Gus and Rosie leap like rabbits through the snow.   The chickens do not step out of the hen house.    We were out early yesterday, about a foot of snow.  I did not get the chicken  path done till afternoon.    Gary spent about  3 hrs on our drive way.  Early, I tried to back out of the garage to get the papers ( that never did come) and got hung up on the snow as I was trying to turn.  I did finally manage to get the snow out and put the car back in the garage.  So, my trusty car cannot manage that much snow.  We had a pleasant day at home.  I had some good practice, we started looking at photo albums.  I need to make a list so we can find particular pictures, or dates, etc.  Popop has suggested making the list on the computer.  I had thought of a notebook. More snow shots on flickr.

Christmas dinner

Deb was still sick, Issac did not show, out with friends.  Tom, Claire, Tomas and Yara came.  It was very pleasant, and if do say, so easy!  Since we were originally going to their house, they brought the turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  Tomas is totally charming, not to mention good to look at!  Yara is an actress, or an aspiring actress.  She sang and played the piano for us.

Happy Birthday Chandran!

Sidewalk Singers

Laura is part of a singing group at her school. They preformed at a local bank a few days ago.
I posted the video on flickr .
 

Picture of Lampoul

Surfaces, surfaces, surfaces

Today I have been in Senegal for exactly a year and a half. That is if you don't count Christmas 2011 or the three weeks I was home over the summer. This doesn't have anything to do with me writing today, it's just a coincidence. I've decided that I blog so little that there really isn't any reason for me to do it on my blog. This is much more convenient.

So, what have I learned in my time here? The title says it all, surfaces. I never truly understood the value of surface space until I got here. Kitchen counters, desks, tables, armrests, cup holders (not technically a surface, nor do I really miss them), these are all wonderful and useful things that they don't have in Senegal. Cutting boards are a perfect example. Have you ever tried to dice an onion using only your hand and a dull knife? I haven't either because I'm a boy and we don't do cook here. But I can imagine it would be very difficult.

I end up using my bed as my kitchen counter, desk, dining room table, bed, chair, lounge chair, workout device, etc. This is great, as I don't waste a lot of space cluttering my room with large furniture, but it does make my sheets pretty gross. I have olive oil and barbecue sauce all over them. In any case, I can go without hot showers, internet, electricity, etc, but I will forever have a number of attractive and ergonomic surfaces in any place that I will choose to call home in the future. Except prison. I don't imagine that they have many surfaces. I'll have to avoid prison.


So everyone is arriving in a week-ish...less than a week? I'm not really sure, but it's soon! This should be a very exciting trip. We will be in Dakar for two nights, where the family will get to see me haggling mercilessly with cab drivers over a dollar or two. Then, on Christmas Day, we'll travel up to Lampoul. Apparently it's a desert there. I've never been. But they have camels, so we'll ride those. It will be like the arrival of the two wise men and four lady-wise men to the home of the newborn baby Jesus (pronounced Geeziz, like a British person). After Lampoul, we will head down to Sali. Sali is a beach-side town that is supposed to be crazy nice. Volunteers don't usually go there because it's too expensive for us. My friend Casey took her parents there, and they enjoyed it very thoroughly, so I'm hoping we will as well. After the beach, we will head to Toubakouta. This is a tourist destination about 20k from where I live. This will allow us to visit my site, enjoy the mangroves, and not have to sleep outside on mats in my compound. Here I'm hoping to knock out all of the "we travelled to Africa so we should see some drum circles Goddammit" type activities. These are the activities that volunteers hate, so we'll try to hit them all in as little time as possible. We will also go visit the animal park near where I live. They caught the escaped rhino, so we might be able to see him. He's already killed two other rhinos (stabbed them to death with his tusk, for real) so they cut off his tusk so he can't kill anymore. He is currently their only rhino, however, so this seems like it might be too little too late. We can also go on a lion walk there, which sounds like a recipe for a really disturbing youtube video. Once we are done in Toubakouta, we'll head up to Thies for a night. On the way, we'll have all of our stuff stolen as we tour the Kaolack market. It was the biggest covered market in West Africa (or maybe just Senegal, can't remember) for many many years, but then there was a huge fire during the election so it's not as big as it used to be. On the plus side, the part that was destroyed by the fire is totally open to the public, and it looks really cool. In Thies, we will hopefully (gotta call them today, can't forget) stay at the hotel Croissant Magique, which does not, as you may think, mean Magic Croissant. It means Magical Croissant. We can, if everyone really wants to, go see the Peace Corps training center, and we will have dinner at everyone's favorite restaurant, Massa Massa. Finally, we will head back to Dakar for one more night.

