Powdered milk is SO SO GOOD!

January 29, 2012

Is it bad that I think powdered milk with cereal is the best, I think my standards have really started to lower. Oh well, it was amazing and hopefully I will be eating it all week if I do not in the next day. I need will power and I usually do not have any when it comes to food.
SO this week I spent in Dar with a few other volunteers working VAC which is something like a student government and then on a grants committee that is hopefully going to make the process smoother and less nerve racking, not sure if this will work yet. But it was really fun, I am not sure I have slept this little since college, but it was great. We worked a lot and then went out a lot so I had some really good food. I had shrimp, Indian (which I keep remembering I am not a big fan of), Mexican, pizza. And my two favorite meals of the week were beef in a port sauce with mashed potatoes and lamb kebabs. Yeah when the village tells me how fat I am this week I will defiantly be more inclined to believe them.

I stayed with an ex pat the last 2 nights with my friend Jen. It was really fun, it is always really interesting to see how an ex pat lives and what their thoughts are on the life here. Some I find have no idea of TZ life and culture and yet others are very insightful. Either way it is always fun visiting with them and getting to know them, but also see how we could live in comfort still and still work abroad which is good because I sometimes forget that there is a lot more out there than village life. I do not know maybe I will end up being an ex pat one day.

Also very weird how I can move between the worlds of Dar with all the modern connivances and Lupeta with well nothing and not even bat an eye. Today I the bus ride back to the village I realized how normal this feels to me, which is really weird. I have a lot to do in the next few weeks so I am really excited, I have research and we are making fuel efficient stoves which is great because this has been on my to do list for a while now.

I bought vanilla beans, so I think I am going to make my own vanilla, which I think is just liquor and the bean together, not sure yet I need to check this but I am really excited. I also bought Amurula which is really good, it reminds me of baileys but I am really excited to drink a bit with my coffee.

I talked to my friend Claire this week on skype and it was so much fun, I cannot wait for her to come back. Even though Zanzibar is still really far from me, I think talking on the phone will actually be a lot easier go figure.

January 31, 2012

Village Life has been good. I still have not done to much, but I have gotten out in the morning and run and I am working on going out and gettng my research done. Possibly going to start back up again tomorrow. I just need to finish giving myself the pep talk. Once I start it will be fine but it takes me a while to get there. I know it is stupid but it makes me really nervous and self conscous which is weird because all it is a few questions. I do not know.

I talked to my bibi who farms a long way away and she says that she is having trouble with monkeys stealing her crops. This made me laugh really hard, even harder after I realized what she was saying but it sounds so crazy. That is what I expected living here and instead I feel like I just got farm land. No exciting animals or anything although I am not complaining it is just funny how you imagine things and then you find out what they are really like. But I have to say I am still surprised by things on a daily basis here.

So it is the rainy season and yet we have hardly any rain, which is not good. Last year was a bad year and this year is not shaping out any differently. It has not rained for the last 3 weeks and I not sure when it will next. It stinks. It is bad enough living in this type of environment with no water bring no food into the mix and it just gets worse. I did not realize how bad it was here but it is bad especially right now when people have no money and no food because it is that time before harvest so they are left with what they did not spend from last year. It is a hard life out here.

I made tostadas today. I made homemade refried beans, guac, and flour tortillas that I fried. It was amazing and I toped it off with an egg. I wonder if I will make things like this in the states. I was also wondering about tortillas will I make these in the states or just buy them like before. I am very interest to see what my buying and eating habits are like when it comes to food. Although I will have to give myself a few weeks first to eat all those things I have been missing. Weird but I miss the craziest things. I would do anything for an apple with cheddar cheese, a turkey sandwich, or a kraki sandwich with better made chips. God food is so good. I bought so macadamia nuts in Dar and they reminded me a lot of when we went to Hawaii. They also reminded me of grandpa for some reason I remember him having chocolate covered macadamia nuts in his desk.

