4/17/10 - 4/18/10

April 17, 2010 "Overwhelm (v) - overcome completely"

The village will have a meeting for us to get help with our house, but it's not for 2 more weeks.  Our roof needs trimming, the mud walls need smoothing because the cracks are letting creatures in and the mud is falling on our floor....constantly.  Dirt needs to be piled around the house to prevent flooding.  The land around our house needs clearing so we can start a garden before the raining season, which comes in two weeks, around the same time we will meet to a pick a day to the the work done.  We are leaning that food variety here doesn't exist as much as we'd like and that we need to stock up next time we are in the city.  That way I won't gain 50 pounds eating white rice and flour.

 

Three neighbor kids came over while I was doing laundry in a bucket by hand on my front porch.  It was slightly awkward and unwanted attention as I scrubbed my underwear, but there are things I'm learning to accept.  They left and shortly after it all came crashing down, literally.  The clothesline with all the clean clothes, towels, and sheets fell into the dirt.  It was getting late in the day.  I was hot, very sweaty, and still needed to do prep for dinner.  Paul was napping in the hammock.  Not a good start.  I yelled at him about the stupid clothesline, he yelled at me as the pole came crashing down as he tried to put it back up, cutting his toe open, and the world exploded.  all or our frustrations and worn patience and exhaustion from everything taking twice as long as it would back home came crashing down and exploded onto one another.  Thankfully our ability to reason hadn't already been obliterated and we took time to relax, realizing our frustration was not with one another, but that there is no Barnes and Noble or coffee shop to go to when you are overly overwhelmed.  I could use some chocolate.

 

April 18, 2010  "Miss, do you have child?"

This is a common question Paul and I get asked by the kids, and trying to explain to them why not is a challenge when many of their parents are out age or younger.  Strange enough, we have kids at our house often.  They come by just to watch our strange behaviors, like making sandwiches or tortillas, or putting on sunscreen.  Two came over today to look at our one magazine, "Explore Guyana", which is the publication of the Guyana tourism board.  Then Paul pulled out his guitar, and for the next hour, he was a rock star.  They were fascinated, the little boy in particular, who found plucking the guitar to be the coolest think since sliced bread (which I had just told them about with the whole introduction of sandwiches).  Paul would be playing a song and the boy would come up and just start plucking.  He wasn't strong enough to move the capo though.  I wish I'd had my camera out. The boy ended up putting his ear right up to the guitar and his face was priceless, full of awe and excitement, until Paul played a really loud note and he pulled back.  The guitar is a hit.