The first rule of fight club is that you do not talk about fight club. Apparently the rats didn’t get that message cause they threw a rat fight club in my ceiling my 2nd week back at site from Christmas vacation (more on that later). It was loud, annoying and there might have been a casualty, though I have no way of knowing. In the run-up to the WWE main event, there were rats scurrying all over my ceiling (this all happened in my attic space), causing me a few days of little shut-eye just from the noise of their nails click, click, clicking on the wood above my head. Not to mention I think entrance to my attic is right above my head. On the night of the fight, my friend Katie happened to be at my site for a site exchange (again, more on that later) and she and I both listened in mild terror (at least it was mild terror for me, since I thought they were going to come to come crashing through my ceiling) at the fight over our heads. At one point it even woke us up, since during their intermission we had fallen asleep. I was really glad she was there. It helped keep me more sane then I would have has I been by myself. I knew the rats couldn’t get into my house, since there are no holes in my ceiling, but you know what the night can do to you. Makes you think about all the what ifs. Thankfully, I think they are gone. I marched over to my guards house the next day and asked him very politely if he wouldn’t mind plugging the hole that lead into my house. He did, they got in again, though I think only one, he fixed it again (I think. At least I asked him too again) and now I hope they are really gone. I keep thinking I hear a rat, walking along, but I think I am just having flashbacks.
So let’s back up to December and 2011. The big news was I WENT HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! It was so exciting. My dad planned it as a surprise for my mom and we managed to keep it from her, which I think is pretty impressive considering we booked the ticket in late August. Since we wanted to surprise my mom, I didn’t tell any of my friends that I was coming home either. The only people who knew were Eric, his girlfriend (at least I’m assuming Becca knew), Brian and my dad. Any more people and someone would have cracked. I got into Seattle, via Atlanta and Paris, at 12:30am on December 22nd. Eric came and got me at the airport and then we had to be really quiet when we got home. My dad work us up at 6:45am to surprise my mom. And boy was she surprised! Especially since I had lied (sorry Mom!) about my Christmas plans and she thought I was on the east coast of MADA. I hung out at home all day, since I didn’t want anyone to see me (though I did crack and take my dog for a walk around Greenlake, a inner city lake that’s real close to my house. I didn’t think I would see anyone since it was super cold and early in the morning). We then surprised my godfather at dinner that night and then a few of my friends that night at their apartment. It was a great first day back.
The whole trip home was a success. Brian came out for like 6 days over New Year’s, which was amazing. We did a lot of wedding planning stuff, which still isn’t finalized yet, but will be soon, and watched a lot of football (it was college bowl week and I love college bowl week). I also hung out with my family a lot, did some damage at Banana Republic (I felt like I was one of the Bakers, especially since I ended up buy the same trench coat as Katie), had lots of wine and one AMAZING steak (thanks baby!), and overall eat my way through the 2 week trip. I had to stock up on cheese, since there is only one brand of cheese here and it leaves something to be desired. I had a lot of time to just sit and chill, which was nice. I mean I do that a lot at site, but it was nice to do it in front of a TV with dozens of channels. and to be able to get up, grab a diet coke (which they don't have here and it always makes me sad) and sit or lay right back down. I headed back to MADA on Jan 5th and went back to site on Jan 8th.
I came back to MADA at the beginning of a cyclone so my first Tuesday back I didn’t have to teach since school was closed. Monday I managed to make it to school, maybe the eye of the storm was over us or something, cause Sunday and Tuesday were awful. Then Katie showed up! Katie is my friend in Peace Corps who lives in the north of MADA, by a town called Ambanja, which I think you can find on a map. She came to my site to help me paint a giant work map at my CEG. We worked real hard too. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday at my CEG, gridding, painting, drawing, painting again, drawing again. We did have some assistants, in the form of my site mate's next door neighbors, who are 8, 6 and 4, but the two youngest did get bored after awhile with all the blue painting being done and went off and did something. We were exhausted on Sunday night. Katie also taught in my high school classes and work at the health center one day with my site mate. It was a very successful site exchange. We got a lot done and my school loves the map. I see kids looking at it all the time. We also had a lot of fun too. We watched a lot of movies and cooked a lot of food. We can work and play hard. What what!
Katie left last week, so I’ve just been teaching. Nothing too exciting going on. I weird to think that I leave MADA this year. Less than a year left. Less than 8 months left. It’s weird to think about. I will come back to America and have to find a real job and be a real grown-up. My after Peace Corps plans involve coming back to the US as soon as I finished, but I am not sure where I will be for a while. Ultimately I will end up in DC with Brian, but my friend Rachel is engaged and may be getting married in the fall, so if she does, I will have to be in Seattle for the wedding, which I wouldn’t miss for anything since she’s the first HS friend getting married and the first of my friends weddings I can go to since my friend Jenn got married Labor Day weekend after I left for PC (Sorry Jenn! I Hope you got my really, really late wedding present! And I hope you liked it! It reminded me so much of you). I also want to be in DC for Brians bday, which is Sept 16th. Well actually I just want to be with him, so if Rachels wedding is that weekend we will be in Seattle together. I also want to go to the UW-CU game in November that’s at CU and I am going to move mountains to be able to go. I hope Brian can come with me, but we won’t know that until closer to November. I also want to spend a good chunk of time in Seattle, since I have to pack up my life for the move out east. See, I have so many plans, but no real idea what is really happening! I just know that if I want all this to happen I can’t really get a job until January 2013, but I will temp or do something during the fall. I can’t not make money in the fall. I have a wedding to save for!
I don’t have much else to say. I won’t have a book list this time, because I left my journal in the States and my mom is mailing it to me, so the next one will be really long. I mean I could write down most of the books, but I don’t want to get confused. Oh request for all my blog fans: Please feel free to send me CDs with new, current music. Even older music from the last few months would be appreciated. Especially Pitbulls “give me everything tonight”. I love that song and I don’t have it. Thanks everyone!
