Jamie Fehr

I gotz tagged in some blog meme thing, almost a year ago and I would feel bad about not completing the requirements set for me sooner, but Kirsten has also not bothered to even touch the topic. So there.

The Meme Rules

I’m supposed to post rulz, but I just don’t feel like it. Refer to aforementioned instigating post if you want to know the rulz.

Eight things you (maybe) didn’t know about me.

1. I drink tabasco sauce. But as clarification, I use it as a sore throat remedy. I put on some hot water and add a liberal amount of Tabasco to the glass burn off any hint of a cold.
2.  Come this may I will have celebrated my last three birthdays on three different continents.
3. My friends refer to tether cables as “Jamie Cables” as a result of an incident during a youth group camp out many years. Let me just say that the teether cable won.
4. I move a lot. This isn’t a secret but I think if one did the math it would show that I have averaged less than five months per dwelling since I graduated high school six years ago.
5. I went to college twice (NAIT and PRBI). I pride myself in the fact that once was not enough even though it does come off like repeating a grade in Elementary school.
6. I used to be an incredibly fussy eater, now I’m just a fussy eater. Strangely enough though, weird foreign cuisine like squid cooked in it’s own ink or boiled brains doesn’t bother nearly as much as something mundane like a tomato.
7. I don’ publicly disclosed absolutely every fact of my life on the Internet. I have a number of stories that I haven’t posted for the specific reason that my mom and Grandma don’t worry about my safety during my adventures.
8. I can’t really say I believe in finishing what someone else started. Which is why I am ending the meme right now.

I try to never start writing, feeling guilty about not have written something for a while, but now after having been nearly a month in North Africa surely there must be something to report? People have been asking. Yet the truth is that I don’t have that much exciting news. I have stayed between the same city and sister city since I got here nearly a month ago (tomorrow will be one month precisely).

But to be perfectly honest I do have a few mundane details I can share.

1. I have started class, but the classmate shuffle doesn’t seem to end. I really think that next week I am going to pony up the cash necessary for private lessons because other people just seem to drag me down.
2. I am living in a huge house with pretty much just me and a barely literate North African man, who also just happens to be in town because his daughter is in the hospital. The conversation we share is far from deep.
3. I have ventured out into the city on photographic excursions, of which, the above photo is a result.

My biggest frustration with my new surroundings have very little to do with a language barrier. The fact is that I utilize the cheap public transit to get around but there is no such thing as a bus route map! So two weekends ago I just got on a couple of buses to see where they went and it’s been confirmed to me by several people that that is the only way to know where a certain bus number will go. But that’s not all, just because a bus followed a certain route to get somewhere doesn’t mean that it will follow even remotely the same route back. For example I can take the number 8 bus downtown but I need to take the number 2 bus back. Oh, and just because the bus is labelled with the number you want doesn’t mean it’s the right bus, some buses go on entirely different sub-routes. Getting around has really been a challenge and for a lot of it I have depended on my own two feet.

In conclusion, getting around is difficult, language learning is happening (I can even utter a few error-free sentences), and I do have a bit of schedule/routine in my new place. It is hard to motivate myself to integrate myself into the local society considering I will only be here a brief stint but the effort I have made has been totally worth it. And the new Wordpress 2.5, which is the system that powers this site, is totally awesome.