So school has started and I thought that meant that my work had also gotten going. Not so much. My first few days at the school were pretty productive, but after that things kinda stalled. The teachers aren't really sure what to do with me, and we don't have a principal. Oh... and we still have a vacant position in the English department. This "no-name" teacher has classes and since he/she isn't present the kids just don't have class. So, without getting into all the details, we are without a principal, missing a teacher and when I asked someone about using the computer lab they responded: "Why do you need to know?"Hmm, I don't know maybe because I'm trying to do my job. Turns out walking into a school and creating a position that has never existed before isn't terribly easy. We'll see how it goes as time goes on. I'm sure it'll get easier, but the beginning is proving to be a kind of a struggle.

Luckily to combat the hurdles of getting to work I have my volunteer friends and the fortune of living close to not only them, but really cool stuff to do. This last weekend I saw a bunch of volunteers, went to a party, sang karaoke, went on a nice bike ride, hung out by the river and watched the movie about the guy who cut his arm off because he got it stuck while hiking. I know, that last one sounds kinda like a downer, but it was pretty interesting. I think they did a really good job of communicating the fact that he got in a lot of trouble because he didn't tell anyone where he was going. Very important. Anyway, the rest of the weekend was really fun and relaxing.

I've found cooking to be an excellent time-filling/immediately gratifying hobby. I've taken to making breads. Here they call everything bread. Whether it's a cake, a cinnamon roll, pretzel, cookie or actually bread, here it's called bread. So I'm a bread-maker. Yesterday I whipped up some pretzels because my cousin who lived in the U.S. for a while said he was really craving pretzels. They didn't come out perfect, though they do taste good. Next time, (which, let's be real here, is probably today) they'll be a lot better.

On the same note about how they call everything bread, they also call lots of things I make and eat "cream of ______". Hummus is cream of garbanzo, tomato soup is cream of tomato, peanut butter is cream of peanut, mashed potatoes are cream of potato. I also use soy milk and almond milk, and eat lots of yogurt which is also a little confusing when you're not used to these things. When I think about it, the food is a little bit strange, especially the almond milk, but it didn't occur to me before that it appears that I'm on some sort of "cream diet". Don't worry. I'm not on a cream diet, it's more of a translation issue.

Also related to my recent cooking binge, I have decided to use cooking/cooking classes or something of the like as part of a Peace Corps project. I am going to be starting a women's group in my town and I think cooking is going to be one of the central parts of our activities. Cooking is something all the women here do, know about and can relate to, so if nothing else it'll be a good jump off point for putting a group together. I also think it would be good because we can all share. This will make women feel worthwhile. When a woman comes with a recipe she can share with everyone she will feel important, unique and valuable. Those are just a few thoughts on this project that is yet to come. Once again it's kind of a "we'll see..." situation still.