection chord not too long ago and ppppplllllltttttt... gone!
I began my capoeira class yesterday. What a work-out, but so much fun. I learned two variations of the jingha.
I taught a yoga class on Monday and will teach another one next Monday as well. Vinyasa style all the way.
There is nothing more peaceful than a sleeping cat/kitten and since I have one on my lap right now, I've gotta say tchau...
Some Songs from Zimbabwe
Today was IICD’s 20th Anniversary celebration!The weather was perfect, the food was great and I start my official team next week (Tuesday). Excitement is in the air!
We performed two songs:
1) NDOFIRA ZIMBABWE (Beautiful Zimbabwe)
Ndofamba Ndofamba Ndofamba Ndofira Ndofira Zimbabwe Inyika Inyika yababa isina nenhamo
Majaya majaya mustatye Kurwisa Kurwisa mabhunu Zvinoda Zvinoda vasimbi kurvisa mabhunu
Mandara Mandara musatye Kurwisa Kurwisa mabhunu Zvinoda Zvinoda vasimbi kurvisa mabhunu
Hey wena hey wena hey wena Hey wena hey wena hey wena Hey wena hey wena hey wena hey wena hey wena
Yu Yu Yu yu yu yu yu Yu Yu yu yu yu yu yu yu Yu Yu Yu yu yu yu yu yu yu yu yu yu yu yu
Ndofamba Ndofamba Ndofamaba Ndofira Ndofira Zimbabwe Inyika Inyika yababa isina nenhamo
2) TIENDE PAMOZI
Tiende pamodzi ndimutima umo Tiende pamodzi ndi ti ma omodzi
O limpa O limpa moyo, O limpa moyo Tiende pamodzi ndi ti ma omodzi
Tifike Zambezia ndi ti ma omodzi Tifike Zambezia ndi ti ma omo
Tifike Nampula ndi ti ma omodzi Tifike Nampula ndi ti ma omo
O limpa O limpa moyo, O limpa moyo Tiende pamodzi ndi ti ma omodzi
GOOD TIMES! Tchau Tchau
The Paint Project Is Finished!
If there is anything more tedious than painting for hours on endit is scraping up paint drips with a scraper and turpentine in the burning hot sun.
This I'm afraid is how I spent my morning and afternoon. Then I painted again (touch ups). I am not sad to say good riddance to this project.
But what doesn't kill you dead, they say will make you stronger, so I suppose by now I am a strong woman.
After all of this, I moved from the Lodge to the Brook House (the haunted place) into my triple (my permanent room), I'm the only one here so far but it's still daylight so I am not going to complain. The rest of my team should arrive soon. It is almost time to begin my training. I am one step closer to working abroad.
I'll be sharing the room with Tamika from Maryland and Camila from Brazil. The room has amazing closet and storage space which is a plus, but it's hot and there are enormous moths everywhere. Oh well, the good comes with the bad. Now I can finally get settled.
IICD Massachusetts Weekends
The week-end has been good to me. We work hard during the week. I thought Manhattan was intense, but I'm learning a thing or two about the Danish work ethic, mutually intense in its respective way.
I'm getting my footing here on this mountain. I've started to meet and befriend some amazing people (Maureen from Michagan, Vale from Argentina, Chris from Belgium, Tracy from Westchester- go NY, Illiana from Chicago).
Yesterday, I went into town with a group for dinner. When I say town, I mean the tiny, yet picturesque Williamstown College center. There is a pretty decent variety of restaurants and cafes, I'll give them that. We opted for an organic pizza shop. I think we've all felt a bit pizza and comfort food deprived.
One of my favorite things about this mountain commune- spontaneous dance parties. Wherever Allan, our local dj can be found, a party can be found. We found him in the kitchen this night and then it happened. Picture an industrial sized kitchen, furniture pushed to the side, lights turned off except for the pilot light above the stove, music and six crazy people dancing around for hours. It was great!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yHfzAg93fM[/youtube] We have to make our own fun here. I feel at times like I'm at a summer camp for grown-ups. There's so much good clean creative fun. It's really refreshing.
paint overload
my eyes are crossed!
