Dear everyone!
long time no post I know. A lot has happened but also a little. A lot, in that I have been in Mantasoa for a month and have had stuff to do everyday but a little because I have basically been doing the same thing for the last month. So first I am going to post my wish list, since that to me is the most important thing right now. There are a lot of things, both big and small, that I want so everyone can send me stuff, if they want. If you send something, post what it is in the comment section so I don’t get duplicate books or movies. Really, the food can be duplicated so if someone says they have sent me a pack of Orbitz gum, feel free to send me another pack. So without further ado, heres my list!!!
Peanut butter or plain m&m’s
Granola bars
Brown sugar pop tarts (or any that sound like they should be dessert, not breakfast)
Beef Jerky (there is brown sugar beef jerky but its very tricky to find, but if you find it…..)
Cake/cookies/brownie mixes
Orbitz gum – sweet mint, strawberry mint, bubblemint etc.
Movies (hit up the $5 dollar section at target. Would love new movies too though)
Magazines (Time, People, US Weekly, anything trashy really, Newsweek, the Economist, Vanity Fair etc)
Rainbow Chip Frosting (This one is for Katie, to take you back to our cabin days, though I actually do want it)
Old Navy Flip Flops
Target Leggings
Anything cheap and cute, clotheswise
A plain baseball cap, any color but orange
Instant Quaker oatmeal (brown sugar. notice a theme?)
Condiment packages: Ketchup, maple syrup, mayo, taco bell fire sauce, teriyaki)
Johnnys seasoning salt
Gorilla pod
Mac and cheese cheese packs from King Arthur. You can find it online somewhere. White cheddar too!
Easy Mac
Nail polish
Baby wipes
Sudoku and crossword books
Cds (I have a dvd player that also plays cds so I would love new music or any type of mix you want to send. Dad, would you burn a copy of the last 3 glee cds [Madonna, showstoppers, journey to regionals] and send me them?)
Books: Crime and Punishment, wuthering heights, jane eyre, the namesake, the book thief, the old man and the sea, listening to Duran Duran, one flew over the cuckoos nest, the shining, thunderstruck, it, Cinderella (from the guy who wrote Wicked), don’t wake me at doyles, my friend leonard, the mists of Avalon, the blind assassin, handmaidens tale, west with the night, out of Africa, the last king of Scotland, kiss the girls, along came a spider, fried green tomatoes, fear and loathing in las vegas, fist stick knife guns, northanger abbey, guns germs and steel, angela’s ashes, david copperfield, oliver twist, collapse, John Irving books (not cider house rules), anything interesting and good. Joe, if you could send any old paperbacks you don’t want anymore that would be great. Go to used bookstores to find these, since that will be real cheap
Send all of this in PADDED ENVELOPES. They have a better chance of going all to my site then a boxed package, which will get stopped in my banking town and I will have to go there and pick it up. Or, for the next 2 months, you can still send padded envelopes and packages to the Tana address (which if you really want to send me a boxed package, always send it to tana) Send anything to the Tana address no later than NOVEMBER 1, 2010. After that, all padded envelopes/letters to my new address if you haven’t started doing that already, which I will have within the next week.
Ok so that’s the wish list. I hope that this helps people decide what they want to send me, if you are sending me anything. Speaking of sending me things, brian is in the lead with letter (surprise surprise ;)) with my parents and Diana pretty much tied in 2nd. And that’s it. So friends and family of mine, please send me mail. I really really like when I get it. It makes me feel loved (Selena and Brenna, you have a get out of jail free card right now in letter writing, since you are both leaving the US of A soon. But as soon as you get back, the card is lifted). And when you send stuff, if you could throw in a news story or a sudoku/crossword that would be amazing.
So my life here in MAD. For the last month I have had training, which has had its ups and downs. I had Practicum for 2 weeks, which meant that I taught willing children from Mantasoa English in every grade level. I don’t know why the volunteered, cause lets be real I never would have, especially to take a test, which they did do at the end cause we (PC-ers) made it, but a lot of people did. I had to teach all sorts of things and was scared each and every time. I have so much more respect now for teachers in America. Making lesson plans is hard work, harder than I thought it would be. I still am not sure what grade I’m teaching at site, but I am like 75% sure its sixeme, which it basically our 6th grade, so they will just be starting English, which is the best thing for me since everything will be basic and I don’t know English grammer. That also means I have to deal with 11 and 12 year olds every day. I plan on being quite strict, especially at the beginning, otherwise they will eat me alive. There is a girl in our group who is super nice and has accepted that the kids are going to destroy her cause she’s so nice. I am lucky cause I think I am only going to be teaching one grade, which means one lesson plan for the week, instead of 2 so yay! Still though 6th graders. They scare me.
