Tata Yovo!

(i wrote this on friday but forgot my flashdrive at home so i couldn't ost it the other day when i was at the cyber)

Today was a good day, I guess, other than waking up WAY later than I wanted. After I woke up I got ready to meet my friend, Chinatsu by Supermarché Bel Air. Chinatsu is doing the Japenese version of Peace Corps, it’s called JICA…although I don’t know what it stands for. Anyways, we met up for some lunch of yam pilé at my favorite restaurant, Maquis Les Collines. It was a good meal and good conversation but when it came time to pay l’addition…the tanti was useless and we waited around forever for our reliquat (change). Finally I went back to the kitchen to talk to the head-tanti and patron to sort things out.

Then we walked back towards the parc and went our separate ways. I bought a ton of veggies from my ladies and then went home and hung out with my favorite person, Mayo, for a while. We played football with Rosie’s little football and I tried to teach him how to count to 5 in English. And it’s amazing really, how little kids (like really little, but already talking…say 3-4 years old) they have such a talent for picking up other languages. And by that I mean that getting Mayo to say things in English…he doesn’t have an accent! I gave him a few glasses of water (which I had mixed Propel into) and he sucked it all down. “C’est bon!” is what he told me after drinking the flavored water. What a cutie. I tell him I am going to take him home with me—là bas (in my bag). He giggles at the thought, but then refuses because he doesn’t want my dog to eat him. Hahaha. I guess he thinks I am just gonna take him to my house here (across the street from his) and there my dog, Rosie will eat him. Mayo, just like any other child/person in this country is terrified of dogs. Ha. The hard part about hanging out with my buddy is telling him to go home. I told him that I was tired/ needed to work/ his mom was calling him…so many excuses, but the kid wouldn’t budge. So finally, and this is horrible of me, I told him that he should ride his bike and that I would see him later or tomorrow. But I guess all he heard was “go get your bike.” So I go inside and he comes back with his bike and starts banging on my door, “tata……tata……tata” but if I answer he’ll never go away. Eventually his mom calls him and he goes home. Oh, Mayo. And before I forget, he has started to call me “Tata Yovo,” which is better than just plain Yovo, but oh well, we’ll work on it.

I just realized that today is the 8th anniversary of 9/11 and I really can’t believe that so much time has passed! My life wasn’t really all that impacted by it, but I can still remember the day pretty vividly.

School starts essentially 3 weeks from Monday. Although, I won’t be there for the first official day because that is when I am scheduled to go and do my mid-service exam. Not really looking forward to that…they are essentially going to check EVERYthing, and I’ll just leave it at that.

My 25th birthday is in 2 weeks and 1 day. The newbies swear-in in 2 weeks. Next week I am going to talk about holidays in America at English club, then visit Angelina whom I haven’t seen in a month.

And in November, Catherine and I are hopefully gonna start painting a world map on a wall at the orphanage by my house. There was a volunteer who was here from 2007-08 who did a lot of work at the orphanage and started to do a world map, but left town before she could really get started. Catherine and I will pick up where she left off, but not exactly cause Jennifer chose to paint the wall on the opposite side of the building, where essentially no one would see it. Part of me feels, oh, I dunno what the word is, for wanting to paint the wall everyone can see when they come to visit the orphanage. I guess I’ll post pics up once we start the work, but you’ll see what I mean.

Oh, and in just about a month, I will be able to apply to a teacher assistant position in France. It’s this deal set up by the French and Americans where someone like me or anyone with “two years of higher education” and “a proficiency in French” can apply to live and work (teaching English to elementary or secondary school kids) in France (or an overseas dept. of France: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, or the Réunion—whatever that is!) for 7 or 9 months and be paid like $1,013 for 12 hours of work per week! What an amazing opportunity! Not to mention, it’ll give me about 7 or 9 more months to figure out what I want to do with my life. The program, I assume, starts Oct. 1st every year. So that would give me just enough time to relax and visit people. I figure my French will be at it’s best at this point in my life, and bottom line, why not?

That’s all for now, folks! À tout moment!

PS, if you get a chance and want to kill time, get your hands on a game called “Plants vs. Zombies.” It’s a GREAT time killer, super addicting, and super fun! Trust me :)