Questions about....

Is it wrong to hate the disadvantages of being a woman but cash in on the benefits at the same time? Like how I enjoy not getting yelled at for big mistakes or being treated gently but how I can't look at a building being constructed without getting ogled. I wonder how conscious I'll be of my woman-ness in Senegal. I wonder if I will be often frustrated at not being allowed to behave how a man does. That's one of the things I've tried to do here in the US, behave as a man does (with some obvious exceptions). Like i want to be self-sufficient. I don't want it to be a given in my future that my husband will be the "breadwinner." I walk by all of these big houses in my neighborhood and immediately think, oh, the man who lives in that house makes a lot of money for his family. Maybe that's not true, but it's what I'm thinking, and what I think most americans think when they walk by big houses... And just the fact that I'm thinking it, even if it isn't true, means that it's still the status quo assumption. Anyway, I want to build my house I want to plant my garden, I want to catch the snakes and spiders by myself, i want to know how my car works.
when we were in India on our Habitat for Humanity trip, we went to the shore and Felice and I wanted to get in the water soooo bad. But where we were in South India it's not normal for a woman to be wearing shorts, and we didn't see any women in the water. But we got in the water in bathing suits and shorts and this crowd of young Indian men where staring at us and walking towards us, and I felt really uncomfortable. And I was so mad. I couldn't just get in the water as the boys in our group were.
I think I will run into the same frustration in Senegal. But they might celebrate some aspects of femininity forgotten about in the US...
Whatever.

Random thought:
It's weird to think that after you've met somebody you love and have known them for a long time, the things you remember about each other when you first met are probably completely different.

So I am ready to go to Senegal with the Peace Corps. Yeah. Except for mundo amounts of packing. I've bought many miscellaneous items. And I'm sure the effeciency train that is my packing has gone off track as I'm attaching more importance to getting my Iron and Wine and Judy Collins Cds in the mail than whether or not i have toothpaste.

Chorus Flashbacks

Helping my sister at her school is giving me mega-flashbacks to highschool choir. I mostly arrange her music, and am finding a lot of Kirby Shaws, that should mean something to all of you dear chorus dork sister spirits out there. You know, those cheesy chorus pieces with the face of the arranger pictured on the front. Kirby looks like a Young Life leader, after looking at one of his peices, "Operator please connect me to heaven (I want to speak to Jesus)", I realized he probably was.
But a major perk of being here is xeroxing all of my old chorus music so I can practice singing when I'm in Senegal.
When I come to help my sister, who is a highschool choir teacher by the way, for a week or so I usually teach a capella vocal percussion, thanks to my extensive experience (: with Tar Heel Voices freshman year. My sis always plays The Cartoon Medley on the Two weeks from today CD, then she plays the Nintendo medley and makes me teach them puh ts ts kuh ts. They usually can't do it but it makes me feel like a worthwhile visitor anyway.
We just arranged "I get Around" by the Beach Boys with Jenny's women's Jazz choir. Apparently the lyrics are "I get around out on the town, I've got a real good head, I'm making real good bread". ?! ? Shah, ok.

T-minus 18 days

Hello Friends. I'm creating this blog as testament to my entry into internet modernity. This way those of you with mad intense crushes on me can still know what I'm up to without having to talk to me. (I'm only allowed to write that because I do the same thing). SO now I am in NOVA staying with my sister for a week. Gotta Go.

Does this work?

LBAH