Why Rush?
today i had a breakthroughthat's right an aha moment one of those times when i said enough is enough i refuse to be a victim of bug intimidation any longer it's almost a full moon maybe that's what did it
but today after painting myself into delirium i went into my room and i took all of the nasty buggers in the cocoons off of my curtains and then a nasty spider was dangling on its drag line above my bed and i hit it with my new yorker and then took a tissue and smashed it to death
ha!
no longer will i sojourner walker be a victim of the bugs!!!!!
ha!
jumped into the pool today for an hour
ate dinner outside for three hours until it became dark
(a beautiful cultural exchange from the brazilians
why rush
take time
eat drink be merry)
good times!
Manhattan Detox
If you look carefully, you can see where I accidentally painted the snake's head- oops!
For the last two days (9am -7pm)
I have been outside in the heat
painting the Lodge (where I live and where many offices are housed).
It is such hard work. There are hornet nests everywhere, there are wasps, deer flies and snakes (the least of my worries).
I have paint permanently embedded in my nails, hair and skin. I am a mess!
(This Manhattan girl is missing padding around the village, lazy afternoon brunches, sipping wine with nothing in particular to do, movies at the Angelica and Sunshine, I think I even miss the sound of honking horns and the smell of bus fumes. Manhattan detox 101!)
Did I mention that I am exhausted and that my muscles ache severely. I can't wait until my team starts so that I can go to classes and prepare for my work experience in Angola.
Manual labor is NOT my forte!
I mean, I get why we're doing this, we have to be completely self sufficient in Southern Africa. There will be bugs and snakes and no repairmen to call. This is just a lot harder than I planned for. I guess that's life-right?
Straight from the Tap
I drink tap water now.I've learned to love it.
I would have never attempted this in New York
but apparently our water comes from a pure well?
Ah well.
Portuguese Language Exchange at IICD Massachusetts
Portuguese Language Exchange at IICD Massachusetts Oi! My informal Portuguese lessons have begun. Bellini, one of the Brazilian volunteers is working with me. We've got a little language exchange going, he's teaching me Portuguese and I'm giving him English lessons. We practice in the Library after dinner. All I can say is that I have a lot of work to do. The pronunciation is extremely difficult for me. I swear I'm repeating exactly what he is saying, but apparently I'm not. Portuguese has so many soft sounds that just don't exist in English. I've got six and a half months to learn this language. I will be fluent!
I have notes from our sessions taped to the wall around my bed so that I can practice. Speaking of things around my bed, something has decided to make two gigantic cocoons on the curtains near my headboard. I am not excited about this. I am not at all thrilled. I am trying to remain calm, but this is not a good situation and I am afraid that if I attempt to remove them whatever is inside will jump out. My friend James, my bug killer, is away on a fundraising trip in Boston. Right now it is Sojourner versus the cocoons. They are winning.
I've found my local NPR station. It's one of the only stations that works. Now I can stay connected to the world. We have a huge television with like 500 channels, but everyone uses it and I can never catch any t.v. time except for the "Sex and the City" reruns around 11pm, when the t.v. traffic dies down. This is such a step away from where I have been, from my comfort level, but isn't that what life is about, shaking things up a bit, looking at things from a different angle? And truly, it's not so bad, I'm making it work and I'm so excited about getting trained to work in Angola. That will be a great adventure.
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
The world is a book,and those who do not travel read only a page
" The world is a book,
and those who do not travel
read only a page"
- Saint Augustine
My friend Alison who is living in New Zealand sent me a card today with this beautiful quote in it.
In Catholic school I developed a minor obsession with Saint Augustine. His life, overcoming adversity and this quote.
This card, with this message came at the perfect time. Travel is indeed the great experience maker. Like reading a book, travel expands the scope of a person's world. Unlike a book where you draw upon your imagination, travel engages the senses in an up close, tactile way.
Travel is wonder, exploration and life in the moment!
Travel slows us down, grounds and inspires.
You can go as far or as near as you're comfortable, the point is to simply go. Go see. Go experience. Go and live!
Thanks Alison.
