the nature entry, part 1

to mix things up a bit:

i was recently inspired to include some interactive features in this electronic journal of mine...

in the footsteps of those medocre games only chuildrenplay on family road trips, or (even less enticing) a specfied version of questions you might have answered on standardized tests, here{s a little game for you all to play. simple, i promise.

animals i{ve encountered thus far:


1. macaw
2. dogs
3. gecko
4. iguana
5. horses
6. cows
7. howler monkeys
8. salmon

sites of said encounters:

a. in the yard at the language shcool
b. on the side of the road
c. in every yard
d. on the livingroom wall
e. in feilds along the way to school
f. on my plate :(
g. in trees - had to be more than 8; babies, too!
h. the parking lot of the highway cafeteria



as you may have guessed (unless you thought they eat iguana here, which they may as well since they,re all over the place), i have ventured into the world of the omnivore. slowly, cautiously, and (surprisingly) without much disgust or trauma, i have been eating fish and chicken.
i think the general overload of new (an understatement) surroundings has shocked the sorrow right out of me. . . the only alternative would be to live on fruit and rice, and to offend/perplex my host mother. i would, however, have to draw the line at red meat; the likelihood that i would either upchuck, start sobbing -or both- just about equals the likelihood that spending time in the 7am sun would burn the bejesus out of my skin.
enough about that. thank you, dear fishies and birds- here,s hoping my head doesn,t catch up with my stomache anytime soon.
p.s. i will resume my vegetarianism upon reaching the farm. phew.


my favorite part of today{s lessons:

translating a poem by ruben dario.

a favorite line:
...and underneath the window of my beautiful sleep
continues the sobing of the fountain,
and the neck of the great white swan....


or something similar. will have the correct and complete translation tomorrow.
off to catch the bus 'home' and get ready to hit the beach (finally).

p.s. thank the stars i found that damn apostrophe. . . expect and improvement in the punctuation of future entries.

p.p.s. in studying spanish names for animals, i figured out that the name of village where i'm living means 'a place where there are young horses' ..mas o menos..