Long time, no post!

Everyone! I am very sorry about the lengthy delay in posting. I will promise to be more on top of my writing. I have had a heck of a week, so I am now getting around to writing a bit. I'm sure that last thing you want to do is hear about it all, but that's what this blog is for, so here it is.

The lights are BACK! Finally, the power in Praia is on and consistently so. We have only lost power during the day a couple of times for several hours at a time, but that beats now power for 36-48 hours at a time. I'm extremely happy to be in the land of the lights again.

The lights are amazing, but the plumbing problem that has since developed is far from spectacular. And now that I have lights, I can actually watch as sewage rises from the drainage hole in the bathroom and floods the floor. It's extremely disgusting and I am in a constant state of cleaning it up. My former roommate made me aware of this, what was then a small problem, the day before she left. It had apparently been happening for several weeks, but I never witnessed the problem. The day before her leaving, she told me about it. Now, when you use the bathroom, any sinks in the house, or take a shower, the bathroom floor floods with the water! I called my landlord. He came to see me about it a week later. He is supposed to be coming tomorrow with a plumber to address the problem. I am just happy I will be moving from the house in 3 weeks. It's disgusting and I nearly throw up everytime I have to clean up the mess.

On a much happier note, my new dog MAX is wonderful. Max came to live with me on Monday evening, just hours after Dianne, my former roommate, left the country. I was happy to see Dianne leave and happier to see Max enter my life. Max has made me sooo happy. He is the coolest dog (except for the Jakes in my life). He is a mutt. He is cute. I promise to post a picture of him very soon. He has two different color eyes and a coat of three different colors. I took him on the Hiace up to Sao Domingos yesterday to see some friends there. He loved sticking his head out the window and checking everything out. And though he weights about 50+ pounds, he really wanted to sit on my lap! He can sit and is very obedient. He loves to play outside and will run the streets without supervision. He's a big fan of following me anywhere and everywhere that I go. He is a sweetheart and seems to get along with everyone. He's playful at times and lazy at times, which to me, makes the perfect combination. The guard across the street from my house has taken to him and so now Max sleeps on the bench across the street at night to keep the guard company. Then he comes inside for sleep and food and hangs out inside when I'm around. He's sleeping here as I type, being a good boy!

Well, that's about it from me. I'm still working with the new trainees, which has proven to be very taxing. I say that not because of the trainees themselves, but because of the staff that I work with. I am now pledging to stay as far away from the inner-workings of Peace Corps as I possibly can. It's not worth it. On the other hand, the trainees are cool and they have repeatedly told me how much they appreciate my spending my summer with them! I think that's about it from here. I promise to write more on a regular basis, Josh!