Okay so a looooooooot of you more then I knew where reading this, have been after me to write more blogs, FIRST lets clear up a few things.
1. I am in africa at an Aids Orphange with 125 kids
2. Internet costs a ton and a half (which is why I have no pictures up)
3. I have school on top of everything I do.
So as much as I hold you all dearly to my heart, I can't be posting a blog everyday, One cause I don't have that kind of time, and two because my life here isn't all that interesting unless you want to hear about the monkeys with the neon colored privates who like to dance on my roof at night and keep me up. Or about the stray dogs who find it alright to bark off key till all hours, or about the cows next door who moo so loud the dogs get annoyed.
For those of you who answered yes to the perivous paragraph, you'll have to wait till I feel like writing that much sorry. This blog is about action, adventure, SUNDAY SCHOOL!!!!!
Seriously church over here rocks your socks off, or if you can't afford socks, your skin off (quite painful really) We where invited to church to day by one of the people we work with. A local who has been nothing but smiles and very friendly. We went and I was in shock, I mean I've seen Choirs sing before, I've seen dancers dance, but these people where doing it all, about 18 of them in three rows where going crazy. It was like watching Stomp mets Cats, mets Boy Mets World! they where almost flippin, they where jumping and high kickin, they where shaking and spinnin. The only thing that would have made it any more impressive is if they where jumping past hoops of fire.
So I got to thinking "wow I wonder what the special thing is this week?" turns out that was just their weekly worship service, very interesting compared to our stand still services back home. I mean it really could have been riverdance, I was about 5 seconds away from getting up and joining them but then I realized that I am sadly white and can't dance like that, BUT I"M GOING TO TRY.......next month maybe...Anyways once again sorry that the blogs are kinda far apart, I'm trying to get 2-3 a week put out, but once again I pay for internet by the Megabyte, which Megabites! I know corny but thats part of who I am. Anyways to all of you Crazy Canadians back home and whoever else might be reading this God bless and until next time Keep Fit and Have Fun! (Little east coast funny)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Picture
I've been in Africa for about three and a half months now, just over 1/4 of my total time here, its been a lot of good and bad, I think the worst thing is the ones you leave behind, your lifes use to be interconnected then you hit the fork, now I'm over here living a compleately different life then I ever pictured myself living, and my friends back home are living something compleately different. I mean so much as happened to me and how I see everything now and I'm sure before this years over it will change even more, likewise back home things are changing pretty rapidly as well, I mean I have a couple of friends getting married soon, people are finishing up there degrees and looking for that job that will send them on their way. Sometimes its almost freaky how fast life seems to slip past you.
My one respite for it all has been the odd emails I get from some friends back home (thanks to those of you trying to keep in touch it means a lot to me), and two pictures that sit right above my desk, both taken they day of my graduation, one is of five of us all smiling and glad to be done with high school, and the second is a recreation of a photo taken in grade ten, the totumpole, both bring a big smile to my face and make me remember that tho nothing can stay the same the changes that are happening have as much good to them if not more then the bad. So tho I don't know how things stand between me and all who are reading this, I care about all of you, my friends and family, and I look forward to seeing you again, but its not that time, not just yet. I remember you all in my prayers until next post God bless
Your Friend
Michael Conrad
My one respite for it all has been the odd emails I get from some friends back home (thanks to those of you trying to keep in touch it means a lot to me), and two pictures that sit right above my desk, both taken they day of my graduation, one is of five of us all smiling and glad to be done with high school, and the second is a recreation of a photo taken in grade ten, the totumpole, both bring a big smile to my face and make me remember that tho nothing can stay the same the changes that are happening have as much good to them if not more then the bad. So tho I don't know how things stand between me and all who are reading this, I care about all of you, my friends and family, and I look forward to seeing you again, but its not that time, not just yet. I remember you all in my prayers until next post God bless
Your Friend
Michael Conrad
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Why wouldn't you hit me doing 80?
This story is fresh just happened today, and it was so strange I just had to post it!
