Sometimes I'm Irresponsible

Today's manifestation: going to IKEA with Geila and Rachel instead of writing the funeral sermon I have to preach in class on Monday and catching up on all the homework I didn't do during the Book Sale. But hey, we each need a new bookshelf for all the books we acquired.
Such as:
A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union (a coffee table book)
The Book of Lights by Chaim Potok
Memoirs of a Geisha
To Kill a Mockingbird
Medieval Women Writers
A History of Christian Thought by Justo Gonzalez (3 volumes)
Yugoslavia (also a coffee table book)
First-hand Reports of Rumania's Minority Policies Today
The Journal of John Wesley (highly abridged)
From Jerousalem to Irian Jaya
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
Pinakothek (an art book of one of my favorite museums in Munich)
Christendom by Roland Baintan
The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century by Roland Baintan (to replace mine that fell apart)
The Da Vinci Code (I really should read that)
Hungary: A Bried History
In My Father's House by Corrie ten Boom
The Kite Runner
The Book of Common Worship
and a few CDs of Czech music. Yeah, I'm random.
And I obviously need to go buy a Swedish self-assembly book shelf.

I'm alive, mostly

The last time I updated was during Reading Week I believe. That seems so long ago, those days of forced relaxation. For the past two weeks I have pretty much lived in the gym working on the Book Sale, which is a huge event that raises money for seminaries in developing countries. After using ever free minute for almost two weeks sorting books and cataloguing the rare stuff so we could get more money for it, the sale completely overtook my life since Friday.
Friday: 12pm-10pm - Haul books upstairs and start setting up.
Saturday: 10:30am-10pm(ish) - Set-up
Sunday: 11am-7pm -Set-up, 7-9 Preveiw Sale, 9-10:30 clean-up
Monday: in the gym 8am-10pm, except for coming back to campus to deposit money, and getting my stitches out in the afternoon (yay!)
Tuesday: in the gym 8am-11pm
Wednesday: in the gym 8am-2am for the last day of the sale then clean-up.

It's a good cause and I enjoy a lot of it, but I haven't gone to classes this week, my feet hurt, and I'm exhausted. I've also eaten a lot of junk because of missing meals in the cafeteria.

But we did find two books from the 1600's worth several thousand dollars, and a Journal of John Wesley from 1800s that the United Methodist archives is buying from us.

And apparently it's been beautiful outside, so I hope to see that today. I'm babysitting all afternoon, so maybe I'll take the kids to a park.

Have my cake, and eat it too.

I don't think of myself as a very demanding person (you are free to disagree . . .) but I REALLY wanted to have my way with this one.
Me: Can I come to Ghana around the 18th so I can go to a dear friend's wedding in California?
Rev. Dogbe: No problem!
YAY! It's a paraphrase, but it gets the point across.

And there's more

Right after writing that post I received an email notifying me that I have been placed at Bishop Speaks AME Zion Church. I need confirm with them soon so we can get paperwork started, but I'm not yet 100% sure I want to go. I'm rereading my journals from when I was in Ghana before, as well as meeting with the girl who was at that placement two years ago. I also just sent an email to the pastor suggesting the wedding-altered schedule, and I'm not sure which I'll choose if they can't work around the wedding. So keep me in prayer for where my butt and I will spend the summer.

Tail Tale

I saw the surgeon this afternoon and he said everything looks good so far. I get stitches out in 12 days. In the mean time, I have to continue staying off my rear until at least Monday, and then I still can't be sitting too extensively.
I have a nice little set-up here in my room, although my hips and shoulders are sore from being laid on far more than usual. I've been eating standing up in the cafeteria and otherwise mostly laying in bed watching movies or doing internet things or chatting with people. So far I've watched both the A&E and the newest versions of Pride and Prejudice, and all 4.5 hours of the extended version of Return of the King.
In other news, I had my second international field ed interview today with the other Ghana site. I hope to know soon which wants me, and convince them to let me push my start date back a few weeks so I can go to this summer's big event, the much-anticipated Bianca/Andrew nuptuals.

Rump Update

Surgery went well and I've been in bed since then. I have my computer set up so I can reach it while laying here. I'm only in a little pain, and am only going to take painkillers if it gets really bad. So far I've watched 3 Gilmore Girls episodes, 5 Friends episodes and half of That Thing You Do. Friends are taking care of me - bringing food, visiting, etc. So far so good.

BS Day!

No, not the card came, nor the expletive. Butt Surgery! Tomorrow morning at 7:30am. So by the time you West Coast folk are getting I'll probably be back in my dorm room doped up on codine. So keep me in your prayers, mostly for a speedy and infection-free recovery. This next would be a great week for those of you who I haven't talked to in a while to give me a call, since I certainly won't be busy ;)

Whining (like Jeni, only not pregnant, and therefore with less of an excuse)

Surgery
My surgery for my butt cyst will be this Friday at 7:30am. It will be under local anesthesia and will only take about an hour. Then I'll spend about 10 days staying off my butt (aka laying on my stomache and standing). The logistics of this is a little mind-boggling, but that next week is reading week, so I'll just be doing my reading in bed.
Field Ed
Have I whined enough about the field ed office yet? No, because I haven't told the promised 'why they're having me interview with Ghana' story.
The short version is, and this is as direct of a quote as I can remember from Chester, my field ed "advisor": 'it's like we have a barrel of students (i.e. 14 students), and we pull them out and try to place them in the best site for each of them. Then you were left for Ghana.' Yes, he actually told me that.
And it gets worse.
Yesterday I had a phone interview scheduled for 8am my time with Bishop Speaks AME Zion church in Accra. I arrived a little early at the field ed office to find it locked and nobody there. At 8:18, Harry, the other field ed "advisor" arrives for work and I tell him that I was supposed to be on the phone with Ghana at 8. So he goes into the office, hunts down the phone number, and calls the church. Then he says to the pastor (again, almost direct quote): "Rev. Dogbe, I have a student here who wants to talk to you about summer field ed. Here she is." And hands me the phone! No introduction, no explanation for calling almost 1/2 hour late, no apology. So I got a 25 minute interview (they're expected to be about 1 hour), then when I came out of the office in which I was interviewing the office assistant (who I usually consider the only semi-reliable person in that ridiculous office) said 'sorry I was running a little late' then proceeded to explain that she hasn't been able to get in touch with the other church I am supposed to interview with. I'm considering writing a formal letter of complaint to the Dean of Student Life about how this office is screwing me over. Unfortunately, I can't remember the appropriate non-colloguial term for 'screw me over.' I'm not sure I want to travel to Africa under the auspices of an office that can't even remember to show up when they've scheduled an international interview. At least I know how to get myself around in and out of Ghana when they fly me to the wrong airport then forget that I exist and think that I dropped out of school and therefore cancel my loans and I don't graduate. That's a little melodramatic, but with all the s#%@ that office has already put me through while I'm only living 200ft away, I can't imagine what it'll be like when I am out of the country.
Seriously folks, it should not be too much to ask to have an ounce of tact and reliability.