small pleasures

- 1 peso stamps. Last week, a fellow PCT went to the post office, only to be told that they only had 1 peso stamps (it costs 20 pesos to send a letter to the US) until next week. She opted to wait, so as not to fill up her entire letter with stamps. This week, I went to the post office and was told that they only have 1 peso stamps, and won’t get any more stamps until they use up all the 1 peso stamps. So I asked if it would be okay to put the stamps on the back of my envelope. He said yes, tore off a giant square of stamps, splashed them with a cup of water, and thwacked them onto the back of my letter. Only then did I get a good look at the 1 peso stamps. They say, “Drug addiction is dangerous,” and depict a man, unconscious or perhaps dead, with a syringe and a pile of pills next to him. They are the most hilarious stamps I have ever seen, and I am thrilled to send out correspondence featuring twenty of these jewels.
- Baby chicks. Many more people here than in Santo Domingo seem to have chickens, and that means more baby chickens! It makes me so happy to see teeny baby chicks rummaging through the trash in the ditches on my way back from school.
- Hojuelitas. This snack is manufactured by Frito-Lay but inexplicably costs half the price of other Frito-Lay products available here, like Doritos and Ruffles. A Hojuelita is kind of like a combination between a Frito and a puffy Cheeto. A Hojuelita is delicious.
- Las Cronicas de Spiderwick. My host family here gets cable, and the kids watch the Disney Channel all the time. This means that I see a commercial for Las Cronicas de Spiderwick roughly 20 times/hour. The best part is the way the announcer pronounces “Spiderwick” as “Spiderweeeek.” I also enjoy watching other kids shows in Spanish, but the highlight is definitely “Spiderweeeek.”
- The Food Dome. Every morning my Dona makes me breakfast and puts it on the table shielded by a large screen dome, in order to protect my fruit salad from the moscas (flies). There is something peculiarly futuristic about this food dome, and I look forward to its presence on the table every morning. My old Dona just used a plate to cover food with, but the food dome is far superior.