i think it's only reasonable...

...to be a little worried about how the day's gonna go when you pour orange juice into your cereal first thing in the morning. i strained it out because my cereal is precious and is imported from minnesota, but it still had a slightly citrus-y flavor. eck.

and now instead of writing my paper about the correlation between corruption and different economic growth factors, i'm blogging about orange juice. someone cancel my internet.

cute moment of the day:

Natasha and I were taking a walk yesterday when we came upon an unusual scene. On the porch of a small house by the side of the road there were two chairs. Sitting right in the middle of one as if he'd been there his whole life, was a little squirrel. He had active eyes like squirrels do, but was sitting quite still.

Then the door to the house opens a bit and a thin, wrinkled, but smiling old man's face appears. He sticks his cane through the crack in the door and wags it at the squirrel, saying, "hey there! aren't you supposed to be down the block with your family?" Seeing that the squirrel is unmoving, he lowers his cane to the ground, slowly steps out the door, and sits down in the chair next to the squirrel and begins chatting away as if they were old friends. Perhaps they are.

A few quick notes...

If anyone wants to read about my classes and classmates, I'd tell you but my classmate Michael's already written about those things! Check out his posts from 9/2 and 9/11 here: http://constantcastro.blogspot.com/

Amazing book of the week:
Walking with the Poor by Bryant Myers
He breaks down what poverty really is, the important role that faith must have in development work, how we must affirm the role of humans in their respective societies, be good neighbors, be learners, focus on relationships, address root causes, seek truth and justice, recognize pervasive evil, and affirm the role of the church. And those things can apply to development work overseas, or in North Minneapolis, or in small town Iowa. Because even when physical poverty is not prevalent, poverty of spirit is everywhere. According to Myers, the deepest and most profound expression of poverty is when one no longer knows who they truly are or why they were created. He emphasizes the importance of restoring relationships with others, self, God, and community, because we were made in the image of a triune God. Thick book, but amazing. Recommended to one and all.

Amazing song of the week:
"New Today" by Alli Rogers

Amazing movie of the week:
I haven't seen a movie since I've been out here =(. For those of you who are already disappointed at my lack of knowledge of pop-culture, it's only gonna get worse. I'm not distraught.

Philly

Here's the update for those of you who have asked. This blog will hopefully be less about me in the future and more stories or thoughts on life, but for those of you want to know:

The story of my last couple of weeks in Philadelphia is that I've been reading like a mad woman! The reading is sooo interesting though, I really have no complaints. I'm loving both my program and my classmates. I thoroughly my enjoy my cohort both inside and outside of classes.

The living situation has been really great so far. The family took me to the shore w/ them for Labor Day, so I got to spend 3 lovely days reading about development on the beach. Natasha's very sweet. We've had a good time jump roping, making short videos on my camera, attempting to play songs out of her piano books, reading scary stories, taking the dog on walks. it's a nice and needed break from studying when I am watching her.

The transition to life out here hasn't been all roses and butterflies, but it's steadily improved over these first few weeks. I definitely miss friends, running buddies, house church (and community in general), being able to drive home to Wisconsin quick on weekends, and nights spent easily chatting away with roommates and other people I would see regularly in MN. But I'm also studying some of the most interesting stuff I ever have in my life, and am loving being around and having great conversations with people who have similar passions. I feel very blessed to be in a program studying precisely what I've always (well since high school) wanted to learn about!

little cuties

As promised long ago... the end of my month in Haiti. This is a picture of me w/ the group after the program, the last night I was there. Just after this, they set up a veritable feast - bread, lunch meat, and pieces of candy (all foods they very rarely eat), and after that we had a big old dance party! It was a really nice send-off. We stayed up way too late, and I left early the next morning. Driving away from that orphanage was hard... having no idea if or when I'd be back. Putting more and more distance between me and these people I came to love so much. I really hope to see them again. That said though, I'm still looking more toward Africa for my internship after grad school. God is continually molding and shaping my interests, desires, thoughts on development, etc. through this program so I'm still really unsure what the next years will look like. At the moment, I'm studying up on microfinance, caring for street kids and orphans, and organizations that work with refugees... mostly in eastern DRC. If anyone knows of a great organization doing one of those things (in the DRC, or elsewhere), send me contact info, or a link to their website. I'm studying up on as many organizations as I can before we get into actually applying for internships.

To see more pictures from Haiti, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025866&l=24e83&id=59202529