Recent Realizations I’m Sharing For Your Benefit

-I thought of something else that people could send me that’s very easy. Photos! Digital or through snail mail! I want to see what people look like! Take photos at parties, at the office, when you’re walking around town trying to find where you left your underwear after a night at the bar! I’m working very hard on getting my photos online, and by the grace of Allah, I will be updated by the holidays (I know, I keep saying that. But now, I actually have a concrete plan.).

-The lack of political correctness here is starting to become refreshing. Yes, everything is a bit more blunt, but everything is also a bit more honest. It’s not that people here try to be un-PC, there just isn’t that notion of you not being able to say what you think about something. I can see how a lack of decorum can lead to problems, but for now, I’m just enjoying the fresh air.

-I was watching this movie that Lady N had brought over to the office. It was an action flick that tried very hard to have lesbian overtones between the two main female leads. I was trying to decide if one of them was attractive or not, and suddenly, an image of a Chinese girl I knew from Mpls flashed into my head. Maybe that lack of attraction that I have toward Asian women stems from my early childhood memories that is filled with the images of Asian women. Then, I grew up in a country with a lot of non-Asians, and didn’t have the same childhood associations with them, so I gravitated toward them.

Of course, that does not explain the hundreds of millions of Asians who find each other attractive, get married and have a lot of kids. Maybe I’m harboring a secret truth that all Asians feel but are afraid to say: None of us are attracted to each other! It’s all just a farce! Since so many of us are stuck in Asian countries, we have no choice but to hook up with other Asians! But for those of us living outside of the various motherlands, we’re free to speak the truth! See, I knew joining the Peace Corps would allow me to think seriously about life’s most complex questions.

-It’s very (very) unsustainable, but I’m slowly getting to the conclusion that the best way to solve some problems is to throw money at it. I’m thinking once something is smothered by Escudos, it will go away. On a related note, I remember before that I was thinking I could save lots of money for travel, and in addition, if I were lucky, actually save up some money when I left Peace Corps. The more I think about it, the latter is a really retarded idea. Cape Verde and its people, at least for the next few years (or possibly for the next many few years) will still be poorer than I will be in an absolute sense. And I’m worried about saving my money!?!