So I woke up this morning after just missing the ending to another great dream (don't you hate it when that happens) and tried to roll out of bed only to remember that I'm trapped by a bug net (I now know how a fish feels) after coming to my senses and accepting my fate of having to get up, I looked at my watch and realized I had slept in. So I did what anyone else would do, threw on the closest thing that was clean, cleaned my face and brushed my teeth in record time and get on my bike and away I flew.
Now as I was getting to the main road, I noticed a man just waiting on the side of the street, I assumed he was waiting for the bus, so I started to turn, and he jumps out in front of me, I moved, he moved, I moved again, he moved again. By this time I was getting a little miffed, so I shut off my bike and just waited, at this point he got on the ground and laid there, he then saw the cars coming behind me and got up, said some words that I can only assume where not "good morning how are you" and then politely gave me the finger before walking off. I then finished my trip and got to Starehe.
When I got to Starehe I learned that a few people make this a full time job, throwing themselfs infront of oncoming traffic if the person looks rich. Me being white here everyone thinks I am, so needless to say I couldn't help but laugh at how backwards the whole thing seemed, back home someone would yell and give you the bird if you hit them, here its only if you miss them that they get angry. So now I'm just hoping a lot of people stay mad at me here.
So I woke up this morning after just missing the ending to another great dream (don't you hate it when that happens) and tried to roll out of bed only to remember that I'm trapped by a bug net (I now know how a fish feels) after coming to my senses and accepting my fate of having to get up, I looked at my watch and realized I had slept in. So I did what anyone else would do, threw on the closest thing that was clean, cleaned my face and brushed my teeth in record time and get on my bike and away I flew.
Now as I was getting to the main road, I noticed a man just waiting on the side of the street, I assumed he was waiting for the bus, so I started to turn, and he jumps out in front of me, I moved, he moved, I moved again, he moved again. By this time I was getting a little miffed, so I shut off my bike and just waited, at this point he got on the ground and laid there, he then saw the cars coming behind me and got up, said some words that I can only assume where not "good morning how are you" and then politely gave me the finger before walking off. I then finished my trip and got to Starehe.
When I got to Starehe I learned that a few people make this a full time job, throwing themselfs infront of oncoming traffic if the person looks rich. Me being white here everyone thinks I am, so needless to say I couldn't help but laugh at how backwards the whole thing seemed, back home someone would yell and give you the bird if you hit them, here its only if you miss them that they get angry. So now I'm just hoping a lot of people stay mad at me here.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Keep Your LEFT hand to yourself!
Okay don't let the title fool you I'm a lefty and I peronally think lefthanders rock hard core, I mean studies have been done that have proven we're more creative, better at sports, and make good leaders, and you can't argue with studies sorry to all the righthanders out there, better luck next life.
Alright now that I've alienated most of my friends I'll get to the point of this blog.
Tanzania is a interesting country, it has a beautiful landscape, the people for the most part are friendly, and fruit is uber cheap! That being said it still has weird traditions. When I first got here, no one told me that left handed people where seen as evil or dirty so I had to find out the hard way, eatting out I would get looks of disgust, writing I would get glares, and everytime I would wave at someone with my left hand they would give me a dirty look.
It wasn't until a month ago that someone told me that in Tanzania toilet paper is not common so the left hand is used to eerr "clean up" whats left behind. Needless to say this helped me understand why people at the dining areas looked like they where ready to throw up when they saw me eat...I explained to the kids at the orphage that I was born lefthanded and couldn't help but use it, and that I used toilet paper, still they started to think that I used my right hand to "clean up" so no one would shake my hand for about a week until I was able to explain toilet paper and what washing your hands with soap means. This got me thinking about friends here, guys hold hands only if they are extremely close friends, and this made sense to me a lot more now cause one of them would have to hold the left hand lol.
It doesn't stop there tho, witchdoctors are very common in Africa and more so in Tanzania, and being lefthanded is normally seen as being evil. So for any leftys who might be interested in coming to help out, you have been warned.
Still Left handed people are just awesome!
Alright now that I've alienated most of my friends I'll get to the point of this blog.
Tanzania is a interesting country, it has a beautiful landscape, the people for the most part are friendly, and fruit is uber cheap! That being said it still has weird traditions. When I first got here, no one told me that left handed people where seen as evil or dirty so I had to find out the hard way, eatting out I would get looks of disgust, writing I would get glares, and everytime I would wave at someone with my left hand they would give me a dirty look.