I'm really looking forward to the trip, as I could use a break. OH! I forgot. We will be having a journee de lancement, which I assume means big rollout and information day for my trash program on the 31st. The whole family will be there, wearing far too tight wolof clothing, so everyone will get to see what my average day is not like. It promises to be great fun.

That's all for now. Only 7 and some odd days months left till I'm allowed to leave without having to say that I quit. Very exciting. It doesn't feel like I've been here all that long.

I'll leave you with movie quotes like I used to do on my blog. I was going to put some fantastic archaic racial slurs from "Boardwalk Empire," but I guess kids read this so instead, in honor of a non-cam version pirated release of The Dark Knight Rises:

"Calm down, Doctor! Now's not the time for fear. That comes later."

"Yes. The fire rises."

"I'm Gotham's reckoning, here to end the borrowed time you've all been living on."


Those are all supposed to be done in the Bane voice. What a crappy movie. If you have seen it and get what I mean by the Bane voice, here is a fun link to how they made fun of it on South Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iKoy0Qwh-g

Enjoy!

Holiday Party

DSC_0146
Originally uploaded by sarapicassa

Yesterday afternoon we had our cookie decorating party. It was fun. Later Chandran's students came for the end of the semester party.

College Update: Finals

  My third semester at the university of guelph has come to a close. Actually, it ended about a week ago, this is just the first time that I felt like blogging since then. I haven't had any exam yet, my first one is this Friday. I haven't really been doing much besides studying. Mostly in the library, but also in the house because the library is very full. I prefer the library because they have these really comfy black chairs that one can curl up in with a textbook or something. Most of my exams are next week. I have one Monday, one Wednesday and 2 on Thursday. I will be returning home on the 14th, which also happens to be the day that The Hobbit comes out. It could not have worked out any better.
  Today I got my very first care package in the mail. It was very exciting because I never get mail. It included raman noodles, chocolate covered candy canes, m & ms and digestives. Oh and hot chocolate. I have already had a pack of raman noodles and I really want some more, but I only have 4 packs. I must ration them.
  It's hard to concentrate on this post because I am skyping with Hannah and Susi at the moment. It is also 9 pm. Past my bedtime, as well as Susi's. I am actually surprised Mom hasn't made her go to bed yet.
  In other news, Kate and Prince William are preggers.

  Yeah, so that's it. Hope you enjoy. :)

T'12

Some good entertainment, dogs, chickens, good food and company with the family that could make it.

Look What I Killed

His name is/was Tom. He's the biggest thing I've ever killed.

College Update

Hello everyone,
  
   I have decided to write this in a letter format. I don't know if it will turn out that way, but that was the intention.
   I am currently sitting in the library on the second floor. This my not seem odd to you, but I have never  gone above the first floor until this year. I was afraid of it. I didn't know the library etiquette. I have learned that it is pretty much the same as a cafeteria, but you are not supposed to talk. It is called a quiet floor. It must have been hard to come up with such a clever name as that. I have now just realized that I have been sitting here for at least 10 minutes with my headphones on, but not listening to anything. I shall fix that right now.

Intermission


   Ok the situation is now under control. I have music in my ears. Anyway, I am in the library, having just conquered my fears of it. I feel quite at home and I get a lot of work done here.

