A bit of fun...

Was surfing the 'net this evening and found a nice Harry Potter Character Computability Quiz. I have to say that my results were fairly unsurprising. :)

You scored as Luna Lovegood, You are Luna Lovegood. You daydream and often seem to be drifting off into your own world. You have very strong opinions that many agree are not logical. You place a lot of faith in these beliefs. Possibly, you see more than what meets the eye. You are very accepting of others. You may have only a few close friends because you refuse to sacrifice your opinions and true self for social graces. Luna Lovegood 78% Neville Longbottom 78% Albus Dumbledore 69% Severus Snape 66% Hermione Granger 66% Draco Malfoy 66% Remus Lupin 66% Harry Potter 59% Ron Weasley 47% Oliver Wood 41% Percy Weasley 38% Bellatrix Lestrange 34% Sirius Black 34% Lord Voldemort 28% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

Weekend Geek-fest and the Joy of Packages

So Friday I was finally able to retrieve a package that my dad and grandmother had sent. One thing that you will find if you ever spend a significant amount of time a long way from home is that packages are one of the best things in the world. There is just something so wonderful about getting that little touch of home (and about getting mail that isn't Newsweek-all volunteers get a subscription to the international edition of Newsweek). I did a lovely little happy dance while I was opening my package, complete with oohs, ahhs, and "cool, look at this." Yes, I know I'm strange. :)

In case you are curious my package contained a computer part that I had requested, a copy of the movie "The Queen" which I am looking forward to watching, and clothes. I got two lovely new outfits from my grandmother (who has very nice taste). Two broomstick style skirts in summer colors, and two blouses to match. I wore one of the new outfits today, and got lots of compliments.

After getting my package and attending to other business in town, I headed out to a friends house for a true weekend of geekery. We had planned a Lord of the Rings movie-fest for the weekend. We were going to watch Fellowship of the Ring on Friday night, then watch the next two on Saturday. However we ran into many (frustrating and annoying) technical difficulties Friday evening. So we enjoyed some soup that D (my friend) made and ended up watching Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith instead. The next day when we were finally able to resolve our technical issues we started our marathon. We got started at about noon and watched all three movies (the extended versions no less). We even got the big screen effect since he had rented the projector from the computer lab he works at. It was a fun time despite the craziness of watching 12 hours of movie. We finally collapsed into our beds sometime around 1:30 at night. I hung out for a while with D and his roommate the next morning before heading back to my flat. All in all it was a great weekend. :)

Food and memories

So I was gonna make potato pancakes for dinner tonight before I realized that I was out of onions. Walked to the little shop up the road from me, but they were out too. So bought a soda and thought of what else I could make. Realized that I had all the items needed to make one of my favorite childhood dishes, potatoes and dumplings. It was something that my maternal grandmother used to make, and occasionally my mother after Grandma Chris died. It is a simple dish requiring only potatoes, flour, eggs, and water. It is usually eaten with butter and sour cream. Not a light dish, but very tasty. :)

It is one of the few things that I know how to cook without having a written recipe for. When I was in college I had mentioned missing the dish and my mom gave me the recipe to follow. That was the first time I'd ever made it, but the recipe is so easy that I memorized it. The dumplings are two parts flour for every one part water and egg. Mix dough into a nice tacky substance. When the potatoes are almost done boiling, drop dumplings into the water with a teaspoon. Once the dumplings rise to the top, let them cook five minutes more and then pour the hot water off. Serve with small amount of melted butter and sour cream. Like I said easy.

I don't remember the last time I made this dish, but I know it was over four years ago. Thankfully my sieve like memory managed to retain this. It turned out quite well, and I enjoyed it along with slightly sweeten ice tea. The whole dinner was a reminder of happier times growing up. It was a comfort dinner, and after a week of not feeling quite right (sinus issues again, along with that wonderful monthly visitor all women know so well) one that I hadn't realized I needed. It is amazing how our memory connects with our senses.

Things I Just Haven't Gotten Around to Blogging...

Camping Trip: About a month ago I got to go on a wonderful camping trip. It was a weekend trip to celebrate the birthday of another volunteer. We spent the weekend in Hollywell National Park in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Our campsite overlooked the valley that holds the greater Kingston area. It was gorgeous (as soon as I post the rest of my pictures somewhere I'll include a link), especially at night as the whole city was laid out like a filigreed bejeweled necklace. We also had a full moon that weekend. So it was pretty spectacular.

During the day we interspersed hiking with games and simply enjoying each other's company (there were about 15 campers in all). In the evening we chatted and enjoyed the company some more. :) It rained off and on, and the mist and clouds passing through the mountains looked very cool. It was way colder than I had expected, but thankfully I had packed a jacket for the trip. I about froze at night though. Never thought I'd get cold while living in Jamaica. :)

The campsite was nice. We rented a big tent that looked like one of the tents from M*A*S*H. I was glad I'd hauled my sleeping pad and sleeping cocoon with me, though I wished I had a full fledged sleeping bag instead of just the liner but I survived. ;)

One funny thing that happened was our transportation issues. We broke two buses on the way up (only had to switch buses once, thankfully the second problem was a minor one and happened when we arrived at the park). We also broke down on the way back to town and had to switch buses again. Thankfully everyone had a good sense of humor about the whole thing so it turned out to be just part of the adventure.

Another weekend hiking trip: A couple of weekends ago I got to spend the weekend at a friends house along with some other volunteers. My friend is an amazing cook (he is also a vegetarian, so I tend to eat very healthily when I visit) so we were well fed the whole weekend. We hung out and played cards Friday, and then Saturday morning we left for our hike. There is a cave near my friend's house that was used by the Arawaks (the pre-Columbus inhabitants of Jamaica) and held some of their paintings. The cave was also used by one of the Maroons (a group of escaped slaves that fought a long, vicious guerrilla war with Britain) as a hiding spot. My friend told us that it was just a short walk to the path entrance where we would meet our guide and then a nice leisurely stroll up to the cave. He was mistaken on both counts, but it didn't keep us from enjoying the day. The walk down was about 40 minutes, but was mostly downhill. The hike up to the cave was a little more rigorous than expected since we first had to hike down the steep hill of red mud (thankfully there was a railing at one part since the path is frequently used by community members to get to the river) then hike up the hill on the other side.

The spot at the river where we crossed was lovely, and since we had known there would be a river near by we all wore our swim suits. The hike up was also beautiful. I finally got to see how pineapple's grow. Surprisingly it's on a ground plant with spiky leaves and not a tree. It grows in the middle of the plant. I have a picture but I haven't uploaded it to my computer yet. :) The cave was really interesting, though small. It was cool to be able to look at the paintings and not have to be standing behind a rope (though the museum worker in me winced a bit at that). The paintings were in remarkable shape for not having been preserved in any formal way. The cave was grilled (had security bars) and locked, but that was it. Anyway, after seeing the cave, and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, we started our hike back down.

Of course it had started raining, but we didn't mind so much. We decided to go swimming anyway. Our poor guide thought we were nuts (Jamaicans don't stay out in the rain. In fact her mom commented on that fact when we got back, saying that we didn't have sense enough to get out of the rain. I couldn't disagree with her.). We had a blast though. After we finally hauled ourselves back up the hill we started for my friend's house. Remarkable we got a ride (at least part of the way) which cut a good deal off time of the trip. Once we got back we enjoyed hot drinks and grilled sandwiches. Grilled peanut butter is actually pretty good. ::grins::

And thus concludes the things that I'd been meaning to blog and just hadn't gotten to.