Reading a book called Cupcake right now and it reminds me so much of Aunt Marti. It is crazy. It has some funny parts in it that remind me of her. Which also reminds me of when we went on the bike trip and she told the guy in the bathroom that he has a nice ass in front of everyone that we were going to be biking with. I still laugh thinking about that. Just thinking of that gets me really excited for the next bike trip.

February 1, 2012

So I am not sure what is going on but in the last few days I have seen more than my fair share of mice/ rats. I swear everywhere that I turn I am running into them. It is killing me. Luckily I have yet to find one in my house but I just assume that this is where I am headed. I just hope that I do not wake up to one crawling on my head like before. I am totally fine with living with one if I never see it and it leaves me in peace but I do not think that is going to be the case. Also Jessica scared me and told me that it was probably living under my bed, I know she was joking but that is all I need. We all know how afraid of snakes I am and mice/ rats come in send. Man I hope they stay away from me. I bought poisin today to kill it if it does live with me, so now I have the added surprise of possibly walking into a room with a dead mouse not sure what I hate more.

I ran again today and felt like I ran all over the place I ran to 3 different villages before I came back and I am not going to lie it killed me. I am so tired and my legs hurt but that is what I get for going to Dar last week and eating and not doing any type of exercise.
I did more interviews today and they went really well. I feel at home in my village at the moment which is really good. I have no problem making a fool out of myself and am not as nervous to ask people questions which is good. I even at least at the moment have stopped avoiding people and am actually really excited to talk to people. Not sure exactly what has changed but I am in a good place and really excited that I will be here for the next 3 weeks before my dad and aunt joyce come.

Not sure if I mentioned this before but I planted a passion fruit vine from a seed in like October and it is starting to vine out and cover part of my courtyard. It is really cool and I am really excited for the fruit that I am going to get. I love passion fruit maybe not as much as a macintosh apple but I would say it is up there.

Also have had no network in my village this week, which kind of stinks. This means that I cannot talk to anyone unless I want to go for a walk. Really hope this changes because I really liked being able to talk in my house without the entire world looking at me while I do it.

February 2, 2012

So my little friend finally showed his face today. As I was getting some charcoal I ran into him. God I hate mice and this guy is huge. I hope he likes avocados because that is what I put the poison on. Now I am just worried where he is going to decided to die. I would love it if he showed himself out but I am not crossing my fingers.

And it was one of those days that I did not do much. I start reading a book and then time just slips away and before I know it , it is night time. Not sure how that happened I had big plans for today. Oh well I guess I will try again tomorrow.

So I have been worrying a lot about my research and today I realized that it will all work
out. I was really worried about walks into the mountains with people but then I realized I can just go camp out at the entrance a little bit to get a sample size and tell everyone and their mom that I really want to help them collect firewood. Not exactly what I had planned but I think it will work. It is crazy how once you set your mind to something it is really hard to change it sometimes and it takes more time than it should to come up with something different. I had a hard time letting go that my project is not going to go exactly as planned but I think that it is still going to be amazing and this doesn’t change that much only the people. The information is still the same. I realized this while I was talking a shower under the stars, I have to say I think I do my best thinking while talking a shower, an added bonus here is that the stars are AMAZING.

Listening to The Prayer by Bocelli. Such a good song. This reminds me of my dad and his steak dinners that he loves to have and of course the fact that he loves to eat by candle light and no other light. It is always funny because he cannot seem to figure out why we want the lights on at least a little. We do like to see what we are eating. I guess when he comes here he will get his candle light experience. Because that is all I have. I pretty much only use candles now. I really like.

Aldo ran today and I swear I have never been so tired in my life. I had a hard time walking a up the hill to my house but it was good. Again should not have taken that week off and eaten all that food. Although I have to say the food was phenomenal.

February 3, 2012

So after 3 weeks of no rainy and yes it is the rainy season, it decided to rain today. That is after it was I swear one of the hottest days ever here. I am not sure how that is possible. To top it all off during the rain, it also hailed too. Tell me how it hails here. I would never have believed it until I saw it with my own eyes. Crazy. But with that beautiful rain came lots of wind which was not good and it up rooted most of my corn. I am scared to see what it did to everyone else’s. It is bad enough that they have such a hard time growing things here, add the wind on top of that and really why are they living here. Oh yeah because the government put them here. God I would like to know what was going through their minds when they did that.

