One fish, two fish, red fish...

A Day In The Life...

I have found that it is very hard to have a daily routine here. When I was in college I would get up, go to class, work out, come home to shower and eat, go to class, then to work, study in the evenings, and that was life. This routine (and close proximity of home-school-gym) made it easy to fit everything I needed or wanted to do into one day. As a dedicated "multi-tasker," I thrive on busy days and crammed schedules. This was before I moved to Réunion.

Here no day is the same because my work schedule is so inconsistant, but I will try to give you a general idea. The Creoles here get up really early (probably because it's so darn hot) but I usually get up around 9. Mostly this is because I fall asleep late because there are so many dogs barking. First the little yippy ones start, then after a few minutes the deep-voiced big dogs decide they need to comment on the situation, and for the grand finale both together. It is SO obnoxious! But, I digress. Getting up is nice because, while it's hot, we have a beautiful veranda with a spectacular view of the ocean. My roommates and I usually eat breakfast out here to catch a bit of a breeze.

If I have to get to work, I need to leave at least an hour and a half before I need to start class because that is how long the bus route takes. I walk down the chemin des orangers past 7 barking dogs, a slew of chickens and geese, and dozens of fallen mangoes to the bus stop, about 7 minutes away. To get to work I take the 7 down the huge hill that is Moufia to catch the 10 (which is ALWAYS late). The 10 takes an ambling route through St Denis, but I kind of like the journey. I usually get on early enough to get a seat in the back, which is a miracle becuase it doesn't really occur to people here to move out of the entrance of the busses. They just all stand there making it hard for more people to get on. If they moved, they would all have more room, but I guess they like their cramped, sweaty quarters and their view of an empty back of the bus. I like to use my time in the bus to read, but you can be sure that I am the only one doing this.

The IUFM (where I work- Institut Universitaire de la Formation des Maitres) is on the opposite side of St Denis from where I live, in a posh area called Bellepierre. I am legally not allowed to discuss anything about the establishment on any kind of public forum, so I will simply say that I have anywhere from 3 to 6 hours of class in any one day (usually conversation classes), then I make the long journey home. Getting the 10 back is the most stressful part of my day, but once I am on I'm good to go.

My life pretty much revolves around the bus: I walk to the bus, I wait for the bus, I ride the bus and I do it all again later.

On days that I give private English lessons my routine changes a bit: I prep at 9:30 for my student who comes to the house shows up around 10, we work for an hour, then I rush off to the IUFM. When I go to another's office usually around 11, I take the bus and walk a bit. Another tends to meet me at the house around 5pm. These lessons are fun and challenging for me. Each student (I'm thankfully down to just three) is at a different level (one very beginner, another about "year 3-4", and another who is quite good) and this makes for quite a bit of preparation time. I enjoy my time with my students and I love seing them progress, but I do not want to do this forever. I much prefer teaching French. My débutant student usually shows up with fresh lychees or pineapples from his garden.

Food shopping is the other way I spend my time. If not every day, I go to the market every other day. Because it's quite a walk up the hill to get to our house, I can't carry too much a once. Plus, I like the idea of getting fresh fruits and veggies so frequently, even if I know I have seen the same cucumbers at the stand for atleast 8 days. It is a skill to pick out the freshest produce. Walking around the Petit Marché with my brightly-colored straw basket makes me feel like I fit in, even though I know that to everyone there I do not. Then I head to my favorite grocery store (Champoin) for the stuff I can't get in the market, then take the 7 or the 8 home.

Getting home is always a relief after the walk up the hill. There is usually at least one roommate around; it's nice to not come home to an empty house. Cooking usually works itself out nicely: someone starts around 6 and the Spanish girls never at until 10pm. We normally don't have to fight for space or dishes, but there are moments... I especially like our weekly house dinners.

Now that we have the Internet there is somewhat of a queue for using one of the three computers, but usually everyone gets a little bit in. Since I don't own one of the computers here I usually wait until it seems like one of the owners has finished, but sometimes it becomes necessary to ask to use one. Since the Internet arrived we are somewhat less social with one another, but I guess there's enough talking that occurs in other parts of the day that I don't feel like we are totally anti-social.

