Frisbees and Evolution

Since I'm sure you're all on tenterhooks, I'll tell you that Dawson's screen is still broken but I can plug him into either the projector or just any old monitor and still use him.  So my continuous assessment marks have been saved! Plus all the really important stuff like My Little Pony and Left 4 Dead.

One week tomorrow the lucky kids will start their exams and in one month and eleven days I'll be flying out of Paro which the kids might also see as lucky.  Sadly, T'eo won't be able to meet me at the airport but Mom and Dad will be there so I guess they'll have to do.

Yesterday, (or the 9/11/13 in case I don't post this today) we had our school picnic down by the Pochu river.  Due to a slight misunderstanding, I arrived two hours earlier than any other teacher because I didn't realise that the principal was only talking to the students when he said to arrive at the picnic site at 8 o'clock.  But that was ok because I had brought a couple of frisbees, my ipod and its portable player so to the music of Queen and They Might Be Giants amongst others (Teo Torriatte and Love of My Life were the most popular), I taught the kids how to play catch with frisbees.  Sadly, by the end of the day both frisbees had suffered compound fractures and I had to reassure some students who looked like they had broken a Faberge egg  that it was alright and nothing from a 2 dollar shop ever lasted as long as they did.

I think Bohemian Rhapsody was playing when I took this one.  The frisbees are a bit hard to see but the are the blue things.

Technically there weren't meant to be any lessons yesterday but some of my students were puzzled by some “philosophical” questions which apparently had no answer and asked for my help.  Unfortunately for any philosophers who demand an absence of solid facts, both questions did have answers.  The first was the good old chicken and egg question so the kids go a very quick lesson on evolution and how egg-laying reptiles eventually became chickens.  I couldn't give such a good answer for the second one which was about which were first, men or women.  Well, the exact words were 'males' and 'females' so I'm not sure if the question was specifically about humans or if it included the entire animal kingdom.  I don't know enough about evolution to know when life got complex enough to have the different sexes so instead I went with an answer that the boys didn't like very much but the girls did.  I told them that there were girls first because everyone started out as a girl.  I didn't say that boys were therefore broken girls but there was a very brief lesson on chromosomes.  Colin probably would have given a much better explanation but they were stuck with me.

We also had a visit from one of T'eo's subjects.  A very excited class 4 student brought over the little reptile and I had to be quite firm with the other students to keep them from petting it.

As you can see, the little dragon was just thrilled to join the picnic.

I was very glad that the students' fear of tiny lizards was disappearing but the lizard's fear of the students was probably quite strong and I didn't want it justified.  This meant that nobody was allowed to pet the little guy but I did let the boy who found it have it on his shoulder.

That really tiny grey streak on his shoulder is actually a dragon.

The afternoon turned into one long photo session after one group of kids asked if they could have their picture with me and then other kids came and some kids wanted a picture of just me and them and so on.

I think some were taking the occasion slightly more seriously than others.  I must try harder to spread the insanity to all next year.

And here's one where some chose to display their gang affiliation.

I'm hoping my colleagues who are not returning were ok at their picnics.  I would have been a weepy mess if I weren't coming back next year!

I leave you with a photo that I should have put with my previous blog post but forgot to.

It's Adam helping Dad focus the picture!

Hugs to All and wish my students luck for their exams.  I'm afraid some of them may need it!

Hugs hugs

Dawson! Come Back Dawson!

Greetings all!  As some of you may have realised, Dawson, my faithful laptop is unwell.  I've come to Bajo to try and get him some first aid treatment but, probably since it's a holiday, all shops which advertise computer repairs are shut.  I've been told that they may open later but I'm getting increasingly nervous.  It won't matter too much since I can stay here another night but it will be another night of Dawson with what looks like horrific black goo behind his screen!
Anyway, I'll stop writing about Dawson's horrible disfigurement and move on to what has happened since I last blogged all those months ago.
Most importantly, my daddy visited! And he got to see my school's variety show! Twice!  To be fair, there were some different acts on the second night.  For example, on the first night my sixth graders sang 'Bound for South Australia' and on the second night my eighth graders sang 'Wild Mountain Thyme.'  And what some lacked in knowledge of the tune they made up for in enthusiasm!

And here are some of my class 8 students doing something more traditionally Bhutanese than Australian or Scottish folk songs.

And this was the Candle Dance done by year 8 girls.  You'd swear at least one knew she was having her photo taken.

