Thursday, September 02, 2010

Odds and Ends Thursday 67

I’m tired. My days this past week have been wall-to-wall. Between waking up early to cook for the Tahitians or waking up early to go videotape on the south side of the island (I did that today, I’ll tell you about it tomorrow) or going to bed late for any number of reasons, I’m exhausted. But this might be a micro-manifestation of a bigger trend. Paul and I were talking last night about, whereas lots of group 81 has been rather bored for the last couple months, we’re moving into a phase where we’re simply worn out. Here are some other odds and ends from the week:
  • I haven’t run, or even exercised, since last weekend’s big race. Like I said, I’m tired.
  • During Paul’s tattoo session yesterday, the tattoo artist would on occasion bark orders at the stretchers, and then swat at one of them with the stick. I don’t know if that would assure my confidence or hinder it.
  • There are only 4 members of group 80 left in country: Jenny, Spencer, Ben, and Jim. I feel like a junior watching the seniors graduate; there’s an excitement to being next in line, but it’s also quite alarming. Because then what?
  • I ran my downhill 5k a minute or two slower than my final flat 5k into town. Running downhill isn’t as easy as one would think.
  • The 83s have been coming out of the woodwork. Did you notice Rachel 83 up in the blog list there? I’ve also heard from Nancy and Jenny. Any others of you out there?
  • I’ve been without an electric fan since early July. Since then, it’s been relatively cool. But temperatures are going to be on the climb again relatively soon, so I’m thinking I’ll invest in a new one pretty soon. Maybe Monday.
  • The Peace Corps office is moving to a system where each volunteer gets 150MB per month on the office computers. Though this system is certainly more egalitarian, I’m having a hard time with it because megabyte usage can be difficult to gauge. For example, if I use GoogleChat for a half hour, how many megabytes have I used? I guess we’ll see next month, huh?
  • The cat twitches a lot. Any idea what’s up with that?
  • Air New Zealand now only allows passengers to check one bag. This is a big deal since PCVs have been checking two bags for as long as anyone can remember. Your baggage fee goes up exponentially the more bags you check (i.e. your first extra bag is $100, your second $300, third $500, etc.). But as I’ve said for a long time, I’m hoping my house will burn down 3 days before I leave, and that way I won’t have to pack anything. Except the cat.
  • How about those Trojans?
  • I have yet to start work on the school magazine. This is a source of stress.
  • Marisa Tomei is coming to Samoa for the Teuila Festival next week, and somehow the Peace Corps roped her in to being the spokesperson for Group 82’s health project. Paul and I are excited.
That’s all I got for this week. I should tell you now we have our Close of Service conference next week, and it’s unclear when/if I’ll have Internet access during that time. So I’m not sure what will happen to the blog on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In any case, I hope you’re well. Pictures below.


This bowl of pork was just sitting in the middle of the kitchen table in the Peace Corps office. Par for the course in this country.


Trent left earlier this week. Cheers to you, Leni Styles.

3 comments:

Nancy said...

1 bag? 2 years? Yikes!

Cale said...

Ok. Even though I know for a fact that Marisa Tomei is Italian, because you said she was coming to Samoa and everything about her name could be Samoan, I had to google her. Yep, she is still Italian. So why is she gonna be at the Teuila festival and what does she have to do with health?

Rachael said...

there are nine of us in contact now!! Nancy is keeping track of us all on her blog!