Primero, lo siento a mis lectores quienes usualmente leen el español, voy a subir estas dos reflexiones sin traducción. Solo es por este momento, que quiero compartir esas obras así y luego, cuando empiezo escribir otra vez, haré las traducciones por las obras nuevas. ¡Muchas gracias por su paciencia y comprensión!
My face feels red hot… and that’s because it is. Today, I got burned by the equatorial sun, really burned. I spent a bit of time outside in the direct sunlight when I should have been wearing a lava-lava, a hat, or some sunscreen. To add to the burn, I also decided to go swimming… in very shallow water where my face was close enough to the surface to get “sunlight shine-to water surface-to my face burn” really easily. As I sit here too, I am trying to avoid thinking about my ankles which were bitten in the last forty-eight hours by many mosquitos. I lose this battle with them almost every time I go home. For some reason, even though I am usually more-or-less covered by a blanket at night, I come back with many mosquito bites. The bites on my ankles are particularly itchy, or maybe it’s just that they are in an easy spot to rub… all I have to do is use my other foot to reach up and scr- no! no! I won’t do it! I will not scratch my ankle. It’s not itchy! Not itchy at all! In some way, I have been telling myself for these past months that not scratching my mosquito bites will also make them not itchy when I receive them the next time… guess that isn’t quite how it works. Oh well.
Anyway, I had two incredible days yesterday and today, despite the sunburn. I ate more ice cream and pizza then I have in six months and really enjoyed it. It was my younger brother’s birthday, he turned two, and I promised that I would make pizza, so I did. For some of my brothers, pwipwis (sisters), and cousins, it was their first time ever eating pizza. No pressure. I think that it turned out well, though. A couple of them told me that they liked the one with SPAM on top the best (wink). I also found out that I have another brother whose birthday is on April 2cd and he said he liked pizza, so I’ll see what I can do. I met him for the first time yesterday and was blown away by his English abilities. Truly amazing. He already achieved the status of “second language learner knows how to be funny in second language” which is incredible from my perspective.
My family and I had a great time last night. We ate pizza, drank (I mean “ate”) ice cream, and had some time to run around and play. I usually have quite the family (neighbors included) surrounding me when I go home and there is never a dull moment because my brothers and sisters (especially the ones under 14) really like to hold my hands, run with me, and play any game that I share with them. Yesterday, I was really proud of myself because I made one up on the spot that they loved! All you have to do is this- Step 1: Say, “Right hand” (everyone raises their right hand) Step 2: Say, “Left hand” (everyone raises their left hand- or for the younger ones, their “left hand”) Step 3: Say, “Clap” (everyone claps) Step 4: Get everyone to come in close to each other, make a drum roll sound with your mouth while moving your hands and fingers in a drumming motion (everyone will follow your lead) and then Step 5: Say, “Pa!” or “Bang” or “Pow” and explode your hands to the sky. Step 6: REPEAT!
Into the Unknown: En lo Desconocido 