Kim- Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds becomes a reality

Potentially the most ridiculous blog ever, but I felt like this should be documented in writing somewhere. While in Serreta, Kevin and I were sitting and enjoying the view of the ocean and the cliffs and the town nearby. It was late; so everyone else was sleeping. In the middle of our conversation, a large, dark bird (they sound like demon frogs, by the way) comes down and swoops at us. I duck to the left, but apparently its two feet landed on Kevin, and he felt its wings flutter by him. He freaked out, saying that he felt violated, and in hindsight, it was pretty funny. What was even funnier was that everyone else who was sleeping heard this occur, and didn’t know what it was until the next morning.

Kim- Fields of Serreta

We went camping this past weekend, in Serreta, which is in the northwest corner of Terceira. It was absolutely beautiful. Much to the displeasure of the rest of the group, I’m sure, I went on a two hour excursion around the area. The whole road was just great, and it eventually forked into the large fields of grass for cows that we always drive past. It was great just walking around in them, and sitting down, and hanging out. It was interesting, just because whenever I’m by myself, I usually have Mr. iPod with me. Obviously, I did not bring him camping, so I just sat in solitude, and enjoyed the moment. It was different, but very nice. There’s just such a disconnect from doing that, and being there, that I’ve never done before. I can’t remember the last time that I’ve been that solitary, sans people, distraction, or music. Later down the road, there was a lot of wild hyacinth that was really pretty. Shortly after that, I was retrieved by my colleagues via car.

Amanda: Chinese Food!

For some reason, many people in our group, including myself, had been craving Chinese food for a good while. We heard there were a couple of Chinese places scattered about Angra and finally decided to go and eat dinner at one close by! The food was amazing, and not too different from a semi-nice Chinese restaurant you would find in America. I thoroughly enjoyed my hot tea, spring roll, wonton soup, beef with mixed vegetables, and fried rice, and hope to go back before we leave!:)

Amanda: Emergency (?) Room

When working in the ER at the hospital I found out it really wasn’t as much of an “emergency” room as I expected. Terceira is a very small island and I understand why the ER wouldn’t be very busy, but I didn’t realize how many people go to the ER as if it were a family practice. I worked with the pediatrician one day, and I can’t even count how many parents brought their children in for next to nothing. Half the kids were smiling and bopping around when they entered the room, obviously not that sick. The friendly lady doctor seemed very frustrated to see patients who should be making appointments with their family doctors, if even needed, and not be congesting the ER.

Amanda: Weather

The weather on Terceira has been so unpredictable. You may wake up at 8:00 am and think it’s going to be a miserable rainy and chilly day, but my 12:00 p.m. the sun is shinning and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. I must admit the frequent rain showers and windy afternoons can be a bit depressing, especially when you expect the warm sun to be shinning so you can go play on the beach and enjoy the island. But I still love being able to experience such a beautiful place and the uncertain weather makes the sunny days that much better!

Suzanne - Indiana Jones

For a glorious day this week, Courtney, Ana Maria, and I rented a car and toured the entire island. One of the highlights was a treacherous journey through Mata de Serreta (or the forest of Serreta...I think it translates as that....). It was basically hilly, holey, red rock roads bordered by plush, magical green forests!!! Sitting in the middle backseat, feeling the car jump up and down as we flew over the hills and up and down through the holes, I felt as though I was on the Indiana Jones ride at Disney World. It was INCREDIBLE!!! Even though we got stuck in a ditch once and had to push the car out, the entire journey was still unbelievably surreal.

Ana Maria - Amputations & Adventures

I will never forget the sound of a steel saw on a human leg, nor will the image of a human femur with all of the tissue, muscle, and fat peeled back ever lose its power in my memory. On Tuesday, while I was in the OR, I walked into a leg amputation surgery in OR #2. I knew right away that I should walk back out, but there was something about the surgery – already in progress – that mesmerized me and rooted me to my spot. Even when one of the nurses pulled up a stepping stool for me, I couldn’t leave. Instead, I continued to watch from a better vantage point. As a result, those sensory images will never be erased from my memory. It was awful, gruesome, and one of my worst nightmares, and yet in a way I knew it was necessary. The doctors helped to prolong the patient’s life, so it was a necessary surgery. Still, it was horrifying. Let’s just say I’m not going into orthopedics…

Courtney, Suzanne and I opted out of camping this week, and instead we rented a car for 24 hours. We drove all around the island, stopping any and every time we felt so inclined. I have about a million pictures of Suzanne embracing nature in various forms, be it flowers or cows or indigenous plants… And we have several exploratory pictures taken with self-timers. Terceira is a beautiful island, and it was a great experience to be able to see the other three quarters beyond Angra. At the end of the day, however, we all realized how much we like Angra. Now that we’ve explored the other three sides, I feel much better about just relaxing on the praias of Angra or munching on delicious pastries in the cafes around here.