As for other things, I attempted an Indian potato dish today that I am sure has seen better days. I am not sure why I even attempted it as I do not really even like Indian food. But I am going to blame it on boredom even if that is not true. I did not really like the dish but I do like ginger and potatoes together which I would never have suspected.

I have not done any more with my research today but I did talk to old Jessica and she is going to help me with all the people that live by her. On that note I was suppose to go over there today and failed. Well actually I went over there in the morning but she was at the office and then I just never came back. I just get to comfortable at home or around my neighborhood which is crazy because the village is not that big. She might live as close as my house to dairy queen at home. I know not that far yet I just have a hard time getting there. I am going tomorrow morning though, we are making banana fritters and having coffee with baileys. I am really excited.

I went and bought alcohol today at the shop in front of my house to make homemade vanilla and the guy wanted to know if I was going to drink it. I told him I only cooked with it. I did not want him to think that I was going to drink it all by myself also it was like 8 am when I bought this so I did not want him to think I started early either. Funny. I tried to explain to him what I was making but it is really hard when they do not know what vanilla is and when you look it up in the dictionary you find the world vanilli, same for marathon. How do you explain these things when they have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe with all this explaining I do here I would make a good teacher, but I am not sure if I would be a good teacher. A classroom full of kids kind of scares me that and what if I teach them something wrong. Then the rest of there life they will have the wrong answer. Yeah think I am going to stay away from that, at least with little kids. I think I might be able to do college but
really a classroom full of people in general scares me.

Leading me to what am I going to do with my life. I have no idea. My plan ends Dec 2012, funny how it coincides with the Mayan Calendar maybe I won’t have to worry past this date anyway but really what am I going to do. I have not a clue. I will be this time hopefully have a master’s in forestry (if I do not screw up somehow) and then what. What am I going to do with that? What do I want to do in general or where should I live? If anyone could answer any of these questions for me I would really appreciate it. I mean if you just got me a job that might be even better. There are just to many possibilities out there and to many options. And of course I hate making decisions. How am I going to choose where to go next and what to do. It is all very nerve racking and exciting all at the same time. A new chapter is going to start for me but at the same time it is really really scary.

February 5, 2012

I was actually really excited to blog yesterday but Andrew called, which I was a great surprise. Funny thing is now I have no idea what I wanted to blog about. Nothing to exciting has happened here. I went over to old J yesterday and taught her how to make banana fritters and then we had coffee with amurla. It was great. Besides that not to much. I also did run 8 miles which was awesome and I could still walk afterwards which was an even bigger plus.
Today I ran again. I cannot believe how nice it feels to run and I really like it because I get to see lots of people and talk to them although they usually need something from me which is fine. At the moment everyone wants vaccinations for there chickens which is great, I just have been feeling really lazy lately and have not wanted to walk around the village at night. Luckily enough people asked me today that I am going to do it tomorrow.

Old J helped me with my research today. We went to a bunch of people’s houses and asked them questions it was really great. Although I still am not sure how to explain it, as of now I just say that I want to learn more about firewood because it is so complicated to explain school. It is hard enough for an American to comprehend. But I talked to a bunch of people today and am feeling a lot better about the whole thing good too that their were a lot of people that go and cut firewood right now too. Weird how all my neighbors do not cut it at the moment and then the people in say the next block over do go. I wonder why that is.
I had mkande today and it was amazing. It is may favorite especially with kachimbaree. Although at the moment tomatoes are so so explensive. It is crazy used to be able to get 4 for 200/= and now you are lucky to get 1 good one. Crazy. Everything is going up in price and it stinks. I have a hard time paying and I get a salary what about all these farmers. Ah it will drive ya crazy. I had pineapple today and it remnded me of the dole plantation and that amazing pineapple ice cream. It was so good. I wonder if I went back I would think it is as good as I thought. Not sure if I want to but man it was good actually the entire trip was so much fun. I want to go back to Hawaii and snorkel and eat lots of really good food.
I know it is super bowl Sunday so I guess everyone is at aunt Joyces eating lots of amazing food. I am so so jealous I cannot even think. The buffalo dip alone is enough for me to come back home. Tz food just does not have the same flavor as American.

