Random Items

This post will be random as there are so many things I think I should post while I'm living them during the day...then time passes and I forget.

Last night we went out to get some food for dinner. We were swayed by the little ones to go to Pizza Hut. While waiting for a shuttle bus that never arrived (35 minutes on the side of the road in the sun and heat)...I discovered that my cell phone was no longer working and needed "more money." I don't know how to tell when such a critical point is approaching...and I don't know how to remedy the problem once it occurs.

Such is the state of much of our lives now...we just don't know.

Upon entering the Pizza Hut, I asked the manager-type lady..."do you know where we can find a shop to make my phone work again?"

After several re-drafts of my initial silly question...she understood.

Then she suggested "I will send one of my staffs to go and buy more times for your phone."

Can you imagine this?

She sent one of her waitstaff across the street with my money and they delivered to our table some 15 minutes later...a code to load more minutes on my phone. The lovely manager-type lady...named "Sunny"...then offered to load the minutes on my phone.

Still I have no idea how to remedy the crisis of a phone that needs more money.

I cannot believe that you would ever find anyone back at The New Place to run over and take care of an errand for one of their restaurant's patrons...and then NOT EVEN ACCEPT A TIP! The way they treat their "foreigners" here...we have something to learn in our home culture, I think.

We went over to the new school today. There is no power there which means...no AC. It was blistering hot again today but Dad and I were coping well. Then lunch was delivered from the corporation's canteen. We sat at the newly arrived little desks (light blue plaid is the pattern on the desks and chairs) and were served a very typical meal. Although, it was my first time to be served a whole fish alongside my rice, and stir fried cabbage with bean pods.

When I say "whole fish" I quite literally mean "whole fish"...the only thing my lunch lacked was the guts of the fish which has been taken out before it was cooked. While a struggled to pick the white meat off the tiny bones my fish looked at me with sunken in eyes. I thought a few times I saw his tail fin move slightly! Though our colleagues were very adept at eating every edible (and possibly for westerners...not so edible) morsel...I kept thinking that the fish wanted to open his mouth and speak to me.

I did eat it...everything I could glean with my chopsticks. I think I had a few scales on my lips when I finished though.

At the market yesterday...a market like a wal-mart...we went through the food section to buy some meat. We went past the tanks of fresh fish swimming, and the plastic containers of frogs (live), snakes (live), scorpions (live) and dried, stretched whole chicken skins (including the heads all smashed up and dried through as well as the feet.)

Brownie and Potato were screaming "Momma LOOK!"...I had to tell them that they should not make such a scene about it because it is food...if they wanted to talk with me about it they could later...

They wanted to know then at dinner..."are we going to eat frogs tonight?"

I mentioned already that it was really hot here today and we were working to move furniture without any AC. Dad was an amazing site to behold as sweat saturated his shirt. It literally looked as though someone had taken a hose to him.

He told the colleagues...

"I feel like Frosty the Snowman...in a little bit...all that will be left of me will be a pile of clothes and my magic hat."

I have to walk with an umbrella up nearly at all times now. This is the fashion here...all ladies shade themselves from the sun. It will take some getting used to...but it was good today when we walked about 1.5 miles back into town before we could find a taxi.

More later...I've got to find some water and welcome home Magpie and The Bug at the bus station in a few hours!

Love and miss all of you back home...