They had parent day at school today.  Parent day included a lot of speeches about what, I don’t know.  It also included some strange video that looked like it was about on-line predators, but again, I don’t know.  And it included an introduction of and a speech by their new western teacher – yep – me.  Don’t sign me up for the speaking tour.  All in all, it was about 4 hours long.  They fed me lunch – guess?

After, I was going to work on lesson plans, but the internet wasn’t working.  So, I decided to take my nook up to the dam and read.  There are two entrances to the dam.  The one I went to was closed.  It just so happens to be next to the stairs that go up to what looked like a temple on the top of the hill.  I debated taking the challenge since it was overcast.  I wasn’t sure if it was worth it if I couldn’t get photos.  But, my other choice was to go back home and sit in my house.

The stairs looked like they went on for ever, but they didn’t.  In fact, the stairs ended too soon.  Then it turned to log stairs and then to steep switchbacks not meant for humans to walk up.  It wasn’t a wat, but a stupa (or maybe a pagoda – not sure of the difference).  There was an older lady sweeping the floor that insisted in asking me questions even though I had no idea what she was saying.  There was another lady there also sweeping.  I took some pictures and enjoyed the breeze.  Even though it was overcast, the view was amazing.  The lady kept talking.  Coming down the trail/stairs was even sketchier than going up, but I survived it.  At that point I gave up and went home.

I read for awhile on my porch until too many bug bites said to go in.  I made a salad with the stuff I got from the market the other night.  I didn’t have salad dressing, but put some watermelon in there and it worked quite well.  Then I ate what I thought were doughnuts that I got the other night as well.  They were fried dough with sugar and scallions on the out side.  There was something that looked like meat on the inside, but might be red bean?  And it had a spicy after taste.  Why?  Why would anyone think those things go good together?

I booked a flight to Bali for two weeks of my upcoming break.

This evening’s house guests are ants and very large cockroaches.  I should work on lesson plans, but I’m giving up on the day and going to crawl into bed at 7:30pm.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore