Not a Real Blog Post, part 6

Post by Lara and Kevin

29 Jan - 18 Feb 2013

Some brief thoughts and funny experiences:

• In January we went to an all-you-can-eat buffet in one of the mining areas of the country, and were served meatballs with cheese on top and chocolate ice cream, among other delicious things. Then, Lara bought a pack of Pringles to take home. It was almost too good to be true.  The funny thing about this is that the miners who eat at this place every day think that it’s nothing to write home about.  Well, we’re proud to be writing home about it.
• Lara has recently turned to bribing her students with candy in order to get them to do problems on the board. Not her proudest moment, but it’s working for the time being.
• Pineapples seem to be back in season after a 4-month hiatus, and we could not be happier.  We have bought 5 in the last week for a grand total of $1.50. The coolest thing about pineapples here is that even the sub-par ones are excellent by Ohio grocery store standards (who would have thought?).

Pineapples do not grow on trees.

• Kevin had our local tailor make him some cotton trossis [pajama pants] last week, and they are his new favorite article of clothing.  The fabric is bright yellow with red and blue “eyes” all over it.  He looks a bit like MC Hammer in them, but they keep the mosquitoes off and his school trousers clean.  

• One of the saddest things we’ve ever witnessed: a monkey stung by a bee while climbing 30 feet off the ground in a tree.  It’s hard to describe, but picture a toddler two stories in the air screaming at you to come pick him up and rock him to sleep, and the only thing you have to reach him is a 20 foot tall bamboo pole that takes every bit of your strength to carry (and then he won’t climb down it anyway). FYI- everything turned out OK.
• One of Lara’s fellow teachers has showed up to school twice this term wearing a tuxedo t-shirt.  Twice.  Both times she texted Kevin about it. How could you not?  Updated: as of Feb 16^th we’re up to three tuxedo t-shirt appearances. This is looking to be a regular occurrence.
• Lara’s Facebook status was accurate—she really did get “sorted” into a house at her school this week.  The winner is Leone House [also known as the green house, which should seem fitting to anyone who has ever met Lara.  Of course, if there were a Hufflepuff, she would have gone there.

Lara had her hair "planted" (braided) in the "All Go Up" style for her school's sports day

 We're working on a few more blog posts right now, but we're hitting a bit of a dry spell trying to decide what to write about.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!