Habitat Adventures: Rain, Dogs and Mushrooms

---

To start of this blog, I thought I would write about the most unimaginable thing known to mankind. That´s right...today, for lunch, I ate an entire plate of mushrooms. Sorry Dad, the hobbits weren´t what finally convinced me, but rather manners. My host family served me up a whopping plate of ´hongos´ today (spanish for fungus). When they first handed me the plate, the mushrooms, long and slimy, covered in a tomato and onion sauce, actually looked like pasta. As I was right about to take my first bite, my host mom assured me, ´No se preocupe...no es carne...son hongos´(Don´t worry...it´s not meat...they´re mushrooms)...oh how that eased my nerves!!! (Anyone that knows me should be able to sense the extreme sarcasm in that sentence). She seemed very happy to make sure I knew that it was okay, and she made the extra point to describe the mushrooms to me and tell me how delicious they are...that I couldn´t refuse. Furthermore, every meal I have eaten with them, I have finished the entire plate; I didn´t want them to suspect that I didn´t like the mushrooms, so I ate the entire thing...and this was a big plate filled half with mushrooms, half with rice. Mom and dad... I hope you are proud!

And to answer the question I´m sure you are all thinking...no, I didn´t like them. But on the flipside... they weren´t the worst thing in the world, and if the family decides to serve them up again, I would brave it out another time.

So, now onto the other subject of this blog: dogs.
Never have I had a fear of dogs until working for Habitat. It must be the sound of the moto riding by, and the fact that many houses have dogs in front to keep watch, but within 4 days of working, I have already been chased on the moto 3 times... one of which involved 2 dogs chasing us for a good 20 seconds and my leg swinging back and forth and all around to avoid its mouth. Terrifying. But, I haven´t been bit, and now I have my pepper spray ready just in case. (Although I am still a dog lover, and I will not use it unless my swinging leg does not work and a dog poses a major threat...don´t worry PETA.

Besides terrifying dogs, today I saw the funniest dog I have ever witnessed in my 21 years of life. It was a weiner dog, here called ´salchichas´(spanish for hotdogs)...and its name was Pepperoni. Even as a vegetarian, I can fully appreciate the humor in that. But to further add to this dog´s charm, when it barked, it moved its head back and forth like it was having an incredible sneeze attack. Oh...how it made my day. Thank you Pepperoni.

And finally, the rain. My compañero, Mauro, and I have been getting about 30 houses under our belts each day, as the threat of rain didn´t stop us from traveling on. On Thursday, however, while the threat of rain didn´t stop us, the rain did. We were going for one more house, as it was barely even drizzling, but right as we finished the last house, it began to pour. We thought we could wait it out under the overhang of the casa...but after about 30 minutes of non-stop pour, and the consistent barking of a dog that did not have the same charms as Pepperoni...and as the time got closer to sunset, we could not wait any longer. We knocked on the door of the house, and the owner kindly lent us her umbrella for the ride back. So off we took, in our new and improved moto that now how a flowery roof. Needless to say, it did not keep us very dry, but it did enough to keep the rain out of the driver´s eyes. And I´m sure it was also quite an entertaining site for the people we passed by.

Anyways... it is not 5:30, and time for the office to close, so I´m going to pack up my things and head back to my house, which is a long journey of three doors down. Tonight I am going to give the son, who is visiting from Nebraska, some English writing lessons (he already speaks it), have dinner (hopefully not mushrooms), and play Uno with la Nena. Pretty much sums up my life in San Marcos! Love you all!

---

Comments

[kw]

Wow, I can't believe you ate a whole plate of mushroom! And I thought you are normally pretty good at voicing your likes and dislikes. =P

[DAD]

Mushrooms grow on you
And they're pretty hard to pry off when they do.....but don't worry, unless they're not really mushrooms but toadstools--your family doesn't pick its own mushrooms, does it? Keep safe, keep dry and keep the bugs off. Love you.

[Erinski]

Mushrooms = gross

[Erinski]

Mushrooms = gross

[Momo]

Mushrooms and doggies
Proud of you Steph! I'll have to make sure to prepare a dish like that in honor of your homecoming! JK, only if you ask for them. Remember, if a dog bites you, you'll need a series of rabies shots, so forget about PETA and spray away. The dog will recover from the pepper spray. Miss you! <3 <3 (those are hearts) Mom

[VeR]

Hey!!!
I was checking out this whole blog thing, very cool I must say! :) Hope all is well and I hope all those bug bites are doing ok!!! I'm so jealous!!! You must be having such an awesome time... I've barely been out of California!!! Miss ya!!! Take care!!!