It wasn't until a month ago that someone told me that in Tanzania toilet paper is not common so the left hand is used to eerr "clean up" whats left behind. Needless to say this helped me understand why people at the dining areas looked like they where ready to throw up when they saw me eat...I explained to the kids at the orphage that I was born lefthanded and couldn't help but use it, and that I used toilet paper, still they started to think that I used my right hand to "clean up" so no one would shake my hand for about a week until I was able to explain toilet paper and what washing your hands with soap means. This got me thinking about friends here, guys hold hands only if they are extremely close friends, and this made sense to me a lot more now cause one of them would have to hold the left hand lol.
It doesn't stop there tho, witchdoctors are very common in Africa and more so in Tanzania, and being lefthanded is normally seen as being evil. So for any leftys who might be interested in coming to help out, you have been warned.
Still Left handed people are just awesome!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Bikes are Cool, Skingraphs aren't!
Hello World!
Alright so heres the thing, Tanzania is packed pretty tight, about as tight as our whole countary of Canada! So needless to say getting around can be really annoying when there is only one car, after talking with my folks about the waste of gas using a big car to do little tasks I began to start talking about how great a motorcycle would be, just as a joke mind you, but my folks began to put some very serious thinking into this idea and after a month...I now have a bike to do tasks for Starehe, as well as a personal way of getting around on my off day. Now some of you might be asking "Mike wheres the funny?" while others might be praying "Oh God, please don't let him make another lame joke!" Getting the license to drive here was no joking matter, yet was extremely funny.
I took my Canadian Drivers Licence to the Tanzania Tax Rev which will now be refered to as (TRA) to get a transfer, they gave me a form to fill out and then sent me to the police station. Once at the police station, a very interesting officer told me that I had to go back to the TRA, I asked why, and he said "Because they do not send you here, we send you there, then they send you here" so I had to go back to the TRA, just so that I could get sent back to the police station...but its not over yet!
I then had to provide them with three passport photos, and a copy of my Canadian Licence, then another copy of my licence, just incase the first one was a fake...then I would normally be tested on there road signs (which make no sense half the time, I SWEAR one of them means incoming meteors) but the police officer couldn't be bothered today cause he was sleepy, so I filled out all the forms then....got sent back to the TRA, to fill out another form, pay a fee for the test I never took, and then....you guessed it, got sent back to the police station, to have them re-check my brandnew licence. then I finally got to leave.
This took the span of three days cause I didn't have half the stuff I needed, (it was changing day to day). So there is my insane update and weird/lame/funny story...Next Post: Keep Your Left Hand to Yourself see yeah then :D
Alright so heres the thing, Tanzania is packed pretty tight, about as tight as our whole countary of Canada! So needless to say getting around can be really annoying when there is only one car, after talking with my folks about the waste of gas using a big car to do little tasks I began to start talking about how great a motorcycle would be, just as a joke mind you, but my folks began to put some very serious thinking into this idea and after a month...I now have a bike to do tasks for Starehe, as well as a personal way of getting around on my off day. Now some of you might be asking "Mike wheres the funny?" while others might be praying "Oh God, please don't let him make another lame joke!" Getting the license to drive here was no joking matter, yet was extremely funny.
I took my Canadian Drivers Licence to the Tanzania Tax Rev which will now be refered to as (TRA) to get a transfer, they gave me a form to fill out and then sent me to the police station. Once at the police station, a very interesting officer told me that I had to go back to the TRA, I asked why, and he said "Because they do not send you here, we send you there, then they send you here" so I had to go back to the TRA, just so that I could get sent back to the police station...but its not over yet!
I then had to provide them with three passport photos, and a copy of my Canadian Licence, then another copy of my licence, just incase the first one was a fake...then I would normally be tested on there road signs (which make no sense half the time, I SWEAR one of them means incoming meteors) but the police officer couldn't be bothered today cause he was sleepy, so I filled out all the forms then....got sent back to the TRA, to fill out another form, pay a fee for the test I never took, and then....you guessed it, got sent back to the police station, to have them re-check my brandnew licence. then I finally got to leave.
