Quick Update / Bucket List

18 Aug 2011 2 Comments

by danrennt98 in Uncategorized

Hey everyone!

It’s crazy to think about that I’ve been here for a whole year! It seems like such a long time, but it’s also flown by. I’ve made some great friends and had some really good times and of course I’m missing you all at home! When I lay in bed at night I think of all the funny stories and things that I did back in the US and it makes me smile. I just now find it odd that I’ve become so normal and neutral to living in Uganda that it’s not really a thought anymore when I wake up in the morning, I know where I am and frankly it will be weird again waking up in the USA.. and always having electricity, internet, post-paid phones, mailboxes.. so many things we take for-granted.

I’ve been on and off busy this week. There’s not a whole lot to do when there’s no electricity. I’m currently working on more staff issues, closing time, the lightning project and obtaining a grant for solar power. Also, we just got a new addition to our Access banking software, so we can import the information into Excel and make it so much easier to sort information, statistics, demographics and loan/savings/customer tracking. I’m beginning to write a proposal for the lightning project, but first I need to find out how much it costs to make a lightning rod and how much 200 pairs of shoes are and will it be enough for a signle primary school? But I want to move quickly because I’ve got a lot planned for the next two months. And I will also have to use some of the money to pay my fellow staff members / reimburse for travel expenses for when they do these trainings. But I will have a proposal up by mid-next week. Also, your input – what way would you feel most comfortable sending me money for the children’s shoes.. Paypal? Gofundme.com? Western Union? Know of any others? I think it would be best to set up a paypal account and when I get enough money to work on this school, then I will

We have the all volunteer conference, where I will get to meet the rest of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers that I haven’t met yet, and rekindle old friendships too! This will be a great break from Kamuli And we were also talking about going to Rwanda after this conference for my birthday! which I think will be cool. Then, I come back and we have a Board Meeting, Trimester reports are due and then our midservice conference.. which signifies that I’ve been in Kamuli for a year in October. I thought after this long amount of time that the unwanted attention would go away and people would get tired of screaming/staring/asking for money/muzungu-ing.. but no. It’s like they’ve never seen me a day in their lives. Kids are bad – but they have that innocent idea in mind.. but sometimes I get set off after a long day at work. One day I’m going to snap at someone badly lol Even people who I speak lusoga with for a year, still laugh when I respond to them in Lusoga.. Silly Country! I can’t wait to come home and be like a needle in a haystack and anonymous as opposed to being Britney Spears over here. Anyway, I’m going to continue watching Bones / Lost.. but I want to write a funny blog or a list blog or something .. like my dream last night that I was on a rollercoaster that baptizes you, but one a planet that had 4 moons. Or the dream where I was forced to impersonate Princess Diana and rondevous with someone, but I couldn’t get the British accent to work so I failed my mission! Anyway here’s my bucket list.. A lot of it has to do with Trance and Travel – the world is my stomping ground!

Regular non-music related:

-          Study the Russian Language and visit at some point for practical use

-          Learn the Arablic Alphabet (it’s so pretty)

-          Live in a Spanish-speaking Country for at least 2 months

-          Visit Siberia (from Lake Baikal eastward), preferably on the Trans-Siberian Railway)

-          Visit one of the following place that you cannot get to on a road,. You can only take a boat back or fly in and out of these cities

o        Iquitos, Ecuador (Pop. 406,340) (On the Amazon river)

o        Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia (Population -198,028) (Pacific Ocean, Kamchatka)

-          Go to at least 30 of the 50 states…which includes the following states I’ve been to already:

o        New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire

o        Maryland, Vermont, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Florida, California

o        Washington D.C., Virginia, , Tennessee, Rhode Island, Massachusetts

-          Go Sky-Diving or bungee jumping (ideally over the Nile, but it’s a short fall compared to others off bridges into gorges, but other places are fine too)

-          Spend a week in one or two in the Pacific Islands — e.g., Kiribati [for New Year’s, since they are the first people to see the New Year based on the rotation of the Earth and Sun], Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Tuvalu, Micronesia (!!!), Palau, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu (!!), Samoa, American Samoa, or Guam. I would love to visit them all but for now Vanuatu and Micronesia are top priorities

-          Spend a month or two in Goa, India (best time in January and February)

-          Have a minimum of 2 kids (I love kids!)

