Untukmu Para Pengunjung

We got a 100% raise yesterday! That's pretty good, eh? (Well, until you consider that last week I went to the corner store and noticed that a juice box would have cost me 20% of my monthly Zimbabwean salary!) Don't worry, Mom - we're fine!

The other day I was walking home from church with some officers (pastors). We passed my friend Lionel so I said hi to him and wished him Happy New Year. As we were walking on, the officers said (totally within earshot) "that's good Rochelle. That man is a drunk and a sinner. I think you should try to make him a (Salvation Army) soldier." I suggested maybe what he really needs is someone just to say hi or be kind to him. Last night I was visiting a family. The wife was telling me that she wants me to pray for her husband because he is not a Christian. We actually ended up having a prayer time a few minutes later and the husband prayed something similar to this, "God, thank you for this day. It is a miracle to be alive, because many of my friends are dying every day. Thank you for my wife, and for food that you give us. And God, from the bottom of my heart, I pray that you would bless our government and show them how to turn out country around. Because we are suffering. Amen." Hmmmm, I wonder what makes a good Christian....

Hey - I have an article posted on therubicon.org about my struggles with the "missionary" label (under blog reads if you want a shortcut). The brilliant Sherri Golisky (a.k.a. my best friend) also has an article, and it's really good. Check it out!

The orientation for the Zimbabwe School for Youth Leadership is going really well. God is good. Thanks for all of those who have prayed for this initiative. We're based at Horseshoe - which is a run-down country club that was donated to The Salvation Army in the middle of nowhere. It's actually quite a beautiful place with mountains and farms and lots of green. I'm used to prayer walking in downtown Toronto. It was a bit of a different feel when we did a prayer walk and didn't see another person for the first half hour! But we had some nice prayer over the borehole and trees! The roosters wake up early at Horseshoe - 4:30am is rise and shine! So far we have 12 students, and they seem to be really enjoying themselves and learning a lot. When I look at them, I feel so proud! You know you work so hard on a programme, and then when people actually show up - it feels like a dream come true. The group is great - they're willing to try anything. They did a whole obstacle course blindfolded, and showed such determination. A whole bunch of kids from the school came out to watch. They were fascinated to see all of these teenagers doing crazy things (and it amazed me that some where still more fascinated with my "bright" skin than all the craziness!)

Rest assured - we did find a beast! The whole group got together to slaughter it and then clean out the insides. John and I have been involved in a few leadership training schools, but this was my first time to kill a beast. It wasn't even like, "hey, this would be a cool team-building activity." It was like, "hey, we need to eat." I was amazed. No one asked, "ok, who knows how to do this?" Everyone just stood up, got the ax, and went to work - whether they were from the slums of Harare or the deep rural areas. When people started getting splattered with blood, I suggested they might want to remove their ZSYL name tags!! I got to see the "byble" that we ate at Christmas in its very raw form. We gave the head of the bull to the Divisional Commander (I guess that's custom because it's a delicacy) and the liver to the Territorial Commander (don't forget protocol!) Other than that, we've been feasting. I'm not a big meat-eater anyway, and the whole slaughtering thing didn't exactly help, but when in Rome... and it was nice beef.

Everyone's always concerned about my health, so I'll just say that I'm fine - a few "washroom problems" but nothing major. The first night was a bit brutal - I got a hundred bug bites, and peed on my pyjamas (it was dark when we arrived so I was figuring out the whole outhouse thing!) Mostly I'm just really happy. It's so cool to see all of these emerging leaders and to see that they're being challenged but up for the challenge. I'm pleased with how the distance education course I wrote turned out (John designed it). When I presented it to the students, they seemed very intimidated, but I know they can do it (I told them so) and I think they're up for it. I need to sort out some stuff at work and then I'll go back up until the end on Saturday. I must admit that on Tuesday at 12:00pm when we were supposed to be leaving Harare and we didn't have any: students, food or course books I was a TAD anxious, but it's all come together. God is good.

