It has been a couple academically arduous weeks since my last post, and a few interesting things have happened. Floods, pigs and HIV, to summarize it with a few words.
First things first though, the obligatory weather update. No more PMS weather (knock on wood), but from hear on out spring is properly present. As I type these words people are having the seasons first grill parties out by the lake, and everybody agrees that life is worth living again. The buzz is back, and the optimism (mine included) is just about bearable. In stark contrast, and I excuse the deviation from my usually lighthearted rhetoric, my hometown in Mozambique is drowning in floods. Aside from the immediate death and destruction from obvious reasons, there are a lot of aftermath problems that one could spend a serious while discussing. In the interest of moving things along, however, I'll leave that discussion for another day. My family is fine though, for which I am thankful.
This road leads to my neighborhood.
From flooded Pemba to something entirely different, we have started to learn the basics of suturing at school. Obviously we are all very much excited, especially as we get to do it on pigs. Yup, they bring us some chopped up pig legs and we get to tear them apart and stitch them back together again. I don't know if it is a tad macabre to find it enjoyable, but I have learned it is best not to think in these patterns. Especially not at autopsies. Trust me on this one, it will save whatever sanity you have left.
Martin busy at work
Pigture Perfect (not even sorry :P )
On to some news related to a little project I have been developing for some time. I am a coordinator of a Peer Education project for my university's branch of the student organization called IFMSA. It's all about educating other young people about HIV/AIDS, in an effort to deliver knowledge of a difficult topic in an understandable way. We had our first seminar just last week, for a group of high school students in the area, and it was well received and appreciated. All in all it was a pleasant start, and I'm feeling quite positive about it. Click for more info on Peer Education: HIV/AIDS.
Have a good week everyone!
P.S. Have Coldplay ever made a bad song? Honestly though, have they?? Their new one is fabulous.
Lists. There are few things that grab my attention more than those YouTube videos like 'Top 10 Movies of 2013' or 'Top 10 Hilarious Action Hero One-Liners'. Fair to say, WatchMojo has stolen a fair share of my allotment of time in this world. Nevertheless, lists are great, and so are pants, especially comfortable pants. Without further ado, here are my top 4 reasons to wear Capulana pants ( also related to Kente Pants, or any sort of African Print Cloth Pants)
1. Comfort If you are one of those unfortunate souls who have never tried Capulana pants before, don't waste another second. Rush to your closest African Cloth and Textiles store (no, it doesn't matter if that will require a flight or two) and buy yourself a good length of cloth. Then go to your tailor, and have some nice fitting pants made. The freedom is unfathomable. It barely feels like you are wearing anything at all, while at the same time providing the necessary concealing to remain socially acceptable. How much better can it get?
I'm not sure which screams freedom more, this or a bald eagle.
2. Low Maintenance
There is no pressing need to iron them. Any wrinkles that come from having been in a washing machine are soon lost in their overall fluffy-ness. Right, so if one wears the skinnier kind a need might arise, but one knows that going into it. Keeping with the fluffy kind (which for some inexplicable reason are called 'harem pants') since they are not skin tight, they suffer much less body friction than a regular pair of jeans. No more awkward friction marks in-between your oh-so-unfortunately-muscular-thighs. Also, they are incredibly original and out of the norm, practically a cheap one-way ticket to hipsterdom.
I mean, Originality called and wants its poster girl back.
And before you ask, no, this is not limited to only black people
3. Variety
The options for prints are endless, from not so subtle political messages to animals (a personal favorite) to kaleidoscope-like things. My words somewhat fail to describe it, i'll just link some pictures.
Imagine making pants out of this cloth. Ohh the opinions people would have.
Sorry, couldn't find a hot enough beach, so the radiator will have to do. Imagination people.
4. Movement You know when you are just chilling in you room and that one songs from your starred Spotify lists comes on off random? Well yeah, if you are wearing the highly limited limb garments of the West, you will be stuck just humming along. Get out of your jeans, put on some capulana pants, and the situation changes. Just take the necessary precautions so that nobody actually sees you. While these pants make you feel like you can dance, let's be real here, they are not magic, you will still look dumb. Of course I am going to link some perfect Capulana Pants songs, you need not ask twice.
To think of it, any old summer song will do, spoofed up or no. Anyhow, I think those right there are some pretty valid reasons for wearing capulana pants. And to loosely quote the immortal Reverend Brown, "if loving capulana pants is wrong, I don't wanna be right."