After Samdinkha/Jibjokha it was off to Phobjikha!  (I've never looked it up or asked anyone, but I'm guessing 'kha' means village or something)  All my photos are on Dawson so I'll annoy you with them later.  We did go on some nice walks where we heard a cow, or possibly bull, which I'm sure was part tyrannosaur.  It wasn't the best sound to hear when walking in the forest.  Even after we actually saw the beast, I was still sure it would happily eat a lawyer sitting on the toilet (if you don't recognise that one, I feel very sorry for you).
Sadly we were too early for the cranes which visit the area every winter but some of us are going to try to go to the crane festival in November but since we didn't book ten years in advance, we will be staying in a farm house if it isn't already booked.  Who needs indoor plumbing anyway?
And since it is tourist law, after Phobjikha came Paro and Tiger's Nest.  And since I had successfully made it on foot, we decided to go on horseback this time.  I can remember dad's horse's name but mine was Tinka, who I dubbed Tinka the Flatulent.  He was a slightly badly behaved little horse and at one point seemed to want to push dad and his horse off the mountain but was fortunately unsuccessful and did manage to get me as close as horses are allowed to go.  Again, my photos of this are on Dawson but I'm sure you'll be thrilled to see them when they are recovered.

But I got this from Dad's facebook page

Then dad had to cruelly leave me but he did leave me with poptarts (supplied by Alexander. I love Alexander! Almost as much as poptarts!) and Mozart Kugeln which I trying to save for exam marking time.  I still looked too hard when daddy left thought (see Swallows and Amazons).

At school we are catching the odeargodtheexamsarealmosthere fever which is not entirely fun but we've almost finished all the work and can start on the revision soon.  And I did have fun with my year sixes yesterday when they had to design their own pony.  I've been sort of bribing them/using My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic as a listening exercise which they all love and decided that the herd had to increase by 22.  Well, 23 if you count Dragonfire, the pegasus pony with a fire-like mane and tail which I created to show them an example.  There were a few Dragonfire copies but I also got 'Rocky,' a zebra-like pony with a blue mane and a nose ring, 'Thunder Heart' whose cutie mark is a heart split in two by lightning and 'Stallion Thunder' who is an impressive green pony who is apparently best friends with Rainbow Dash (this part may be dull for those of you who do not appreciate MLP).  To help the kids with thinking of names, I wrote a whole bunch of words on the board which the kids could mix and match to make a name like 'Silver Rose' as one student did or 'Shining Diamond' or something.  Sadly, I realised that some words could be combined to make what sounded like a perfectly suitable name for a person who enjoys making a living dancing in decreasing amounts of clothing.  Fortunately, I don't think the kids thought that.
I'm also anticipating somewhat amusing answers in the upcoming exams.  I recently read an essay where the student was talking about staying healthy and avoiding diseases like tv.  Was it an mistake or social commentary?
Anyway, that's probably long enough for now so I will end by saying that I shall be departing for Australia in under two months (I leave Paro on the 21st of December) and leaving Australia at the end of January to come back for another year (if the ministry okays my contract renewal)!
Hugs and I still miss T'eo.  And Camille who I haven't actually met but is my parents' new rescued cat!

Oh yeah, blogs

Since you've probably forgotten who I am I feel that I had better introduce myself again (though did I introduce myself before? I can't remember). Hi! I'm Arwen and I love reptiles and sailing. That's probably how most other people would describe me, though the word 'insane' might be thrown in as well.

So I suppose if you're reading this, it means I'm somewhere with internet which probably means Thimphu, Kuruthang or Bajo (I'm actually in Thimphu). I'm writing this in Jibjokha which for all its positive points has no internet. Sometimes I lie awake at night worrying if the cats are getting enough cheezburgers.

Admittedly I have been on the internet since my last post all those months ago but most of my time I foolishly spent either on facebook or downloading pictures of swagmen, heather or square-rigged ships from the 1900s. I shall explain why later.

Things are going fairly well here at Jibjokha and I apologise to my family and everyone else who got dragged into my 'aaahh, I'm freaking out, am I really ok to teach, aahhh, panic, panic' nervous breakdown. I personally think I was just suffering pizza withdrawal after the holidays. Colin, Jonathan and Lee were very good nutritionists during the break and made sure I got all the pizza I could eat. I did not follow Chung Lu's (Sorry if I spelt that wrong, Lee) nutrition advice which included 'eat your own food bowl.' Yes, he's a dog. And perfectly lovely when he's not chewing on everything.