The bathroom that I use is in Cleo's room, so I try to get ready for bed before she goes to sleep. Our bathroom is bright pink- my favorite! The toilet is in a separate room (typically French).

This was long and perhaps boring, but sometimes that's how I feel about my days here. I'm glad I captured a small essence of my life in a blog. Seriously, though, most of my days are, overall, good. I usually always enjoy my time at the IUFM, I love shopping at the Petit Marché, and I enjoy cooking at night. Thanks for reading, now enjoy some pictures!

Pamplemousses Gardens, Ile Maurice

The Sir Seewooagur Ramgoolam Gardens are colloquially known as "Pamplemousses," or Grapefruits. While we did not see any grapefruit trees, we did tour the most rennowned gardens in the tropics. Baobabs and hundreds of other exotic trees lined the paths, lotus gardens brought a fresh touch to the scenery, and the wildlife (deer and giant tortises) an unexpected but interesting sight. The best by far, however, were the giant lilypads in the very center of the gardens. These suckers are huge! 3-4 feet wide on average, these large lilypads can hold a decent amount of weight. The lilies that grow around them have a fascenating life cycle: they bloom white in the morning, turn a light shade of pink around 2pm and by 5pm they are bright magenta. They die at night and new lilies bloom in the morning.

Mauritius: Beach Paradise

Beaches are beautiful and everywhere on Mauritius, known to the French-speaking world as l'île Maurice. In the north there are Grand Baie and Pereybère; Rachel and I did an underwater walk" in Grnd Baie. This is where you put a glass box over your head, they pump air into this "helmet" using solar-powered energy, and you "swim with the fishes," only you're not swimming you are walking. I was really nervous at first, but then once you're underwater it's no big deal. The divers come along and give you a tour of coral reefs, fish life, and even bring a bit of bread to feed the hunderds of fish swimming around you. To the west is Flic-en-Flac (Dutch for "flat and free land"), Tamarin, and a few other beach communities. The capital city, Port Louis, is also in the west, though it is not a beach town. To the south lie Le Morne peninsula (think: Rock of Gibraltar), Trou aux biches, and Bleu Baie. In th east is the spectacular Ile aux Cerfs which is only accessible by boat. They take you out to the island for a fabulous day of swimming, give you a barbecue lunch of fish, shrimp, lobster and rum, and bring you back as the sun is setting. This is the life! We did a lot of snorkeling and saw a ton of fish and coral- even a few crabs!

It's Delicious, It's Mauritius!

The food in Mauritius is spectacular. It is very heavily influenced by the Chinese and Indian cooking traditions. Personally, i prefer the Indian influence. My absolute favorite item was the dohl pourri which is a thin crepe made of yellow lentils and chic peas with curried butter beans, piment (spicy sauce), and some other magic inside, rolled up and sold to you on the street for 7 Rupees, or 0.16 USDollars. Yes, 16 cents! Everything is so cheap there. We had marvelous meals for the equivilent of 8 Euros. Other highlights include farata (a tortilla-like bread) with which you pinch your food and eat with your hands. We pinched a salmon-tomato-eggplant dish, a pumpkin purée and those same curried butterbeans- and of course piment! My favoite dessert was this banane caramelisée with flaming rum sauce---ahhhhhhh! The piranha-looking fish on the plate was the barbeque on Ile aux Cerfs. You can buy coconuts whole, have the top chopped off, stick a straw in and drink the yummy coconut juice. When you're done with your beverage, you take it back to the stand and the man will slice the coconut in half so you can eat the inside and he will slice a bit off the bottom to use as a spoon. The last photo is Stephan's mom (Stephan is this really nice friend we made there who took us all around the island and had us over to his home few times for dinner) who took me to Chinatown in Port Louis for the "boutons chinois," or dim sum sold from a stand on the street. You sit there in the road and eat it, then pay the man. Amazing!

