hello again

the last few times i tried to post i was unsuccessful for one reason or another so its been a while. everyone doing alright? i hear the temperature has dropped a bit but that you are having a fall to remember. i feel a little disoriented because im missing it. anyone who has lived on a college campus knows that the pre-halloween buzz and the pumpkin carving and the rum and cider is what gets us through. its what sustains us as the weather drops. id become used to the changing of the seasons and the compulsory changes in outfits-lifestyle-attitude. but here the only change will be rain. although i think the temperature has dropped a little bit in the past few days from 100 to 95 or so. its nearly pleasant in the evenings!!

ahh its been a while and i have a lot to say. but the past week of events already seems less important than yesterday and this morning and right now. so i wont reminisce too much. yesterday evening i went with my roomie tom to play beach volleyball with some friends! so fun! we scooted there (tom bought a scooter too) and met up with elodie, her friend franck who are french. their friend carlos who is argentinian, sagi who is american, a woman who they called la matadora who was spanish (and feisty with a volleyball), and a handful of other people from brasil, portugal, england, french guiana etc. very fun. multicultural volleyball. multilingual volleyball!! so we played a while got good and sandy then went for a swim. the sun set was beautiful again! i think with rainy season coming on, the clouds are different and they lend themselves really well to the artistic desires of the sun. pink, purple, green, gray, orange, yellow, gold and the mountains become silhouettes while the sun ducks below them. its really something.

for the scoot home, i just wrapped a towel around my and put my helmet and sandals on and i felt like a real beach bum! this morning i woke up again for a morning dip. i had a cup of coffee and made my way to the waters edge. unfortunately the waves were too big this morning for my liking and i sat as an observer instead. i had a letter from gram and grampa this morning!!! so i wrote them back on the beach. its so different to have a tangible part of home here. a really sweet letter on a card with a tiffany design on the front with three photos inside. thank you g&g. you will be getting one back soon :)

i tried to post photos last time but my computer is slow and the internet isnt perfect so it took forever. but i managed to get them on facebook. take a look if you havent already! i had a trek through the jungle with Marielle, a woman i work with at the high school. we came acorss a few sloths, a bunch of monkeys, tons of butterflies and the biggest lightening bugs i have ever seen! we had a swim at her house in the shade of the palm trees, listened to some tunes, and cooked a big lunch (in our swimsuits!) we (mostly she) made a kind of thai-curry-salmon dish that was delicious and shrimp for an appetizer and i made an apple tart for dessert. so fun! today im going into work for a few hours and then im off to a dance class with another colleague! im really lucky to work at a school with people who are into hanging out with me. it means lots of practice with my french and some insight into life in the jungle.

im off now to the market to pick up a papaya (ive already had an orange and a star fruit today) and the newspaper. hope you are all doing well. staying healthy. stretching. reading. eating three times a day. (graham).

sending you the sun
kayla