Happy Valentine's Day! I realize that this post will be up for longer than February 14th, but I'm continuing on a long family tradition of wishing people random celebratory salutations on normally non-celebratory occasions. I'm excited today because I got two - count them... one, two - two unexpected valentines. I also got two pretend valentines by e-mail.
If you're a friend of mine and you think I've been avoiding you recently, I haven't been. I would love to contact you. Unfortunately, my professors at the university have taken me hostage and I'm unable to contact the outside world.
"Well, how are you writing a blog post?" says you.
I'm glad you asked. It all started this morning when Mom and I forgot to go to the travel clinic up until fifteen minutes before our appointment. Considering it takes half an hour to get to the travel clinic and I hadn't eaten breakfast or packed my bookbag, we were quite late. I quickly crammed my bookbag full of the first school-related items I saw, shoved in my toiletries along with them, and ran out the door. I ate breakfast on the way. When we got to the clinic, three wonderful things happened:
1) We didn't miss our appointment.
2) We got free Canadian flag pins.
3) We were informed that I didn't have to get a needle!
It is a beautiful thing when joy comes in the form of an absent needle. The travel clinic consultant was a very animated woman who had a wide smile and even wider hand gestures. I mean, this girl could compete with Steph Duhammel (whose blog, by the way, is difficult to link to as it is on paper). Anywho, the consultant explained about all the pills, ointments, drinks, and precautions we will have to take before, during, and after our trip to Zimbabwe. Suffice it to say that it's a lot of stuff to do in order to stay healthy.
"Why are you going to Zimbabwe, David?"
An excellent question! I am going to Zimbabwe as part of my undergraduate engineering program. I will be there for three months during which I will be staying with Dawn Howse, an amazing woman who is serving in The Salvation Army as the only medical doctor in the village of Tshelanyemba. She grew up in Newfoundland at my home corps, and I know a lot of her family. I grew up hearing stories about her work overseas and seeing her presentations about it when she came back during summers. I feel so honoured to have the opportunity to go and visit her in Africa. I've never been outside the continent, so this is a first for me in a lot of ways. Dawn has a bridge feasibility study she would like me to perform. I still need to work out logistics, but things have been working out well so far. I'm really looking forward to learning from Dawn. Apparently she's going to teach me to bake bread. I'll be staying in Tshelanyemba for the three months following this semester (over the summer). During the last three weeks of my stay, a missions team made up of Salvationists from St. John's and Montreal will be going to Tshelanyemba. A bunch of my friends are going to be participating in the missions trip, including my mom and my youth pastor. It will be good to have them sharing in the experience with me.
"So what does all this have to do with your inability to contact the outside world?"
Thanks for keeping me on track. You've been a great audience. When Mom and I were finished at the travel clinic, Mom dropped me off at the university. While there, I shaved in the university centre bathroom, attended my classes, finished a project, played golf in the cafeteria, attended a tutorial, and then sat down to study for my three huge exams coming up within the next few days. In order to begin studying, I lifted up my pencil case and thought, "This seems lighter". I then proceeded to open the pencil case and, to my great surprise, discovered an immense lack of calculator. Upon this discovery, I used a considerable amount of time perusing the university persuing my calculator. Having no success in this effort, I called home to ask my brother if he knew where it was... and he found it. Joy also comes in the form of present calculators. Although I was elated at the prospect of being reunited with my calculator, I was left with one more hour at the university. Having no calculator with which to study, I was given a brief window of opportunity with which to contact the outside world in the form of a blog post... and I took it.
And now, I leave to leap beneath the waves which would o'erwhelm my soul with concrete I-beams and iterative eigenvalues. See the dislodged beatitude of James 1 to find my joy throughout the storm. It's not an absent needle.
If you're a friend of mine and you think I've been avoiding you recently, I haven't been. I would love to contact you. Unfortunately, my professors at the university have taken me hostage and I'm unable to contact the outside world.
