I've got beans

So tonight was tamale dinner at our friend Brenda's house. Brenda is 22 and not married. I.E. We need to be friends. She is really sweet and a teacher at one of our schools. She is also my neighbor and Don Pedro is her Uncle. Sadly, they do not have a very good relationship related to some rumors about Brenda having dated a married man last year... when she was 21 but you know it was totally her fault and thus she shouldn't be trusted or talked to. It's a little hard actually because I want to respect Don Pedro and Dona Mercedes with their choice to talk to someone or not but it is hard when they turn their nose down at me when they know I have spent time with Brenda and I'm sure this dinner will hurt their feelings but I mean at some point I have to make decisions on my own and having a 22 year old friend seems pretty good right now. Anyway, her mom made us delicious tamales and gave us beans. Ha sometimes pity tastes so good. Now I've got beans in my fridge and I'll be able to heat them up on my new stove. Well, that would be the case if I had gas. Next month. Hopefully we can keep this friendship alive to keep sharing food. We also have set up a movie night complete with popcorn. I guess we will just see what happens.

I bet you are thinking it's pretty sad that you have a stove with no gas but I mean it's not so bad. Gas is EXPENSIVE. I eat dinner with DP and DM pretty much every night. So I only have to worry about breakfast and lunch which surprisingly I can scrounge around enough to have something pretty good. Also, Betty and I together can pull off a pretty good lunch pretty cheaply and totally culturally sensitive. Beans, Eggs, and some type of salad (usually cucumber, tomato, onion and then lime and salt! YUM)So slowly but surely I will be a great little chef... haha Seeing as right now I can't get my huge water jug open, I'd say my skills are not in the kitchen. I also don't know which is more embarrassing a stove with no gas or a water jug that you can't open? You tell me.

In other news, Manchitas is really fat. She is getting so big. Also she loves to leave presents on my bed when I leave. This is really testing my patience. A)because it is really gross B) because it is a huge pain. I do love her though I'm worried she might have fleas and I don't have enough money to get her fixed until next month so I'm terrified she's going to get pregnant, keeping pooing on my bed, and get so fat that she won't be able to move. Any cat advice welcome.

This week starts more meetings. Tomorrow we are meeting with a local NGO to share what our project is and hopefully brainstorm ways we can work together. Should be exciting. Well that's the brief update for now... Love and miss you all. Let me know you are still reading.