I also inflicted one of my brothers on Bhutan and some of the students still ask when he's coming back. Sadly he ran away to Singapore to get an education. Honestly! We did climb up to Tiger's Nest and I actually made it! Ok, I rested about a hundred times on the way but we still made it with plenty of time to spare before they closed for lunch. Alexander also did very well with the Bhutanese food but he couldn't finish the cup of souja (butter tea) that I made him try. I can't really blame him though as souja is probably the saltiest thing I've ever had and I once ate a big, heaping bowl of salt. (I'm going to be mean and not explain that reference)

I did have an interesting experience when I unintentionally made the students burst out laughing. I didn't realise at first but then it was a little hard to miss. I was wearing something which I had not previously worn to school and the students found this very amusing. What was I wearing that caused so much hilarity? A pair of sandals. And it wasn't actually the shoes which they found funny. It was these.

Aaaaahhh! She has two ghosts attached to her ankles! Help!

And I guess I should explain the swagmen/heather/square-rigger pictures. Well, I finally plucked up the courage and started to take my ukulele to class. I had been happily playing for the small groups of students who visited me at home but I hadn't actually lugged it up the hill yet. My sixth graders are learning South Australia, my seventh graders are currently struggling with Waltzing Matilda and my eighth graders are doing very well with Go, Lassie, Go. All three songs had to have a vocab lesson attached as words such as 'walloping,' 'coolibah' or 'lassie' are currently used in Bhutan. I'm hoping that all three classes will be able to perform their songs at the upcoming variety show but since most members of the audience do not speak English I thought it might be nice if during the songs, images of what the kids are singing about get projected onto a backdrop. It would be cute if I could have the year sevens act out the tale of the suicidal tramp but it only occurred to me to do this recently and there's not really time to find a jumbuck outfit and do all the necessary rehearsing. Ah well, next year.

We now have one week to go and Dad arrives in 5 days. Huzzah!

Happy Bilbo's Birthday to all and many hugs!

And I still miss T'eo

Whitegood problems

Did I tell you that I bought a fridge? In Gasa fridges are pretty unnecessary but in Samdinkha it is a tiny bit warmer. I never knew that vegetables could melt. Some sag (mustard greens or pretty much spinach) turned into a terrifying green puddle that looked like some sort of evil creature from a science fiction story that was going to eat my face or infect my brain. Or both. Also the insects, mostly ants, are really determined. So determined that they made it into my zip-lock bags, I still haven't figured out how, and enjoyed some foods like cheese and bread. Now, the cheese is easily washed but the bread, which is really difficult to get, was riddled with the little buggers. I know that I could have just eaten some extra protein but I just wasn't that hungry. Instead, I asked some of my fellow Punakha BCF-ers where they got their little bar fridges and went off to a store in Bajo (about an hour and a half away but there is a really good pizza restaurant and internet) in search of a really small fridge that would cost about 7000 Nu or 140 dollars. Now, I knew that I probably wouldn't get a fridge that day because my fellow Punakha BCF-er said she got the last one but they were willing to order.

After getting slightly lost because, after all, I'm still me, I found the store where they very kindly said they would order me the little fridge and it would apparently take one week. I'm not totally stupid so I assumed it would take at least two. When that passed I decided to check that they hadn't forgotten about me. They promised that they hadn't and it would be in on Monday. Obviously I gave them another couple weeks and lost a lot more food.

I have to admit that I was kinda getting annoyed (my mom may complain that my use of 'kinda' is a bit of an understatement and she had to put up with my ranting) and though I knew that I probably shouldn't be surprised at the slightly optimistic time-estimation being wrong, I decided to head to Kuru (much closer) and just buy the smallest, cheapest fridge I could find. I had also been told that the place had free delivery and as a cheapskate that's always nice. I went and found a fridge that was not quite as small but good enough. I asked the sales guy about free delivery, which having seen a truck with the store's logo and 'free delivery' I was pretty positive about, but he told me that the driver was on holiday for two months. That's fair enough. If there's no licensed driver then they can't really deliver and he kindly told me that there was another store which could do free delivery. I thought that was very 'Miracle on 34^th Street' of him (the Natalie Wood version not that crappy remake) so I went basically next door where the fridges were more expensive and they too could not deliver, for free or cost. I think this might have been when mom got a call and I ranted again. Don't you just love mommies? Fortunately, there was another way. See the first guy also said that I could find a taxi driver with a big enough cab to take the fridge. So back to that guy I went after finding a taxi driver who was happy to drive me and my fridge home. Now, the first guy knew where I lived and I had made it clear that I wanted the fridge on that day. When I turned up with the taxi driver he suddenly told me that he didn't actually have the fridge and would have to order it from Bajo but it should be in on Monday and no, I couldn't have the display fridge. I think he could see that I was not happy so he told me what I really needed. He took me to the little store next door which sold drinks and snacks and had a little fridge. He told me that it was exactly what I wanted and is what I should buy. He then followed that by telling me that nobody made that fridge any more and there was nowhere I could buy it.