"Well, how are you writing a blog post?" says you.
I'm glad you asked. It all started this morning when Mom and I forgot to go to the travel clinic up until fifteen minutes before our appointment. Considering it takes half an hour to get to the travel clinic and I hadn't eaten breakfast or packed my bookbag, we were quite late. I quickly crammed my bookbag full of the first school-related items I saw, shoved in my toiletries along with them, and ran out the door. I ate breakfast on the way. When we got to the clinic, three wonderful things happened:
1) We didn't miss our appointment.
2) We got free Canadian flag pins.
3) We were informed that I didn't have to get a needle!
It is a beautiful thing when joy comes in the form of an absent needle. The travel clinic consultant was a very animated woman who had a wide smile and even wider hand gestures. I mean, this girl could compete with Steph Duhammel (whose blog, by the way, is difficult to link to as it is on paper). Anywho, the consultant explained about all the pills, ointments, drinks, and precautions we will have to take before, during, and after our trip to Zimbabwe. Suffice it to say that it's a lot of stuff to do in order to stay healthy.
"Why are you going to Zimbabwe, David?"
An excellent question! I am going to Zimbabwe as part of my undergraduate engineering program. I will be there for three months during which I will be staying with Dawn Howse, an amazing woman who is serving in The Salvation Army as the only medical doctor in the village of Tshelanyemba. She grew up in Newfoundland at my home corps, and I know a lot of her family. I grew up hearing stories about her work overseas and seeing her presentations about it when she came back during summers. I feel so honoured to have the opportunity to go and visit her in Africa. I've never been outside the continent, so this is a first for me in a lot of ways. Dawn has a bridge feasibility study she would like me to perform. I still need to work out logistics, but things have been working out well so far. I'm really looking forward to learning from Dawn. Apparently she's going to teach me to bake bread. I'll be staying in Tshelanyemba for the three months following this semester (over the summer). During the last three weeks of my stay, a missions team made up of Salvationists from St. John's and Montreal will be going to Tshelanyemba. A bunch of my friends are going to be participating in the missions trip, including my mom and my youth pastor. It will be good to have them sharing in the experience with me.
"So what does all this have to do with your inability to contact the outside world?"
Thanks for keeping me on track. You've been a great audience. When Mom and I were finished at the travel clinic, Mom dropped me off at the university. While there, I shaved in the university centre bathroom, attended my classes, finished a project, played golf in the cafeteria, attended a tutorial, and then sat down to study for my three huge exams coming up within the next few days. In order to begin studying, I lifted up my pencil case and thought, "This seems lighter". I then proceeded to open the pencil case and, to my great surprise, discovered an immense lack of calculator. Upon this discovery, I used a considerable amount of time perusing the university persuing my calculator. Having no success in this effort, I called home to ask my brother if he knew where it was... and he found it. Joy also comes in the form of present calculators. Although I was elated at the prospect of being reunited with my calculator, I was left with one more hour at the university. Having no calculator with which to study, I was given a brief window of opportunity with which to contact the outside world in the form of a blog post... and I took it.
And now, I leave to leap beneath the waves which would o'erwhelm my soul with concrete I-beams and iterative eigenvalues. See the dislodged beatitude of James 1 to find my joy throughout the storm. It's not an absent needle.
David whispered at 12:50 p.m.
3 Comments:
part of what makes reading your blog entries so bittersweet is the fact that your writing gets better and better each time. and i'm not talking about the hyperlinking, either, although that is funny as well. you stink muchly for not posting more often!
Wow,
I love reading your posts. Have you ever considered writing as a side career? I can't wait to see you in Africa! I'll probably see you there more than I do here. How strange is that?
Hey, I finally found your Blog!
It's a pity that you don't seem to blog more often, but then again, having a blog is an exercise in procrastination for me, so maybe it wouldn't be a good idea ...
Great times!
~Josh
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