Felt I should get on the ball and write something even though there is nothing in particular that I am planning to write about as I sit here typing, so this should be fun. Things are still moving slow here on my goals to bring a festival and a scout group to my village. they're moving but they are slow, but that's the way things are here. The festival should be great, it will feature traditional ceremonies, dancing, food, and presentations on what the Heritage Park will be about. It should be in October but we will see.

 

Planning on going on vacation in August to the east coast of the country, with a program that includes snorkeling, cultural festivals and hiking. There will be a bunch of other volunteers from my group going so it should be a blast.

 

Cannot wait to see Batman... hope its good. Also on the arts and culture front, I saw speed racer a little while ago, thought it was quite a show. Breaking Up With Sarah Marshall was very funny, still haven't seen Narnia or Iron Man. Just finished reading Flannerly O'Connor's short stories which were fantastic.

 

Zimbabwe is a mess, not many of the refugees come to this side of South Africa (though there are a fair number of people from mozambique here.) Hopefully, there's a way to end this whole mess, but its not looking good.

well. the last few weeks were fun but tiring. by the time I got back to my room back in the village I just collapsed into my bed. It started with the scout camp where I got training for helping to start and lead a group. after that came two weeks of training which mostly went well and it was great to see the other volunteers, but the constant eating and the late nights kind of took a toll on me. after that came fourth of july at the ambassador's which was pretty fun and had fresh corn dogs. pretoria is a pretty nice city, though its architecture, culture and affluence seem far removed from the south africa that I am more familiar with.

 

now i am back at the village working on my programs again. they are going a bit slower than I'd like right now but ever since I've come here things have tended to go in fits and starts. in my spare time I have started training for a marathon (long way to go) and reading the stories of Flannerly O'Connor, a terrific writer in all respects. I find her use of Catholic religious symbolism to be fascinating, as well as the racial themes and the themes of cultures in transition, which I think are especially relevant towards the current state of affairs here in south africa. it is a country in the midst of a lot of change and people have to discover how to cope with it.