100 and counting...

I have read 100 books since coming to Peace Corps! Here are some of my favorites (in no particular order):

A Room with a View - E.M. Forster

The Sunday Philosophy Club - Alexander McCall Smith

Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

Ishmael - Daniel Quinn

The Tuesday Night Club - Agatha Christie

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman

And still plenty of time this year for more reading!

Sun and Sports

This week was the inter-house sports competition at Mailefihi. The students and teachers are divided into 4 houses for competitions throughout the year, including this one; I am a part of #3 this school year. On Thursday and Friday of this week, the students competed in track and field events. My favorite events to watch were javelin and the 400m relay. Javelin is entertaining because Tongan boys are really, really good at it. They can throw so far! I like the relay because they are really, really bad at it. I didn't see a single good hand-off. There were some really talented athletes, and I'm sure the students will do great at the inter-school competition in March. Go blue!

A Cyclone and a Sunburn

6:00 am - woken up by heavy rains and strong wind

6:30 am - power goes out

7:00 am - watched a banana tree blow over

7:30 am - rearranged living room so furniture wouldn't get soaked

9:00 am - storm is finished

9:30 am - swept out leaves and water from my house

10:00 am - started reading a book about a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia, mood is lifted

11:30 am - neighbors bring me breadfruit from a tree that blew over

1:00 pm - walked around town with some friends

5:00 pm - returned home with a sunburn. oiaue.

7:30 pm - dinner by candlelight

8:00 pm - continued to read Mongolia book using headlamp

9:00 pm - bedtime

the end.