Yuen-Pastry Price

I have talked to a few other people who have had similar experiences but I've gone into the same cafe/restaurant multiple times gotten the same thing and been charged a whole variety of prices. Some days the chocolate croissant is 80 cents sometimes 1.20 euro, sometimes the cafe is 50 cents sometimes a euro, even if it is the same waiter or waitress serving me. I guess its a disadvantage of clearly being a foreigner. However, once a waitress or waiter has been won over, the prices tend to be better. I would like to know if the locals get an even better bargain.

Yuen-Making One Portuguese Language

Today we were talking with one of our elementary school teachers, Edgar, and he told us about how Brazil and Portugal are trying to change their languages to become more similar. Portugal is changing its Portuguese to match Brazilian Portuguese. A few examples he gave us were that Portugal's Portuguese would drop some letters that are silent in certain words in order to make the spelling of those words identical to the Brazilian spelling. To my knowledge, this practice of language merging is not very typical. The United States and Britain are not trying to merge their two types of English into a uniform language, and certainly there are many other instances in which the same language has both different spelling and pronunciations depending on the part of the world it is used in. I am curious to learn more about the reasoning behind and also the objectives of unifying Portugal's Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese and to what extent and how fast these changes are going to occur.

Yuen-Cantinho

Cantinho is a very small elementary school that we've taught at a few times. There are only 6 students in the first grade, 4 boys in the second grade, and about 6 students in the third grade. The school is very small and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade are combined into one classroom. Nevertheless, the teacher we work with calls it a "paradise of a school" because the kids are incredibly well behaved, very sweet, and like to do work. They are very productive and get through 2 or 3 worksheets or exercises when other classes we've taught in at different schools struggle to get through one. Next year Cantinho is closing and the students will attend Tomas de Borba. Though these small village schools are probably not very cost efficient, still there is something being lost by combining everyone into big schools in which student behavior is out of control. From teaching and visiting a few other small schools, in which almost across the board the students are drastically better behaved than at Tomas de Borba, one has to wonder which factors are most important in improving student behavior. Whether its being in a smaller community, having less space to run around in, not having both kindergartners and highschoolers attend the same school, the fact that these smaller schools have been open much longer than Tomas de Borba, or other factors, hopefully these things can eventually be improved upon to fix the behaviorial issues at Tomas de Borba.

kevin - ivory

today i was enjoying a nice quiet lunch at the cerverjaria and i witnessed an interesting transaction at the adjacent table. two very distinguished looking older gentlemen were enjoying a beer and speaking quietly. they were impeccably dressed and had finely trimmed white beards. a younger, sketchy looking, wirey dude shows up and joins them. at this point they were certainly an odd looking threesome. after several minutes the most recent guest pulled out three pieces of ivory and sold them to one of the older gentlemen for 150-200 euros. he wrapped the bills up and rubber-banded them and put them into his breast pocket. they then proceeded to leave the ivory on the table for the duration of their conversation.

kevin - ivory

Kevin – The Base

Dearest Blog,
“Have you been to the base yet?” every one fluent in English asks me in our first conversation. “No. Should I?” They don’t usually have a response, but often make an uneasy face I’ve yet to comprehend. People from the island haven’t been allowed on the base for some years after claims that a black market had arisen because of local doctors and other professionals given permission to shop at the base’s notoriously cheap stores. I’ve decided I would like to visit once and I have no reason to believe there wouldn’t be an opportunity to do so at some time or another. I admit I’m eager to see what’s been described as ‘America outside of America’; however, given my recent understanding of how many islanders view Americans, this doesn’t strike my as a necessarily flattering description. Here I have to admit a bias of my own – out of the 10 or so GIs/private contractors I’ve come across over the last 2-3 weeks, I can’t say any represent a side of America/Americans I would choose to present to people outside the states.

More importantly - why do we have a base here? Since when? Why do we still need it? What is of pressing, secret importance here? I’ll find out when I go and I think I’ll have to do some outside research as well. Maybe in another blog.



