Donations to the Poor Mountain Girl Living in a Hut

So, this list is mostly for my mom. But if others want to use the following information in a way that is beneficial to me, i will not complain.

Package Wonders
goldfish crackers/ cheeze-its
pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, almonds (tamari roasted!), cashews
dried fruit (mango, apricot, and cranberries are faves but all are good. except prunes, not so into those)
candy (dark chocolate, nerds, skittles, starburst, cookies n cream bars, andes mints, reeses, chewy spree, sour straws, sour patch kids, etc etc etc)
that cheesy soup mix stuff from bear creek or whatever
crystal light or other drink mix (all flavors except orange, all brands except Tang. i can actually get that here.)
salmon/tuna steaks from t. joes
salsa con queso dip
mini whiskey bottles
fun food mixes (just add water type stuff: scone mixes, soup mixes, etc)
other fun trader joesy type foods, or snack type foods
cholula
magazines (make magazine, scientific american, wired, intouch, us weekly)
glitter (fine grain, a range of colors (unmixed))
pencils, pens, erasers, rulers, etc. to give away to my students for being good
new music! data cds are ok because i have access to computers
tv shows (30 rock, coupling, how i met your mother, the office)
new anime (dan i think that one's up to you, unless other readers also enjoy anime....)
movies (any and all, pretty much)
love letters
photos

Slap that Baby, Make him Dance

So, i'm back in country! I'm in the capital now until mid-month, there's a slew of conferences and things i have to attend here before i go back to my hut. Which is good, i'm getting a slow step-down from America. First i went to Durban, in South Africa for 4 days or so. we stayed at an amazing hostel right on the beach about 45mins outside of the city, which was nice. it was just slow and relaxed and i sat on the beach all day. I got off the plane from san diego in johannesberg (about 30 hours of travel time), then hopped on a 7 hour bus to durban, then met some friends at a restaurant there where i changed in the restaurant bathroom, passed off my bags to some friends that were going back to the hostel, and went straight out to a club to go dance, and was up til oh-dark-thirty in the morning. The next day (new years eve) my immune system, after a month of near constant abuse, decided to say fuck you, and shut down.
new years eve i spent on a stool in some club trying to get the energy to dance to like half a song, then going to sit back down, and new years day i woke up with no voice, swollen lungs, and mucus everywhere. i was a wreck. so i stayed as horizontal as possible the next few days, on the beach or in bed in our closet-like room in the hostel. I'm still kind of gross and mucusy but am slowly getting better. unfortunately STUPID M_F-ING METH HEADS have ruined my life here as well. South Africa just made sudafed no longer over-the-counter, so i can't get any decongestant.

Oh! and we had a twilight-zone sort of moment in Durban, we were on a taxi, trying to get to the taxi rank where the long distance taxis are, so we could get back to lesotho and the driver and the conductor of our taxi had never heard of lesotho before! I understand americans not knowing, but them not knowing was like a californian having never heard of nevada. it's totally crazy. So we pulled out a map and showed them the country of lesotho, you know, that country that is encased within their home country of south africa. So they went to the police station to ask them if they'd heard of Lesotho, and how to get there. We were so exasperated. finally we got dropped off where we started, with a refund, and had to try again with a new taxi.

I'm gearing up for a week of different conferences here in the capital. One starts tomorrow, the "all volunteer conference" where all 80-90 volunteers in Lesotho come together to do god knows what (i haven't attended one of these before, so i have no idea what it entails). and I've been asked to emcee! woo! i guess i'm entertaining... unfortunately i'm only funny when in small groups/not on the spot, so i don't know if i'll accept the gig or not. my public speaking skillz are not that great.

So I'm going to start some sort of soccer program with my neighborhood when i go back. I received a very generous donation of three soccerballs from a friend in America, and I'm excited to go back and play! I think I'll keep one at my house, one at Vic's house (her place borders the soccer field) and one at school. oh! and Jason, if you are reading this 1. thanks! and 2. i lost the address for your music server, can you email it to me? rereilly at gmail

It's now time for... quote of the week! this gem comes from Ms. Britney Spears
"Love me, hate me, think what you will about me, but all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy."
once you puzzle that one through, you will be on step closer to nirvana, and one-ness with the divine essence of the mulitverse.