In My Spare Time I: Garden

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Right on ... Africa

Still here! It's my one month anniversary today! Not bad ... pretty good I guess.

Since my last entry I:
-Had my 21st Bday
-Started my own garden
-Dealt with the biggest spider I have ever seen
-Went to a mall that rivals Chinook Centre in size (this is where I bought a new phone)

Now you can choose if you wish to continue reading...

Alright ... my bday! Super awesome! Some of the guys I'm working with took me out for dinner and some drinks. Had an awesome time and got some awesome gifts! The place we went for dinner has a special birthday policy ... your choice of a kiss or a free shot. Helen I tried as hard as I could for the kiss but they gave me 2 shots instead ... not my fault.
Anyway my birthday was grrreat!

Moving down the list...
As I am going to be in charge of some gardening around here I thought it a good idea that I learn how to ... garden. So last week I started a small "experimental garden" with one of the other volunteers. Here at Hands at Work we like to teach "gardening God's way" which is a crazy gardening technique that involves almost no work once everything is planted. Basically you just cover everything with mulch and then plant whatever your growing and water it once a week. I can't really explain so I'll show you some pictures that I think will help.

Before I came to Africa my perception of this continent was gigantic bugs and awesome animals. The awesome animal part proved true when we went on our epic safari expedition but as for the bugs ... nothing really ... until two nights ago! I haven't even seen any greasy bugs since i got here but the other night I was almost ready to KO when I heard girls screaming and then banging on my door. They told me that they had a huge spider in their room that they needed me to remove for them. Earlier that evening the same girls had seen a spider about the size of my palm (mostly legs) and had almost the same reaction. I figured it would be the same size and I would easily be able to remove it with some paper or something so a casually stroll in ... only to see a spider the size of my camera chillin on the wall near the ceiling. I nearly threw up ... not even an over-statement. After 10 minutes of battling "Sheila" I finally got it into a small grabage container and rugby tossed it out the door. I didn't sleep much that night but when I did I re-lived that scene out of Harry Potter with all the gigantic spiders chasing them through the forest. The best part is the girls have video footage of me trying to catch Sheila ... the batteries ran out right before I caught it and bravely tossed it out the door. For shame!

This weekend a few people out of our group went off to stay with some people in some of the communities. My plan was to go but Thondo (the guy I was going to stay with) had to work late all weekend and things fell through. The few of us left here in the Village went out for breakfast this morning to celebrate a birthday. Afterwards we went to a nearby mall ... the one in Neilspruit that I mentioned last time. I went to get a new phone and whatever else I could find that seemed practical. I ended up getting some new clothing ... finally decided to change up my style of white stencil (v-neck) tees. To bad we stayed for 4 hours ... I hate the mall.

Moving on...
Tomorrow I meet with Dan and Jen Waspe to talk about my future here at Hands. Dan and Jen have been in charge of our orientation since we arrived. Anyway ... it seems as though the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be where I end up mid-November. I'm not positive on details as I am getting them tomorrow but I do know I will be working in a Hands at Work service centre in the south eastern region of the DRC ... the safe part I'm told. I'm pretty excited to be out in the field but definitely a little nervous. I will be out there for a couple months at least ... I think ... and will be working with a man named Erick. I'll basically be there just to support him in his work and to give him encouragment as he does such amazing work. Prayer in this area would be appreciated.

Thank you all for reading and being interested in my life here. It means tons each time I get on here and look at how many people are actually reading this stuff. I will now attempt to get some pictures on here ... try to understand that the internet here is slow, it is almost 7PM and I have a poker match to get to for 8.

Love and Respect
Will

Ps I just spent 30 mins trying to put pics up and it's way to slow ... I'll try to hit an internet cafe or something to get some stuff up ... sorry

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Comments

[Les Giraudier]

Love ya dude.

[Kelly Schmidt]

It sounds like quite the time! Hilarious! I hope that at some point, the spider video gets into circulation.

[Andi Cox]

So pleased that our friend H-Potter has set you up with life lessons that you have been able to take on this journey with you.