I would like to say that I did not use any profanity, unkind or impolite language. I did just say thank you and good-bye in a slightly less warm and fuzzy way than normal. I went back to the second store, walked in and asked them if they had the fridge for the price they quoted me that I could put into the very patient taxi driver's car. Success!!!

I now enjoy cold water, non-insecty food and no more green puddles of slime. I'm still waiting for a call from the guy from Bajo. I will let you know if he ever calls.

It's time for the FpAJACEA Awards!

The First possibly Annual Jibjokha Amusing and Confusing Exam Answer Awards

Good Evening, or whatever time of day it happens to be when you are reading this, and welcome to the FpAJACEAAs. This year we have seen many sterling performances in the field of strange and/or funny exam answers. All participants should feel very proud of their efforts but, sadly, there can only be one winner.

The first award is Wol's Award for Great Creativity in Spelling (See Winnie the Pooh, the chapter which features Eeyore's birthday).

The bronze goes to the spelling 'Asulita.' Can you work out the intended word? That's right, it's 'Australia.' A great effort but points were deducted for only using letters which were really included in the word and for making a plausible looking word.

The silver goes to 'Pthoh.' This word is slightly easier to work out, being 'Pythons' but it was an amazing effort given that the exam paper had the word written correctly 27 times. Well done!

But the gold can only go to 'Hosticifctal.' This truly heroic spelling of 'Hospital' just laughs in the face of phonics. Congratulations!

The next Award is the Inigo Montoya Award for I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means. There were many contestants for this confusing, malaproping award but here are the top three:

The bronze goes to a confusing culinary effort or perhaps a sentence where the author wished to threaten his stationary by saying 'The notebook is mince.'

The silver goes to the slightly disturbing 'I will build bleading house.' This creepy sentence suggests that the author enjoyed Amityville Horror just a bit too much but I really have no idea what they really meant.

But the gold goes to the double malaproping of 'Prime minister is one of any goat.' and 'Our Bhutan is like a goat.' Well Done to this possible political commentary! (I think the author may have meant 'gold')

Now we come to the Shouldn't That Be a Word? Award. This is a special award only given occasionally to the truly accidentally creative. While trying to write the words 'prime minister' the author gave us the word 'primister.' Shouldn't all male PMs get called that?

Another special award is the I'm Too Tired to Think of a Name for This Award Award which goes to a student who not only invented a sport but what to wear while you play it. 'Becket boll coat' I'm guessing is the coat you wear while playing a game where the goal is to irritate the English King so much that he has you killed. I realise that Beckett was incorrectly spelt but I can think of no other logical explanation. (Apologies to Mark and Tim who probably tried a few times to get me to play a game with an orange ball which you bounce. What was that called again?)

The final award is the Wait, What? Seriously? Award. This award is given to the sentences, or things that kind of look like sentences, which made the judge assume she had misread but when she re-read it she saw that no, it really did say that.

The bronze goes to the verbing of a noun effort of 'I am turtle your work.' I really don't know what the author thought turtle meant and I don't think they did either. (I should say that I thought turtles lived in Bhutan but apparently they don't so I shouldn't have included it in a question. Oops. However the question did tell them that it was a noun and I adjusted marks equitably)

The silver goes to amazing effort that makes you wonder what the author thinks her mother might do in the future. In a letter to her mother the author wrote 'I love you so far.'

For the gold the judge went for a sentence which may be a profound philosophical statement, but she really doubts it. Can you work out what 'The Belle was longer the Belle is dead when the Belle is' means? I couldn't either.

