I guess I'm back from disappearing, but now I have to go to school, geez that's lame.

Daddy, I had a dream that you may have been eaten by a crocodile, so when you come here you better not to anything scary like that. I think I also had a dream about finding an echidna, so that was neat! Let's do that!

Also sometime after class I'll add stuff about this weekend at the Sunny Coast and Brisbane with Kristen!

sometimes you just have to..

I'm disappearing for a couple of days. You don't have to worry about me. I'll be with Kristen. I'll be with her in less than 4 hours or something like that. It's good I'm seeing her. It's been a rough however many days for both of us, and being with a familiar person will be nice. Oh, it'll be SO nice. I'll get a hug, and I'll give her a hug and that's what we need. Yes! I'll be back Monday. Maybe I'll stay away from the computer longer than that though. Oh I don't know. (except for that paper that I have to write by Monday which WILL get done, no worries!) I love you all. thanks. I mean it.


oh yea, and also, I think Sam plays the drums on every single piece of furniture in his room. all of the time. I don't think he sleeps. he just hits things..it's not so annoying though

one more thing

if my fan isn't on in my room, it will most likely feel like a sauna in here...and that's not so comfortable....except I just sneezed and got goosebumps on my legs like always like if it was cold in here. weird.

haha oh, I think I just sneezed because I did turn on the fan and it made the dust balls in my room go crazy...they were having a party probably...I'm glad the cleaners are cleaning tomorrow, they clean up stairs this week (which is where I am!) and they haven't cleaned my room yet...because it's been to messy, ha that's funny. anyways, it's cleaner-ish now



also, look what one of Deanna's host brothers did the other morning...well I think it was actually one of the older brothers helping him with it.

They were supposed to be hanging clothes out on the clothes line...

so...I suppose I've been a little nostalgic today. First it started out talking to Hawke on skype/phone before I even got out of bed. That always makes my day better. Then I open up my door and I have a package! It was from my parents with some books a need for Children's Lit, a shirt that keeps me warm when the ac is on too high or if I get a little sad, a bar of homemade soap to give Q, and a letter. In the envelope there was a little note from my dad, an article that reminded my parents of me when I was little - something to the extent of completely taking over their bed during the night - and a letter from my mom. It all made me very, very happy and feel missed and loved, but with the knowledge that I am still doing something great that I will never forget and won't regret. On the front of the card from my mom there is a quote:

"I would often have been lonely...
if it had not been for letters."
-Eleanor Roosevelt

That is exactly how I feel, but I know that I have it a ton easier than that Eleanor did when she felt lonely....I have the Internet to keep in touch as well as letters.

I really enjoy, actually love, getting letters though. They are so much more concrete.

Also, I already have inherited one of my mom's hobbies...collecting cards to send to people. I have so many at home that I bought because I knew it fit one certain person so well, but then I probably never sent it. When I get home, I'm going to try to write those letters, because even if they are to people who are closer than half a world away they are still so appreciated.

One thing that I'm going to start doing like my mom though is writing my letter on another sheet of paper and putting it in the card...just in case the person I send it to wants to recycle it to another person. That means that so many people could see these great cards! That's what my mom and her friends do, and I really like the idea.

Also, I put up all of my pictures today on the corkboard that's in my room! It made my room so much happier, and now it's more "my room" than just the room that I'm staying in. I really love walking by it and smiling every time.

instead of reading

-that's the pig, on the left is the couple who owned the house where we were, the lady on the left is leaving for Cuba on Wednesday..it was her party-

...I'd rather tell you about the Cuba party! Last night Deanna and I went to a going away party for an older lady who has been visiting her son and daughter-in-law from Cuba. Deanna's host mom is from Spain and the lady that is leaving is one of her mom's best friends. Let me just tell you, Cuba parties are better than other parties. They cooked a pig since 9am on a rotisserie (I guess that's what it's called?), and when we got there the owner of the house was working diligently to get ALL of the meat off of the pig. All of the old ladies kept sneaking over and taking pieces of meat though. We walked in and immediately were swarmed with kisses and hugs and "bonita! bonita!". They welcomed us into their family right away. We then were offered and given fritters...which I guess I'll describe like cheese sticks you get as an appetizer, but they had pork and delicious cheese sauce in them. One old lady pretty much forced Deanna and me to eat about a million of those.