Also weird I have not been able to focus to well lately on reading books and watching tv. Not sure why but nothing is keeping my interest. I feel like I am all over the place which stinks because what am I suppose to do if I cannot read or watch tv when I have some down time. Really hope this changes but I think I am going to try maybe some word puzzles or something to try and learn something. I feel like my brain is fried. Maybe if I started to do some crossword puzzles that would help. I mean I swear Grandpa Witte knew everything and he did a lot of those. That and play cards.

God I miss cards. Funny that when I play cards here or with anyone else that is not a Witte. I have to hold my tongue sometimes. I think we might take the game a little more serious than other people. It is funny. Like not picking up your cards until the dealer has or the winner gets to go first in the next game. It is funny I blame Aunt Marti and Cindy for this. But god I miss cards, well actually I think I just miss the cottage in general. It is funny I was thinking about it today and I really the cottage is the perfect place. I mean all you ever think of is good things if your at Little Whitefish or Brooks. I mean what could be better a lake, family, a bonfire, amazing food, and lots of games and relaxing time.

February 7, 2012

I have been really busy yesterday again with research and vaccinating chickens It has been really great and every day I am feeling better and better about my research. Crazy how that happens. I go from being really scared to having no problem at all. But it is going really good and I am starting to see some interesting things which is great and awesome because things are not necessarily going as expected. I have also seen a lot more people go and cut firewood which is good because I was really scared that I was going to have to beg people to go.

Other than that I have stayed in the village for a week without leaving which is new. Usually I go into town a once but I have not done so yet which is crazy. Town actually sounds really far lately. The last few days I was suppose to go but I keep just putting it off. I am going Thursday though because we go a new girl around here. I also have like no food so I really need to go I just am being really lazy. Also I really like my schedule here and I know if I go into town it will change or not go the same. Weird I know but I really like to know how things are going to go.

Yesterday I left my house really early and did not come back to really late (at least for me) everyone was all over themselves trying to figure out where I was. I had more than one tell me they had been to my house multiple times and my door was locked. It was pretty funny.
It is a full moon here at the moment and it is gorgeous. I love the night. It is really peaceful too.

February 9, 2012

So I went into town today because I thought we were all meeting up to hang out and get some things done. Turns out everyone had planned on going back, they just forgot to tell me which is fine it just stunk because they all went to the bar to hang out and I had to get some work done on the internet that I had been putting off for the last week. But whatever it was still really fun to see everyone and catch up for a little bit. Even better to get some food, you can only live on flour for so long. Now I am fully stocked up on fruits and oatmeal for another week.

I got a email from my professors and now I am confused a little more about my research and what I am suppose to be doing. I am going to sit on it for a day and then send them and email and then hopefully talk ot them next week. It is just so hard to communicate with people lately even more so than normal. I cannot see to get service anywhere in my village for more than 2 second.

Jessica asked if I had rested today and I was telling her that I tried but all I could think about was my research and the projects that I am doing here. She told me to not worry so much that everything will just take time, which of course she is right. As she usually is but do not tell her that. I am so lucky to have her here. She is amazing. I told her that I would buy her a goat or a pig before I left and this has her on cloud 9 at the moment, funny though because she was talking to her mom about it and her mom asked how she expected to take care of another animal. Which is true the lady does not sleep as it is, with a house to take care of, 2 small kids, a farm, and chickens and everything she does for me. She truly is wonder women.

I almost have everything ready for the when my dad comes. I just need to actually book the some stuff in the next few days which I probably should do earlier than later, hopefully I keep on top of this stuff.

Jenna and Lindsey both emailed me about dresses for their weddings which is really exciting but then they want to know what size they think I will need. I have no idea and what if they get a size that is to small, I will look like a blimp. Oh well, I know it will all work out in the end anyways.

