Out in the neighborhood

August 29, 2006

Ah, the summer is drawing to a close, at least back home. We will be starting dry season here in a month or so.. I am looking forward to an increase in my daily sun intake. I feel more inspired when it is sunny out. This afternoon I took Joy and William to Coopers beach, just near the house. There is a great lagoon for swimming in, as the ocean waves there are pretty strong. It was us, plus about 15 boys all swimming and having fun. Its okay, but I always feel a bit obtruse....as soon as we start swimming, the whole group sort of migrates our way. I know they are just curious, but it can be a bit unsettling to have so many people watching you swim. They were worried about Joy in the deep water, I tell them, its okay, she can swim. As the boys were leaving one told me, “that girl, she never gets tired...” I guess they were impressed with her swimming ability. On the way home, guys were playing football in the back field behind our house, so we cut through the neighbors yard. As we walked by I apoligized and asked if it was okay to walk through. He said “no problem, any time, we are neighbors”. When ever you go walking around, many of the paths cut right through peoples front yards. You will see women bathing their children, or making dinner, or plaiting hair. Here it is polite to say hi as you walk by. And there are chickens and ducks everywhere. Just wandering around. Some have things tied to their ankles, like bits of plastic, I guess to tell whose is whose. Yesterday we were out walking and saw a cock fight. Pretty cool to see...their feathers all fluffed out. Speaking of chicken, we ate one of our roosters today. Noah wouldn’t eat it. He says he won’t eat chicken from the yard, only from the store.
Tonight we had dinner by candlelight. It is nice sometimes not to have the generator on as it is so noisy. I have been home for the last few weeks alot as Kathleen has had to go to town pretty much every day to the minister of finanance to try and get DutyFree privilages to clear our container. She will be going back tomorrow, and also to immigration. I only have a week left until I need to get a new stamp on my passport.
Oh and on a totally different note...I am sure I don’t have athletes foot. My one toe was peeling, but I think it was just a blister, becuase they were never itchy, and I have had no reoccurance. Yay. And Kathleens outbreak on her hands is gone. But our deer and dog have mange, so we need to treat them. We got some medicine, so we just have to sort out the dosage. I also learned how to tell if a goat is anemic. You look at the bottom rim of the eye...it should be red like a persons, if it is pale pink it means they are anemic. Its becuase of all the parasite worms. We gave our goats all a shot of iron on Sunday. Fun times. Every day is a new adventure. Did you know the femur is the longest and strongest bone in the human body. Yep, I have been studying my anatomy. On that note, I will end. Nighty night. BEC