Rainy Days and Food Photographer

Forgot to mention in my last post that we got a ride with this nice guy Steve who has been working on the island for 5 years with NOAA and previously with the National Park. Pretty cool. I also got to ride home from Zumba class this week with Erica's parents. Erica is the instructor that usually gives me a lift home, but she wasn't heading that way and had her dad take me. Loa and Va'a are two very energetic people that chattered the whole way home :-)

Had to hang out at school until 4pm on Friday as report cards had been handed out, so we were asked to stick around in case any parents or students had questions. I had one parent come by and I discovered that one of my students has been scared to ask me questions since I'm palagi (or at least that's what he told his mom). I told her I'd try to work more closely with him and shook both of their hands. Then, the student came back and sat in my room and chatted with me a bit until it was time to go home. Maybe he's not so scared anymore. No reason to be scared of me... most days. haha

The rain has been almost non-stop lately. Quite the rainy mess on the way home Friday. The teachers that head our way were already full or not leaving for a while, so I figured if we got out to the road, someone would pick us up. This gentleman Nick gave us a lift to the shopping center, where we immediately caught a bus and made our way home in the pools of water that had formed that afternoon.

Friday was the pure cardio workout with Insanity, which is pretty intense, but I'm a trooper. Exercise feels so good. One of my students also asked me on Friday what I do when I'm having a bad day. I told him exercise is one thing that can clear my head and put me in a better mood (not that I really ever let myself be in a bad mood altogether).

Rained all day Saturday with little gaps of sunlight. Started out the morning by hitting Sualua's for breakfast. Got on and off the bus before the rain picked up. Had a delightful banana muffin with a side of fruit and iced tea. Grabbed some bananas from one of the growers before catching a rainy bus ride back home, Had some oatmeal and chai tea for lunch at home. Oatmeal sounded really good on this rainy day. For dinner, I had some more oatmeal with a side of cucumber and banana. Yum yum.

Taking this photo of food reminded me how I took so many photos of the food I ate while on my min-vacation. One of my roommates commented that from the looks of my photos on Facebook it seemed like all Hannah and I did was eat on that trip. I told her I'm a wannabe food photographer. haha. You know... maybe take photos for menus, ads, and such. It's sort of fun trying to take the photo from a cool angle or placing things in a certain way on the plate.

Woke up til the continuing rain Sunday morning, but it backed off by the time I went to church and really didn't rain much more at all. One of the messages was a metaphor about farming, which was interesting. Especially since I am from the Midwest. Made a little and fried rice for lunch, and I made enough rice to save some for rice pudding for dinner. Forgot how much I enjoy rice pudding. This is the second time I've made it since I've been living here now. That oatmeal is godo stuff, too. There are so many deliciously healthy things out there to eat. Who needs cookies? haha Okay, I admit I still enjoy cookies, but in moderation :-)