-          Do the polar bear/bare plunge (on Lake Champlain or in Iceland with hot springs)

-          See a panda for real

-          Sea a koala bear for real

-          Bring a cardboard box and slide down the dunes of the Sahara or the Namib Deserts and Visit the Dead Vlei (picture below)

-          http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmp4jbJn111qjsxq3o1_500.jpg

-          Never under any circumstances buy or come to own a rooster

-          Have a successful WWS partnership with my Aunt Sharon, make it a success:

-          Swim in a hot springs

-          Fast (not eat) for some reason or another (such as next year’s Ramadan)

-          Own my own business (preferably a club in NYC, not unlike the old Crobar)

-          Possibly own a sandwich shop, since everyone knows how good my sandwiches are (Schnurr and Vine-gar, especially)

-          Spend $100 at a Wawa in one-go! I love Wawa so much that I could spend $100 on sandwiches alone there! Hehe)

-          Apply to be on the Amazing Race (with Joanna) / Survivor

-          Live in Europe for 6 months to see how I like it

-          Eat at every major fast food restaurant in the US

-          Have a six pack stomach for a period of time

-          Go skiing out west on the open area bowls

-          Go waterskiing

-          Go to a Talk Show and be in the audience

-          Ride on a weird animal (elephant, yak, camel, etc.)

-          Get a graduate degree in either Business, International Affairs, Geography, or International Business

-          Attend Burning Man Festival and have a crazy campsite to participate with!

 

Trance / Psytrance Related:

-          See a solar eclipse, preferably at a psytrance party (November 2012 – Australia, August 2017 – Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Indiana, North and South Carolina, Kentucky (Greatest Eclipse viewed from there), Tennessee, and Georgia.

-          Attend a psytrance festival on 5 continents

-          Do the whole clubbing experience on Famous Ibiza (Club Space, Amnesia, Café del Mar)

-          Throw a psytrance party

-          See Kindzadza, Furious, Cosmo, Osom play

-          Go to a hardcore only rave

-          See as many of the following DJs play as possible:

o        Trance: John Digweed, ATB, Armin van Buuren, Carl Cox, Ferry Corsten

o        Psytrance: CPC, Kashyyyk, Derango, Rawar, Megalopsy, Scorb, Xikwri Neyrra

o        Drum ‘n’ Bass: Dieselboy, Skrillex, Dylan, Pendulum

o        Hardstyle: Alpha Twins, Headhunterz, Lenny Dee

o        See these DJs play again – Paul Van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold, Jellyheadz / Baba Jelly, Somarobotics, Electrypnose

-          Attend as many of the following festivals as possible:

o        Psycrowdelia (Germany)

o        Full Moon Festival (Germany)

o        Vuuv Experience (Germany)

o        Full Moon Party (Koh Phangan, Thailand)

o        Rainbow Serpent Festival (Australia)

o        Boom Festival (Portugal)

o        Ozora (Hungary)

o        Goa Gil 24 hour set (California, Russia, India)

o        Qlimax (Netherlands)

o        Trance Energy (Netherlands)

o        Dance Valley (Netherlands – this one’s for Jess)

o        Transylvania Calling (Romania)

o        Sonica (Montenegro / Italy)

o        Antaris (Germany)

o        Universo Parallelo (Brazil)

o        Shambahla (Canada, sp?)

o        Ultra Music Festival (Miami)

As you can see, I have a true desire to travel and to listen to music, music that I love with my full heart and it never fails to put a smile on my face. It’s also going to be expensive so I’m going to have to work my ass off, but I will do most of it! I guarantee it!

Love you!

Dan