Let's Talk About Food Baby!

Ok, so I did some work! I haven't just been reading lately and it's pretty exciting. Since last time I've had some interesting transport, some bike problems, visits, and more! I hitched a ride with my bicycle for the first time, which was interesting, but not as bad as i thought, and I stayed with my friend Liz in her village for a few days. It's the opposite of my place, in that she has no fence and is seriously surrounded by people all the time! They all call me Grace in her village, and I made fritters there so now her village bugs her about cooking all the time. Then for the 4th of July she came to visit me, we cooked an read and that's about it. It was great!

Also my tastebuds are no longer as sophisticated as they once were, so all those fancy gourmet chocolates people send me, i can't eat plain - so i put them in pancakes! It's a wonderful diet.

Have you ever noticed that those people mags, us weeklys, etc, are FULL of advertisements for food? Seriously, I think i spend more time looking at the food ads than I do reading about tori spelling. It's a little sad.

I had a program at a basic school. It was excellent! I went one day for the girls grades 8-9 (ages 14-18~) and a female teacher helped me with translations. I did about 15 minutes of HIV basics and then they asked questions about sex and relationships for 2 hours. Lots of questions that seem inappropriate, and made me blush for sure! But, because there isn't really a way for them to ask all those questions within their culture, it's great that they can ask me, because in a lot of ways I exist outside the culture. Then I came back the next day for the boys, which I was a lot more nervous about - but they STORMED the classroom they were so excited. I was there more than 2 hours answering all their questions, and had so much fun. After I left, 1 boy had a camera so they all wanted to pose for pictures with me. As I was biking home, it was dusk, I was going downhill past cows and goats and masked traditional dancers beating drums, and I was just on SUCH a high. Then i sat on my porch, had a glass of wine, and took a bucket bath, and thought, "this is my life." it was great. Then a couple days later my cell phone got stolen. fantastic.

Books I've read since last time: Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean Auel, The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate - Nancy Mitford, The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini, Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen, The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver, Shoe Addicts Anonymous - Beth Harbison, Getting Stoned With Savages - J. Maarten Troost, Empire Falls - Richard Russo, The Joy Luck CLub - Amy Tan, Twilight - Stephenie Meyer, About a Boy - Nick Hornby