Sound of Africa

I'm very glad Jessica got Rowney to call me about writing a skit for the Sound of Africa banquet. I've got to meet so many people... it seems like I haven't met many people over the last three years.

It was great to meet people from home, to meet people I could speak Afrikaans with, people I could joke about Survivor Africa with. It's easy to forget how import your roots are when you are far away.

At this time when I'm preparing to go home and say goodbye to so many friends and fun times here, it's reassuring to know that what's waiting for me back home is something totally different, yet equally excellent.

I love Africa. I want to live there, anyway. I want to live in Tsumeb, Nambia or Maun, Botswana or Knysna, South Africa - a place that will have the elements of Fayetteville that I've come to appreciate, but that will have the things of home that I miss.

But I'm getting all African-pastoral (is there such a thing?). I enjoy being with my friends. If they're in the city, that's where I'll be.

And as for Fayetteville (I will stubornly label her TOWN forever), my friends are there too. I belong in Suburbia with my friends.

Ramble, ramble, ramble...

Webpage

Will put some things on my webpage again. I hope to keep it neat and mostly empty. It will be http://www.geocities.com/carl_burgers

Back to the Poetry

A Poem for the Garden (roughest draft)

when I was in the garden
water came warm and rubbery from the hose
guavas fell with flies in them
a beetle ate the fig tree's bark
I dropped plastic men down boreholes
ate mushrooms from the grass

safe grass
no snakes
fruit dangled
I climbed the leaning branches
dropped guavas in the bird bath

i never washed my hands
the flowers were fairy clothes

a compost heap boiled
until it fathered roses
with the tomato bits

I helped collect figs for jam
guavas for pudding
in the same garden
where Uncle Brian buried
his mutilated toy soldiers
I buried my Playmobil
and ate fallen figs


A poem for the Wilderness (roughest draft)

Restless, he left home
independence on his tongue
wisdom in the books he fingered

he turned to look back
the garden was a pock of green,
origin on the desert's axis

he chewed a dried fig
stubbornly he floundered on
over the crumbling earth

he carried twice his weight in books
three times that in water
for food he had five figs

heat, doing what it does,
hunger being a tyrant,
he was forced to eat his books

one night the earth swallowed him
he swam in the rivers that fed the city
he woke, found the whispers of a path

chalk bones
memento memori (* what's the correct plural of that?)
we was living on the water's vapours, on mist

at last he fell down
the walls dust spattered
the gates hung askew

his bones chalk
a fig sprouted from his palm
roots sunk to the waters that fed the city

Sheep feeding the sheep

I'm starting up a new Yahoo! Group. I want it to be a place to discuss matters of faith, etc. So, if you're keen, click this link.

Mostly, I want it to be another way to keep in contact. So, if you have the time or the inclination, join below:

Clarity on Returning Early

So, chances of returning as early as November are slim, but there is a chance. I will need to be back in 1 year to maintain my green card. Ideally, if I come back for a week or so this November, I can then come over for 6 weeks next year at the same time.

But we'll sort this all out later.

Spring has hit Arkansas with it's powder puff of colours and pollens. I think I should stop there before I hurt myself.

This post is rated PG

This ad is funny (rated PG).

New WoW Character #2

Frikkedel

New WoW Character #1

Kirke

Dalilu

So, there's a chance I'll be back as soon as November. Why? My sister's green card will be revoked if she doesn't return to the US by November (you aren't allowed to leave the country for more than a year if you're a PR.)

So, I might come back with her then. We'll see. Classes will start February 2006.

Tickets are booked

Due to poor ticket availability, the only date I can leave the country is June 2. This is every early, but I can't do anything about that. My flight leaves from New York at 5:30 on the second.

Now I'm off to pay my fine. See you later.

Fine

Need to pay that fine today. Don't let me forget.

Why didn't I do this first?

I wish I made this video

Back to Africa

In order to stay in Fayetteville and pay my credit card off I need to earn $1700 a month. That's about $10 an hour given a 40 hour work week. I was lucky to get my book circus job and that was $7 an hour for a 15 hour work week. The biggest cost by far is living expenses. Just living here cost almost $1000. Then comes tax, etc.

Now, living at home (in Cape Town) is free. I won't earn as much (I've heard horror stories of $2 an hour) but I'll need a lot less money. In fact, if I can earn $370 a month, I'll be meeting my monthly payments. That's earning $2 an hour. The excellent thing about that is I'll not be taxed in South Africa, and when I have to file my tax return in the US, I'll not have to pay either.

My plan is to go home to study. This will take 2 years. I plan to come back and visit in the middle of those two years (over December/January break, AKA "Summer"). Then, well, who knows. I want to come back to America after that. Trips home will always be temporary for me. This is mostly because I don't know where home is. I know that I miss Cape Town. It helps define who I am, what I am. I have family there, friends I've know all my life. The weather is GREAT. I miss the food, the language, the smells. But when I'm there, I miss America and everything here that I love.

I can't leave either place. Ideally, I want to have some sweet professorship somewhere in the US, and then I'll spend all my Summers in Cape Town. That way, I never leave my birthplace, but I'm tied to it forever.

I realise that might never happen. Work is here. Good pay for professors exists only here. I will work here. I'm almost viewing this as one last chance to go home. A chance to spend time with my mom and my family there. I must be ready for a future here, where I can't get my cultural stimulus, or even see my cousins grow up. Why? Because I'm choosing this place as my workhouse and my one day home (not necessarily Fayetteville, but America in general).

I'm praying for wisdom in this decision. By all means, pray for that for me. I have a peace of mind that God will get me to where he wants me, no matter what I do. And I feel this is an important time to be home. My mother is rediscovering Christ for the first time since early childhood. I want to be there for that, to help her find a church. But there's work to be done with my family here too.

Note that I've not mentioned lovie-dovie stuff about eventual marriage to Kristina and the like. This was done to save everyone's stomach. While Kristina is wondrously beautiful, I am a hairy stink factory and I don't want you to get mental images. Also, she's too busy to read my blog, so I know it won't hurt her feelings if I do not mention her in this ramble (even though she is a constant factor in all my decisions regarding "THE FUTURE.")

There we have it, friends.
I expect 100 comments by June 10. Go.

Fine

Got a $40 parking fine today. I have to pay it in 5 days. This is my first ever fine involving my car. I somehow thought I would feel different, but I don't. I guess that means I'm free to park illegally more often from now on.

Mr T

Treat Her Right

For Jessa

Squirrel...

Nearly at 21!

Derdriu almost lvl 21

Where does the time go?

I don't know. But I'll have a screen shot of Derdriu up later today. She's lvl 21 now.

Derdiu

Derdriu - lvl 16 dwarf priest

Curse you, World of Warcraft! I want my life back!

I'm playing too much. The result? A level 16 dwarf priestess. She's pretty good at engineering too. Wanna see a screen shot? I'll post one later.