Sunday-Monday August 12-13, 2012

Sunday August 12/12 update

I was up very early again, and got to work on saving the photos and movie of Gabriela’s Grad Party onto a DVD which I will deliver later, maybe Monday.     Next I tackled the photos of the night before for Joe’s which were posted on yesterday’s blogs.   I keep operating in these 2 to 4 hour increments of sleep, work, sleep, work.   I am going to miss being able to doze to the sounds of the Olympics.

Then I tackled downloading many Motown songs for a friend and ended up with 145 of them. 

I seem to be making any excuse to stay housebound and I must break out of the doldrums.   A good sunny day would help.   I do have a few things to attend to tomorrow so I am hoping for a good night’s sleep.  

The humidifier we bought doesn’t seem to be much help at all.  It reaches the maximum humidity very quickly and shuts off the fan, and I seem just as stuffed up as before….

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.

Monday August 13/12 update

I think I have figured out the humidifier…  If I only touch the fan button, and not the humidity setting, then it seems to keep running…   So I actually got 4 ½ hours of straight sleep after I locked the cats out of the room.  Then I was up at 5am and got some more work done.  I laid down again with the boys from 9:30 to 11:30 before I headed out.

First stop was to get my phone recharged and also my bus pass, the two essentials to operating in this city.  Raoul was having lunch in his truck outside so we chatted briefly.

Next I stopped at Coopera Credit Union to do the week’s banking before heading over to Jorge Beltran’s.  Only the maid was home so I left my gift of the DVD with the photos and the movie of Gabriela’s Grad celebration.

From there I caught the #16 to the west end and stopped in at Joe’s Secret Garden.  Joseph was apparently in the shower so I left the memory stick with Saturday’s photos with Joe.

Next I stopped in at Chris and Bettye’s lovely apartment.  Last week they installed this lovely metal+wood iguana on their kitchen wall and it is really impressive.  Today Bettye was having some workers install some lovely wooden boxes with inlaid mirrors in the living room.  Once the measurements were agreed upon they were very good at lining them up.  I was very surprised they were only using concrete nails to support these 19” boxes instead of screws and anchors but the first two rows of 3 were put up very quickly.   As I watched the one fellow put in one of the top row nails I mentioned to Chris that he didn’t seem to pound it in very far.  Unfortunately my perception was accurate as the upper box bent the nail down upon installation, crashing down on the lower two, knocking them off as well.  I just wish I hadn’t been right but luckily nothing was broken and they continued to reset everything as Chris and I left.

Upon arrival at our English School today we noted Miguel was not around and Linda wasn’t there either but she came in later.  It was nice to see tables and chairs for the kids provided by the neighborhood folks.  The kids started coming in and grabbing their name tags and settling in.  Chris is becoming a good schoolteacher and is very proficient at drawing things on the whiteboard.   We had the kids learn some of the items in a home then Linda had arranged some alphabetized coloring materials for the kids which help keep their concentration.   It is really very effective.

Linda says she has heard from some of her affluent friends, former teachers, who are offering to send money and supplies.  So far we are doing not too bad though with everyone’s help.

During our first class a week ago I was helping the kids with the pronunciation of the letter H, which is silent in the Spanish language.  I was really overemphasizing the H in the word “Hello” so they would catch on.   Well they have caught on too well because it is now a running joke whenever I am around with the kids saying it strongly so I will respond.  You can hear them doing this in the middle of the video:

http://youtu.be/LFi2cSXlzyM

The kids are really well behaved and their personalities are starting to emerge, especially the shy girls.  We are really amazed how well they pronounce things.  Kids are such sponges for knowledge.  Also heartwarming is to watch the older siblings freely helping their younger brothers and sisters.  Who can refuse those little dark eyes?   Gotta love the Cuancanos.

I headed over to Feria Libre to catch the bus but stopped in this clothing store on a whim.  I really love the two pairs of track pants that I have, mainly because they don’t attract the cat hair, so I was looking to get a few more.  This lady had 3 nice pairs which I negotiated for $20 total.  They are as good as anything I would get at home, even if they are knockoffs.

The street life is always interesting, like the lady asleep in front a shop, to the group of guys playing cards.

It was too early to go to Big Kabuda’s for a great burger so I opted for 2 cheap neighborhood burgers, fries and a Sprite for $2.50.   There is a dance studio upstairs that Bella and I will have to check out some day.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.