giant pizzas and mini-despididas

March 9, 2011

An alternative title to this post could be: the other day.

This post has the potential to be very long, for that I am sorry. I will try to figure out how to link to things so if you don’t want to read about every tine minute detail of the awesomeness that is my life you don’t have to.

So, here goes. It is common knowledge amongst us PCVs that we are going crazy. Dear loved ones, I’m giving you basically 20 months (whoa) warning that I will be certifiable by the time I get home. Well, the other day I could not find my toothbrush. I had it the night before, I was positive I put it back where I got it. To be honest my living situation is such that if I don’t put things back where they belong than there is no where to put them. So this drove me nuts and I texted all around to vent it out. There was the theory that the rats took it, but really, the rats? So I got a new one and had been very deliberate about placing it where it belongs. Woke up the other day, and it was gone. So it is either the Tooth Fairy’s evil twin or the rats. 

I’m working on getting the bravado to kill them. Filipinos just deal. I’m not that culturally assimilated. Options are traps or poisons. If I go the trap route I’ve got to deal with I’m not sure how many rats there are. I am a light sleeper and would for sure here the rats’ demise as it snaps shut. Then the whole waking up and saying good morning to the rat in the trap and disposing of it. Gross. So poison. Still, I don’t know how many there are. They live in the wall, so what are the odds they will eat the stuff and die in the wall and then rot and stink? If they don’t die there will they just keel over in my room? Then I’m dealing with disposal again. See why I’m going loony?

Speaking of animals living in walls, the other day my teacher and I are chilling in the canteen. It is our prep period, so she was working on writing tests and I was grading compositions. The canteen is still a make shift classroom while the roof is being replaced. Well a bird flies into the canteen putting all the girls in a tizzy. It lands up on the rafters, then we hear thumping from the roof, a thud, and the bird falls to the ground with a thunk. Moments later a feral cat jumps down from up there and has a late lunch. Now the whole class was in a tizzy.

Now we are done with wild animals, I think. I showed up to school the other day and the kids were in an assembly. They were learning about fire extinguishers and the fire department. Or at least there was an illusion of learning. Really they were running around and getting yelled at. Then they all go to recess all the teachers go into a classroom and have their own fire safety assembly. Then we go to class, so I think, but nope, we do fire drills. As I’ve mentioned, school is all but over. Which means, of course, it is the perfect time to learn how to do a fire drill. I get that March is fire safety month, but it is ok to teach fire drills, in oh I don’t know June when the kids come to school.

(Back to wild animals. The other day after the town was basically all shut down I was lying in bed just sort of decompressing. I had my music playing and the lights out enjoying the false security of my mosquito net--see the post where the rats chewed holes through it—when there was a fire fly flying around. Just one glowing about, and it must have been a bad day or I was in just the right mood because it made me very happy.)

Speaking of fire, it has been hot. It still rains, but now when it is not raining it is hot hot hot. I’m just loving my east-facing bedroom, or not. The other day we were running errands for our send off (more on this to come) and it was just so hot. We stopped and got pop in a bag. I’m hard pressed to think of something more refreshing than Royal Orange Soda in a plastic bag, and that is the honest truth. So we are walking along and C starts groaning. The one from Atlanta is groaning, while M who is from San Fran, one of the least warm parts of Cali, and I are just quietly sweating it out. I am certain that I’m not going to make it through summer. In fact I doubt I’ll make it to summer. Graduation day, the official start of summer, is on my birthday. I’ll make it to 25 and then just stop. A quarter of century well spent!

Really I jest, but it is miserable, but I guess there is some good from it. I went to class and was getting my students going, Ma’am would be along shortly. They were doing some last minute studying and then they all started looking at me. I have students who will not talk to me, but usually some one will do it for them. So, Jacquleen says, “Ma’am Denver says you look very mahusay because it is mapaso,” to this I replied, “ Ano? I look beautiful because it is hot?” Then the whole class says, “Yes, you have rosy cheeks!” So at least the heat is becoming.

Almost done I promise. M left the other day, which has given us heavy boots but we wish the best for her! So to send her off we went to pizza. There is a local joint downtown that is a favorite. The first time we went while we were eating we saw this huge pizza come out of the oven. It was the group consensus that we needed to get one. It was M’s last meal request and we were happy to oblige. We got half veggie half tropical (Hawaiian) and waited. Then it came out, 36 inches of pizza! We ate, and by we I mean the ladies went to town and the boys had some. Most of the pizza was gone and we went home happy.

But for us, it was not enough of a goodbye, and we threw a mini-despidida for M, but used our own rules. Technically a despidida is when the person leaving throws themselves a party and pays for it all. It is the same with birthdays. Well, we weren’t having that. We got fixings for nachos and got some Dunkin Donuts and a giant bottle or two of beer. And had a party. It was perfect! Wishing you the best M!