How to Drink Yerba Mate Like a Pro

Okay, so I got this super cool mug and tea ball from my super cool youth leaders. I'm not a huge tea person, but I'm honestly trying to find some way to down a social beverage. Also, I like the idea of sitting around and drinking flavored hot water.
So, as you may have picked up, I'm of mennonite heritage, from way down south (America) in Paraguay, where we drink mate. (pronounced MA-ta) It's also called terere (pronounced the way it's spelt) when it's cold.

So my dad was about to have his daily guampa (Google it.) and I was like: "Well hey, I haven't used my mug yet, and yerba's like tea. So why not?" One of my friends said she'd done it plenty of times.
So I filled up my tea ball with yerba, poured in some hot water, added some agave syrup and milk, and voila! Paraguayan Perfection with a North American twist. It has a strange greenish tinge. Looks nice with my mug.

My Yerba tea and mug with cosy. :)

How to make your own Yerba tea:

1 teaspoon Yerba Mate
2 cups boiled water
milk and honey to taste

1. Put yerba in tea ball. Place in mug. 
2. Add hot water.
3. Once water is green, (Almost immediately.) remove tea ball.
4. Add milk and honey to taste
5. Enjoy.

(I used almost half milk and a huge dollop of agave nectar.) I dare say it taste a little bit like chai tea, maybe? Depends what kind of yerba you use.

The Islands of Chaldea

I just found out that "The brand new and final novel from the magical and whimsical pen of ‘the Godmother of Fantasy’, Diana Wynne Jones" is coming out in 2014!

And I'm super stoked!

'The Islands of Chaldea' is co-authored and completed by her sister, Ursula Jones. You can read more about it here: Harper Collins: The Islands of Chaldea

I am so totally super pumped! Diana Wynne Jones is my favorite author of all time, and my goal is to read every single one of her novels. I'm so excited!
\(^-^)/ ~!!!

Strayed Soul Poem

I had to write a poem for school using couplets and these sets of words:

• plea, me
• thrown, stone
• stood, wood

So here's what I got:

Long way down the road there stood
a dark and dangerous, forbidding wood.
Souls of many, there were thrown
and there they lay deep under stone.
From the forest could be heard the plea:
"Come, strayed soul, to rescue me."

I can't believe I wrote something so freaky.
I don't even know what it means.
But it rhymed, so.
Lemme know what you think.