This place has really started to feel like home.

It reached 70 degrees here on the final day of September, crazy right? We all have been talking about it since last week. Everyone took advantage of the warmth, we sat outside in between meetings and even did some meeting activities outside as well.

When I went on my walk I genuinely felt like I was overheating 😟. It was kind of sad that it was my last warm walk up the eikenosa path for the year. I hope I will still be able to do it in the winter some days as well.

In case you didn’t know, I am leaving to go back home tomorrow and then the trip so I won’t return here until school starts up again on November 16. Over 6 weeks! This place has really started to feel like home. From the routine, to the coziness, to the people, to the FOOD, it has felt like comfort. So it will feel different to adjust to a whole new scenario in the coming weeks. But it’s all about having an open mind and being flexible!

To finish off the first chapter of the year, the school hosted a house concert/reke(shrimp)fest! I was soo excited to eat shrimp.

But… I think I had a little bit of a different picture in my mind. I was thinking this… 🍤 when it was actually this… 🦐. I saw a big glass bowl of eyes and legs staring at me. Everybody dug their hands into the bowl quickly ripping the heads off one by one. Peeling back the legs and guts and then putting the tiny amount that was left on a piece of bread with mayo and dill. That was how they ate shrimp here and I needed to accept that and try it for myself.

I was NOT good at peeling them. I don’t think I actually got a full piece of shrimp and I peeled over a dozen! The others told me that it takes some practice to get efficient with it so I didn’t feel too bad. Well, I guess I felt kind of bad mutilating the bodies of the shrimp 🥲.

They said that eating shrimp is a social meal and that it’s really about peeling the shrimp together, not about actually eating them. But the problem with me is that I just want to do the eating… At the end of the day, I think I prefer the crispy American jumbo shrimp with red sauce (I don’t care how American that sounds 🙄).

ps: last few pics are from hike yesterday