- Breaking into the cage of a bearcat. That was an adrenaline rush. I had never even heard of a bearcat before I let one climb all over me.
- The night samurais. My host family here won't let me go out at night after about 9 o clock at night. They keep saying that people with swords drive around on motorcycles and chop people's heads off at night. The other day I found a plastic toy sword on our table. My plan is to wait for my host dad to go out one night and get drunk, then sneak out on my motorcycle with the plastic sword and give him a little scare.
- The love note: Today I opened up one of my books and found a love note in it from a friend of my host family. She apparently hid it there about a month ago. The note ended with the line, "next time I see you face I will kiss it." I'm still trying to figure out if that is threatening or seductive.
- Running over a grandma. One day I was crusing around my neighborhood on my motorcycle when an old lady on a bicycle came flying out of one of the side streets. I ended up laying down my bike to avoid running her over, but I still clipped her front tire which in turn sent her flying. When I stood up, I noticed my bike was pretty beat up, my pants were ripped and my right arm was bloody. The grandma wasn't hurt at all. Everyone came and gathered around... the grandma. Once they decided she wasn't hurt they all left. She waved at me and said, "no problem." Then she got on her bike and rode away. I was left standing in the road, bleeding, with my beat up motorcycle still on its side.
- Morning conversations with my host mom. Every morning I have long conversations over breakfast with my host mom. I learn a lot from them. Like why everyone in the neighborhood was gathering around a mushroom that was growing in our front yard (they were praying to it for good luck with their lottery tickets). I'll post a picture of the mushroom later...
- Duck, duck, goose. I volunteer at an elementary school here. The kids (and me) aren't very... well... motivated. Usually about half way through each lesson we both come to the consensus that I'm tired of talking and they are tired of learning... so we play duck, duck, goose. This happened about every day for a month.
- Becoming a disciplinarian. One day my patience with the kids ran out though. They were completely out of control. As a punishment we had the kids run laps around the basketball court and then do push ups in the 100+ degree weather. It was almost as much fun as duck, duck, goose.
- California Wow X-perience. That is the name of the gym I go to here. The name explains it all.
- The joys of being a facilitator. 6 college age people who have never before met working together for 3 months (that sentence would make a great tagline for a reality TV show) leads to experiences like this:
10. Elephants, tigers, lions, hyenas, pythons, bearcats, giant man-eating geckos.
yeah I think that is all the animals I have held since I have been here.
