First post of OCTOBER!!

Hello all-

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday-the moon ended up being visible on tuesday night which meant that we had the day off due to the end of Ramadan!!

I waited with such anticipation Tuesday night-and as soon as the moon was visible I of course wanted to go out and celebrate the fact that I had the next day off. Unfortunately, Tuesday night is not a popular night to go out in Mauritius regardless of whether people have to work on Wednesday. So I ended up staying in and getting a decent night's sleep.

I woke up the next morning and attempted to go to thzie internet cafe-but it was closed as were most businesses. I ended up meeting my new friend Katheryn, another american, at the beach in Flic en Flac for the day. She has lived here more than a year and absolutely loves it!! It got me thinking about whether or not I wanted to stay here longer....in reality I probably will not as I have other responsibilities back home-but it is fun to fantasize!

We had lunch at a chinese place and I ate something called a "magic bowl." This is a bowl full of rice, chicken, and vegetables that is turned upside down on a plate. Inside, there is a teryaki sort of sauce and an enormous fried egg. They take the bowl off at the table and let it all spill out!! It was delicious!!

I got home at about 530, showered, and relaxed for a little bit. After dinner and chatting with Audrey for awhile I went to bed to prepare for the full day that I have today!!

Some little things:
-In Mauritius-they say "je touche le bois" for "Knock on wood." Some superstitions truly are global
-The mosquito killer in my room is so strong-I saw a lone mosquito strangling itself to deathe other night-all I could think of was ha! you can no longer bite me!!
-i love to people watch at the beach-I saw a group of teenage boys making music with a bongo and coke bottles (they also used this as background music when they wrestled each other to the ground)
-saw another group of boys who were no more than 14 sitting on the beach drinking beer-where were their parents???

At work I am in the process of learning the software that I use to collect data when my survey is complete. It is somewhat difficult but I'm sure that I will understand it eventually!!

More later...