Babouk (Libby, you might want to skip this one)

Everyone, meet Babouk. Babouk, meet everyone.

Babouk first appeared in our house the first week we lived here as this huge spider that kept us all out of the kitchen. When we learned that she was no ordinary spider, but that she had a name and that we should be happy to have her, I can tell you that all the Americans in the house were skeptical. Babouk's second appearance was in Caroline's room. Guess who captured Babouk not once but twice and put her outside? ME! Haha! I was so brave and took care of the matter like it was no biggie. What a champ.

Babouk eats mosquitos, is not poisonous (in fact, there are no poisonous critters on Réunion) and does not harm anything. Babouk should also not be squashed because Babouk is full of hundreds of little Babouks that scatter everywhere if released. Not something I want, poisonous or not.

We have several Babouks in the house (one has recently been living in my mosquito net- call me a wuss, but I sleep on the couch when I can't get her out). My favorite is this little one we call "Babybouk." She is about the size of a fifty-cent piece. She's so cute! (In as far as spiders are cute)

The picture shows Babouk next to a hand to give you a bit of an idea of the scale. This is not the biggest Babouk we have, but this is about the average size.

Back In Reunion, But Not For Long

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy New Year to all. 2007 promises many wonderful things ahead for all of us.

I returned home Monday, January 8 after a looong (12-hr)flight from Paris. I was been a bit grouchy the first few days and I could not tell if it was because I was tired, irritated at being back, missing my friends or what. Luckily my mood has improved the past couple of days. Returning "home" to St-Denis seems odd, but at the same time it is nice to come home and know everything: busses, markets, slow walkers, everything closed from nood to 2:30pm, etc. I spent some time with local friends which helped cheer me up and I also started swimming at the local pool (which I will talk about in another post).

I think the conclusion that I have come to about Réunion is that the novelty has worn off. This is not a vacation, this is normal life. It is hot, cultural differences once thought to be interesting or funny are now just annoying, and I miss my family and friends back home. I can still play the tourist, go to the beach, the markets, the mountains and all that, but I'm not about to return home (to a comfortable bed without a mosquito net and I don't have to search my room for spiders- also a coming post) before I sleep.

Luckily, the travel gods are smiling on me and I leave Monday the 15th for 10 fun-filled days exploring mauritius, our neighboring island to the East. Mauritius is renowned for its beaches, but I have also found some neat museums and activities (like a stamp museum, giant lily pads and an underwater walk) to see. I am headed to l'île Maurice with my friend Rachel, a really nice girl that I have met here. She is one of those friends that you meet and you click at once. She's a doll.

Ranting and raving done. Oh, wait, almost. I wanted to put up a few other Switzerland photos, but I erased them because I'm a dummy. Take care everyone and I'll be in touch. LOVE TO YOU!

Bern

Welcome to the magnificent city of Bern, Switzerland! This medieval village is cute, walkable, and full of interesting things. We went to a great museum, though the Einstein section was closed, walked around the downtown, saw the cathedral, clock, bear pit, and Einstein's former residence (also closed). Celeste's Swedish brother and sister, Tomas and Kristina, were also visiting, along with Jay, and we have been having a blast together.

Beatutiful Switzerland

This is where I am! This is where Celeste lives! Life is rough.

Christmas in Paris

I spent a wonderful Christmas with Morgane and her family. Raw oysters, foie gras, turkey and chestnuts, buche de noel... so great!

Mafate

My housemates, two other people and I went backpacking in the Cirque de Mafate for 3 and a half days right before Christmas. The hiking was phenomenal. The weather was not sunny and clear but that ended up being a good thing. Hot, sunny weather makes hot, tired, dehydrated hikers. Mostly we had cool, semi-cloudy weather, perfect for backpacking. The trails were in good condition and very much uphill. And downhill. And uphill again. I was tired every day and worked a lot, and sweated a lot!, but there was no point that i thought it was too difficult or that I was going to die. I did, however, look forward to the tops of certain hills. We ran into a really nice American named Amy and we hiked with her for most of our trip.