Mountain Mowing
Today I learned the intricate art of mowing a mountain. Believe it or not, I've never mowed a lawn before or for that matter, touched a lawn mower ( more domestic duties were delegated to me as a child- dishes, laundry, cooking). All of the residents are assigned morning chores (part of the communal experience) and mowing the lawn was my chore for the week. I was given very brief instructions that consisted of pull the string to start and avoid rocks. Yes, okay I thought, surely I can do this. I can complete this task. It was fun at first, it was almost zen until I hit the hills. It's such hard work to mow up-hill. I was sweating and panting, my arm and back muscles were straining (I got my workout for the day). Then I hit a rock and the machine became engulfed by thick billows of blue smoke. That was the end of that. Needless to say, I will be assigned a new chore tomorrow.
No bear sightings today. I have been so paranoid lately and not just about bears. We had a cook-out last night, around a bonfire and bbq pit. Some long-term volunteers who had just returned from a fund-raising trip talked about the ghostly sightings that have been known to happen on the mountain. I am not ashamed to admit that I was terrified and it doesn't help that we are living on a secluded mountain in the middle of the woods. I'm now a paranoid person and of course the house I'm supposed to move into in a few weeks is the one that's rumored to be "haunted." Hmmmmm...
New people have arrived. I'm no longer the "new girl." I hate to admit this, but I'm so excited that there is an American in the bunch. This is an international program, so we've got people from all over the world living and working together on the commune. Its really great, but it can be so hard to communicate. I have my friend James, but it's nice now to also have another girl to talk and relate to. She has also been assigned to the promotions team. Relief!
Finding a Routine in my 8am-7pm Work Day.
I've returned to the mountain and have settled into my new (temporary) room. I have yet to be presented with my permanent room. I guess I have to wait until August when my team arrives to train. Right now I can't complain though, I'm staying at the lodge. We've got some of the nicest accommodations here. The lodge is a large, wood cabin like building situated at the top of the highest peak on the commune. It is home to the promotions offices and the promotions staff. So you're in Williamstown? Where exactly is that? Good question. I'm still not quite sure where I am besides somewhere between Pittsfield, MA and NorthHampton, MA. ???
Yesterday I attempted to walk into town with my friend James and it was a 45 minute walk from our mountain to the nearest anything. And the nearest anything was an old fashioned general store called five points (great old fashioned ice cream).
It was a great walk though. Everything is so green and pretty and picturesque. Barns everywhere. On the way back the sky opened up soaking us completely through and through. It was fantastic though. We just worked with the plump warm drops. I even managed to pick a bouquet of weeds and wild flowers.
BEAR SIGHTING!
Yesterday after breakfast we came face to face with a black bear. It was wandering around outside the cafeteria. I got close enough to snap a few shots. It was moving pretty slowly and seemed pretty small for a bear (not that I am an expert). I guess he smelled the remnants from breakfast because he strolled right into our kitchen. The poor thing became frightened when one of the dogs, inside one of the classrooms started barking and he ran back into the woods. Who knew bears were afraid of dogs? I suppose it depends on the bear.
Final Day in Rhode Island
Today was an extremely successful day. We are advertising geniuses. Okay, maybe not geniuses, but considering what we had to work with, we did a great job. We hit Brown University again, historic Provincetown and what a treat Trinity Repertory Theatre.
We were able to fund raise lunch at Teabucks, a mango lassie at an Indian restaurant and dinner at a gourmet Pizza shop, yum! Good eats, fresh air, good times.
Friday the 13th hmmmmmmmmmm...
TOP 10 REASONS I LIKE RI: 1) Foresty and green 2) Rocky coast surrounded by beaches and boardwalks 3) Fresh air 4) Friendly folks 5) Historic mansions 6) Beautiful cottages 7) Provincetown is the perfect chill city 8) Lighthouses 9) Coffee shops on every corner 10) Brown University college town
TOP 10 REASONS I HATE BUGS: 1) Beady little eyes 2) Come on...why so many legs? 3) What is a thorax anyway? 4) I don't know what they are thinking/plotting 5) One bit me on Tuesday and caused my phone to break 6) One flew into my mouth on Thursday and tried to kill me 7) A tick decided to make itself home on my left cheek...gross! 8) Why are you crawling so fast? 9) Where are you flying to ? 10) Stop it with those buzzing sounds, I can't think!
*Hmmmmmm, will I make it in Angola? Time will only tell
It's been fun promoting IICD in RI. When I return tomorrow I begin working on helping out with IICD's 20th anniversary celebration. My team officially begins training on August 6th. Can't wait!