Settling in

Hi everyone,

It's been awhile since I last updated, so here's a bit of news to start off with:

-- homestay went well. I learned a lot of language bits and pieces then, but now have to assimilate it into my general vocabulary. The family I stayed with was super hospitable, and they made sure that I experienced a lot during my time there. We climbed a hill, had a picnic, visited a mineral spring, got water from a fresh water spring, cooked, made flower necklaces, visited a bakery and an aluminum pot making place, and a variety of other things.

-- I'm now settled into my home with Jess. It's a second story suite, with rooftop access. We have water issues, which you can read more about on Jess' blog.

-- language learning is now my full-time job. I'm working with language helpers to acquire phrases and vocabulary, then practicing in the community. It's a fun challenge, and some people have started greeting me by name.

Now let me tell you about our burn barrel.

See, trash is a problem here. The standard solution is to toss the trash in the rivers, woods, and ocean, but we didn't feel comfortable with that solution. So we're composting, recycling aluminum (for the people who make pots), and burning everything else. But how to burn in a safe way?

Jess asked around and found out that we could buy old fuel barrels from the airport. So we walked over there, accompanied by a language helper and a strong man (thanks Jeremy) and started asking who we could buy a barrel from. One person sent us to another person, that person sent us to the next person, until finally someone directed us to check in the tower. So we climbed the control tower at the airport to talk to the controller!

He talked with us for a bit between communicating with planes, then came down the tower with us to bring us to the big boss at the airport. The big boss explained that the governor wanted all the used fuel barrels, but he'd make an exception and sell us one.

So we had our barrel!

We tied it into the back of a taxi to get it home, but how to get it on the roof? The front door was too narrow, so we couldn't carry it up the stairs. Well, our clothesline is sturdy, let's tie it with that and pull it to the roof. Oops, the clothesline broke and onlookers below scattered quickly. One would think they'd have been further away, seeing as how three white people were trying to get a 50 gallon barrel to the roof.

Next plan? Carry it up the neighbor's stairs and pass it over to our house from there. The houses were close enough that it worked pretty well. Mission accomplished!

Next project? Getting the top off. One step at a time though, right?