oops...

apparently I put the wrong number..

011-222-458-6751.

Will get pictures up soon.

Bdizzle is Finally in Africa!

I'm in Africa writing right now. Exciting right? My new cellphone is 011-2220458-67-51. It's free for me to answer, but it will cost you to call unless you have a phone card. It's great here. I love it so far. Everything about it. Especially all the people I'm here with. Can't wait till I can improve my language skills so I can get better at talking to the Mauritanians. Email me if you want to chat and I'll do my best to get back to you when I can. I'm going to be at this training site with wi-fi until friday. That's about all I got at the moment. I'll try to be a better blogger, but there's too much to write about at the moment. I'll have a lot of spare time after we are done with this week long training and try to update more.

US Sends 200 Marines to Mauritania

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=59691§ionid=351020506

Enough Said Again...

Fattening Before the Slaughter...

So I've been trying to eat as much as I can before I go so I can get nice and plump before I ship off. Thanks to my Grandmommy's ability to saturate and super-saturate food products with butter and all of my friends and family who have fed me or gone out to eat and eat and eat with me I think I've succeeded somewhat!

Here's me trying to be a fatty fat fat for Africa. I'm like 195 or a little more. Was around 180 or a little less this year so only put on like 15. Those are a pair of pants I bought for the Peace Corps so I got em a size to small before I started fattening up and I've been wearing them to work. So hopefully my growing butt didnt' stretch them out and they fit me when I weigh like 160! Oh well, I got a good belt.

Read This...

Here's this wonderfully sad and beautiful story that I read on Slate today and it has nothing to do with Africa or me, but it's something I feel like I just needed to share.

An Affair to Remember
http://www.slate.com/id/2192178


So read it.




PS-I think the sonnet below might be an appropriate bit of verse for the story actually.

Sonnet a Day?

So for about the last week I've been getting this 'Shakespeare Sonnet a Day' emails. And to be honest with you.. Shakespeare is kinda lame. Not a great fan of his work. Rather read some original tragedy or comedy... Rather read some of Caesar himself than a play written about him... but I happened to enjoy this sonnet and found it somewhat appropriate. So, Enjoy. I always suggest with poetry to read it out loud. Give it a go. Feel the rhythm of the words...


Sonnet #27

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head,
To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
For then my thoughts, from far where I abide,
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee and for myself no quiet find.

Jamie and Jessica in One Day?

This morning was sucky enough having Jessica leave, but then I didn't even think that tonight was going to be the last time I see her twin sister and my BFF since highschool Jamie too before Africa... This is not the best day ever.

I love you girls!

Bon Voyage Jessica.

So my friend jessica who is going to burkina faso left this morning. We became really close over the last year and It's sad to see her go. I got to see how much it sucks to have someone important to you get onto a plane to god knows where for the next two plus years. It was hard to see her go for me, and I'll probably get to see her in the next 7 months. I can't imagine what it must be like for her family and friends who won't get to see her for the entire time. I'm sorry to all my friends and family that i'm going to be doing the same to you. I hope to return to you a stronger and better person.

Yr. Faithful Servant

So I finally wrote my first letter. Given, it wasn't from Africa yet.. but it was good practice. And important, because it's going to take a lot of practice to get good at it. My handwriting is atrocious.. I don't think I've handwritten ANYTHING since about my sophomore year in HS? Maybe a few blue book tests in college... or perhaps the written portion of the LSAT's? Point being, I, like many people of this generation, have lost the most valuable ability to write a good letter. I plan on writing and writing while I'm abroad. I hope this works out for me. I hope that anyone who reads this will take the time to write me at least one letter, even if it's just a few lines long and saying hello, it will mean the world to me in Africa. I will also be sure to write you back ASAP. I imagine myself writing grand Victorian letters with complimentary closes such as, your faithful servant, or with my greatest love.. things like that. And I want to have endearing letters like our first George Bush president, who despite his faults, was an astounding writer of letters... or Louis Armstrong who always began or ended his letters with a poem or a joke... I love to blog too, but blogging is for those with A.D.D. and need instant gratification... I look forward to the Romanticism of letter writings. Help join me in this effort, huh?

With My Deepest Devotion,

Brandon "the Garrulous" Forester

New letter for family and friends...

I posted a new letter for family and friends in my "Resources From Peace Coprs" or something section of my blog. Read it.. or don't. Here's a link to it too.

LINK

Enjoy. Peace.

What Else Needs to be Said?

Sad Face...

Had my going away party for my family today. And my two youngest siblings went with my Grandmommy to spend some time in KC with her. Unfortunately that means I won't see them again before I go... The kids are going to be the hardest thing to leave because they are like my own children.... this sucks. I miss them already.

Going Away Party (Family) Pics