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Name: Sarah
Location: United States
Birthday: 3/29/1981
Gender: Female
Interests: discovering the reason people watch the O.C.
Expertise: people-watching
Message: message me
Member Since:
5/13/2005
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| I never write on here anymore, so it only makes sense to end it now. Sad, I know. But we are all adults and we can handle. I am leaving for Africa in 2 1/2 weeks anyway. So, you are more than welcome to read my blog about the Congo. Of course it will be very different from my xanga, but readable nonetheless. :) Check out our blog if you want and don't check it out if you don't want.
www.snydersincongo.blogspot.com
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| About four years ago I wrote this post about my converse all-stars. Well I have now had that pair of shoes for fourteen years which is pretty crazy and I still wear them. They are still quite comfortable, but rather impractical mostly because both toes of the shoes have significant holes. Wearing these shoes in the winter months is a thing of the past. I also can't wear them to work because we aren't allowed to wear clothes (and I assume shoes) with holes for obvious professional reasons.
So...I got a gift card for my birthday and decided to buy a new pair of converse. While I am very happy to have a new pair, I feel kind of bad about it. They fit well, they look good and I like having a black pair this time. I know there is really no reason to hang onto my old, beloved pair. But I cannot bring myself to get rid of them. They are still sitting on the shoe mat next to the door...also next to the new shoes.I keep thinking I should at least put them in my bedroom closet with some of my other shoes. But I fear that if they go in the closet I will just stop wearing them. I just don't know what to do!
I honestly feel rather guilty. When I bought the new shoes I waited a couple days before I took off the tags and wore them out of the house. I considered returning them but then decided to commit. What a sad, sad day for my old, blue, faithful converse all-stars. | | |
| Yep, I am heading to the Congo. It is actually the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC as we have decided to call it). My husband and I will be working with an AIDS relief project for widows and orphans in a city called Gemena. We will actually be part of the leadership working directly with the congolese leadership there. Our role for the 2 years is to basically teach the teachers. The main focus of the project is education. So we will be teaching the local leaders English, computer skills and agriculture so that they are trained and able to teach the widows, orphans and others with needs there. There is actually a large amount of land that has been given to this project that they are planning on using to build homes for widowed families and use for farming, etc.
This project is on the ground floor right now. It is very new and mostly in the planning stages. The Congo locals are already doing stuff there to get things going, but our part is being developed as I write. :) We will live there for two years with another couple and act as the liaisons between the congolese and the western teams that will come in for a few months at a time to teach and work on other projects. That means we will also be the interpreters!! We are tackling the language right now and unfortunately there is limited material for learning the language. But fortunately my father-in-law is fluent in it. My husband grew up in the DRC with his family and his dad is still heavily involved with work there even though he has been state-side for 12 years.
Here is our plan if all works according to the plan. We will go in August for about 2 months. During this time we will learn more about the culture, start building relationship with the people there, refine our language skills and possibly even build our home. We'll come back, finish raising financial support, as well as meet with the state-side leadership to assess the priorities after we have lived there for a short time. Then in January 2010 we will move there for 2 years. Whoa! A lot of big changes.
We are excited! And I don't know if xanga will continue. Probably not, even though we will have internet. But we will primarily use internet for Skype and E-mail I imagine.
Questions? Concerns? Ideas? | | |
| So, I have been wanting to write here the past few days and have only felt I have come up with brief random things that would not be long enough for a whole post. I have decided to go with the new popular thing and post 25 random things.
1. I hate swallowing pills. I couldn't even swallow a pill with just water until I was about 15. Even now I struggle with it and I have the best intentions of taking my 3 vitamins every day...but some days I just cannot do it.
2. I was a ballet dancer for 12 years and really loved it. But I haven't danced for over ten years.
3. My husband is the only guy I have kissed.
4. This Christmas is only the 2nd Christmas I have actually opened gifts in the morning.
5. I own every season of "Saved by the Bell".
6. All by brothers are musicians and I cannot play one song on any instrument.
7. With the exception of the first 3 weeks I was married and the weeks surrounding Christmas & New Years, I have had some sort of sickness the duration of my almost-6-month-marriage.
8. I grew up with the band Hanson. I'm not kidding.
9. I made my first pie about two weeks ago.
10. I sometimes find myself counting my steps when I am walking a longish distance, such as from the store to my car.
11. I wanted to be a boy named Luke when i was growing up. I remember looking in the mirror one day and asking God why he didn't make me a boy. But I also loved ballet and baby dolls.
12. Even though it is below freezing in this part of the country, I keep my heat on 58 degrees when I am sleeping or not at home and 62 degrees when I am awake and at home.
13. My favorite Disney cartoon film is Beauty and the Beast.
14. I don't mind sorting laundry, throwing it in the washer, switching it over to the dryer...but I loathe folding the laundry!
15. I have not been to the dentist in 4 1/2 years. I should probably go, right?
16. I drove into my neighbor's yard the day I got my driver's permit.
17. I had a nanny job for two years that paid $25/hr. They also took me to New Orleans in a private jet.
18. Now that I am an old, married woman I go to sleep at about 9:00 PM. It is ridiculous, I know.
19. No one ever calls me. I made 30 phone calls from December 14 -- January 27. But, only 30 phone calls were received from August 30 -- January 27.
20. I really, really enjoy documentaries.
21. Guacamole is probably my favorite food.
22. When I got married I acquired 4 new brothers, making a total of 7 brothers.
23. I hope I have all boys when I have kids (one girl would be fine), but I am afraid I will end up with something like 6 overly-emotional daughters. I have no idea what to do with people like that, especially when they are between the ages of 11 and 21.
24. I don't enjoy watching football at all. But I really like eating football-watching food, such as sausage, cheese, crackers, lil' smokies, etc. So I am looking forward to the Superbowl for entirely different reasons than most people,
25. I am moving to the Congo next year for two years. | | |
| I realized tonight that Facebook status updates have replaced my Xanga posts. Instead of coming up with great Xanga posts about my funny life and observations, I think "Sarah is..." My life is busier now than it used to be so those sentence or two updates are like paraphrased posts. Plus, it is much less involved to add a new one than to write a whole entire post. Even though it is enjoyable to come up with funny status updates that reflect a little bit about my current state of mind or the activities I am involved in at the moment, they are a compromise. It is sad. Before you know it I will have settled for one-word adjectives to express myself. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I am facing the fact that it is a very possible result of today's technology.
Here are some of my favorite status updates as of late:
Sarah keeps eating the candy canes off of the tree.
Sarah is watching Family Ties on DVD...remember that show?
Sarah ate more today than she did on Thanksgiving
Sarah is already tired of sitting on cold toilet seats and it isn't even December yet!
Sarah went to a wedding and ate popcorn in bed
Sarah is convinced marriage has weakened her immune system
Sarah realizes that a white bathroom mat is a bad idea
Sarah and Sam decided that 37 degrees is justification for turning on the heat
Sarah's husband said, "Your voice sounds like a smoker". It does.
Sarah has a pile of shoes by the door and a pile of dishes in the sink and she doesn't want to deal with either pile.
Sarah thinks soap operas are hilarious!
You should now feel completely updated on my life. | | |
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