Tuesday March 4 or maybe Mar 5 or something else

Tuesday Mar 4th

I actually know the date today. I’m so proud. Today Charles went off to his office today, and I went to mine. Mine is about one and a half km from his, on a white sand beach. I had a grueling morning. First I had to decide where to put my towel. (I was exhausted after this traumatic decision) Then I went into the water and was thrown around by the waves for a while. That was so much fun. I got most of the way back to my towel when I decided I wasn’t done and went back to be tossed around some more. I studied the rhythm of the waves. They are tricky things. When you think it’s going out it’s coming in and when you think it’s coming in it’s going out, or maybe there’s just a circular motion there that never ends. I’m not sure.

“All my life’s a circle. Sunrise and sundown. Moon rolls thru the nighttime till the daybreak comes around. All my life’s a circle, but I can’t tell you why. Seasons spinning round again. Years keep rollin’ by.” Harry Chapin

Well you can see how all that thinking tired me out, so I just layed there for a while staring at the little quarter-sized holes in the sand. I put my towel next to them thinking it would be fun to see what lives in these holes. (This kinda stuff happens sometimes when Charles isn’t there to ask me what the heck I was thinking when I put my towel next to the hole of an unknown creature in an unknown country.) As it turns out they were full of wonderful little sand crabs, that skittered across the sand, sideways, until they saw the big scary thing that was laying right next to their holes. Then they were gone.

Everything here is so different I can’t help but touch things. At first poor Charles would say ”Don’t touch that” then, “Don’t touch th..” and “Don’t tou…”, but now he just sighs. As it is a have a rash on my “touch everything finger” so I think I’ll stop until it clears up. I hate it when he’s right.

Things I learned today

1. Things might look like they are pushing backwards when they are actually pulling you forwards.
2. A nice soak in the ocean helps clear up a rash on your touch everything finger
3. Salt water + red leather sandals = red feet
4. Once you have red feet, not even soap will get them white..(although why the red came off of my sandals and not my feet is a mystery to me)
5. It is not a coincidence if you haven’t got sunburn yet. SPF 50 only works if you put it on.



Charlie’s Day(s),

Should I tell Dianne it’s March 5, or let her continue to be proud she knows what day it is? What the heck – she’ll read this someday J Yesterday I started at the computer center. There’s a room full of computers a lot like my graveyard at home except on a more massive scale. 3 of us spent the entire day trying to get 5 working machines. In the end there were 5, and I contributed 1 of them. Not exactly my finest work. However, I did create a reasonable pile of true garbage which will not end up back in the room again. I stripped everything salvageable from 6 machines, and junked the remaining carcasses. Today, Tuesday March FIVE (LOL), I got 3 more almost ready. I say almost because once there is a working set of hardware, the real challenges begin. Installing software in another language is only hard when everything works. When the error messages start, it’s impossible. On the plus side, the buttons are in the same places even if the labels are different. On the minus side, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, let alone what the most likely error message might be at this point in an install, and what the appropriate response might be to it. I’m great at computers, but I suck at languages – go figure! In 2 days I’ll be helping design some school networks. Paper design is easy, but configuring the machines will be a challenge when I can’t read the menus. Ah well, makes it more challenging.

I made some new friends today. Three of them were about eight – after some pointing and debating, I understood what they wanted, and I got them set up to play Halo. There was much joy and destruction of vermin.
One was a teenage girl that lives where we do. She brought us a coconut with the top chopped off so we could taste it – wonderful!
One was a middle-aged Rastafarian who helps out at the computer center because he is very interested and wants to learn.. We talked about music, life, and his interest in computers. He hopes to not become a “doctor” of computers, but rather learn a little first aid. He said when somebody is drowning you should be able to get them breathing again. And when a computer is ailing you should be able to give it basic life support too. Interesting philosophy and life lessons from the jungle.

Tomorrow we work on getting internet back again. Seems you need a lawyer for this to notarize documents or something just to get the phone going again. Small country – big government. We saw this in action yesterday too. The primary school has been closed because of concerns with the roof. After most of a day of meetings and inspections, it seems only government sanctioned carpenters are allowed to work to repair it. Union scale wages, of course must be paid somehow. Life is only simple for tourists in paradise.

Things I should have packed:

Way fewer clothes
Spanish lessons
Working CD’s of Win2K and Office
A long-range wireless card so I can use unsecured networks for a good cause
Morals (see above)
More patience
A calendar

(hahaha I love it when he’s wrong….Tuesday March 5th indeed!) (I am the smart one!!!)

My watch and my computer don’t agree on the date – technology has let me down. Does anybody know what day it is? We’re pretty sure it’s Tuesday, and more than likely March, and a few schools are going to be confused when they see how I set their computer clocks !

You win this round, short, burned, blonde!