fingerprinting Erasmus

My feet cannot warm up so I take ‘A brief history of seven killings’ and go outside and sit next to the bird bath and read until I thaw. 

If Donald Trump became president more people would pray like never before because more people would buy guns than ever before because you would, you will, see insurrection. The news is so bleak now, so full of anger and fear; I started with some sports this morning and the story about the hockey player in Quebec being handcuffed on the ice after spitting at a linesman is just the most absurd inflammation to anyone’s day.   

Oh where is my beach, where is my mountain.

Two women become momentarily lost and ignore the curtain that separates my room and the kitchen from the first floor.  Hello ladies, stay away I smell something afoul.

I was asked to sit in for some interviews for teachers and the big boss is not here.  Today’s lunch of chicken and potatoes was ok, it’s the same and easy recipe but eating the chicken leg there was something about the way the meat looked that made me gag.  I don’t know why.  I finished the bowl of meste and the bread given to me and left that homey looking chicken in its dish.

8:38pm—My space heater sputters out at the same time a house of cards video stops working and now I can’t open any of my videos.  Not good at all.

And this afternoon’s homey chicken has warranted a ban on chicken for a while.  I will tell Rezek tomorrow.  Just the thought of chicken is making me woozy.

What’s going on?  All these bad incidents.  What’s up?  Is bad karma returning consequentially?  What did I do intentionally bad today.  Ok, watching a downloaded 186mg video probably made for smart ass phones.  Oh, right, I guess it was illegally acquired though I have no intention of profiting monetarily from it.  And I know of no connection with chicken and the space heater quitting so let’s move on.

2.25.16

This month can’t end fast enough. 

It’s always a bonus to see a morning moon but I haven’t figured out how to take a decent picture of it.  

I have to plan for the toefl class right now because the big boss told me of ‘our’ visits to schools today to promote PDI and my planning is being dragged through the lazy mud for reasons I can’t explain other than to note my right ear is still plugged and I need the loo and I haven’t even finished my coffee. 

The homey chicken strikes.

“I saw it coming like everyone else, a tidal wave of hope from this black and white dude and it was an easy wave to catch on because his message was infectious and we knew, I knew, he was the one.”  

Today’s political landscape is downright disturbing and it should scare you.  No one speaks of hope.

Steph Curry may be the best player today I have never seen.

11:50am—I am ready for the toeflers.  My lower back is killing me.  How did it happen John?  I’m not gonna tell ya it was from smoking now am I?  I am ready to take a shower but I am hesitant but I should.

Applying for an Authorization for Provisional Sojourn, in other words a student visa, at the Belgian embassy in Abu Dhabi is not going to be easy and will probably require I go in person, like right before Ramadan would be priority. 

And Ramadhan is going to coincide with my final month here.  I have no idea how this is all going to work out in the end but it usually does, at least it always did in Oman and the Emirates.  There was fear and anticipation but the worries always seemed unnecessary.  I don’t know if that’ll be the case here.  People living in a war zone have an approach I’ve haven’t figured out yet and it is a bit maddening.  Too laid back, is it?  Fatalism?  There is no need to rush, I know, but at least be punctual.

The Republicans brought this all on themselves because they didn’t know or they ignored their ideology hasn’t changed with the times and they got this ugly wart called the tea party growing big on their balls.  This ugly wart is a nasty growth of contagious fear and racists and bigots. 

I’m blinded by ideologies that are stuck in neutral.  Greed, power, stupidity. 

My hands are cold but I wear no jacket.  And there is this tremor inside me I don’t particularly like or understand.  The paper trail to Leuven is absurd and I think it was designed for those who are trying to escape poverty.  I am not trying to escape from poverty and if I were escaping from poverty I wouldn’t even begin to consider forging everything.

Yuck.   I have to lie down.

6:33pm—The grandsons of a former governor ask for the class to end an hour early so I assign all the planned worksheets as homework.  

I noted here a while back that my weekly food tab comes out to about five bucks a day, a fantastic deal indeed but what is more incredible is Rezek always buys enough food for three to five people. 

Yes, you can be my guest, please sit.  Today biryani with chicken!

2.26.16

I took off the wrist band I’d worn since September 2013 and handed it to the 70 year old man. 

The road to obtaining authorization for a provisional sojourn is not a kind one and now there is doubt.  Imagine Erasmus having to submit an FBI clearance so he could study the Bible.  Something isn’t right here.