Making It Home

The first few days here are somewhat of a blur...going ahead twelve hours can really set a person back. Sounds confusing, but trust me it's rough. In the first days I met a lot of people, saw a lot of things and ate some strange new foods. Unfortunately because of my state of mind I don't remember most of it, but most importantly I finally got to meet my roommates Brooke and Staci. We have been talking through chat and email for several months now, and I knew from all our conversations that we were all going to get along just fine.

Roommate bonding began with a shoe cabinet. Brooke and Staci had purchased a cabinet to set at our front door way to keep all the shoes in (you can't wear shoes inside around here). It probably took several hours longer than it should have to put together, but with a single hand held screwdriver, lots of thinking, and lots of laughing we finally got it all put together. Now for the hard part...me trying to remember to take my shoes off every time I come inside. I am getting better, but I still forget from time to time.

Getting use to the new creatures around here is also another thing I am working on. During the evening time is when this place comes to life and not only the people but also the huge fire ants and lizards. The lizards are apparently a good thing in the house because they eat the fire ants. Between the lizards eating the ants and Staci's insane massacre moments with here\ sandal it's a wonder there are any ants left in the world. So the war goes on every night and by morning you would have never known there were ants, lizards or Staci...all three sleeping away.

I love the prices of everything here, I can eat out for like $2 a meal!!! It's insane! There are all kinds of wonderful fresh fruits. I have been eating bananas, mango, pineapple, and other fruits I can't pronounce. They have these great markets where you can buy all the fresh fruits and vegetables for next to nothing. I guess the price you pay is the smell of the market place...with all the raw meat, along with cooked meat, it makes for very overwhelming smells. Staci says to breath though my mouth, but I would rather not risk tasting it. The cuts of meat here are...well to say the least different. It is not unusual to see a pigs head or cow testacies just sitting in the open with flies adding to the scene. Sounds gross, and I'm not going to lie it is!!! But more than that it's so cool, so new to me, I love it. I am constantly observing the people and my roommates, listening to the conversations and what they do. I never understand what they are saying, and most of the time don't even know what they are doing, but I am learning.

This is a HUGE mango Staci could hardly lift it it was so big.