I talked to my mom today and she is going to visit Hannah, Aunt Marti, and Aunt Beth. I think she is going to have a great time with them. I am kind of surprised that she is going to telluride where it is cold instead on a nice beach, but she is going to have so much fun. I know I have people coming here and I am really excited but I do not want to miss anything. I just want to be everywhere.

Got called fat again today. I am not sure why but I swear in the last few weeks I have been getting it a lot more. I know they do not mean it in a bad way but sometimes ok there is never a good time, that is the last thing I want to here. I am just a little surprised that it has been used so much, especially because I have been running and I am pretty sure I have not gained any weight or lost any. I think I look the same. But either way I know I have not changed that much in the last few months, so why the sudden change in talk. Really hope Randi doesn’t hear them say it or they are going to get a ear full. That is one thing she hates more than anything is when they say that .

Claire comes back in 6 days which is going to be amazing, not that I am actually going to get to see her for a bit but I am really excited that we will at least be back in the same country. And can actually talk on the phone and hear each other.

February 10, 2012

SO it has been one of those days that is moving at a really nice slow pace and then all of a sudden I am in hyperactive speed. We made fuel efficient stoves today and I was in charge on them after they left. Bad idea. It got dark I couldn’t see and now I am not sure what it looks like. I am pretty sure they are all going to have something to say about this but I did not know what else to do. I also almost made it crumble so we will have to see what it turns out like. I think it will still be completely fine, it just will not look that amazing to the eye. But does that really matter, to me no but to the women I am sure it does. Oh well. I will hear about it tomorrow anyways.

While I was trying to fix the stove, I burnt my pizza dough and made a mess of my kitchen, god I cannot wait for electricity and a refrigerator. I am trying to eat healthier and at least 3 meals a day but lately it has just been really hard. Not sure why I just have not been in the mood to cook, Luckily I remembered there is a café in front of my house so I can go there but besides that I have to keep reminding myself to eat more and better. Not good, You would think that because of my eating habits I have loss some weight that is a major NO and I got more you look so fat today. Congrats. Oh well, what ya going to do.

I hope that stove looks better in the morning than I think it does. Cross your fingers. It looked really good before I touched it so we will have to see. Otherwise not really sure what I have planned for tomorrow. I am hoping to finish my interviews but I think I will have to go back and talk to all the people some more but I would like to already have an initial talk with them anyways and make sure I remember and know everyone. It is hard to know what people’s names are because everyone calls each other brother or sister. I also read my professors email again today and have started to read some past thesis again to hopefully help me better understand what I am suppose to be doing. I know I am super over thinking this but I really do not want to get home and find out I missed a key thing or have nothing to go on but to be fair I am not sure I have anything at the moment either.

I am really enjoying the village still. It has been great I have been walking around a lot and talking to people and hanging out with them. I love it. It almost makes me not want to leave, Almost

While we were making the stove in my front yard a mouse ran into mouse. Yup I saw it scurry across my floor. So I have that to fret over tonight. I did by poison so I really hope it dies. Funny though it did come in through the front door. I hope it does reek so much havoc before I kill it.

February 11, 2012

The stove doesn’t look as bad as I originally thought which is really good. I really thought it was a goner not the case which I am very happy about. So every day I get up and I run. Today I got up and did not know how far I was going to run, 9 miles later I thought that I was going to faint in the middle of the farms and that they were not going to find me for days. Luckily that was not the case and I made it back to my house where I then slept for 2 hours.
Man that was a long run makes me wonder how long I will sleep after the ½.

The mouse is still in the house. I saw it scurry up the wall today as I moved a bunch of stuff
to my storage area in hopes that the mouse gets the hint that he is not wanted here of course along with the massive amounts of poison that are throughout the house.

I made potatoes today and put BBQ sauce on them. All this really did was make me really,
really want some sort of meat. Anything at this point it has been almost 3 weeks without meat and my body remembers it. Doesn’t help that they book I am reading is talking about food a lot. That and just watched Julie and Julia. So I really am craving BBQ at the moment. Also taco pizza which is never going to happen in a million years here, but I can dream can’t I. Is it bad that I am thinking of putting BBQ sauce on tunafish. Not sure if that is a good idea or not but I might find out in the next few days.