Kevin – Bull fights and students
I’ve come to realize that a lot of the kids surrounding me and trying to make gestures to me to understand something at a number of bullfights are in fact students of mine at Tomas Borba. In retrospect its ridiculous I didn’t think about it in the first place. The kids are always stoked when they see me and at bullfights and even more so when I recognize them in school. They usually come up for a high-five or just make a smiling nodding face that I would translate as ‘right on’. At first I was concerned what they’d say to their peers – that they were hanging out with that American teacher at a bullfight having some beers – something like that. Then I realized it doesn’t matter. The kids have fun; I do too, and I’m relating them in a way that their actual teachers can’t.

Also, the kids all go to the same discos as us, so that’s a bigger concern.

Sarah- 6. U.S. Air Force

On Wednesday the 6 people working at the hospital visited the U.S. Air Force Base in Lajes with our intern leader Marta and 3 other doctors who work in Angra. Sergeant Onker, Ellis, Benedict, and Misker (?) all gave us presentations about their experiences working at nurses or doctors in the Air Force. They spoke mainly of trauma patients and how to deal with emergency situations. One of their stories was about a dog named Rocky, trained to detect bombs. While they were deployed in Iraq a local boy came into the ER accompanied by an elder. Rocky kept trying to get to the elder, and although nurses protested at first they let him go towards Rocky. The elder was searched, and had a grenade! Rocky the dog had saved everyone’s life. Later, when Rocky was injured he was given first priority and we saw a picture of Ellis’s that showed Rocky going into an X-ray machine. Another story that stuck out to me was the story of Bay 2. Sergeant Onker had been stationed in Iraq and worked in the hospital there as a nurse. The hospital wards were made of tents and in the emergency room were 5 bays, all stocked with supplies and ready for any trauma victim. Bay 2 was where the patients that were the worst off went. At one point during the war Bush and other government officials gave to the hospital and they noticed how the floor of Bay 2 was dented from the beds being pushed down on the floor. There were stains and all the signs of people being over that floor trying to save lives, and succeeding. The Bay can now be seen in the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington D.C. The experience of going to Lajes and hearing these stories warmed my heart. Not only did I get a medical perspective (one of the main points of the trip), but I felt touched that these people had risked their lives to save others fighting for America.

Sarah- 5. First Bull Fight

On Monday I attended my first real bull fight. We met up with Carolina, one of Courtney’s students, in her village when the torrada was taking place. She showed us around and we ended up at a small coffee/pastry shop where we sat until the bull fight started. When the first shots went off- warning us that the bull was about to be released we jumped onto a wagon that had wood beams blocking us from the street if the bull were to ram the wall, which it did. We didn’t see the bull at first because it was farther down the street, but when we saw mass amounts of people running in are direction I knew it was coming. The bull was huge! Its nose was bleeding from being frustrated, and men would try and rile it up. The fight lasted maybe 20 minutes per bull, and there were four bulls. During half time we moved to a different location- Carolina’s grandmother’s house, which had bleachers set up to watch the fight. It was a great view and really entertaining. The only bad part was the weather- which was freezing and rainy! After the bullfight we went to Carolina’s house to have food. Her house was in the prettiest location, with a view of fields and the ocean on one side, and the mountains in the other. Her grandparents were there and were so nice! We ate so much food, and came home feeling fully satisfied from the day.

Sarah- 4. Tuna Performance

Tonight we made our way to Havana to hear Joao and Hugo play in their Tuna band called Tusa. We got there and waited around for a while, and then their band, a group of about 20 people came into the small bar. They were all dressed in traditional clothes and looked very professional, even though moments before they had been smoking, drinking, and hanging out with everyone at the bar. They introduced themselves, in Portuguese, and then in English. It was nice of them to do translate the whole time and I enjoyed feeling welcome and comfortable with a different culture. The music was great! People sang, played guitars, tambourines, and other instruments. In the middle of some songs our friend Hugo would come to the front of the band and play the tambourine while dancing. In between songs people would tell jokes to the bar, and would once again translate them into English for us. During the performance a couple of Tusa members came and grabbed our hands, asking for a dance. All the girls joined in a traditional dance, consisting of a lot of clapping, snapping, and turning. It was great! After they finished everyone in the bar, including the band, hung out for the rest of night. It was a night mixed of Portuguese tradition and coming together as different cultures to have a good time.

