go on... shake your tail feathers!

I was so excited for my Thanksgiving lesson on Thursday, which is probably why I was mad when they said there weren't going to be classes on Thursday because Nestle or some other brand was coming to the school to talk to the kids.
So I did what I tend to do, I went to the mall. To be fair I was able to get a bunch of things that needed to be done done. I got some phone time in with the family and filed some paperwork and sent some emails. Then C joined me and we did the most Thanksgiving thing we could think of. We went to KFC. Fried chicken, rice, brown gravy, and 2 orders of mashed potatoes was close enough for me.
Yesterday I did my Thanksgiving lesson and it was awesome. First we made hand turkeys. Then we labeled each tail feather with something we are thankful for. After we wrote paragraphs for each tail feather,  and if they kids were fast they could really decorate their turkeys.
Here are my tail feathers in no particular order, except family always come first.
Family and Friends I've always been super blessed and lucky to have the family and friends I have, but being here one whole year+ has made me realize this even more. I'm very thankful for the communication evaluable to me with them. I am for sure who I am because they are who they are.
Filipinos I've been able to put myself in a great oppurtunity to serve and even though I some times feel worthless I think I'm atleast doing something good. I'm thankful for how welcoming they have been to me. I love how nice and curious, and just good they are.
Fresh Fruit I'm thankful that I can eat a ripe mango every day of the week. I've said it before, I'll say it again between the mango, pineapple and other local fruits this is my favorite thing here. The mangos may be the thing I miss the most when I go home in a year.
Books I'm thankful I can read. I'm thankful I'm educated. I've always been. Here though, I've really found that love has strengthened. I spend way too much of my allowance on books, I miss my book club, but am thankful to have a reading culture with the volunteers near me.
And one more, because something awesome happened  between grade 5 and grade 6 class, I got a care package. As well as a Nat Geo, but still no pen pal letters. I'm thankful for mail so much. It really really makes a difference to get  something and know that people out there are thinking of me.
I know it is late, but Happy Thanksgiving!

endulgence

There are certain things I took for advantage at home that are total splurges is. I've decided to start high lighting them, hopefully this will make you all super appreciative of what you have.

First would be peanut butter. To be fair, they have peanut butter here but it has more sugar than peanuts. So sometimes I go big and buy American. Another splurge that i really enjoy is apples. They aren't really that rare, but they are imported and do cost more come market day.

Another thing I splurged on is Olive Oil. Usually I will use coconut or corn oil, but sometimes when I'm having pasta I like to get fancy.

Aglio olio con string beans (I don't know the Italian for string bean, but I eat them so much they deserve their own post). Win.

Also, I went fancy and bought cinnamon, and I'm sure a vanilla purchase is not too far in my future. Like the olive oil these aren't really buy and eat, but buy and get lots of uses purchases. I bought the cinnamon to make french toast and cinnamon sugar.

French toast I made with a homemade mango cinnamon syrup. Win.

a fruitful week

september 3, 2010

so i have been in palo for all of seven days (that is one week folks)! and so far no regrets! but i would like to say this…(just kidding, i’m not really going to start each sentence of this post with a conjunction, because basically that is not their function). can you tell i am tired? week one (which is actually week 2) has been a crazy intense intro to the philippine way of life including the food.

a cluster mate of mine is a fruit nut and has been bringing treats for us each day this week. today was mango-steen. very good, like a mango meets an orange but not really at all. dragon fruit yesterday. like a kiwi but not as sweet. huge and green and purple on the outside, the inside rind is magenta, and this one happened to be white with lots of little seeds (i guess some are purple instead of white). lanzones which are like grapes and oranges, but again not really. then there is papaya. sometimes a fan, sometimes not. not all papaya are created the same. some are good for smoothies and that is about all then there are some that are so sweet and good (the sweet good kind are not in season). and sadly we are just coming to the end of regular mango season… but i’ve heard rumor that there are two kinds of mangoes here and they have different seasons. and two kinds of really good bananas. this weekend i get my first banana-que (from my understanding kind of liked grilled bananas foster/flambé but without the liquor and on a stick). and for lunch today we had sandia (watermelon). it is also not quite pineapple season. apples are big here, but imported.  that is just this week and only the fruit.

more on other food and the rest of my week on a later post.