Topic Change

   I don't know how to make smooth transitions, so I have opted for abrupt, obvious changes.  Anyway,  today is November 15. There is nothing special about the date, for me at least,  but I thought I would point out how fast my 3rd semester is approaching it's end. My classes end the 29th of November. I will do the math for you. That is 14 days. Between then and now I have a french oral, an agriculture project, 3 mini essays and 2 assignments for molecular biology. So, it'll be busy. It'll get done though, so no need to worry. Or do if you like, I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to. After classes end, the 29th for those who have forgotten, I have 5 final exams. Oh I forgot that I also have a midterm next week. I should remember that. Anyway, my last exam is on the day before the hobbit coming out. I would go home that day, but I have an exam from 7pm to 10pm that night. I don't know who the brilliant person behind that idea was. I mean clearly the perfect time to test everyones knowledge of that class would be around dinner time on a Thursday night, because we will all be so focused and not the least bit tired or hungry. I will be going home on the 14th of December. I don't actually mind that much, it's just one day.

Topic Change

   This past weekend, I went home to see the musical being done by the high school. They were doing How to succeed and so on. Alma, Susi's friend, and Susi were very good. That is all I will say on the matter. Seeing as I am technically a licensed driver mom and dad thought I should continue to drive so as not to lose all that I have learned. I was under the impression that all I had to do was get the license and that would be the end of it. Apparently, that is not the case. So I drove and at night no less. It was fine, I guess. No incidents. It was nice not to have the parentals drive me around. I mean parents can be like soooo embarrassing, am I right? We also went into Rochester for Susi's theory class. Before that we to the market to get empanadas. Shout out to Juan and Maria, Holla. Best empanadas ever. We also bought cheese and olives and something else but I can't remember. I just liked Juan and Maria on facebook. Thought you should know.

Topic Change

   I am back at school now. Obviously. I had an ag lab today, but it was in a different room than normal. Turns out we were not being fed this lab, we only watched a movie. We watched Food Inc. Don't watch it if you like meat, because it is entirely possible that it will turn you veg. It is about the food industry in the US. It's sort of like a modern day version of the Jungle. We watched in a dark room with chairs comfier than I'm used to, so obviously I was fighting off sleep. My friend was actually asleep. The movie also had weirdly ominous music that sort of fit, but was also kind of creepy. It was also sad. A child did die from E. Coli, so Grandma this movie is not for you. They also show people killing chickens. Not a pleasant thing to watch.

  I'm gonna wrap this up, because Han and I are skyping soon. I lied. A kid just came up to me and asked if I could watch his stuff while he gets a drink. Effectively keeping me from leaving while he looks for a drinking fountain. He's back. I can leave.

             Yours truly,
               Jo rocks
 

Thanksgiving

We are all looking forward to coming up. We will be leaving the city around noon on Wednesday. I am bringing the usual stuff, cheese, nuts and other things to munch on. If you have any special requests let me know. I also have presents for the kids. Nothing too extravagant so don't get exited.
See you all next week.

Toronto with Jo

We picked her up at school, drove to Missassagua for lunch @ Saravana's.  Then to Toronto.   In the hotel elevator.

Halloween 2012

Halloween 2012
Originally uploaded by sarapicassa

Halloween was not canceled in NYC. we went to 78Street as usual and then in our building. The kids got a respectable amount of candy. Schools are closed till Monday. We are going to Maya's on Friday, that is if we still have a car, Chandran will go and check on it today.

Hal Memorial Talent Show

As you all remember, a great fish named Hal died on the way to Brockport about twenty-three months ago in a freak seat-warmer accident. I'd like to have a talent show in his honor during Thanksgiving. So get your talents ready. We miss you, Hal, and we all think about you every single day. 

Stratford '13

Next year's playbill looks SO good!!! I want to see Fiddler, Othello, R+J, Merchant of Venice, Waiting for Godot, and Tommy!!

Sandy is happening. I dunno what else to say about that.

<3 p="p">Eliza

Rosie update:

Yesterday was discouraging.  She pooped under the piano on the set up newspapers, 3x, including after she had been outside for a couple of hours.    Then last night as we went to bed, she got into her crate and I realized that she has not awakened me in the night after the 2nd night here.  That is something to be GLAD about.

So, I awoke with determination for a 100% poop and pee outside.  So far so good.  I, of course,  would have preferred standing out side in one of the nice sunny days, but I guess it pays off.  (it is 2:25 pm)

So far, storm Sandy, has just drizzled here.

