And I had to spend the entire winter in shorts. That is what Ryan is like: A fake brother who steals your jeans.

Living on Eastern Standard Time is bizarre. Having the US just ‘fall back’ an hour while the time here remains constant leaves me feeling an hour early. To watch the nightly news (we get NYC news) I must wait until 11pm. I suppose this is a bit trivial, but it really affects my food network schedule. We miss Paula Dean and Giada most days. This is distressing as we both derive great pleasure from viewing Paula’s billion calorie concoctions and I generally enjoy watching Giada chop vegetables. The rain here is beginning to let up a bit, which is nice break from perpetual moistness. The rain has brought out the frogs. Remember when Erin blessed us with the knowledge that Jamaica has 17 species of frogs that have no tadpole stage? Well there have been thousands of tiny little frogs hopping about. These brown-speckled nickel-sized creatures bounce around your feet as you walk and remarkably get out of the way before you squish them. Today all the volunteers in the St. James Parish met with the PC regional security officer. I made a strong push to try to get Vespa scooters for volunteers as a safety measure, but the PC did not see the connection to safety that I did. Oh well. Work is going well as Erin and I are getting better at this whole teaching thing. I know this is a bit surprising as neither of us have much experience nor patience. Not that there are no setbacks. Last week one of our kids almost got expelled from school. When his principal ‘licked’ him he hit back and then went for a pair of scissors (with the intent to stab? I know not). After a meeting concerning the situation he is going to be allowed back at school. Recently I became the secretary of the VAC, which stands for volunteer advisory (or action or something else possibly) committee. This is pretty much student council for PC volunteers here on island. I assumed this responsibility after the newly elected secretary early terminated her service. I did not originally run and was not the least bit interested in the committee. I really wanted the ‘member-at-large’ position which is no more than a member who gets all perks and has no responsibilities what-so-ever (as is written in the VAC constitution). But I ended up with the secretary position and will take it fairly seriously as I think there are some things that the committee can really do to help volunteers. A big weekend in college football this weekend. I want everybody to know now that I am picking Ohio St. to lose (BCS mix up!), a close game and narrow victory for the Jayhawks at Okie St. (top 2 ranking?), and a 52-16 MU rout of Texas A&M at the ‘Zou. Erin is going to make chocolate chip scones for dessert tonight. Domestic Goddess???? Not quite yet, but… soon come!!!!

I’ll catch you on the flip side…
Patricio