eric- driving

Driving here sucks. The roads are narrow and people fly down them. The other day I was out delivering ballots for the European parliament elections and I got clipped by a truck. I wasn’t even in the road. I was completely on the sidewalk and I got smacked in the elbow by the rearview mirror of a delivery truck. It didn’t really hurt but it scared the shit out me. One of the guys we work with at the government told us that last year a tourist crossed the street at what he thought was a crosswalk and was hit and killed by car. What a terrible way to die. At the same time, however, everyone who lives here seems to understand that driving, and even walking in the street can be dangerous. They honk when they are about to take a blind corner and I’ve never seen such a lack of road rage. Rather than complain about the street conditions, people tend to band to together to overcome them. Maybe if driving wasn’t so easy and convenient in the U.S. people wouldn’t be so unkind to each other on the road. Eh, that’s probably just wishful thinking.

eric - bulls

I learned something important last week. If you mess with a live animal, especially one that’s bigger and stronger than you, it will get pissed, and it will try to inflict pain on your naïve butt. A few beers into the most recent bullfight I attended, I was granted the liquid courage to tempt the bull. I figured, hey all locals do it without getting seriously hurt, Why cant I? Ill certainly be able to get away. Wrong. I slipped running and took a bull horn right to the butt. Grant it, this was not a full grown bull. It was a mere adolescent that probably has about a hundred pounds on me. If it had been full grown, I would probably be sitting on a doughnut right now with a broken tailbone. Fortunately, all the little bull did was lift me off the ground enough so that I could regain my footing and run away. The bottom line is, “damn nature, you scary”. You can’t control what an angry bull will or will not do. So why try? From now on, Im going to stay a safe distance away from large, ornery animals. Well, at least the ones with horns.

Ana Maria: Kayaking & A Labor of Love

On Saturday morning, Yuen burst into my room at an early hour to wake me up for our kayaking adventure. Even though for the first few minutes I had to suppress an urge to physically harm her, Yuen’s excitement and energy soon got me up and ready to go. We went out to the marina area and met with George, who gave us a brief lo-down on kayaking and let us get in the water. Initially, Andy was sitting shotgun in our kayak, so all I had to do was match strokes with him. I was thankful that I didn’t have to do any thinking yet because it was still before noon, and anticipating his strokes was a task that I could lose myself in. Unfortunately for him, Andy is um poco taller than the average Portuguese person, so he was losing sensation from the waist down, which I can imagine was not the most tickling of sensations. We turned around and went back to the dock to try and switch spots, which ended up working out for the best because Andy didn’t die out in open water and I got to wear the pants for a change. Although initially I didn’t really understand how the steering went and how to change directions, after a few tutorials from George and Andy, I was a pro. The weather was gorgeous, and at one point when we were out on the water I got so caught up in the panorama that I forgot to keep paddling. It worked out well because Andy toned his muscles while I made us look pretty. George almost had a heart attack on multiple occasions I’m sure, but we all survived the open waters. It was a phenomenal way to start the day.


About 900 babies are born in the hospital in Terceira every year, and although this would calculate out to a couple of births each day, what actually happens is some days there are multiple births, while other days no babies are born. This week in Obstetrics & Gynecology, I had my heart set on seeing a birth. Unfortunately, the first few days, I missed the actual deliveries. On Thursday, however, I was determined to stay and see everything. A couple came in around 9 am, and the poor new mother was in labor until 7pm. However, at 7:04 pm, after a complicated labor, I witnessed the birth of Mathilde, weighing in at three and a half kilograms! It was incredible to watch. It almost sounds cliché because people gush about babies, but when you see that baby’s head emerging from its mother and entering the world for the first time, it absolutely takes your breath away.

Exploration and Greve - The I word

Today, for the second day in a row, there was a greve (strike) on the island. Yesterday 8 schools closed because of a teachers strike. Today at the hospital there was a technicians strike. I showed up actually a bit earlier than I have been and was shocked to find no one there. Not really knowing what to do I sat down and waited and studied some Portuguese. Dr. Miguel came in and told me there was a greve and wrote it down but didn’t know the English word for it – he logged me onto a computer and I looked it up and it means strike to be sure. 2 of the technicians came in anyways and worked harder than normal (they came in because they needed the money that bad, one of them I know to be recently married, not sure about the other) and the doctors were around a lot more – which ironically the tech’s didn’t like. Dr. Miguel at one point pretty intensely threw something into a trash can expressing frustration with the absence of the technicians as he now had to do a lot more paper filling and patient data entry and stuff than normal and he obviously doesn’t like doing it. I'll be interested to know the result of the strikes...


