Almost done with this cycle of classes! I have to go in one more time today to get my grades and to talk to Daniela - she was nice enough to write a letter saying I'm a student so I can hopefully get the student rate to enter the Galapagos (normal foreigners pay $100; students pay $25); but, since all of my student IDs were stolen, I'm going to try to procure another from the university.
Most importantly, Mango Season has started! My host family bought a basketful last weekend, so we've been working on them all week. The mangoes we see in the U.S. are the "export" variety; the ones they eat here are much smaller, with a lighter, more floral flavor. My host mom explained that I'd better hop to it with eating them, because if I didn't get to it, she'd finish them all! She brags that she will eat 3 or 4 easily in one sitting, 6 if she's actually in the mood. And the ones on the tree in the back yard should be ripening in the next week or two, which is very exciting!
As illustrated above, most of the time my host mom is a little quirky, but lucid. Then I woke up yesterday. Apparently, around this time every year, my host mom can no longer contain her excitement over Christmas, so she starts decorating... on October 27. When I left around midday for school, the entire front room of the house (which constitutes a front hall, a large sitting room, and the dining room) was filled with boxes and stepladders and packing materials. I returned to see most of it unpacked and painstakingly laid out in a Winter Wonderland in 92 degree heat, complete with extra end tables set up to hold more decorations, and a red cozy on top of the water cooler. It was a little funny, but hey, she needs something to do, right? Then I woke up today. There was another pile of boxes and bags the same size as the one yesterday! So now I'm getting a little nervous... has she in fact lost her mind? Will Christmas arrive before we all drown in the chaos of lights, manger scenes, fake "frosted" fruit, and the 10 Santas I've counted, just from where I'm sitting right now? Who knows. But if you don't hear from me, grab the keys from underneath the ornaments hanging on the key hook, let yourself in, and start digging under the pile of green tablecloths with perfectly coordinated red placements and fake snow-stuffing.
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