I did more interviews today and am going to try and call my professors this week. I think I am starting to have a grasp of what I am doing. I know I have a lot more to do but it is nice to now know where almost everyone lives and realize that I know all of these people already. That blows my mind. I was walking around today and realizing that I know most of the people in my village, which is nice considering it is so big. But I cannot tell you more than maybe 10 people’s names. I know that is really, really bad.

Have been cooking with real garlic and I have to say I swear everything tastes better. I am feeling in a cooking mood so I am interested to see what tomorrow brings food wise. I am thinking something with passion fruit as I bought a ton this week.

February 12, 2012

I cannot believe that my dad will be here in one week. That is crazy. Soo freakin awesome.
Don’t really know what else to say that can be better than what I have already stated.

February 13, 2012

So yesterday I culdn’t really write anything either because I had a few women from my women’s group come to me telling me that all the women wanted from the group was for me to give them things and that they do not care about learning anything they just want to see what they can get free from the white person. I am not sure if this is or is not true but either way it really stinks to hear. I am not sure what I am going to do with the information yet either. Young Jesca said that a bibi told her. I am not sure if it is true or not but I do not really care to much I guess. I am going to try and stay out of it as I am doing what I want to do with the group and do not feel like I am being taken advantage of. But it does still stink to hear because I really thought I could trust them all and they understood what I am here for. Not sure any more but what am I going to do about it. Life must go on and I like teaching them new things still because it also gives me something to do.

I spent this morning GPSing my village only to get home and realize that I had pushed a wrong button and all of it was nothing. SO tomorrow I will be at it again. I do not mind it to much though because I get out of the house and walk a lot. And I get to talk to lots of people.
I also have to have to go into town tomorrow and take care of some things and send my professors an email telling them my thoughts and what I am up to. I really hope I can get into town. Weird how without Claire here there doesn’t seem to be any reason to leave Lupeta other than to charge my things which I have been trying to get other people to do. Crazy how life changes like that. But I need to charge things as well and use the internet so to the town I must go.

I made the best omelet today with BBQ sauce on top. It was really good. I even took a picture. I have been doing a pretty good job of documenting my food here. I wonder if I will ever do anything with it. I have also been thinking after watching Julie and Julia that I need to find something to do, a goal. I do know that I am here and that I am going to school and those are goals, but I want a fun goal. Something that I can do a little bit of everyday to help make the days go by more and give me more of a purpose something that is fun. Any ideas? Let me know.

I also ran today and have to say that I did not do so good. My legs felt like 100 pounds bricks. Hopefully tomorrow goes better. I only have 2 weeks to go. I cannot believe it I am really excited, very nervous but excited. I think all the people, the new environment, and running with my dad will hopefully give me some added push to hopefully move a little faster. I am also trying to get Randi to run with me as she did not train this year. I told her that you probably could walk as fast as I run so hopefully she runs with me, I love running with people and talking so that would be nice. I guess my dad could to but I know he runs so much faster than me. How he does it I am not sure.

For some reason today I have been thinking a lot about Brooks Lake and all the fun that we have there. I cannot wait to come home and go to the cottages. They are my favorite places in the entire world of course along with Beaver Island. Probably because this means almost everyone is included in my favorite places as there are always so many people around. But I cannot wait to come home, have a fire, eat lots of food that is not good for me, swim, play cards, and have a cold beer.

February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine’s day. I think I will watch the movie today in honor of the day. Although I have not done anything special at all today. Kind of a bummer but I am not sure I have ever done anything that special except maybe eaten candy hearts and got a card from my mom.
Yup I live with a family of mice that seem not take care at all about my food. I cannot get them out of my house and they are killing me. I know they are tiny but at night in the dark I am scared to death of them. I am going to hopefully bring a car in this week to get rid of them because I want them to be gone before my dad gets here.