Abby and I went for an adventure – the second time I had been propositioned as such that day. This adventure was truly epic. We started just walking going nowhere in particular until she suggested we try for the top of the mountain (part two of my attempt to get there…). So we started walking towards there with the loose goal of trying for the top. We walked up the highway on a cow path for a while and crossed on an overpass designated for cows and then kept walking. Eventually we found a ‘road’ that sort of went the direction we wanted so we took it. Eventually it ended and we had to cross a fence which marked the beginning of crossing fields that we didn’t own. From there we hit a creek that we either had to cross or end our journey – naturally we decided to cross. From there we were in the trees and had to literally bush-wack our way through the forest all the way to the top. We weren’t sure how far it was or if we were going to make it but we started and kept going. Eventually we got through the trees and bushes and thorns and found a random pool. Apparently it was for storage for water for the animals but it seems really random to have a concrete pool with a road through the forest, up the mountain, that leads to it. We tried to finish our hike to the top of the hill but it was starting towards darkness and we didn't want to hike through the trees down the hill so after a small, failed attempt to climb to the top again we quit and walked home - down the highway, past modelo, past many churches, to la residencia - and it was good.

Kim- Ziplines and tunas and lantana, oh my!

We have been super super busy, and then all of a sudden, it has flatlined. Not that I’m complaining, but it’s definitely interesting. I love the mix of the two; running around, doing all sorts of different events, and then just relaxing and talking with each other. During Epicentro, on Saturday, I believe, Abby and I were on the small zipline at the playground, when a little boy comes up. He was probably about 5 or 6, and we found out that his name was Fabio. We then proceeded to play with him on the zipline for an hour or two, which I found incredible, considering we didn’t say more than 10 words to him. I think it’s great how children are like that; they’re not too concerned with who you are and what you think, but if you’re fun, and if you will play, you’re great! He would say, “your turn!” and Abby and I would go, “my turn?!” and then we would count to three, and then zip down! We were always running with him and laughing and it was exhilarating. It was really carefree and unexplainable. I miss working with kids. There was one point where he started talking to us a whole bunch, and we just responded with “yes!” and “oh good!” He might have told us the secret to life, but I guess we’ll never know.

On Sunday, we went to a tuna!! It’s a traditional kind of band that only exists in Portugal and Spain. It’s a big group of guys (girl tunas and coed tunas exist as well), and they all sing, and play instruments (guitars, mandolins, cello, drums, rainstick, maracas). There’s one guy who waves a flag around (think colorguard) and other boys dancing and doing cool tricks with tambourines. It. Was. AWESOME. They were just so great! The music was incredible, especially since there’s so much history and culture involved. All of the tunas know the same songs, and then within their own tuna, they will write their own songs. It’s very well respected here. I love how they blend their traditions with modern times, having fun and telling jokes in between songs. The jokes were dirty, and most of them translated pretty well when they retold them in English. The tuna we saw is called TUSA, which stands for Tuna of the University of …SA. Whatever that is. However, the term “tusa” itself actually means boner. It was described to me as “when you have power in dick”. Yay for experiencing new cultures.

I went for a run the other day around Monte Brasil, only I took a different path. Instead of going up the mountain, I kind of went around. It was this decently long dirt path, and it was beautiful. There was no one there but me, surprisingly, and it led out to this one bench, with an astounding view of the ocean. It’s so surreal, that we’re here. The path had lilies and lantana everywhere; they just grow wild here, which is ridiculous. It’s beautiful, though. I love that being here isn’t really just about the internship, but about everything in between; the people, the culture, and the natural beauty around us.

Courtney: Second Languages

Every once in awhile, Portuguese people are surprised that I can understand and speak Portuguese. Especially with the younger ones at school, it’s much easier to communicate with them when I can speak in their language. For example, today we were working on names of rooms and objects in the house. I was able to explain in Portuguese that ‘sink’ is for washing hands so they could pick out where they wash their hands in the picture and then associate the Portuguese and English words in their minds. The younger students show excitement when they hear me speak Portuguese, but it is much more impressive that they are speaking and learning English at their ages. Our taxi driver last night put so much effort into communicating with us in English - even though he knew that I could speak Portuguese – because English is ‘so important to learn.’ In sentences without verbs and articles, he told us a little about Terceira’s history. I wish the importance of learning other languages had been emphasized throughout my schooling as much as it is emphasized here (and in just about every other part of the world). We almost have it too easy learning the ‘universal’ language as our first language.

