October 25, 2005
This morning I had to run from a goose. It was terrifying. I was walking to my language class, enjoying the chilly yet clear morning, thinking lovely thoughts when I saw the neighborhood gaggle bathing in a puddle ten yards ahead of me. Not wanting to provoke any unnecessary encounter, I veered five feet off the dirt path to pass. This required tromping through a bush, but I was willing; geese are mean. I had made it just past the bathing beauties when they started honking and flapping at me. Then, suddenly, one came charging, head down, full speed and I had to run. Run. RUN. It was totally embarrassing, mostly because I know for a fact that at least two people saw me. Why can’t I be cool?

It’s starting to get cold. Rumor has it we might have snow on Friday, but we’ll see. It’s rained off and on for the last couple of weeks, which means lots of puddles and lots of mud. I bought an umbrella when it first started to rain, but I don’t foresee it lasting much into November. I’m pretty sure I bought the cheapest umbrella at the store. Probably not surprising. It worked great the first two days I had it, but on the third day, there was a slight breeze and it flipped up. Since that fated day, it flips up at random. I can flip it back down with one swift motion no problem, but from afar, it looks like I’m fencing. So I save it for when the drops are big because I’m rather conspicuous to begin with, let alone when I’m walking around fencing air.

In two weeks, I’ll know where my permanent site will be. It’s exciting to know, finally, but like everything else, it’s a bit overwhelming the think about. I’ll be visiting my site in the next couple of weeks and meeting my new host family. So I have a very exciting next few weeks. I'm trying to absorb as much language as I can before they turn me loose to my new site. Things are good though, things are good. As always I love and miss you all. I'll write as soon as I can.