lady of leisure or a lady of boring…

Well, it’s only day one of not leaving the house at all but it feels like forever. Aydan’s been sick so really the past few days the only place we’ve gone is the health unit at the embassy. She is beginning to get better thanks to the amoxicillin that we were given. I’m so thankful she likes medicine. Tonight she was smacking her lips when I brought out the bottle.

I was pretty bored today. Aydan slept for 5 hours, 2 hours in the morning and almost 3 in the afternoon. While she slept I cleaned the house, talked to the guard, convinced him to climb a ladder and pull down a falling and dead palm branch that could have fallen on him or his little shed had we not been successful, and to change the water filter outside.

Oh ya, some guys from the embassy brought us new garbage cans too… exciting times in Africa. Well, that is a bit exciting bc I’m going to try to do some composting. Our sponsors have a good system set up.  They just take the compost (that contains all their fruit and vegetables), put it on the soil and let what grows grow. It really works! They have a great garden. I talked with the gardner about it this morning and he said we could get started on it next week. Also, he is going to plant some herbs and some new flowers. So tomorrow I need to go to the nursery near the embassy and pick out the ones I want him to plant. That should be fun.

I started dinner at 2:30… that’s how bored I was. My slogan of the night was, “Sure we’re in Africa but as for me and my house we will serve beans, rice and home made tortillas” and so it was.  We only have our Welcome Kit to work with in the kitchen though.  And since I haven’t been to the market yet I didn’t have any fresh garlic or cumin so I had to resort to the powdered stuff I got from the commissary. All in all it was a good meal. I only had to move things and wash dishes a few times to have enough pans and skillets.

On an Aydan note. We caught her yesterday playing with my keys to the door. She pulled out one key and walked to the door and tried to put the key in the lock. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  Also, one of her favorite things to do right now is play with Dad’s hair while riding on his shoulders. Cute.

Oh and if you want to get really boring details you can know:

• The website for us to pay back our student loans doesn’t work here so we were on the phone for over 20 mins trying to get them paid so we didn’t get a late fee.
• We can’t go out after dark so Patrick and I have been playing lots of board games. That’s cool, right?
• Aydan and I were outside in the back yard today playing in her “pool,” really it’s just the bucket we use to wash the dishes, and we saw a huge lizard. HUGE.
• The Today Show is on at noon here, which is 7 East Coast time. So I get to watch it live with out waking up early. AND Oprah was on twice today with two different shows! Amazing. Both were slightly boring (to keep with the days theme) but it was nice to have something familiar in the background.
• Netflix, Hulu and any other form of TV show watch do not work here. Neither does my iPhone, even when it’s connected to WiFi, it still won’t pull up Safari, Facebook app or anything else you need the internet for. It does, however, let me read and send emails. So, in case you were wondering that’s that.
• I finished Water for Elephants in like 2 days. Good book. Wish I had more books or that iBooks would work. Pack or sent books to post before you arrive.  You will want them!

Here’s to a more exciting day tomorrow.