Every day was real long and tiring. We were go go go all day long. In addition to teaching, we had language every day, some days more than others. Some days, I was in language for like 5 hours. It was awful, but necessary. We had to take a language exam a few days ago and I passed, which I know I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had so much language. And I needed to pass. If you didn’t pass, you couldn’t swear in as a PC volunteer. I am writing this on my friend James computer and few days before we swear-in, so Im not sure what that will all entail, but I will keep you updated. We have to swear in saying the official government oath, which will be fun. We did find out that the ceremony was televised and like 350 people will be there. I know nuts!
Right now we have a free weekend at the PCTC, where we can do laundry (check), read (check), watch movies (another check), eat till we burst (semi-check, haven’t burst yet) and just relax (real big check). We had one 45min session sat morn and have been free since then. We have some sessions tomorrow but im not really sure about what or when or why. Really I don’t know anything. I just go with the flow. I do know I am leaving on Wednesday to go to my site, which I am semi-glad/semi-terrified to do. Glad, cause there are a lot of people I want to kick off the island and I don’t like being stuck with (though this weekend people have really only been hanging out with their friends, so that’s been nice) and terrified cause I don’t want to leave my friends and the people I do like. I am really nervous to be by myself in Faratsiho with no one around (and yes, that girl really did switch into my site, but I want to pretend like shes not there for the first month so I have the PC experience I thought I was going to have). I already told Brian I was going to call him crying every night for awhile so lucky him! Oh that reminds me. B-day shoutout! Happy birthday to Brian, Gabe, Selena, and Grandpa. If I forgot you, im sorry. My brain is a little unclear at the moment cause im real sleepy while I type this but those are who I remember at this point. Also hello Mrs. Janz! I really like your daughter! And hello to everyone else who reads my blog who I don’t know. I hope no ones offended by anything I write.
I have already started to make a list of things I want from the USA when my parents/brian/eric/anyone else comes out and visits. If anyone is going to come, let me know and I will give you a list and send you money. I would literally give up my dvd player without a chord for a Chipotle burrito right now. You never realize how good we have it in America, food wise, until you leave. Plus I love the USA’s electricity and appliances and stores that are open 24hours and movie theaters and real beds. I feel like if anyone is pissed off at American commercialism go to a non western euro country for awhile. you will grow to appreciate you washing machine and sit down flush toilets real fast. Or clean water for that matter. It sucks having to filter your water and then add chlorine to it. It can sometimes taste like a pool.
In case you’re wondering what the title of this blog meant fear not! I will explain. We were listening to the political/econ guy from the US mission (there is no embassy here in MAD right now. The ambassador hasn’t come back since the coup, since the US govt doesn’t recognize the current govt. yet we’re still here. Go figure) and he was telling us how he is an RPCV (returned PC volunteer) from Morocco. Basically, though his talking, we discovered that morocco was the Gryffindor of PC (the cool, brave, house that gets all the good people and wins) and that MAD was the hufflepuff b/c we are the loser country cause we are in a country that has the talent/ capability/potential financing to not have PC in it but just cant get its act together (his words, not mine). And I really can’t take credit for saying that, since my friend Katie (who is from b-more and goes to the same chipotle that brian and I go to) said it. Im just stealing it. Hufflepuff had been popping up a lot in my life cause I won a $20 bet with hufflepuff. My friend Amber and I were discussing harry potter and somehow the question came up “what house was cedric diggory in” and I said Hufflepuff (cause that’s what he was in) and she said Gryffindor (which is obvi wrong, at least to me) and I said I would bet $20 on it, thinking she wouldn’t do it and she did. I called Eric and made him google it at 9pm at night his time and she got her sister to google it later, so we would see who won. I did! That $20 will be my water heater and I am really excited about it. Wow just looked at my skin and it is really dry. Not attractive
In other non MAD news, just essential news about my life, Brian and I have picked a date!!! YAY!!!! The date makes it so much more real. We are getting married August 11th, 2013. Yay! In Puerto Rico though we don’t know where yet. Those details haven’t been worked out yet, though I think we may have some time. We have our colors (Black, Cream and Plum, with silver if need be) our save the dates, our venue list, our guest list, our honeymoon spot (a year later, so august of 2014, in the south pacific. We need time to save up money but more importantly for me to save up vaca time from my job so that we can go for 2 weeks), our basic outline of the way the nigh will go, our bachelor/bachelorette parties and I have my spa day all planned. The only thing we need is our first song and I am open to suggestions from the peanut gallery. Yay! I love planning this wedding and talking about it and pretty much anything that has to do with it. But its not just cause I want to get married, its because I really want to get married to brian. Awwwwww I know we are so cute J. And in love. And I probably just grossed people out but whatever.
Ok well that’s all for now. My fingers hurt and I need to shower. Its been awhile. Over and out!
My host mom and I at the host family party one of the last days of training