Deanna's host mom and dad

Then we sat in the corner with Puddy and her husband (Deanna's host parents) and just watched everything that was going on. Spanish people are so animated and lovely. One of the men asked us if all Americans were as pretty as us. He wasn't flirting or anything, he was just being nice. Then it was dinner time and we ate SO much. There was tons of pork of course, a cooked salad that Deanna asked what was in it and tthey said "probably a little bit of everything!" (it was like mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, cheese, peppers (or capsicum here), and i forget what else. There was also black beans and rice!!!! My favorite meal EVER! I was SO happy! There was some kind of vegetable that no one that I asked knew the name of that was white and sticky kind of and very slimy to eat, but it was still pretty tasty...I'll try to find out the name of it so I can let you know.


THEN it was salsa time! Everyone had been drinking and celebrating by then, so sometime turned up the music really loud, and automatically all of the chairs were cleared from the room (we got lucky because we were sitting on the couch) and everyone jumped up and started salsa dancing! We watched for a little while, then they noticed that the two Americans were still sitting down, so they pulled us up and we danced with them! It was really SO much fun! Oh...funny story...we stood out so much, first of all we were the only two Americans there, and second of all, we were wearing pretty much the same exact thing! We both had on jean shorts, a brown belt, a white shirt, and flipflops, haha it was pretty ridiculous. Anways, back to salsa! They taught us so many moves and we enjoyed it so much. I really liked watching them dance as well though. They were just so beautiful and even sexy when they were salsa dancing. I'm sure that most of them had known this dance since they were kids.

notice the American's matching outfits..boring huh?

Then it was dessert time, and Deanna and I weren't even allowed to pick what we wanted and serve ourselves. A few of the old ladies gave us our plates with everything that was on the table in it! We had homemade flan, some sort of coffee something cake (I didn't like that one so much), and a pineapple something that was definitely my favorite! (it reminded me of banana pudding, except with pineapple instead) We couldn't finish all of it because we were already so full from dinner.


This was during some of the goodbyes that we couldn't actually understand...the guy on the left kept blurting out while his mom (right beside him) was trying to make a goodbye speech and she kept swapping at him and telling him to shut up.

We danced some more and there was speeches that we couldn't really understand, and there were shots taken (I think only by the son who's mom was leaving...he was the funniest guy ever), and more dancing, and hugs and laughter and tears. It was a really really neat thing that we were able to experience. ok, now it's way too late for me to be up. I'll put up pictures from the party tomorrow!

bread bugs

Tonight is Thursday night, and typically this is my night to cook. I was kind of excited. I was going to cook manicotti tonight, I love manicotti! The thing is, in the recipe you need bread crumbs for the filling along with the cheese and stuff...Julie was sure we had copious amounts of bread crumbs at the house so we didn't get any at the store. It turns out that she was right! tons and tons of bread crumbs, they were even in the container labeled "bread crumbs". So I find them, and open the container, and it's probably 3 parts bread crumbs, one part beetles. gross. No manicotti tonight, and I can't come up with something to cook on the top of my head for a family of however many people live here or would be here because I just don't like that kind of pressure, and anyways I don't like cooking meat and that's probably what I would have had to do, so it's "fend for your self night" instead of "manicotti night". yea.


also, please be aware of my title for this blog, I thought it was witty.

100% precipitation probably

The weather here has been crazy! Yesterday it was cooler (even though cool still means hot enough to make you sweat through your shirt), and after I got out of my night class and walked home with Q I actually was chilly! I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and my legs had goosebumps on them! That hasn't happened to me since I've been here! (other than from AC) Anyways, today it was still cooler and I just had a 10am class so I ended up getting home around noon and as soon as I came inside there was a noise like the house was falling down, so I turned around...because of course it didn't fall on me...and it was the rain that was that loud! It only went on for like 4 minutes that time though. Since then, it's probably done it like 5 more times, the wind always starts blowing super hard and then all the sudden the rain comes, and usually disappears in 2 minutes or so. It's weird.

I hope everyone had a great St. Patty's Day! Even if you don't wear green here for that day, you don't get pinched. Julie, my host mom, thought I was crazy when I asked her about that tradition.

My room is clean!! Well mostly, I have to do laundry next. yuck. I guess I'll do that tomorrow because I don't have class. I'd rather do something more fun though, oh well.