Odds and Ends Thursday 20

From what I could tell going into this week, there was a rare full week of school planned, which was both good news and bad. Good because I am a little worried about getting everything in before the end of August when we are technically supposed to be done introducing new material; bad because I have one prep period per week, so it’s nice to have random days off. But all in all, this week’s been pretty easy. Who knew lesson planning could make life so much easier? Here are some other odds and ends from the week:

• On Tuesday I went to take a picture of the cell phone IF example, and Manila purposely timed walking across the room so as to get his face in the shot (seen here). Though Manila is in 11.4 and speaks frustratingly little English, I’m convinced the kid is brilliant. He’s hilarious. At first he really got under my skin, but I’ve come around.
  
• I purchased Heart’s “These Dreams” on iTunes for $1.29. $1.29! It’s a song that’s 20+ years old. What is this world coming to?
  
• I had a dream about Minesweeper on Monday morning where I refused to wake up until I finished the game I was playing. I took it as a sign, and I’ve quit Minesweeper for the time being.
  
• A lot of people at my school, students and staff, wear watches. I would think this is unusual, but I’ve never discussed it with other Peace Corps. In any case, I’ve started wearing my watch so I can fit in with the cool kids. We’ll see if it works.
• I want to get a bunch of my ’ies hemmed. A couple shirts too. From what I can tell I have the following options:
  
  
  • Take them to a tailor, which sounds expensive;
    
  • Buy a sewing machine, which sounds extravagant;
    
  • Do it myself by hand, which sounds difficult and, um, shoddy; or
    
  • Take it to my host family and ask them to do it, which sounds like a logistical headache.
  
  
• CitiMart was out of the economically priced Skippy’s, so I opted to buy a jar of the generic Pam’s brand peanut butter. Pam’s is based out of Wellington. The label boasts “No salt added”… I loved Auckland, but Kiwis have no business making peanut butter.
  
• Also, Skippy’s has more salt per serving than Pam’s by a factor of 36, which is a little insane. But from now on, I’ll stick with the salty stuff.
  
• Many of my kids from year 9 through year 13 like to sit and type with the keyboard on their lap. I don’t know why. Maybe because there’s a long cord and they want to take advantage of it. Why only use 4 feet of cord when you can use 6?
  
• The circus has been in town this month, but I’ve been pretty ambivalent about it. I’m told it’s something akin to an American circus from the 1940s, which sounds entertaining, but eh… Maybe I’ll just spend the weekend reading “Water for Elephants” instead? Right, Mom?
  
• Sorry I didn’t clarify in Monday’s post… it’s a six-person relay that goes 64 miles. So each person runs approximately 3 miles approximately 3 times (one person runs 4, I think). It’s not that intense of a run, but I’ve never run 10 miles in one day in Samoa. It’s hot here.

That’s all I got. I hope you’re well. More running sunset pictures below.
















Sunset.
















Sunset.