Answers To Questions From A Friend

This post is dedicated to Jenni! I love you! Here are the answers to your questions and other fun facts about my life. I am sorry there are no pictures yet, just think slow dial-up and that is what it’s like here.

I must admit I am equally surprised that I have not ended Charlotte’s life as she is this very flat crab like grey spider with white stripes on her legs, but my roommate has me convinced that she is harmless…I hope that she is correct or Charlotte will be no more. Not to mention that anything that wants to eat mosquitoes is totally worth a chance.

I need to pause here and tell you that I brought my computer into school today and showed my kids all the animals I have managed to take pictures of over the years. I made sure to show them Ruby and said “ This is Ruby, she is a really big dog! Can you say hello to Ruby?” They responded in perfect unison in their 5 year old voices “Hello Ruby!” I wish you’d been there to see them. You would have loved it!
I also showed them all my pictures of creatures and flowers from hikes and how could I ever leave out THE Farm! They loved saying hello to all the animals too. I missed Burbank all morning.

Overall my days are very laid back and I love them. I teach for the morning and we are really doing school and then kids are progressing well. I feel like some are pushed so hard at home that I need to make sure they are playing and interacting as they learn. The overall thought to learning here is worksheet, worksheet, worksheet. I had one little boy removed from the program by his dad because I was not doing enough worksheets and the worksheets I did do were not challenging enough. The kids and I miss the little boy a lot and I hope he is ok in his new school.
In the afternoons, after siesta, I now go to the primary school to teach. It’s up the road the other direction (it’s where I first lived when I moved here). There is a class of kids there who are in the English speaking program. There are 6 children; two 2nd graders, one 3rd grader, two 4th graders, and a 5th grader. Since their teacher is not a trained teacher and has given her 2 weeks notice I have been asked to go and teach them and make sure they are learning in the afternoons on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. (On a side note if anyone would like to teach this class please let me know A.S.A.P.) This means I don’t get to teach English anymore, but that’s ok as I don’t think I was very good at it anyway.

You had a question about food. I am still eating the oatmeal that I brought from the states for breakfast but I know that this will end in a few weeks and so I’m exploring what fiber filled something I can eat to start my day when the oatmeal ends. I think there is a grain-like mush that I will turn to. There is so much fruit and vegetables that are sold on the side of the road for cheap so I eat a lot of those. Oh and please I can’t leave out all the break and starch! There is so much rice, pasta, couscous, and bread that it’s incredible! I am trying not to eat it very much but it’s here in large quantities!
For lunch my roommate and I dice up avocado, tomato, onions, and cucumber and eat it with bread or plain. We always end each meal with fruit like pineapple or papaya or oranges.
Dinner is always something thrown together in the skillet. Vegetables, rice, couscous, you get the idea. Oh!!! There was the exception last night! I was sitting with my friend having tea when my roommate came home and then left saying something about food. She came back with food she bought on the street. It was rice and cooked fish heads. Yes, my friends it wasn’t the body of the fish, only the head. My friend of course stayed to show us how to eat the eyes and brain and backbone since that is “where all the vitamins are”. I have to confess that the eye on my fork was too much for me and I passed it over to my friend, who gladly ate it.
I’ve had a lot of fish now that I think of it, but not much chicken and no other meat that I’m aware of. I was thinking about making some chicken but have heard that you have to go to the meat market and buy the meat there. I need to #1 find the meat market and #2 dare to enter the odorific place. I have seen lots of dead chickens with feathers and bizarre looks on their faces stuck in a large bowl/tub and balanced on women’s heads on the street. I don’t think I can do the plucking a chicken without some instructions. Some of you might know that I used to hide in the house while my parents butchered our chickens and I was allowed to play in mom’s jewelry box. That’s all I know about butchering chickens and oh something about needing hot water. So may be my friend will show me or even do it for me? It seems that everyone likes to do everything for me here anyway (laundry, cleaning, etc.) so we will see.

I hope this helps Jenni (and everyone else who had some questions). If you have more curious questions let me know, comment, e-mail, or facebook me. I LOVE hearing from the States and its fun to know what you might ask if we were sitting over tea or lunch talking.

Have a great day!