College Update

I don't remember the last time I posted, so if there are overlaps in the two posts I apologize. But I don't really meant it. The most important day of the year has come and gone. I am now 19 years old, which in the states isn't really a big deal, but here it is because I can now drink legally. For my birthday, Popop and Mom came up to take me to lunch. We went to Saravanaas. I had a delicious dosa and some mango lassi, which unfortunately was just mediocre. Not the dosa, just the lassi. That evening, my housemates and I enjoyed some cider and went to see a movie that was playing in a lecture hall. It was the new spiderman. It was so much better than the other spiderman movies. I have to say that I am having trouble writing this post. I am very tired. It is midterm season and I have been doing a lot of studying. I also really have to pee. I was going to, but I noticed that the toilet water in our bathroom was blue and foamy. It kind of freaked me out, so I just left. That was like 2 hours ago. I don't do public restrooms here. So you can imagine how I am feeling right now. What else? Hmmmm... jeez I really can't think about anything other than the fact that I have to pee. I am sitting in the university centre cafeteria right now. There is no one here, it's a little weird. Not a lot has been happening here besides midterms, so not a lot to write. There is a weird noise in my room, but I can only hear it when I go to bed. It's like a rapid tapping noise, but not a tapping noise. You know what I mean? It always takes me a little longer to go to bed because it drives me insane. Oh yeah, I started J.K. Rowling's new book. It is very adult, but I am enjoying it. It is definitely not for children. She drops the f bomb a lot. I wasn't expecting that. It was weird at first, but after awhile I got used to it. I mean it's not like she uses it often, but more than it was used in HP. Which, if I am correct, she never used at all. There is also no magic, but that was to be expected. I mean, magic doesn't really exist, right? That would be great. Terrible, but great. Ok, I got nothing else.

Rosie slept through the night.

She is still unclear about the peeing and pooping etiquette.  She totally dependent on my careful attention, I do have faith that she will learn, hopefully soon.  We go to our first vet experience on Thursday.

Happy Birthday Josie!

ROSIE and us

We just picked her up.  She is 8 weeks,  5.2 lbs., very cute, very small.  Buster was OK with her, maybe he thinks she will go away.1

Meet Josie

She is a Corgi, bicolor,  soooo cute.  We will pick her up on Saturday.

New York

Yes, dosa at Saravana's.  And taking the subway to Brooklyn to see Garth Fagan Dance at BAM.
Booth were really good!!

College Update: Homecoming

Just to get it out of the way so no one is confused, I don't actually have anything to say about homecoming. It's just homecoming weekend and I couldn't think of another title. Now that we got that out of the way I'll move on.
   It is officially week 3 of school. I have had all of my classes at least 5 times now. Obviously my least favorite class is chem. It's not because I don't like the prof or that it's too hard or anything, I just hate chem. Luckily a lot of my friends have already taken it and are up for helping me when needed. I think my favorite class is my ag class. All we have been talking aboot is cows and dairy and beef. It's great. Also, our labs so far have been going on field trips to dairy farms and a beef research center. NOT a slaughter house. We have to wear these little plastic booties that go over our shoes. They are really sexy and go with every outfit. I think I need some for home. My other classes are enjoyable, but they don't take me on trips to visit cows so they aren't as high on the list. My genetics class is actually interesting, but it does consist of a lot of probability. Psych is psych, all about thinking and stuff. Oh yeah, there is also french. I like my prof, but I didn't realize how rusty my french was.
   It is finally starting to feel like fall, which is a relief. I was beginning to worry. I love summer, but it doesn't compare to fall. Also that much closer to my birthday, which, lets be honest, is the MOST important day of the year. I don't know what y'all are going to do to celebrate, but I am going to be doing exactly what I have done today. Which includes but is not limited to studying, sleeping, surfing the net and eating. And, seeing that it is my 19th birthday, maybe even a little Doctor Who. We'll see, I don't want to go too crazy.
   Seeing as I have a kitchen this year I have been trying to use it. I have only made pasta thus far, but who the hell cares it's tasty. I don't want to brag, but I have become very good at caramelizing onions and not burning them. Also, groceries cost money, who knew. To get to the grocery store, it's called Metro, I have to take a bus to the mall and walk through the mall to the opposite side then cross the street to get to Metro. Last year this wouldn't have been a problem, but this summer they decided to put in a new store. What store? H&M. A big one. It takes twice as long to get my groceries now because I can't help but look around every time. I think I'll start walking to the store and taking the bus on the way back to avoid that damn store. It also happens to be the only decent store in that mall.
  I also have a new favorite song. Live While We're Young by One Direction.