Courtney: Teacher Placement

The method used to determine the schools where teachers will be placed seems absolutely awful, but yet to a certain extent unavoidable. Teachers from all over Portugal are placed in schools, sometimes requiring moves from island to island or even continental Portugal to an island. Although it seems that it would make sense if there weren’t enough teachers from the Azores or particular islands to fill the positions, there are a substantial number of Azorean teachers without placements. There’s obviously more to the system that I am not familiar with yet, but it seems inefficient and inconvenient for teachers to have to uproot from island to island or continent to island for 10 months at a time.

Interesting Lunch: Amanda Karam

I had a very interesting lunch experience this week. Sarah and I ventured to the “euro sopa” restaurant which we had heard serves very good soup. As we entered this tiny place, we were automatically reminded of the foreign facade we undoubtedly carry everywhere we go. First, we awkwardly stood near the front of the restaurant; not knowing if we were supposed to wait to be seated or seat ourselves, which seemed impossible at the time because all of their four, maybe five, tables appeared full. But little did we know “full,” at this “euro sopa” cafe has a slightly different meaning than we were accustomed. Eventually, the busy waitress with a nose ring signaled us to sit down at a four person table, already occupied by a middle aged Portuguese man. So we hesitantly sat down for lunch. Nonetheless, we ate delicious soup, and carried on as normal, only with a slight sense of discomfort knowing a complete stranger was sitting beside us, yet acting as if we didn’t exist. But as it turns out, it really wasn’t that bad sharing a table with stranger in exchange for tasty sopa…the only real issue we encountered was wondering if it was appropriate to take the last piece of yummy bread.

Greenness! Amanda Karam

After arriving at the residence, it didn’t take me long to notice quite a few “life style” differences. I have been learning throughout the past few years how Europe has significantly surpassed America, and has become a world leader in environmentalism and energy efficiency, but I guess I never actually thought about or understood how using less energy could affect one’s day to day life. I LOVE the environment and am always looking for ways to reduce my ecological footprint but since my arrival I have found myself annoyed more than once as I try adjusting to the lack of energy at my disposal; at least twice, the dark hallways have facilitated my unawareness of that last step one must take before reaching ground level, the vacuum here would not stand a chance in an all out power sucking battle with the my heavy duty vac at home, and I must say the time and texture involved with hand washed/hung dried clothes bothers me enough to fork up way more money than I would like to in order use those convenient electricity sucking machines. The not-so-cold refrigerators have also provided some insight about the high price of electricity here, which is so cheaply supplied in the U.S. I know not all of these inconveniences may exist specifically for the purpose of saving energy, but they have helped me realize how I have lived a pretty spoiled life. I also see how many of the luxuries I have at home, while convenient, aren’t always necessary for people to get along with their everyday life perfectly happy!

Abby Furr- Day of the Holy Spirit

At my internship today, Caritias, the high school as well as the preschool and staff were having a celebration. We began at the preschool and processed to the chapel for a special mass to celebrate the day of the Holy Spirit. Apparently this was a pretty normal mass, except it was all in Portuguese, so I just did my best to stand, sit, and kneel at the appropriate times. At the end there was a coronation, which makes this service special compared to others. Then we all processed back and had a huge, traditional meal including lots of bread, this really good cabbage soup with some type of bread in it, a large dish of various boiled meats and veggies (tastes better than it sounds, promise), alcatra (yummy slow cooked meat), and sweet rice. It was such a great experience to eat this giant lunch with the kids and staff from school and communicate with them using any words we knew in common in either language. We talked about their lives, the coming festival on the island, and the historical importance of the celebration. Over all, Friday was a pretty successful, and fun day.

Abby Furr- Laundry

Here in the Residence, it’s kind of difficult and expensive to do laundry, and let’s face it, as long as we all have a few clean t-shirts and delicates, everything will probably be okay. Therefore, it’s not uncommon to see someone in our group bent over a beday, trying to scrub the dirt out of our clothes and then hanging them outside to dry on the line, not that any of us really know how to use a beday for its proper function anyway. I’ve never hand washed clothing before really in my life, and really just did not realize what a complicated processes it could be. Lots of soaking, rinsing, rubbing together, and dirty, dirty water! It’s amazing how brown the water turns, and it’s a pretty eye opening experience for someone who’s used a washing machine her whole life!