What a week...

Wish I could say that this week was the best week ever, but I can't. I've been home all week, sick with a sore throat and a leaky faucet biologists refer to as a nose. I have been sick and miserable all week, unable to go out unto the holy land and return with interesting snipits of information to relay to all of the people who don't read my blog or at least read it but refuse to comment, making it impossible to really know if I'm the only one who cares about what I post up here.

Sorry, it's been a long week.

Gillian, like the trooper she is, put up with me, even going so far as to fold my students into her classes and not bitch too much about it. Teaching one class is hard enough without having to teach two at the same time. Especially considering their skill levels are all over the place. She has also made me tea countless times and also made soup.

I do have to point out one funny thing about the whole being sick situation though... You see, when Gillian and I teach the Ethiopian kids we do so several miles away from where we live. Our commute by car is at least 30 minutes. Sure, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but when the only person registered and insured to drive the rental car is the schmuck with a sore throat and a fever, getting to where you need to go becomes a logistics problem.

For the past two days I mustered up enough energy to drive her and kill some time in a local mall where I didn't have to speak to anyone in my sandpapery tone, however today was a different story. Today, Gillian drove herself, uninsured and unsure of where she was going but got there all the same. Sure, we broke the law, but hey, I have a stuffy nose. Anyhow, she returned unscathed and reassured that driving is not a skill one easily forgets how to do. Remember, she hasn't really been behind the wheel of a vehicle since before she left for France way back in October. Applause are most certainly in order...

In other news, I hope you all have been following the steady stream of lousy stories emanating from our homeland in the past few days. From anti-abortion law to selling the control of our ports to foreign entities with ties to terrorism, few positive things have happened of late. Between the violence that swept across the world regarding the cartoons of Muhammad, the U.N.'s call to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, along with the mosque bombings in Iraq, I can't help but ask if we deserve to eat whatever's in the pot we've been stirring. If nothing else, it's impossible to say that we live in boring times...

It's just good to know that all is right with the world when the photographers who were stalking Princess Diana on the night her limo was run off the road have been brought to justice. That's right, they have been made to pay for the role they had in her death. One whole whopping Euro each. Wow.

Oh wait, before I go, I would be remiss to leave out two of the most important stories of recent news cycles. It's hard not to link these two stories in some sick, uncomfortable, unpleasant, unfortunate way, but it's a tough pill to swallow that they aren't karmically connected anyhow.
It's always an interesting week in the news when the Vice President of the United States shoots a man in the face and only a few days later the first school shooting of the season takes place. Of course, in a normal, sane and just world the NRA would have it's hands full...

That's all I've got for now. Be good.