Just kidding. I only put that in there to piss off Susi. Happy Birthday by the way. Now the driving pressure can switch to you. And Hannah, she should really get on that.

Happy Birthday, Susi!

Parade

The year has begun in earnest.....

Everyone is busy, music, work, school. Narayan visited this yesterday. It is really nice to see him.

And the sun looks so pretty in the yard this morning.

Joe Hynes' wedding

Flower girl Genevieve takes the floor.

Andy's band played.

School!

 Chiara started school yesterday. 

Nick and Laura where happy to start school today.

College Update: 2nd Year

   This past Sunday I left home for my second year at the University of Guelph. This year I will be living in the East Village Townhouses. It is on the east side of campus and is arranged sort of like a village of townhouses. It is about the same distance from everything as last year, but I don't have to jay walk across a major road to class. Although it is mostly up hill. I don't start classes until Thursday. I have been mostly hanging out in my room. I have been a wee bit social though. I had dinner with my housemate Sarah. She is from the UK. She's nice, I like her. I met her parents too, they were nice too. It must be a family thing. I also went to some yoga classes with my other housemate Heather. She is the one from Rochester. I have another housemate from China, but I haven't seen her since the first day. Seemed nice though.
   In the house we have a kitchen with a fridge and stove, a little living room with chairs and a couch, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 shower rooms and 4 closets. Susi had the brilliant idea of putting my butterfly chair in there, so mine isn't a closet, I like to call it Jo's Place To Chill In The Dark Or With The Lights On, but that is a mouth full so you can call it JPTCITDOWTLO. I didn't realize this until Heather pointed it out to me, but one of the walls in my room is green. It's also kinda cold, but I like it.
  Today, Heather and I decided to go food shopping. It was pouring outside. We took the bus down to the store, Metro, to buy food. We had to walk to the mall to catch a bus back. We got really wet, but it wasn't until we had to make the walk from the bus back to the house that we got drenched. And I mean drenched. I had to change all my clothes before we got lunch. Good news is that my raincoat actually works, but water dripped in from the collar. It dried up eventually. I made myself dinner today. it turned out well. I had pasta with shiitake mushrooms and caramelized onions. It wasn't salted enough, but other than that it was pretty good. I only had to call Hannah twice for help.
  Well anyway, it's getting late and I'm tired so this is the end of the post.

I am happy with my newly built small wall.

More interesting pics on flickr.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

At Make

with Nick & Laura

I must admit I am counting the days till school starts. Its been challenging keeping the twins entertained these past couple of weeks. Yesterday we went to Make a fun though expensive craft place on 3ed and 84 st.

Today We went to Blue Smoke, the one way down town, near Battery Park. Its been a long time since I have gone down there, in fact this is the first time I have seen the new tower.
Chandran and Chiara took the bikes with Laura in tow, and Nicky and I the subway. After Lunch we walked along the water, Laura and I took the subway this time and Nicky went on the bike.

More photos on Flickr

Sicilian Buttercup

Sicilian

more on flickr

Some pictures

Here is Noah with some lion cubs and Jo having passed her driver's test.

I miss the Lake!!

School starts in less than 2 weeks.

I cleaned my room this morning and found this card that Chiara gave me on my birthday in India in '05

Dear Eliza, Happy Birthday Eliza! Your as sweet flower. Love, Chiara

I thought it was so cute, I put it on my wall

Someone post something. Eliza, put up your new facebook profile picture.

Summer coming to an end

Chandran, Sara, Chiara, Laura, Nicky and Gus left yesterday. Eliza drove back to Lexington, Kalyani, Ashwani, Noah, Hannah, Jo, and Susi went to Corning. I did 5 loads of washing, most of it dried in the sun before evening came. The reunion is a memory.