But anyways, I am back and ready to start my second school year. School starts on February first. Next week all the parents will be coming to the school to sign their kids up for classes and to help clean up the school yard which is currently full of leaves and branches from the last couple months and the ridiculously strong winds we had last week. The winds were so strong that they had to shut down the ferries a few times. When I returned to the island the water was pretty rough and I think it was the worst boat ride I’ve had yet. Unfortunately I have to leave the island again on Monday, but the winds seem to have calmed down for now.
Back with my host family things continue as usual. The pig just had piglets, 8 of them, and they are very cute. The kids took me to their farm to show me the new baby cows, one male and one female. For some reason the kids like to touch the little bull’s balls. They think it is funny. I keep asking them why they do it and they just shrug their shoulders and laugh. Weirdoes.
Since I’ve been back I’ve mostly been planning out the things I want to accomplish this year. I have a lot of plans in the school and I also plan on starting my fieldwork soon. I plan on doing a study of Maderas volcano in my backyard. Mostly I will be doing some age-dating which means I need to hike up and down and around the volcano and look for old lava flows to beat up and take samples from. It should be fun and hopefully I will see more wildlife.
While 10 months is a lot less than the 27 months I had to start out with, it is still a bit of time, so please continue to stay in touch. Emails or letters are always great to get with comments or questions or stories about how things are going for all of you back home.
Happy New Year to all!
On another note:
Dear Ants,
How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.
I hate how you are everywhere all the time, even crawling on me. Your ubiquity is irritating.
I hate how you seem to magically march up in swarms from little holes you somehow make in the middle of my concrete floor. How do you do that? It shouldn’t be possible.
Some of you are big and black and only come out at night, some of you are teeny tiny and sort of brown and transparent looking and I am sure I have accidentally eaten more of you than I ever want to know about, and some of you are bigger than teeny tiny but aren’t that big and you move sort of sluggishly and are always in my kitchen.
I hate how you, the in between teeny tiny and big ones, always bite my toes and feet and occasionally my hands when I am hanging laundry or walking to the bathroom or just sitting at my table. It stings. A lot. And you should be ashamed of yourself. I am just minding my own business.
I hate how you keep trying to make my home your home. You have tried moving into my tennis shoes, my toothbrush holder, my CD case, my clothes and under my laundry basket. It is beyond rude and I wish you would just stay outside where you belong. I don’t try moving into your house.
If you would just leave me alone I would stop sticking little rocks and sticks into the openings of your abodes to watch you remove them. I would no longer have to sweep you outside with the broom or spray around my kitchen with Raid. I would leave you be.
I hate how sometimes I think you guys are actually pretty cool. Like when I accidentally drop a larger piece of food and later see a bunch of you all working together to take it home. I sometimes even feel bad when, once you get it outside, the dog eats it before you can make it there.
So I am begging you, please, for the next few months, let me be.
Sincerely,
Me
1 comment:
I think that the ants will be the ones to take over the world. You know I have my own personal fight with ants. They may not be as obnoxious here as they are there but remember they moved into this house and caused a lot of damage and cost us a lot of money to repair the damage. I hate them too.
Love you,
Mom
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