I'm Actually Doing Some Work

When I read through some of my past entries, I realized it sounded like I was traveling and having more fun than actually working. I am actually doing some work though. One of our requirements was to do a community project in our cluster site. Well, my group tried and tried to get a meeting set up with the town officials, but it never failed...it would get cancelled or rescheduled and nothing would get accomplished. Finally we decided to go through a different venue and talked with the youth councelman. We decided to clean up the basketball court with the help of the youth in the community. You might think that this is not such a big project, but seriously, there are no garbage cans in the area and kids are taught to just throw wrappers and everything on the ground. We were really impressed with the turnout and participation. There was a fear that there were going to be people who showed up just for Merienda (snacks) and then leave, but that wasn't the case at all. 27 people came and stayed the entire time. Everyone worked hard and things just fell into place. Just have one more thing to finish up this project. Tomorrow we are going with the youth chairman to get some garbage cans for the court.

There is one more first I can add to my ever growing list! My family was telling me about how bugs are a delicacy here. I thought to myself that I don't think I could ever be able to bring myself to try them. Well, the teenage boy that lives in our house came home with a bottle full of beetles. He deshelled them and tore the legs off and then fried them in oil. Added salt and vio la, Sipaweng! My host mom said that she didn't like them, but after trying them, said, Oh, these are good. You should try. Yes, I gave in...how could I not? She cautioned me, Don't eat the heads. I followed her advice and found the abdomen to have a nutty flavor and quite salty. Can't say if I would try again, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!