march 23, 2007
today I had a few chores. First I had to locate the key to the storage area under the house, then I found the key, and inside was a ladder and a bush knife.
I cleaned the trap on the tank screen, it was full of pine needles.
I then went around cutting down bananas.
The first bunch I thought grabbed with one arm to hold and swung with the other arm to cut. I was expecting a few hacks at it since the stalk was 3 inches in diameter, but one swing brought it down unexpectedly into my other arm and it was heavy, and I lowered it very quickly to the ground.
So the second bunch I decide to let drop. BAD idea. It dropped in 2 swings, and when it hit the ground, bananas broke off. Now I have to figure out what to do with broken bananas, put them on the compost heap I suppose.
So we have now 3 big branches of green bananas ripening under our porch.
Kendal has been trying to learn laundry. She washed the clothes, put them out to dry, but then we had to leave so she brought them in, but then they started to mildew, smell funny, so she washed them again.
We're trying to figure out how to let the clothes dry while we're not home without them being stolen.
then Oru dropped by. The houseowners old yardman. They advised us he was a good guy but to hire him for one-off type of projects. He had a basket of strawberries in his hands, a gift. So there I was trying to tell him we weren't ready to hire yet, that I would let him know, and that we already had a lot of strawberries because my wife went to the market.
But I couldn't speak much pidgin at all, and he spoke no English. It was frustratingly comic that I couldn't put many words together. I was able to understand him, which was good, but I couldn't communicate what I was thinking. So he told me he would go find another white man to translate. Five minutes later the phone rings and one of the folks I haven't met yet told called and told me what was going on. I told him what I was trying to tell Oru and he translated.
I don't know exactly what he said, and I'm hoping he put it in the best possible polite terms. Oru was a great guy, he kept smiling and embracing me to tell me it was okay that we couldn't communicate.
oh man we dont' know anything.
"What is he saying? Why is he working here? I don't want him to be working. Why is he still here? Did I say something to make him think he can stay?"
"How do we do laundry when it's raining?"
"What is this passion fruit all about? Woah that's different."
"Are the bugs fleas or chiggers or mosquitos? We don't know."
This morning has been a tiring experience of discovering how little we know. For a guy who likes to have the information before making decisions, it doesn't feel good to be stuck wondering where to get information. Thank you God for moments like this that make us realize You are who we rely on to provide. God please provide people to help us answer these questions, and thank You because we know You already have.
A fun kid story.
Today I heard my son run in and say "[daughter] has a rhinocerous beetle on her dress! It makes a weird noise like ...hhhhh hhhhhhh"
We told him to knock it off with a stick, but after many attempts it wasn't working. So I went to see what was going on. My daughter was upset but not terribly so. She was standing still, and holding the hem of her dress out so that the beetle wouldn't touch her skin.
"daddy get it off! get it off!" this is about a freaked as she gets, which is very calm. The rhino beetle is harmless, but it likes to hiss like a cat. The thing is, if you don't shake them off quick, they latch on strong.
After some doing I got it off and showed it to her. "no daddy no."
So I said, "hey kiddo, look at it, it's like that big blue beetle from Bug's Life that carried everyone around."
she replied very quickly, "no it's not, it's not blue and it's CA-REEEPY!"
and my son responded, "yeah, and this one hisses, the other one talked!"
