Hey just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the christmas cards! Just got them this week, and it was a pleasant suprise. Emily, I even got your letter that you sent before thanksgiving just now! Hah! Very amusing. Also everyone, future letters can be addressed differently, and email my parents or myself at sarahm.springsteen@gmail.com if you would like to know my P.O. Box here. But neverthless, I smiled alot! Thanks so much!
with love
Sarah
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
A story collection
So after so much seriousness I thought I should regale you all with just some stories, bila (swahili for without) philosophy.
So recently we had a music festival here on the island, and they had musicians from all over the world, it was awesome. There was a girl from Sweden who played the violin parntering with a guy from Senegal who played the chora and sang in a language I don't know. There was drummers from Burundi, called the Amani drummers (swahili for peace) and they were supposedly inspired to come together after Rawanda in 94, to spread peace. They were really neat, and definately played up the whole African drumming shtick to its height, but you know what? It's a shtick because its awesome. I know they are playing on stereotypes but stereotypes exist for a reason, and it was really really freaking cool. Then they had a group that sounded scottish that came from Norway I guess, which had kind of a Bjork, sound and had the most random collection of instruments but it was really cool.
And then there's this lady from the island, Bi Kidude, who's about 90 years old and a muslim woman, who's just one of those people that come along once in a while in every culture, who you can't help but admire. The doctors told her she wasn't allowed to do her drumming singing act anymore because her health is starting to fail...(apparently she started drumming and singing at 80). Now she's supposed to be a goddess on the drums, and you have to realize how truly rare that is, for an 80 year old muslim let alone a muslim woman to start performing on anything. But she did. So the doctors gave her this news, and so she cancelled her public performance, but then a girl who knew her asked her to play just for a private audience, and Bi kidude said as long as the girl would supply the beer and cigarettes she'd do it. And she did. I didn't get to see it, but I heard it was awesome. And just so you know, its completely against normal muslim practice to drink beer, let alone the practice for little old ladies to request beer and cigarettes. So I immediately liked her without knowing her.
English tutoring is going along better, as well as math tutoring but our school computer is broken at the moment, so I haven't done much computer tutoring as of late. We're getting a school renovation though at the moment, so that's kind of exciting.
Also have made a conscious effort to continue work on the house, because it becomes less cost effective the longer I put it off. Also I get used to it, and then I forget its really a problem and then well...it never gets fixed. So there's been some improvement.
I'm 24. Yay for birthdays. I found some funfetti cake at a store (it was quite a find!) and made that and some frosting that I made myself in my charcoal jiko. Cake was underdone but hey its hard to judge on a charcoal stove because there's not like a dial to set temperature by any means. Y'all really though, when I get home, I'll show you how to bake using the grill, cause that's what I do, and it works. But anyway, a match sufficed for the candle *though I had to make a wish and blow it out quick* and life's good!
Also, just to show you how far from home I am...My friend Josh is at a teacher's college. And I kid you not school was recently cancelled one day for him because one of the students ( a future teacher no less) became possessed. Like as in demon possession. This is a college. And school was cancelled for fear that another student at the college or a teacher may become affected, possessed by the same demon or another, I don't know. Anyway, since it's not all that rare that someone should become possessed, and only rare that school was cancelled because of it I have to say, Cherish your part of the demon free world!
And thats all I got!
Love as always
So recently we had a music festival here on the island, and they had musicians from all over the world, it was awesome. There was a girl from Sweden who played the violin parntering with a guy from Senegal who played the chora and sang in a language I don't know. There was drummers from Burundi, called the Amani drummers (swahili for peace) and they were supposedly inspired to come together after Rawanda in 94, to spread peace. They were really neat, and definately played up the whole African drumming shtick to its height, but you know what? It's a shtick because its awesome. I know they are playing on stereotypes but stereotypes exist for a reason, and it was really really freaking cool. Then they had a group that sounded scottish that came from Norway I guess, which had kind of a Bjork, sound and had the most random collection of instruments but it was really cool.
And then there's this lady from the island, Bi Kidude, who's about 90 years old and a muslim woman, who's just one of those people that come along once in a while in every culture, who you can't help but admire. The doctors told her she wasn't allowed to do her drumming singing act anymore because her health is starting to fail...(apparently she started drumming and singing at 80). Now she's supposed to be a goddess on the drums, and you have to realize how truly rare that is, for an 80 year old muslim let alone a muslim woman to start performing on anything. But she did. So the doctors gave her this news, and so she cancelled her public performance, but then a girl who knew her asked her to play just for a private audience, and Bi kidude said as long as the girl would supply the beer and cigarettes she'd do it. And she did. I didn't get to see it, but I heard it was awesome. And just so you know, its completely against normal muslim practice to drink beer, let alone the practice for little old ladies to request beer and cigarettes. So I immediately liked her without knowing her.
English tutoring is going along better, as well as math tutoring but our school computer is broken at the moment, so I haven't done much computer tutoring as of late. We're getting a school renovation though at the moment, so that's kind of exciting.
Also have made a conscious effort to continue work on the house, because it becomes less cost effective the longer I put it off. Also I get used to it, and then I forget its really a problem and then well...it never gets fixed. So there's been some improvement.
I'm 24. Yay for birthdays. I found some funfetti cake at a store (it was quite a find!) and made that and some frosting that I made myself in my charcoal jiko. Cake was underdone but hey its hard to judge on a charcoal stove because there's not like a dial to set temperature by any means. Y'all really though, when I get home, I'll show you how to bake using the grill, cause that's what I do, and it works. But anyway, a match sufficed for the candle *though I had to make a wish and blow it out quick* and life's good!
Also, just to show you how far from home I am...My friend Josh is at a teacher's college. And I kid you not school was recently cancelled one day for him because one of the students ( a future teacher no less) became possessed. Like as in demon possession. This is a college. And school was cancelled for fear that another student at the college or a teacher may become affected, possessed by the same demon or another, I don't know. Anyway, since it's not all that rare that someone should become possessed, and only rare that school was cancelled because of it I have to say, Cherish your part of the demon free world!
And thats all I got!
Love as always
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