Just a quick update before I settle down for Movie Night with the other WWOOFers...
I'm using Lucy's internet upstairs in her loft this week while she's away in Seattle visiting her parents. We also get to take hot showers and watch movies on a proper telly, so life feels pretty privileged right now.
Work at the kitchen is good, however it can be pretty frustrating trying to communicate with the women who work for Lucy.. they're all really, really nice, but they speak so damn fast and in such heavily accented Spanish that I spent most of my time just shrugging and saying "no entiendo" or struggling to decipher what they want from me by repeating the words "mas, mas, mas despacio. por dios! mas despacio!" All in all, I managed to make two batches of ice cream and serve fifteen tables their lunches without getting scolded too much, but I'm just frustrated by the fact that I can't make small talk with these women. I don't have enough words under my belt to say what I want to say, so I end up either remaining silent or phrasing things like a child. I come across as dull and unintelligent, two things that I know I'm not. Oh well. We're all novices at some point, and this is my time to just sit back and try to learn.

On a totally different topic, I'm becoming quite the master of on-the-fly meals. With limited groceries here, I've had to get a bit creative when it's my turn to make dinner, and tonight I managed to put together a pretty good meal... Roasted tomatoes cut in half, and stuffed with curried mashed potatoes, cilantro, onion, garlic and the insides of the scooped-out tomatoes. Baked for a few minutes in the oven with sharp cheddar cheese on top. Yum. Simon also threw together some hummus and we warmed pita bread and then cut it into triangles for our Mediterranean/Indian dinner. I'm going to be quite the thrifty cook when I come back.
For dessert tonight during our movie, it's fried plaintains with dark rum, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.
(side note: Jacob, you can no longer accuse me of 'never cooking'. :)

Alright! that's all for now. more to come this week before Christmas festivites begin!
Abrazos y besas,
Suzy