YO YO Are My Homies In Da House? (Whatever that means!) And Africa PreTrip Part One

I have not been writing much this month. My boss has been away for most of September and of course Murphy’s Law, what could go wrong, does go wrong and I have, for the most part been putting out fires and trying to get my own work done while doing so. An impossibility I might add. I really like my job, more than that I like the people that I work with but I am getting angst at wanting to move on. I have a couple of years until I can think of actually taking early retirement and the thought of doing so is very tempting I must admit. My financial advisor (like I have a lot of money to justify a financial advisor… NOT!!), tells me if I expect to live to 90 then I can’t afford to retire early. Bit of a catch 22 actually cause I may not live to be 90 if I don’t retire soon!!!

Another reason why I am not writing much is because Nick is using the computer more for school work… YES!!! That’s the best excuse don’t you think?

Nick and I went to see Mariah Carey on Monday. She’s quite the Diva and while I am not an avid fan of hers I do like some of the music and she belted out the tunes quite well. I can say however, that I was not amused with the rapper persons she had to start her show. While I appreciate all kinds of music and even some rap in moderation is tolerable, this was not that kind of rap. The two rappers were quite frustrated because the crowd was not very responsive to their tunes. They kept asking the crowd to sing along but had these fellows done their homework and read a bit about Calgary and Western Canada for that matter they would have found out that this is more of a conservative city actually. Calgary only has a handful of radio stations of which rap does not dominate. And Calgary’s ethnic population is not as colourful as the three other larger cities in the country (those being Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver), so our variety of music is not as diverse. Calgary is growing by leaps and bounds but for now, easy listening and basic rock rule. It was quite funny as the rappers rallied with “Yo, Yo, How are the Bitches of the House tonight”, most of the people around me were looking at each other asking… “Didn’t their mother’s teach them any manners?” It was quite funny actually. All in all Nick and I had a good time.

AFRICA: Part I

Here comes the frustrating part. I have been trying to upload or download or sideload… anyway trying to get some pictures onto the blog and for the longest time I have been having a hard time. I will try again but if it fails I have set up a new account on a different blog and will write about my Africa trip there.

Part of the schedule in regard to our trip is providing a rudimentary eye clinic for 3 different remote villages in Kenya. This meant having to do a workshop to give us an idea of what steps must be taken to test peoples eyes and provide them with glasses that will at best help better their vision.

So Sunday a group of us got together in Calgary and got the basics on how to test people’s eyes. Now my optometrist would have a fit if he saw this but for the people in some of these villages giving them glasses makes the difference between a farmer being able to see his cows clearly, a grandmother being able to see her grand-daughter for the first time or a woman being able to once again thread a needle to do the bead work that she sells to help support her family.

The eye glasses are used glasses that are donated to a charitable organization, they in turn take them to the local penitentiary where the men there polish and fix the glasses and return to our group “A Better World” to distribute on our trip. Isn’t that cool?!

So the pics are of our workshop. I have volunteered to be a pointer. I am not as glamorous as Vanna White, nor will I be turning over any vowels. I will have to find my own pointing stick and will most likely need an interpreter to help me understand what the subject is saying but even in the workshop it sure felt like fun.

*See Flickr for photos of Africa PreTrip http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandygirl/sets/72157594310148903/ *

On a side note, I am trying to convince my neighbour Pat to take belly dancing classes with me in the new year. There is a waiting list (if you can believe that) and it is suppose to be incredible exercise. I need to exercise but I want to have some fun while doing it and this seemed to be the answer. I’ll keep you posted.

I've gotta rush, must walk the dog before the sun sets (a few min. from now). A sure sign of fall and winter to come, early evening sunsets.

I'm off... Ciao, Ciao!