Also what does it say when you eat the same thing for breakfast and dinner a lot. I am not sure if I am eating all of this oatmeal because I really love it that much or if I am just to tired to make anything else. Also after watching Julie and Julia I have been thinking a lot about cooking and I think I would like to learn the chemistry behind food and why certain foods work and others don’t. I also have had my eye on a cast-iron skillet for the past 3 months and might actually get around to buying it soon.

Aunt Joyce wanted to know if she should bring a pillow over here. This makes me really wonder what they think they are getting themselves into. I am not sure but if she thinks that we do not have pillows I am scared of what else she thinks we lack over here. Knowing her she will come prepared though which is never a bad thing. I cannot believe she hasn’t ask about toilet paper yet. I am so excited for them to come though, it is always a blast when those 2 get together.

Random thought- I think I like my oatmeal better with a little salt in it, definitely a different taste.

Oh I almost forgot. I biked into town today and back and I realize I am not as in good of shape as I thought. I am going to have to do some training for this bike trip. So I do not die. I also out ran a storm today which was very good because I was in the middle of nowhere and would have had to stay under a tree and it was getting dark. Did not like that thought at all.

February 16, 2012

Today we attempted to make candles with the group and they turned into a complete disaster. But it was still really fun and now I know how to take wax from a beehive and make it into actual wax that can be used for candles. Lucky me I learned it with an in between process of making alcohol. Wonder if I will ever use this at home. It is funy because we tried to make them yesterday but there was a meeting about water and all the women came to my house but then the chairperson came and got them all and told them they needed to go to the meeting. It was really funny.

Today I mapped out more of my village and found that it is about 1 mile long. I thought it would be longer but the GPS doesn’t lie. One cool thing about the GPS is that you can watch your speed as you walk so I did a lot of that while I walked and talked with people. Tomorrow I am going out with a mama to cut firewood which I am really excited about but first I have to run 10 miles which I am not to excited about. Luckily the marathon is almost here. I am really excited and ready to see how I fair.

The women saw a picture of my dad today and they said that he looked really young. I think he will like that compliment. They then asked if you could have 2 wives in America because they would like to marry him. I told them that my mom probably would not like that. I also had someone tell me that I had a very nice nose today. That was a weird one. I was talking and she just came and touch it, really different.

Have not had any mice sighting in the last few days which is really good but I am sure they will pop their heads in at some point probably with Aunt Joyce and Dad get here. The house is almost ready, I cleaned a lot today, washed a ton of clothes, and sprayed for bugs so I think it will be the cleanest that it has been in a while. I am ready for them to come and meet everyone. They are all really excited to meet them. Jesca is going to kill a chicken for them which I am really excited about because I really want to learn how to do that. Not sure why but it is on my list of things to learn here.

I have been thinking about possible taking a up beekeeping when I get back home. Not sure exactly why but I think it could be a fun hobby and I think there is plently of room for it either at the cottage or at the shop. I guess I will have to see where I end up and everything , something I am not ready to think about yet. I do want to know but at the same time I have no idea what I want to do with my life so it is a little, ok really scary at the moment to think about. I have been thinking about the cottages a lot lately and ski team not sure why but I have.

February 17, 2012

Weird how when you about to leave places that is when it gets the busiest, although I can say that my last few weeks have been really busy but today was probably one of the busiest, most tiring days here. I got up this morning and ran 10 miles and then immediately came home and started with my house work and making banana bread because all my bananas got smashed this week. By the time I was done with all of this, I had a 1 to chill and then I went and walked the mountains with a friend for research and then I went to Jesca’s to get a mattress and now I am here. It was crazy. I am so tired it is unbelievable. But it was a great day and got me more excited about my research and being here again.

I am at a really good place here at the moment, probably because I know that everything is drawing to close but at the same time it is really nice to be able to just walk around and not feel like an outsider to feel like I might actually belong here. Although I am still going to go with I belong home at the cottage. But it is still a nice thought.

The mouse at part of my banana bread today. This means war if it wasn’t already. I really think I might have to get a cat these last few months. I really do not know what else to do. My house is spotless and the poison is not working. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I feel like my dad at the moment with his rodent problems, maybe its genetic.