She Looks Cute BUT....

....my host sister Jansheen only plays nice for the camera.

Normally she cries and whines says things like "Kat Kat, you smell like water buffalo." On occasion she catches me unawares and pulls my pants down.

In spite of it all, she is adorable, and I think about taking her home daily. Should I put her in my suitcase or carry-on?

Dinner

These were just legs and a tail. In final form, they became a soup more appetizing than the picture might suggest.

The Worm 2007

Warning: the following post is not for children, or anyone who doesn't want to hear this ONE STORY about my bowel movements, or my father.

Apparently there are several classes of worms. Last year, when I got them for the first time, they were microscopic and under the category of "Tiny Guys Who Don't Really Lend Themselves To Interesting Conversation."

Teeny tiny invisible worms are, as far as I'm concerned, much like the geologic scale of the island I live on relative to the rest of the world: miniscule, unimportant, small, not visible, unnoticeable, hardly of concern to anyone or anything. A pill will cure (in the case of my island, the pill is called Ambien, which helps one sleep amidst the constant crowing of roosters, squealing of pigs, and questions of neighbor children about why my drying underpants are so darn big)

But this time, this time was a doosey. What happened before was, essentially, like nothing happened at all. What happened this time, on May 30, 2007, was that AN ANIMAL CAME OUT. A worm, a big big big worm that was as long as my forearm and as thick as you would expect a forearm-long worm to be came out and wiggled in the bowl and said "whoa, this doesn't look like Katrina's colon at all."

It was disgusting, and the only value of having such an experience is that I can write about it on my blog and disgust all those who are dumb enough to read it. Just this once.

Reason #267 Why I Don't Want To Go Home

There's this joke: How many Filipinos can you get into a bus? ONE MORE!

It's a funny joke to us volunteers because it's true. When I say funny, I mean funny in the totally obnoxious and annoying and completely inconvenient sort of way. So really, not funny. The joke can be mixed up to fit your specific situation: how many fighting cocks, brooms, televisions, drunken fools, old nuns, school children.....

But as un-funny as it is when a fish seller with 3 stinky buckets in tow gets on your side car after you swear, swear not one more person can fit (not to mention 7 kilos of fish), I know this is another one of those things I will dearly miss about the Philippines when I leave come July.