First real power outage

Today, we experienced our first REAL power outage. As in, the power went out for 10 hours. I consider this a real power outage because even the locals were wondering what the deal was. Luckily, it came back on just in time for a much needed Skype session with my parents and little sister. Love you!

Recently, we've encountered cockroaches. I may be a vegetarian/animal lover at heart, but I feel no remorse trapping a cockroach and dropping it from my balcony. We've also experience cooking with a broken oven. The oven in the Casa Amarilla only has one temperature- HOT. I attempted to make breakfast cookies and quickly learned the oven only heats from the bottom, and therefore the cookies have to flipped half way through the cooking process. Believe or not, the cookies turned out fairly yummy!

Another teacher and I spent the day at a local hotel, Guancoscos, planning our classes. I spoke with a woman who was thrilled I spoke English because it gave her a chance to practice her English. As much as I hoped to practice Spanish, it was a great feeling knowing that I could help her practice her language skills. She also was very thankful for our commitment to working at a bilingual school in her home country. I think we can all appreciate being thanked, and it was a wonderful feeling to be thanked by a local. While walking back from Guancoscos, we were trapped in a torrential downpour. A few locals laughed at us.

I've been thinking a lot lately about water. The water here is not drinkable from the tap, but it is safe to enough to brush teeth. Our drinking water comes from 5 gallon jugs sold at the neighbor hood pulperias. The water is easily accesible, and very inexpensive, but it is more work to acquire than drinking water is in the U.S. Also, those 5 gallons jugs are heavy. I quickly learned to buy them during the morning or evening so I don't have to lug it back in the scorching heat.

Here is some food for thought on the availability of clean water worldwide: http://www.unwater.org/statistics_san.html