Holidayz

Happy Belated Earth Day, everyone!

Also, somehow, I missed Passover??
Elijahs never seen, so we’ll just go with that…
I found myself explaining what Jews eat on this celebration (no concept of matza), a hard-boiled egg, parsley, something with a bone? Really? That’s all I could remember? Boy would the Rabbis cheeks be red.

In other news, power went out for a solid 8 hours a few days ago.
After the daylight went I made good use of my time. / Studied for the GRE by candlelight…

(hardcore)

When it was once again daytime I went to the market and stocked up on copious amounts of fruits and veggies, yum. In fact, for breakfast this morning I cooked with beets! It turned the whole dish red (duh) but experimenting is fun! Plus mangoes are just coming back into season!!! They are slightly expensive because they are so novel — 12 for approximately $1.20 US –- I know, I know. But seriously, during the height of the season you can’t give them away fast enough. One tree in my yard produced over 200 mangos a day for weeks on end. If the fruit bearing tree were graphed, it would most likely a bell curve. (*nude nudge* proof of my GRE studies, eh??)

Since it’s Spring Time where you all are (oh how glorious!) I took this picture of the cherries blooming! – just so I could get into the spirit.

(pic)

When I was in Santa Cruz, as a special treat, I bought two movies. Yes, they are bootlegs. Yes, they are poor quality. And sure, they are overall terrible. However, indulgences must be made ($.80 a pop…); and entertainment will be seized whenever the opportunity: Red Riding Hood (do NOT watch, terrible) and Just Go With It (Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler and Brooklyn Decker with a wonderful/unexpected cameo by Andy Roddick!)

On a completely unrelated note, 4/20 came and went. Happy belated, everyone.

So, I have this issue…I can’t bring myself to crush cockroaches. I know they carry diseases. And people hate them. And my friends have no problem killing them (thanks, Andy, Angie, Julene). However, yesterday I did mange to capture one in a box. Yupers. Last night I seized my opportunity — It was ENORMOUS. I’ve been trying for several days to nab this one — and last night I triumphed!! There was no time for negotiations with this roach as its proximity to my bed was a deal breaker.

On the work front I’ve been super busy!
My walking group has met three times.
I went and taught at the Basic School (3-5 year olds) twice this week. See top picture on this website for visual reference. They call me Aunty Sam.

I wrote an articulate Executive Summary for the Agricultural High School and, no, I didn’t know what that was before hand (I looked it up online). Just like you’d expect, it was boring. However, it has lead to much more interesting projects:

I am booked in May!
-I will be holding teacher-trainer courses on Resume building, writing a cover letter, ect.
-I am designing and teaching Values &; Attitudes class for 83 high-school sophomores (divided into three day intervals)
-An 8 hour Empowerment course for 77 high-school students (outrageous)
-Ethics classes pertaining to Leadership, Stress Management, Communication. I am most excited by this one. Eight prefects – twice a week – three months.

In Peace Corps news, I have a milestone conference coming up (May 2-7) – There are three total: Early, Mid, and End of Service Conference. A week from Monday we have our Mid!!!!!

In friend news, I had a couchsurfer from Belgium/Trinidad come and stay with me for 23 hours! Yupers, couchsurfing.com: I decided to activate my humble ‘couch’ (I’ve been an avid participate for years. So has my mom :)). And wouldn’t you know it, people are interested in visiting rural St. Elizabeth! Yay! Julene was my first guest; a beautiful, strong 22 year-old who is traveling by herself! More (couchsurfers) to come…!

In family news, several people have moved into Mamas house. Cousin Wayne [a rasta man who is a self-professed ‘lover’ – I had to talk with mamma (who in turn talked with Wayne) about the specific ‘amount’ of said lovin’.] But that is now sorted 🙂

Makalya has also moved into Mamas for the next two weeks. She is 6 and LOVES me. Which is nice, because she plays with my hair and snuggles me and not nice because she is always hanging all over me while it’s so hot and sticky.

And, I have some new additions to my abode, 2 teeny, sniveling, whimpering puppies. Less than 4 weeks old. They drink from a bottle. Adorably helpless. Although, it must be said, puppies are a handful! After the first few days with these runts I have been re-thinking my ability to be a dog-owner even going so far as to question parenthood, ha!

Right, so this morning I cleaned the porch really thoroughly (because all the dogs have kind of taken over and I wanted it back.) Anyway, we went and played outside (Goose makes three) in the grass for an hour. We were barking, running, chirping, and laughing. Fun times for all! But then, it started to drizzle so I brought them on the porch (considerate of me, no?). I went inside and I was cheerfully cooking/listening to a book on tape (The Time Travelers Wife) when I happen to look out the window *just in time* to watch BOTH puppies pee on the veranda floor!!! I was ENRAGED, we JUST got back from playing in the grass… I had to count to ten to react properly.

*deep breath*
But that’s puppies for you.

So after this rude behavior of peeing on my veranda I decided that they are not yet guests fit for my veranda so I returned them to the yard, under the protection of the awning.

Here are pictures of the little scamps:

Jamal

Tyrone

That’s all for today!
More to come.
Thanks for reading!

Love love LOVE,
‘mi

Tags: Candel, Cockroach, Earth Day, Electricity, GRE, Mango, Passover, Puppies