Earth Day..and such

Now that my time here is coming to a close for now….it seems as if I should write a thing or two on this here blog.

Tomorrow is Earth Day! There is a celebration going down nearby in Monkey Bay on the Sibun River. A local NGO is hosting the event to bring attention to the gravel mining issues in the Sibun. Dr. B, I, and some student volunteers will represent UB at the event. We have an array of activities and displays planned for the kiddos. I spent a long day getting all the supplies together. I’ve learned that it’s useless to plan in advance because everything seems to get done at the last minute around here and, well..if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em has become my new attitude.

In gathering said supplies, I came to find out that the science department has only 2 pairs of scissors. 2. So, I ganked some scalpels from the lab. Kids and scalpels…probably not a good combo, we’ll see how it goes.

While scissors, among other things, are in short supply, plastic coke bottles are extremely plentiful so we’ll be making “recycled critters” from coke bottles and a bunch o’ crap I picked up at the local “arts and crafts” store, if you can truly call it that. Should be fun to see what they put together. I haven't met a kid yet that doesn't like glitter and pipe cleaners so..

Jano and Dr. B recently created a typical ant farm in the lab. This was their second go at the ant farm and they are both quite pleased that the ants appear happy in their new home and are building tunnels. Arlenie accidently smashed a gecko in her door jam yesterday. Since it was already attracting ants, Jano decided to peel it off and set it aside, with the intent of taking it in to feed the ant farm. Only, he forgot about it and so the crushed gecko is still in a milk carton stashed under his bed. This amuses me.

It’s getting damn hot here. So hot indeed that my roommate was recently moved to sing “it’s getting hot in here so take off all your clothes”….she wasn’t very impressed when I exclaimed that I lived in the loop and that a friend of mine’s brother had his photo taken with Nelly. Hmph.
Because it's hot, I spend time in the hammock on the front porch. I was precariously sitting on it the other day, while also putting on my running shoes. I usually don't untie my shoes. I just take them on and off tied. I guess that makes me lazy but so as I was sitting in the hammock and putting some effort into shoving my foot into my tied shoe, I lost my balance, fell backwards off the hammock and hit my head on the window bars before my ass hit the concrete. It hurt. As soon as I realized that I hadn't cracked my head open, I started laughing at myself and then checked to see if anyone had seen the spectacle so that I could assure them that they were laughing with me and not at me. I probably still won't untie my shoes between runs but I won't put them on while sitting in the hammock.

I love my new Mexican blender. I have used it everyday since the purchase. I mostly make frothy cold drinks. Banana, papaya, and coffee have been the main ingredients so far. Jano is very fond of the chocolate milkshake. I just bought some locally made vanilla yogurt to concoct yet another version of the frothy cold drink. I came home today to find the kitchen counter filled with about 30 oranges so I’m thinking…..vanilla yogurt + orange juice + Mexican blender = dinner. Beliken (beer) = dessert. It's friday. Arlenie has some locally made carrot wine that she might share...

annoyingness of the week...my neighbor is the minister of something which is a pretty high position in the government. He has long dreadlocks, that's not what's annoying. The thought of the head of the state department (an equivalent position?) having dreadlocks also amuses me but this guy owns 2 SUVs a F150 pick up truck, and a little piece of shit car. That's annoying enough but he prefers to drive the piece of shit car probably because gasoline prices are outrageous (less government subsidies). Understood, but there's something wrong with his little piece of shit car. I don't know if it's the starter or the alternator or what but he spent a solid 10 mins. each morning this week starting it, turning the ignition over and over and over again until finally...it started, each time. I find this annoying.

I’ve decided that I’m making my Argentina flight arrangements on Thurs next week, whether I hear back from that job at BFREE or not. I managed to borrow dive gear for the 2 week reef monitoring training in May, good news.