if i was a fish.

Time to get crackin' on my Spanish!!

If I learn enough that the people at Dream Project can understand me better, and vice versa, I could possibly have a job teaching music in September.

For a month, I'm going to be the teacher's aid to the man who organizes the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival, in hopes I will learn musical terms in Spanish, so I can work with the kids.

Talk about needing to step it up!  I have 2.5 months to really get going.

One woman working there gave me a really good tip to start me off: read children's books.  Perfect!

They had a free public library there, so I picked a few up and I'll be starting with the Spanish book, "If I Was a Fish."  Awesome!

If I was a fish, I wouldn't need to learn Spanish.

If I was a fish, music would be nothing to me.

If I was a tadpole, I'd be lying belly up in the relief water from our pool.

Papi and I were putting the dreaded chemicals in to clean the cesspool that was greener than my lime tree, when he yelled out, "We have a problem!"

I went to see the matter.

Oh, but did we ever have a dilemma.

Hundreds of tiny tadpoles swimming around in the overflow area of our pool, that looked like sperm looking for an egg to attack.

We were BOTH terrified that they were ALL cane toads, and that we'd have dog killers growing in our back yard.

So, somebody had to do the deed.

I just couldn't do it.

Even though I know a cane toad can kill my dogs, I just can't kill the cane toad.

Papi put the horrid, raunchy chemicals, that make me itch just thinking about them, in the water.

A short while later, there they were, dead.

Only one left with the strength to give a flick of his little tail.

It felt awful, but damn!

Then a short while later, there was the salad I made with the fresh lobster I bought from my Pescado Pal.

I had just put the onions, tomatoes and fish in when I was called out of the kitchen by Mr. Sincere, who was fixing the system to our swamp water people would normally call a pool.

I came back in and there was Pathetic Puppy on the ground, already finished all the lobster, and working on the onions and tomatoes.

Not sure if you know this, but onions can be lethal to dogs.

So never mind the cane toad.

Nope, I almost killed our puppy.

Papi and I panicked like lunatics, googling everything we could find about inducing vomit after ingesting onions and how much to give.

We crammed that hydrogen peroxide down her throat and waited for the puke to arrive.

We waited.

Nothing.

Not only is she demon spawn who destroys all my underwear, bras, papers, cords, reusable shopping bags ...

... oh the list goes on ...

... but she has a stomach of steel.

What dog doesn't puke up hydrogen peroxide?

What dog can eat half an onion and still be running around like a lunatic?!?!?!

Pathetic Puppy.

She is the devil, with an iron gut.  I'm sure SHE wouldn't die from a cane toad.

Anyway, for the time being, if the boss at Dream Project says I'm in, I will be having my transportation paid for to get to the school that is a half hour away, as well as some meals covered and perhaps a little bit to compensate for my time spent eagerly working toward a job.

Hence, I will be fervently practising my Spanish for a while.

If I work hard and all goes well, I will have my first full time job in September.

Life really is moving.

I'm ready, even if those butterflies in my tummy tell me otherwise.

i am confident of my capabilities, expertise and know-how