Photos

Not quite yet but while they upload, I will share a few things that have brightened my week so far...

Did I mention the women balance and carry things on their heads here? Well I should have. Some of the better things that I have seen balanced are: 5 dozen eggs, a case of 20oz SuperCola´s, and the best of all 15-20 stools.

I was doing something on the internet the other day...Oh yeah it was searching for the correct wording for a quote from Run Ronnie Run, probably one of the funniest movies ever put to film. And if you even have to ask, yes Jeff Goldblum is in it so you know its good. Anyway during the movie a broadway production of Ronnie´s life is being put on and the lead character is played by world renowned opera singer Mandy Pintinkin (sp.) You might also remember him from what I would deem to be his most famous role Inigo Montoya, the swashbuckling sop out for revenge of his slain father in The Princess Bride. Of course I can´t make that reference without bringing into the conversation that Inigo´s father was killed by a six fingered man played by none other than (in my opinion the best comedy director of all time that didn´t marry his stepdaughter) Christopher Guest. Back to the important part, it was at this point that I finally made the connection that this is none other than the same Mandy Pintinktin that plays the head reaper in the short lived but actually pretty entertaining Dead Like Me. And for good measure I also made the connection that he is on one of those psychics solving crimes shows on TNT or something. All in all I haven´t been this excited about something coming full circle since I realized that Dan the henchman from Deadwood, was the same guy that played Warren on There´s Something About Mary.

The only time that I wish I had a phone was when I was in the city last week, and I was walking down the street and a shop had a HUGE silk fabric print of the band ¨Korn¨ from about 2001. I wanted to call Mike McGuinn so bad and ask him if he wanted it. On second thought, I wouldn´t even have to ask, I know he would have.


So, I have alot of time to read, and what happens when the only person you know that speaks English is a missionary is that you read books about the church and Jesus and such. There is no way that I can live here and not be influenced by faith and the like. It is funny for me though as although I personally have faith in God and Jesus as a person who overwhelming stood for love and good, and without a doubt went through an excrutiating death to make believers of men that he was the son of god and was dying for our sins, I have had a longstanding beef with the hipocracy of many organized religions and their followers. So while reading these books I am doing so with a quite objective view, and will do me best to transmit it to you the same. One book I read, ¨Jesus Among Other Gods¨ written by a man from India who grew up hindu, and converted to christianity after a suicide attempt. I wasn´t convinced of his arguments (this was the teen version so that might have accounted for some of the dumbing down) and found it more to be leading to impressionable kids (not that its a bad cause) than an examination of objective dialougue and overwhelming in fact. Anyhow I really liked this quote from Napoleon which was in the book. It was one of the few things that I really found intriguing and also a reason I admire Jesus as a historical person and as a symbol of faith:

¨Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him.... I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man: none else is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than man.... I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me.... but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lighted up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts.... Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is accountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ.¨

Thats quite a bit so I´ll leave it there for today.