Monday, October 10

Still no power this morning. I woke up at 6:45 to someone I met at the lake
calling me. I even have to get used to phone culture here! We went to the
office, and worked on a monitoring system for our water delivery program, as
well as some of the scheduling for the natural medicine school.

I found a copy of Daniel Goldhagen�s �Hitler�s Willing Executioners� from a
stall on the street for less than 4 bucks. When I realized that it would
cost me ten times that much at home, I knew I couldn�t afford not to buy it.
As I was walking to the office, someone asked me if I was carrying the Holy
Bible. Not quite! I used part of it for an essay in second year, but didn�t
read the whole thing, so I�m looking forward to it. Not exactly light
reading, but interesting nonetheless.

Speaking of books, I�m in the middle of �Cry thy Beloved Country� by Alan
Paton. He was a white South African who wrote this book in 1946, before
apartheid. It is an incredible story, made all the more so by the fact that
the reader knows what the writer does not-that in two years, things will get
a whole lot worse for South Africa. It is strange to read, because hope
emanates so strongly from the pages, but in your head, you know that it will
be a half century before justice prevails in South Africa. It is a
compelling call for justice and forgiveness and I recommend it to everyone.
Paton died n 1992, a few years before the end of apartheid. It was great to
read after �Tuesday�s With Morrie�. While �Cry� was more about justice and
dignity, they both stress the importance of doing what is good and just,
something that transcends political and religious ideologies and dogmas. So
go read them!

It�s now Monday night and we still don�t have power. I�m not going to
sugarcoat it. It sucks. A lot. Hopefully it will come back tomorrow, or we
get a generator.

That�s all for now. Hope all of you in Canada enjoyed the long weekend. Habs
versus Sens tomorrow night. That should be a tough one, cause Ottawa is
looking like a real contender. We�ll see. They�ll probably lose to Toronto
again in the playoffs after beating them all season. And then Toronto will
lose to Philly. Plus ca change�

*** It�s a Thanksgiving miracle!!! The power finally came back about 10:20
tonight. I wonder how long we�ll have it for. ***