This past week, I walked into a Chapter's to calm my nerves and soothe my psyche. Walking through the fiction section, I noticed that every fourth or fifth shelf contained a batch of books coloured in hot pink, bright yellow, and orgasmic orange. What other book genre would boast such colours? Chick-lit!

What is chick-lit? Chick-lit is an abbreviation for "chick literature", or girly novels. Some examples would be the Shopaholic series, and the "Something Borrowed, Something Blue" books. I would even group in some romantic, dramatic novels, such as "The Time Traveller's Wife". Since I was bored with nothing to do, I picked some of them up and started reading a bit.....who am I kidding? I picked them up because I was insanely interested.

VS
As a guy's guy, let me tell you: this is a no-brainer.

I admit it, I love novels that deal with issues that are considered girly: most notably, love, dating and romance. Unbeknownst to many of my peers and family members, I've read, and own, several dramatic novels that can be considered chick-lit (think again if you think I'm going to list the titles!).

Although the interest is there, I can't read the extremely girly books (the one's covered in the aforementioned colours). Not only because I'll have to surrender my balls at the register when I voluntarily pay for these books, but because they approach the topics of interest from the female psyche. Wanting to read a chick-lit, I was faced with a dilemma. So I did the only thing I thought I could do--I immediately went home and started googling "girly novels for guys" and putting in the appropriate queries on amazon.ca and chapters.ca. And I found some interesting things.

I stumbled across a blog of a (female) romance writer, who states that "22% of romance readers are male.", although the percentage of these male readers who are coerced into reading them by their girlfriends/wives is not mentioned. Second, in England, dick-lit, or "lad lit", as it is referred to over there, is a surging literary genre. Hence the rise of UK lad lit writer Nick Hornby, who wrote "About a Boy" and "High Fidelity", books that may be considered girly but approach the subjects with the male psyche in mind. Third, on amazon.ca, there are several guy readers who have posted their lists of favourite dick-lit books (I'm sticking to my own label for the genre).

It's great that there are more dick-lit books coming out, but..more, more I say! Hell, there are some of us that want to read up on all that dating/romance stuff too. We deserve it. And if you're laughing it up with the revelation that I'm a dating/romance junkie, suck my dick-lit.

14.21pm - David Beckham is leaving Real Madrid.

Confirmed by Real Madrid Sporting Director.

This is breaking news and I am the first to mention it on a blog here.

Who will sign him now?

I bet Spurs. What do you think, next door to Beckingham Palace.

If you are a blogger add your blog to www.fuelmyblog.com Free.

Tomorrow is the first day of school, and tomorrow the Zimbabwe School
of Youth Leadership will be born. 18 youth from all over Zimbabwe are
going to be coming to participate in the two week orientation, held in
Guruve (a rural area). Most of the leadership training will happen in
the youth's own provinces/divisions, but they will come together every
3 months. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. Personally, I
have already learned a lot about leadership from trying to prepare
this course!

A lot of planning is happening last minute - particularly around
logistics. Today people went out to buy the food. This was a challenge
because the prices that we got quoted last week have all jumped (side
note: our friend's daughter is starting kindergarten "grade zero"
tomorrow. Last Friday jerseys cost $13,000, and today they're $38,000
- the price jumps are incredible!) We're also still trying to locate a
beast; which we can eat for the 2 weeks. We went to collect our money
from the cash office, but they said that the bank is limiting what
people can take out at one time, so we weren't able to have any money.
That makes purchasing things a bit tricky! And then there's the hunt
for fuel... I've mostly been trying to prepare the course material. We
went to photocopy today, but the photocopier in our building was
broken. There is a photocopier in John's building, but they haven't
had electricity since Christmas. So, no photocopies. It's a bit
difficult for John to work on creating the website without electricity
nor internet access...

John decided to run home from work today, so as we were all waiting in
the parking lot, he arrived in his short shorts and running gear. One
girl kept staring at John's legs (which is understandable, because he
has nice legs!) I teased her about it and she explained that she was
just admiring how John is the same colour in his legs as in his face.
She said that it is an advantage of being white. She guessed that even
his buttocks were the same colour. No comment...