DAY 1 - Thursday July 6

Today I woke up at sunrise to the most horrible sound of African bird cackling nonsense. It was like the part in Dumb and Dumber when he makes “the most annoying sound ever” but much much worse. I dozed in and out of sleep and finally gave in…it felt like it was 3 in the afternoon, but it was only 11am. I think I’m going to be right about my hunch of time on this side of the world, that it’s going to match with my weird brain somehow and make for a normal schedule for full productive days.

Breakfast was divine. Cereal, toast, jelly, peanut butter, bananas, and a Spanish omelet to top it all off. Betty is the shit. I love that I can wake up early, grab some tea and eat a full meal. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.

I wasn’t quite awake yet but after a hot shower I was ready to go. I sat down and read the newspaper and overheard a conversation Sara was having with the “real estate agent” who found us the awesome house on such short notice. The only problem was we didn’t have a refrigerator. Yesterday it was being repaired, but today, it had apparently “disappeared” and was not scheduled to come back for a while. Sara was frustrated. “Did it just grow legs and walk away?” she asked. This certainly gives new meaning to the question, “is your refrigerator running?” The conversation was really entertaining. The real estate lady was cool, but still being a little shady. She said the women who agreed to rent us the house thought it was just Sara who was staying there, and when she found out there were 10 of us, she tried to jack up the rent $300. She was definitely playing reindeer games – why would we need the house, side apartment, extra beds and living quarters for the workers if it was just Sara? The agent got on the phone with the landlady and they went back and forth screaming into the cell phone. The refrigerator was supposed to be here tomorrow. But that was really manana, which doesn’t mean tomorrow, it just means not today. It was the African equivalent of a land deal in Pecos, New Mexico.

We went into town to play at Mary’s Craft Shop. Margaret was so happy to have us. It was so cool to see the place we had worked for and heard so much about. I bought a ton of stuff, but it only cost about $20. I have no idea how I’m going to buy gifts for everyone…I guess I’ll just take two of each. We walked up and down the main street and tried to make sense out of Ft. Portal. It was definitely bigger than I thought, but a lot smaller than where I was from. Everyone was still busy though.

We got back a little tired (growing up I don’t remember the frequent trips to town making me so tired) and had a great lunch again. I tried to help Betty with the dishes, but she would not have it. So I went upstairs, laid out my sheet on the terrace in the hot African sun and wrote a little. What a way to spend an afternoon.

I wrote as much as I could when the electricity went off again. A few of the people went back to town, but I wasn’t ready for another go round. I played out the day piddling around again. This is the life, I thought. But I was also getting ancy. I came here to work, and I knew that after a few days of down time, we’d be rocking it out.

After dinner we chilled on the terrace with Betty and the guard, who I hadn’t met yet. Lech offered them both beer and they each drank one but didn’t want to “get too drunk” and be tired the next day. The guard was really cool, a younger guy who had been working at the same house since the new owners took over. He was very protective and walked around the complex with a watchful eye and a bright flashlight. We asked him what he would do if he saw someone try to break in, and he said he had arrows. “Which arrows” I said, and he made the motion like you would if you were shooting a bow and arrow. Awesome, I thought. He said he would call the police and they would be here immediately if anything happened. Good enough for me. I just home he doesn’t get me one night when I’m up late working.