Well done to all the winners and just remember, if you really neglect your studies you too could walk away with a completely non-existent award and the knowledge that you probably made your English teacher bang her head on her desk repeatedly. See you next year! (possibly)

4 in one day! You should feel blessed! Also there is a dragon in this post

A dragon! A dragon on school grounds! This morning (the 20^th of May) there was a large group of students gathered around something in the assembly area and I was told by some very excited students that there was a lizard. Of course, I rushed down as quickly as possible and it was a little aegamid! Its body was about the length of my middle finger (I realise that's not very helpful for those of you who have not met me, sorry) and its tail was longer again. Its complete length was about the same as Dawson's (who is a sony vaio notebook). Obviously the little dragon was much littler than T'eo but behaved slightly similarly. I was able to catch him or her who seemed quite happy to sit on my hand while the students and some teachers admired it but I wouldn't let them pet the little one as I didn't think that would be appreciated. The T'eo-like behaviour was when the dragon decided that it had had enough of sitting on my hand and decided that my shirt looked like a much nicer place to be. It jumped on my shirt and ran up on to my shoulder much to the delight of the students. Fortunately, I was able to pick him or her up again and let it go in the foresty bit on the edge of the school though it was very tempting to bring it home so it could catch the crickets who enjoy chirping as loudly as they can right when I'm trying to sleep. I swear that they're louder than any of the crickets which I gave to T'eo.

Hopefully I'll be able to post a picture of it at some stage as a teacher had their phone handy. I really should start taking my camera with me everywhere. But just in case, it was greyish-white with black marks and a longer, thinner face than T'eo's. It didn't have a nice, puffy beard but it did open its mouth once and I'm sure that it would have puffed if it could. On the back of its neck was the beginning of a crest. I think it wasn't really sure if it wanted a crest or not so it's just trying a small one to start and might grow a bigger one if it thinks the little one looks good.

So it was a pretty good start to the week. The weekend was fairly successful too. The nicest thing being that I was finally able to get a full gas tank. Even better, I got the gas situation fixed without a carpenter, electrician, glazier or painter having to be called round (See Flanders and Swann). And one of my students brought me some mushrooms from her village and insisted on cooking them for me. They were delicious, even though I didn't have any chillies which she found odd, but I felt bad as she had to go home before the food had finished cooking. I did make her take a bunch of cookies as I felt guilty that she didn't get to eat her own cooking. Some others came round too and asked if I had any cartoons. I don't think South Park or Futurama would be very appropriate so I offered them My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or Adventure Time. MLP was chosen and we managed to watch the first two episodes. I'm going to continue the David Attenborough education but sadly I didn't bring that many with me and I think MLP fits in very well with the Gross National Happiness. I'm not too sure if Adventure Time always does though it should mostly. Helping people, studying science and things overcoming differences are all good things but I don't think sword-fighting is encouraged. Or at least, not until you've tried lots of less violent things first.

The only slightly annoying thing about the weekend was that for the first time in a little while I was able to sleep in past 6:15 and I was really looking forward to that. Unfortunately, my upstairs neighbour I suspect does weaving. At first I thought that there was construction work going on as the noise which woke me at about 6 sounded a lot like hammering. I've heard it before but mostly in the afternoons and evenings. What I now suspect it is, is weaving on a backstrap loom. I saw a lady do it in Thimphu and the loom is about 45 degrees off vertical and there was some sort of wooden thing which was used to compress the already woven threads. I'm not positive that it was weaving which woke me up but it was slightly irritating whatever it was. I did managed to get back to sleep but kept being woken up so at about 8 I decided that trying to sleep was too much work. I'm thinking ear-plugs might come in handy next Saturday night.

Just a quick update on Saturday the 25^th of May. Today was a holiday (normally we have school till about noon on Saturdays) and I was really looking forward to a sleep in and even found my earplugs so the loom wouldn't irritate but the earplugs are no match for my doorbell. It has quite a piercing tone especially at 6:20 am on a day off! One of my choir member thought she had left something, which she hadn't, last night and thought that 6:20 am in the morning (hello daddy!) would be the best time to come and look for it. When we couldn't find it she asked if I would play one song on my 'guitar.' She had brought me a handful of green beans so I played one verse of something, I really can't remember what, and then politely hinted that maybe she had better things to do which, fortunately, she did. I couldn't really get irritated with her because I think the idea of someone sleeping in on a day off was as weird to her as getting up early on a day off is to me! Argh! If someone could please send instructions on how to safely disconnect a doorbell I would be very much obliged!

Hugs hugs and congratulations to all who have managed to get through all my recent entries!

