Homesickness & Halloween

Im going to go where no other Peace Corps blog has gone before and talk about homesickness. Oh. My. Gosh. Training is an emotional roller coaster. One day I absolutely hate it and other days I feel like Im fitting in and learning and doing good. I miss the U.S. I miss the Reality television shows, Oprah, MTV, and pepperjack cheese. I miss Sonic slushes on hot days and Blue Bell ice cream, too. I miss driving my car with the windows down and listening to trendy music on the radio. I miss cars yielding to me as a pedestrian. I miss being at a restaurant and not having confusion with the waitress because she speaks english also. I miss mashed potatoes. I miss being able to call home whenever I want to. I miss being able to stay out past dark. I miss all my friends in San Marcos! I miss movies. I miss my bed and my big fluffy pillow. I miss shopping with my mom and drinking coffee with my dad. I miss my familys dog, Kacy. I miss being able to wear tank tops and shorts and not have to worry about it. I miss paved sidewalks that arent muddy when it rains. I miss Dr. Pepper. I miss hot showers and toilets and clean running water. I miss the USA!!!

Though I miss all of these things, everybody Ive talked to feels the same way. So dont think Im gonna quit training and come home. Its normal. Anyway, so halloween was this past weekend. I was a hippie. I was going to wear a baseball jerzee but my brother didnt have anything to wear so I gave him that and I wore a tye dyed shirt..Ironically, it was the same shirt I wore last year (remember, Daniel)? I doubt youll read this but I thought of you! So we go to the first party where all the PCTs brought their siblings and there was limbo and lots of refrescos and food. I brought coconuts. So good. Anyway, afterwards we went to this second party that was supposed to be just for PCTs but we were able to bring our family if we wanted. I brought my host brother, and even if I didnt want to he told me he wouldnt leave me alone anyway because theres bad ppl out that nite and he said he needed to protect me. ha. It was pretty ridiculous when we got there. The ppl at the gate wanted to charge our siblings 100 MTS to get in. Ridiculous. So we called our PC director and she settled it. We pretty much told them if they dont get in for free, we will all just go to a different barraca. It all worked out. So there we danced and everyone had lots of fun.

Yesterday one of my fellow PCTs and I passear~ed down this road where we heard there was a river. We probably walked about 4 miles in the afternoon heat (remember were in the mountains) to see whats LEFT of a river. Anyway, so on our way back we stop at a barraca for some water since we were seriously about to pass out. This lady sells us 2 bottles and sits with us and starts talking with us. We left after she criticized my friends portuguese skills. Ppl here are just really blunt.

So I decided that Im going to make a blanket or quilt out of capulana cloth. Ive never sewed anything in my life but Im going to start now. Well see how it turns out! Hmm...what else? I have come to love grape and orange Fantas. My favorite dish is mboa, which is this leafy goodness in coconut oil. Also, if anyone reads this and emails me, Im sorry if I dont write back, know that I truly appreciate anything I receive but I cant always write back but I eventually will.

TCHAU!!