This took the span of three days cause I didn't have half the stuff I needed, (it was changing day to day). So there is my insane update and weird/lame/funny story...Next Post: Keep Your Left Hand to Yourself see yeah then :D
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Living 90 Days at a Time
Jambo Rafiki's (Hello Friends)
Seriously if someone says Jambo to you here its not an insult their just saying hello, Swahili is a blast to speak just make sure you know what your saying or they'll have you singing about tight underwear being stuffed full of banadas, true story. Anyhow, I'm here on a 90 day visa, and have been waiting for my permit to come in, which I filed for in April and my 90 days ends tuesday which means I need to be out of the country on monday if my permit doesn't show.
So needless to say right now I'm living 90 days at a time, my permit is "on its way" but its been on it way for a month now, so I might have to take a trip to Kenya for a few days then come back. Got me thinking tho, about how life just throws you for a loop sometimes, I mean a year ago I wouldn't have dreamed of being in Africa, but here I. So being here has been one thing after another, in fact getting here was one thing after another, but its shown me that no matter how much you plan, or how far you set a path ahead of yourself, your permit on life is only good for one day at a time.
Seriously if someone says Jambo to you here its not an insult their just saying hello, Swahili is a blast to speak just make sure you know what your saying or they'll have you singing about tight underwear being stuffed full of banadas, true story. Anyhow, I'm here on a 90 day visa, and have been waiting for my permit to come in, which I filed for in April and my 90 days ends tuesday which means I need to be out of the country on monday if my permit doesn't show.
So needless to say right now I'm living 90 days at a time, my permit is "on its way" but its been on it way for a month now, so I might have to take a trip to Kenya for a few days then come back. Got me thinking tho, about how life just throws you for a loop sometimes, I mean a year ago I wouldn't have dreamed of being in Africa, but here I. So being here has been one thing after another, in fact getting here was one thing after another, but its shown me that no matter how much you plan, or how far you set a path ahead of yourself, your permit on life is only good for one day at a time.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The Night the Earth Bleed Ants
If the title didn`t give it away I don`t know what will.
We have a missions team from Canada here, helping to build a wall to keep out the wild life, lol and keep some of the wild life in. Its going pretty well and the team has been great for followship, however after finishing a hard days work at Starehe Childrens Home, we went back to there house to find that the ground all around (both inside the teams house and out) was FLOODED with ants, and the ants here are MEAN!
They bite they, they crawl in places ants shouldn`t, then they bite in places ants shouldn`t (or anything else for that matter) we used six cans of bug spray before retreating back to my house, where the team decided to stay the night, so a totally of 12 people in a very very tiny house and we had all eatten beans that night for supper soooo needless to say it made for a very interesting night.
so there is my funny and stange story, I have many many many more, and will most likely have more and more in the days to come, but for now we`ll start with one.
We have a missions team from Canada here, helping to build a wall to keep out the wild life, lol and keep some of the wild life in. Its going pretty well and the team has been great for followship, however after finishing a hard days work at Starehe Childrens Home, we went back to there house to find that the ground all around (both inside the teams house and out) was FLOODED with ants, and the ants here are MEAN!
They bite they, they crawl in places ants shouldn`t, then they bite in places ants shouldn`t (or anything else for that matter) we used six cans of bug spray before retreating back to my house, where the team decided to stay the night, so a totally of 12 people in a very very tiny house and we had all eatten beans that night for supper soooo needless to say it made for a very interesting night.
so there is my funny and stange story, I have many many many more, and will most likely have more and more in the days to come, but for now we`ll start with one.
Finally Got it Started
Hello world!
Or whoever finds the time to be reading this, I finally got started on a blog/update for those who have been bugging me to do so *cough, JANESSA, cough* so now everyone can be happy. I have a couple of stories to write that have already happened a month or two ago, and a very exciting one that happened only last night, I will post it later for those of you who actully care to read it.
Or whoever finds the time to be reading this, I finally got started on a blog/update for those who have been bugging me to do so *cough, JANESSA, cough* so now everyone can be happy. I have a couple of stories to write that have already happened a month or two ago, and a very exciting one that happened only last night, I will post it later for those of you who actully care to read it.
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