Sorry about the lack of photos. I keep forgetting my camera

Well, this morning started off wonderfully (no sarcasm. It's so hard to tell tone of voice when things are written!) because I got to sleep in till 6:15 and about two minutes into the walk to school the students who walk with me noticed the caretaker driving up and waved him down so we could get a lift. I was also glad that the students didn't have to carry my bag and umbrella up the hill. They absolutely insist on helping me carry my stuff which makes me feel very guilty. Some days I don't carry anything up the hill! I should say that the walk to school isn't too long but I do get a bit hot so it's nice to have a day off from it.

The walk to school is the main reason why I've stopped wearing my kiras to work. They were fine in the cold north and I was even still wearing my thermals in Bjishong, but here the heavy rectangle of material plus the two piece blouse is hot and not practical when walking up a sometimes very muddy hill. So it's been trousers and shirts. I've been too afraid to wear my pi and dinosaur t-shirts because, though they are both very educational, I worry that they might be too casual. Though if I return next year, nothing will stop me wearing my pi shirt on March 14^th.

Another thing that has happened is that my house has become the David Attenborough Theatre. Some girls asked if I had any movies, except they said 'pictures' which lead to a slight misunderstanding though they still seemed to enjoy the photos, and I just didn't think showing them Jurassic Park, The Big Lebowski or My Favourite Wife would be appropriate so I found some of my David Attenboroughs. Life in Cold Blood was a big hit, especially the parts with snakes and crocodilians and now we've moved on to The Blue Planet where I spend most of the time trying to explain the differences between sharks and dolphins, whales and fish and snakes and eels but the children are certainly impressed with the images.

I've also started a very small choir by accident. The kids who tend to visit each night are fascinated with my ukulele, which the either call a guitar or a 'laylay,' and so I've been playing them Yellow Submarine and various Scottish folk songs. They also take turns strumming it and singing Bhutanese songs. The strumming doesn't always match what they're singing but what they more than make up for that in enthusiasm. Yellow Submarine is the current favourite and they are getting much better. The first few times they each had their own speed, tune and occasionally lyrics but the choir is almost together now. A couple of the girls even brought notebooks last night (it is currently the 18^th of May) so they could write down the lyrics. I'm hoping they'll be able to perform relatively soon. Little brothers tend to come along as well but instead of singing, they dance which a few nights ago led to the cutest scene of the girls desperately trying to sing along, the little brothers were dancing like extras from a Wiggles concert while I was playing the occasional correct chord on my uke. I think Will You Go, Lassie, Go was the easiest as, though the girls kept getting ahead of the tune, it was easier for them to slow down than to try and catch up. Sadly, since I was playing the whole time, I couldn't get pictures but I'll figure something out.

Now for some incredible important information for Tom Dudgeon, Port and Starboard, the Death and Glories and Dick (I'm sure Dorothea would be interested too but not quite as much. Oh, and see Coot Club if you are unlucky enough not to know who these people are). I saw a white-bellied heron! I was on my way to Kuru from Samdinkha and it was flying very gracefully above us. The driver, who couldn't help noticing it after I involuntarily pointed and went 'Oh!' very loudly tried to tell me that it was a black-necked crane which would be a lovely thing to see but very strange as they don't come to Samdinkha. It also didn't have a black neck but he rightly knew the bird as something special to see. They are unfortunately an endangered species and you often see billboards asking you to help save them. Sadly for me, I didn't have my camera but I'll try to next time!

The other bird seen recently was at Andrea's place at Tashidenkha which looked like a baby of its species so I wasn't too hurt when it wouldn't tell me an Interesting Anecdote full of long words like 'Encyclopaedia' and 'Rhododendron' and it wouldn't spell 'Tuesday' either. It may not have learned how to not spell it right yet. It was, of course, a little wol (now see Winnie the Pooh, the original books, if you are confused. If you aren't it might be nice to read them again anyway.) Sarah Shmidt noticed him or her in the morning being berated by some bul-buls but it just sat, a bit more like Old Brown (Squirrel Nutkin this time) than Wol. It did react when we walked down the stairs but it didn't fly off and, even more surprisingly, it was still there when we got back. We were a bit afraid that it might be ill or something but the next morning its perch was empty so it was probably just afraid of flying during the day (I would make a Swallowdale reference now but I don't want to confuse you with mentioning too many books in one blog entry).

I'm still wondering when I'll be able to post all of these. Perhaps if I treat myself to a night in Bajo which has not only wi-fi but a pizza restaurant too!

Hugs to all and I miss T'eo. Hope he's not getting too grumpy in the cold weather.