Opening My Eyes Once Again.

Once upon a time, I used to know everything that was going on in the world. I used to know who was who, what was going on that day. I used to watch the news almost everyday. I used to read the paper on Sundays. And for some reason I got out of that habit. And I really regret it...

This semester, I'm taking Geography, right? Well, our first subject is East Africa. And since the countries in East Africa include places like Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, we began studying the topic of The Lost Boys of Sudan. This is really what got me to start thinking about looking at the world outside of the places that I know directly.

The Lost Boys of Sudan are a group of boys, originally from Sudan, who were chased from their homes during a civil war in their country. The north came down and attacked the south, decided to kidnap all the women and children into slavery or adopt them into their families, and kill off all the young men, or make them sterile to prevent the breeding of Christians. 

There were about 27,000 boys traveling together through Sudan with no food, water or shelter. They had nothing but the clothes on their backs and each other to rely on. They would eat the leaves of the trees and sometimes they would have berries. As for what little water they had, they would drink it from small pools of sitting water, which were normally contaminated. Many of the boys died of starvation as they walked. Others died of the parasites from the water.

Finally, after they finished their 700 mile walk, they reached a refugee camp in Kenya. No one knew how long they had been walking. Was it two months? Two years? It felt like centuries to them. At the refugee camps, the boys didn't have much of a better life. Some of the advantages were that they had the option to get an education, they got food and there was a place to sleep at night. The disadvantages were that there was only one meal a day and it was almost like a prison for the boys. The same old thing every day.

Many of the boys stayed at the refugee camp for nearly ten years. Until the camp decided they had been there too long. That they could not support them anymore. Many of them had no where to go. No one had any idea as to if their families were alive or not. All they had was their fellow Lost Boys.

Some of these boys got lucky though. The U.N. offered some of them the opportunity to move to America and live among us, and pay off their debt as they work and become citizens. Many of these boys suffered from a huge culture shock. Never having running water, electricity or even things like potato chips.

I got the chance to meet one of these Lost Boys today. His name is Ting Mayai. He goes to University of Wisconsin Madison and is going to get a PhD. He's only lived in America for 8 years and he's already come so far. But he cannot forget all of the things that happened to him back in Sudan. And no one can blame him.

This act of genocide started over twenty years ago and still continues today. This is what opened my eyes and made me realize how many things are going on in this world that I don't know about. So, I think it's time for me to declare my New Years resolution... Even though I'm a month late.

My New Years resolution is to be more informed about global events. Watch the news as much as possible, read the paper and discuss these things with other people. I'm sick of being ignorant. It's time to turn things around.

Relationships.

There's something about bonds between people that bothers me. Bonds can be broken just as soon as they are built. I don't understand this at all.. How can two people, so determined to stay friends 'til the end of time, let everything fall apart over the minor issue of different schools. Or how the unwritten rule between family members, about how they should always be there for each other and never back down in a time of need can be so easily broken. There are people out there that know how much I miss them, and I know that they miss me too. But it's almost as if there is no effort to make things better. On my part, nor theirs.

And that's when I begin to understand that it is apart of the natural cycle of life. People get close to some while others drift away, and this cycle repeats until there are those who are bound to stay. I think I've found some of these people, but it is still hard to see the others go.

But when these relationships fade with an immediate family member, it's really hard to take. There is nothing that should ever fade between family. They should always be there. Period. No excuses, no exceptions. There's nothing that irks me more than seeing someone so dear to me push them self away.. Further and further as I try to pull him back but his fat stubborn ass just keeps pulling himself away. I don't know what to do anymore. I've been struggling with this for the past year and I've run out of ideas. Everything just keeps repeating itself. I'll say something, get choked up about it, he'll freak out and then we'll get in a huge fight. Period. What do I do? Stand back and watch this happen? Ugh. I dunno. I need ideas.... But I have a feeling nothing will work.

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On a lighter note, school this week is going to be interesting, considering it's Catholic Schools Week, and we do a lot of stuff that involves the history of BSM and we don't really have to work too hard.

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Best of all, I really am in love. L-O-V-E. Love. Done.

Sterling has made things a lot easier. And I love how I can go to him with anything without being judged and without worrying about him wanting to run away from me screaming. It's all I can ever really ask for. Thank you. For everything..

Weekend Warrior or Lazy Lion?

This weekend has been.. A muddle of good and bad things. Mostly good, though.

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Friday was one of the lower points, well, the morning was anyway. I kept waking up at odd hours of the night thinking it was time to get up. Ugh. So, I only got about 5 or 6 hours of sleep tops. And then when I got to school I could not stay awake throughout any of my classes! We turned the lights out in Geography to watch a movie on "The Lost Boys of Sudan" and I kept nodding off! But then, by the end of the day, I was wide awake and totally excited for my Religion class. Not for the class itself, of course, but for the kids in my class. We are the troublemaker class. And I'm really excited to see how the rest of the year is going to turn out :P

After school, I had basketball practice, which I participated in for about 15 minutes before my knees started hurting so bad that I had to sit down and ice them. The rest of practice consisted of watching the other girls work hard and talking to Kackie, who got a contusion in our game against North Branch the day before. Afterwards, I went over to Josie's house and ate dinner. Ahh! This is where it got fun :)

We were planning on going to the girls Armstrong basketball game, to see some old friends and just hang out. Well, Sterling was doing pep band that night, so I figured, I'd surprise him a little by just showing up. FAIL! Marlee saw me come in and told Sterling that I was there before I got the chance to freak him out. The rest of the game was fun, I just hung around with Sterling and Marlee and Colin and other such peoples. I felt bad for leaving Josie behind, but she understood. 

After the game, Jo and I went to her house and made cookies and played video games :D It was bomb. Eventually we fell asleep to MTV, and woke up to Mr. Dillon making us french toast and deer sausage. Oh man. Deer sausage is amazing. What would I do if I had never had deer sausage?! THANK THE DEAR LORD THAT I NEVER BECAME A VEGETARIAN! I cannot describe how amazing it is. 

Later that day, we played DeLaSalle. And lost. Yuck. Another low point.

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Last night was probably the best part of the weekend though, I went over to Kristy's and got to hang out with a lotta amazing people. Including the boyfriend. Highlight of the night - Slowdancing :) Nuff said.