The puzzle is finished. In fact, it was finished two weeks ago. It looked AMAZING. Lamar took it apart very carefully and kept it sorted so we could put it together when we get back to the States. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for such a thoughtful and smart gift.

On other fronts, our home garden is flourishing. We have turned what was our dining room into a greenhouse of sorts. The room has two windows that get a lot of morning sun, so we keep the plants in there all morning, and then we move them to the veranda for afternoon sun. We have to bring them in at night or else they get these crazy bugs from the open windows of the veranda. Everything seems to be really thriving. We are growing the following plants: cucumbers, eggplants, tomatoes (Arkansas Travelers!), jalapeños, Serrano peppers, green onions, dill, cilantro, sprouts, parsley, basil, a kiwi tree (seriously—Lamar saved a seed from his kiwi, planted it, and now it is growing), thyme, a Greek giant (a type of eatable green plant), snap peas, and two mystery plants we bought off the street here in Cape Verde that are just pretty. It is wonderful to wake up each morning and see how much they have grown. Lamar even got his first harvest off his jalapeños, and he said they were wonderful.

On the pop culture front, we are still enjoying T.V. We rarely watched T.V. when we lived in the States. In fact, my T.V. was not plugged in until Lamar moved in and wanted to watch football. However, since we have come to Cape Verde for Peace Corps, we have watched massive amounts of T.V. that we never watched in the States. We have watched almost all of “The Office,” three seasons of “30 Rock,” two seasons of “Prison Break,” a season of “Scrubs,” various episodes of “Ted Talks” and “How Its Made,” and now we are watching “Firefly.” It is not that all we do is watch T.V., it is just that when what you can do is sometimes so limited, T.V. is a nice break from things.

Lamar is getting much better at his guitar.  He practices almost every day.  He learns new songs each week.  Here recently he has learned "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac and "Rejoicing in the Hands" by Devendra Banhart.  He is even practicing with another volunteer here who wants to learn to play.

I have had more time to read since my school class load has been reduced. I finished quite a few books over break that I had never read and always wanted to read: The Bluest Eye, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Death in Venice, The Famished Road, and Bluebeard. I am almost finished with Of Human Bondage; I am really enjoying it. I have looked forward to reading what I want for so long, and now that I have the time, it is not that easy. Books are hard to come by here, not to mention books in English. But I am reading whatever I can get my hands on, and that is proving to be somewhat of a nice surprise. Having fewer choices is opening up books that perhaps I would never have read. I am thankful for that.