puppets and masks

When my brother was here last year, or whenever it was that he was here, he bought a carved wood mask. There are a lot of masks around here in all of the little tourist shops and they are all pretty attractive, so the fact that my brother bought one is not very interesting in and of itself. However, this mask that he bought is still here. It lives in the stairwell to the basement, right next to the 200-pound bags of dog food. The reason it is still here is that there does not seem to be any feasible way of transporting it back to the United States. The reason for that is that it is the same size as me.



Apparently the plan is that whenever my parents decide to move away from this country, they will pack the mask along with them. So Ben can have it back at some undetermined point in the future. He asked me to take it back for him as my carry-on but I politely declined. I don't think it will fit in the overhead compartment. Plus I have too much of my own stuff to bring.

When I came here I brought two enormous suitcases and one small regular-size suitcase. Both of the enormous ones were full of things that were not mine. Emily had collected a lot of clothing to donate to the school, and school supplies and toys, and my mom had also collected a bunch of school supplies, and my dad had requested a bunch of weird items that you can only buy in the US. Like patching plaster, which I bought, but left somewhere in my bedroom in DC.

The result of that is that I have PLENTY of room to buy things and bring them back with me. And I have been doing a good job of it. I'm pretty sure I will have both of those enormous suitcases full of things. Mostly it is presents for other people. Most of the number of items, that is. Most of the volume is a present for me, and it is maybe the best present I have ever received. My dad and Nancy gave it to me.



Now that I don't have any fieldwork to do for my research project, I have been spending all of my time on analysis and transcription of the data. And reading instructive nonfiction and classic literature.

Just kidding. I've been spending all of my time making a stop-animation movie of those stick people dancing around. It is very fun. I love Photoshop. I hope you are all extremely excited to see the end result.