Books Food and iPods

They say, "You don´t know what you´ve got ´till it´s gone". After what happenend this week with my iPod, I believe them. Last Tuesday after studying and listening to some Jazz for a while, I was going to bed and plugged the iPod in to let it charge (there wasn´t much battery left), but nothing happened. The normal "Charging" screen didn´t pop up. I tried my back-up cable and different outlets, but to no avail. I tried to think of what else to do, but my only hope was that the brand new power converter I have was broke. This seemed unlikely since it was only three months old. I was worried that something was wrong inside the iPod and that I wouldn´t be able to get it replaced, or even then that I wouldn´t have all the music. I know that I´m a worrier by nature, but sadly, I didn´t really sleep much that night beacuse I was thinking about what I would do if I had to go without it. I didn´t realize til then how reliant I had gotten to this little piece of plastic. I listen to it every day to relax and feel "at home". The next day,I tried a couple of things, but nothing worked. Luckly, I was already planning on heading to Quito on Friady (more about the trip later), so at least I could go to the MacWorld and get a new converter. I did this and thankfully, that was the problem. Everything is back to normal, but I much more grateful to everyone who chipped in to get me that present.

The last 2 weeks in L.L. have been OK. I´ve had class at the school (they´ve even asked me already to teach more classes next year). Hopefully I´ll be to busy with other projects to help them out as much as they want. This week I made a list of all the sounds the different letters in English make (ex. Apple, Angel, etc.). They really didn´t like this and it was hard getting them to pay attention. I think they are starting to loose interest and I´m going to have to figure out a way to make class more fun, but I don´t know how. Maybe next week I´ll wear a clown suit.

I also started helping out at the High School. Class starts at 7:30 AM, so I´ve had to get up earlier than normal. On the way to the first day of class, I passed a couple of people and they all said hello and then, "Madrugado". I didn´t know what this meant, but since three people said it, I looked it up right after class. It means, "Early Riser". No wonder I haven´t heard that before. In the High School , I´m going to help with Ag classes and on a project to start animal production on an integrated farm. Hopefully I´ll be able to do some construction/design/strategic planning.

I went last week to watch some local teams play a couple of soccer games. It was fun to watch and I even got to see my first South American soccer fight (therse guys take it seriously). I think my reguloar Sunday will be to go to the nearest town and use the internet (which I´m doing right now), grab lunch at the place that serves roast pork on Sundays, and then hit the Farmer´s Market. After that it is back to L.L. to watch soccer and go to mass. A nice little Sunday.

On the food front, I have been cooking my own meals. Nothing fancy yet, but I have made some tuna fish sandwiches for the first time (I actually liked them). Also, I had Caldo de Pata for the first time. This would translate to "Foot Broth". It is basically cow foot boiled with onions and corn. The broth wasn´t too bad, but I had trouble with the foot meat. The family that served it to me was nice and told me I didn´t have to finish it all. I got three bites down and had to stop. It was the same texture as raw calamari. I guess it just needed marinara sauce and fried jalapeño slices.

I got the chance to talk with my family back in St. Louis the day before Mother´s Day (by the way, happy late Mother´s Day to all the Mom´s reading!). It was nice to hear their voices and kind of funny when Steph said something that I couldn´t hear, I said, "Mande", which is like "I didn´t get that" in Spanish. That was the first time I´ve said something in Spanish when I ment to say it in English.

So, the trip to Quito went well. I first went to the mall, but it wasn´t open yet, so I went next door to the Pancake House (I had Pancakes and Bacon...it was great). Then when the mall opened I got some books ("Don Quixote" and "El amor en los tiempos del cólera" [This one in Spanish]) It cost a lot for the books, but they should keep me busy at night. I also went to the grocery store, SuperMaxi, and got spices, Jiff peanut butter, ranch dressing, and Tobasco habañero hot sauce. Now I´m set for cooking. Then I went to the PCoffice to get my mail. I got some cards and letters from Mom and Dad and two more baseball gloves from Steph and Matt to play catch withthe local kids (I already tried them açout,and the kids are going to need some work. All hand/foot and no had/eye coordination) THANKS!!! I also got my copy of "Ulysses" from Mom. I ran out of books last week and was frantically looking for something to read. I actually was searching the neighbors house for a copy of a Nancy Drew book in English that I saw one o the kids with. Quite a difference...going from looking for a kids mystery book to having one of the most complicated books in English, a 1000 page novel, and a book in Spanish. I don´t think I´ll need Nancy just yet.

I also, talked to my bass at the office about a trip the rest of my training group and I were planning. We wanted to go back to our CBT site,Cangahua, for the big festival, San Pedro. I wanted to see the bull fight, but my boss said no. There is a policy against taking trips in the first three months of service, so the bull fight will have to wait. Lastly at the offfice I paiacked up a space heater. Hopefully this will kepp me a little warmer at night.

Ater the office I went to the MacWorld and got the converter and grabbed a burger and a beer (a Budweieser, my first cold beer and only second beer in a month). Then it was on the bus for the two hour ride to La Libertad.

Jay