Quiet

One of the results of living where I can't join in with general conversations going on around me because I don't speak the language is that I have gotten quiet.  In Real Life, as well as here.  Nothing wrong, just not a lot to say, and I'm losing the art of small talk, which I never was very good with anyway.  I'm still in Honduras, and still no bites on a new job someplace else.  I'm really not trying hard, though.  I need to step that part up. 

I did spend 10 days back in the US.  I got to drive my Jeep, and stay out all nights at the casinos.  I need another trip before the end of the year to get some more of my business straightened out, such as where my 'permanent' address really is and re-plate my Jeep.  My dentist went on vacation about the time I got back, so my next appointment is sometime next month.  We start the whole process on the other side.  I need to balance that with wanting to leave the area.  This whole living outside the US thing gets complicated.

So, co-workers are leaving for new jobs and new folks are coming in.  Not in my immediate area yet, as I'm the most senior, time-wise, there.  But, it is difficult to make friends to hang around and do things with as people cycle out about the time we realize we enjoy the same stuff.  Other than those things, life here is good.  I have an adventure to post about, with pictures even.  Maybe later this weekend.

The Dentist

This morning was another trip to the dentist.  This in itself is amazing.  I stopped going to dentists about 35 years ago.  My last adult venture with dentists got all my cavities fixed.  I'd had braces as a teen, and everything was fixed and filled.  And, I was done, emotionally and nerve-wise, with dentists.  The few times since that I'd gone to a dentist, they just pissed me off.  I didn't like the attitude of they 'owned' my teeth, would tell me what they were going to do to them, and my only part was to pay huge amounts of money to them and be so very grateful they had taken their precious time to deal with me at all.  I might, just maybe, have some baggage from the years of having so much work done as a kid...

I tried to start the process of getting my teeth back to optimal condition when I was back in Washington State.  It went like a lot of things there.  Very pleasant female dentist, clean modern office, and more money and extra charges than I could even fathom even with very good insurance.  The estimate came to over $30K, after insurance, and oh, in 3 weeks at the end of the year her prices jumped 100 percent.  And, can't even start on the simple stuff until I have a full 'scaling' (they really should rename that...), even pulling my one tooth that needed to come out was iffy until then.  The receptionist treated my like I was one of the unclean to even suggest that an appointment could be made for anything else before the 'scaling' to bring me up to the level of someone they would work on.  That ended badly for them, in that I didn't go back.

Down here I really needed to get some of the work done.  I found a good Honduran dentist who speaks very good English.  He has an assistant who wears jeans, and a wife who fills in if the assistant isn't there.  I feel like I'm a guest in their home since the office is the front part of their house.  He is professional, don't get me wrong, but he also is a human.  I was so nervous the fist visit that he looked at me when he sat down beside me, and softly explained "I'm a Christian, and if you don't mind I would like to pray before we start".  I said "I'll take any and all prayers I can get", so he said a brief prayer that took the tension in the room (mine...) down a notch, and then we began.

So, I now have 2 permanent crowns, a temporary crown over two other molars until next week when the permanent crowns will be in, and today he spent two hours of concentrated work on my top front teeth.  He said 14 cavities.  In 6 teeth.  He basically rebuilt a couple of them.  Total cost today, 5,000L, which is $250 more or less.  He still has some polishing to do, and some shaping.  My two front teeth have outlines that look a bit like a-line skirts and there needs to be some more shaping done on the insides as my teeth don't exactly close all the way.  This is my fault.  I told him it was fine, since after 2 hours I was, as I say, done.  We'll tweek it more when I go in to get the permanent crowns.  Which is why I like him.  He works with me.  What doesn't get done today, we'll do next time.

I usually have the early appointment on Saturday mornings.  Which means I'm there while they open up.  They pull up the metal shutters over the door an windows, then take bowls of water out and wash the windows and outside sills.  They have a guard who watches over the 6-space or so parking area.  One morning I watched as he came in and the wife handed him the pistol in the holster he wears while on duty.  He strapped on the holster then proceeded to load the pistol with bullets.  To guard a 6-space parking area.  At a dentist office.  And I considered it a good thing.  Welcome to Honduras.

Some pictures of My World

The above is me, and behind me is the valley where I live. I had Carlos, my taxi driver, stop so I could take pictures at this overlook a couple of weeks ago on our way to the dentist.





Another picture of the valley. It's hard to photograph, and is bigger than it looks here.

These are 2 of the 3 almost identical adolescent cats who greet me each morning on my way into post. If they are awake, that is. They sleep on the porch of the hooch I walk past.




This is the same tree that I posted the picture of when it was all orange. At this point it is pretty much all leafed out. So far it still has the leaves. Soon, it will drop them all for awhile, then start the process all over again.

Here I am...

I'm in Tegus for the weekend. It is a trip just to get away and do some playing and some thinking. And some organizing, mental and physical. While looking for my toothbrush that I was always carrying in my backpack I ended up cleaning out my backpack. I found some fairly important stuff mixed in with trash papers that should have been cleaned out awhile ago. Not sure if I should be worried that the important stuff was there, or the unimportant stuff was since I carry this pack with me pretty much everywhere. What wasn't there was a toothbrush. Oh, well, there is a mall right across the way.

A note to myself: I don't seem to really get my feet stable in a new place for about 10 months. Maybe it was longer in WA, and the time is shortening as I get more used to being mobile. I am just now feeling like I can make inroads into some projects I had intended to do while I was down here 'with nothing to do'.

Oh, I found my knife in the backpack. It's just a cheap pocket knife. However, yesterday while I was watching the guys mow (we have to do that...) the guy weedwhacking got a weed caught in the strings of the whacker and it pulled them way out. His whacker doesn't have the nifty blade to keep the strings cut and they were too long to work. He had a delima, and consulted the guy on the mower (a zero-radius thing I sooo want!). He looked at me (they only speak Spanish, I still don't speak it). I made a motion of a knife cutting, he nodded and said 'no tengo'. I was a bit amazed at that, but later realized that they probably can't bring even a pocket knife on post. With my own knife AWOL, I was forced to ask one of the guys inside for help. He fixed the issue with a HUGE folding knife, then being friendly with me, suggested how I should really carry a knife, the size of the one he has. sigh. I really just needed my pocket knife, I'm not going to be fighting anyone if I can help it, and I really wouldn't pull a knife out if I was. Normally it is in my pocket. At some point I apparently put it in the pack.

I came down here packed minimally. Not entirely just in my daypack. That is a goal. I only have the rollaway with me as luggage. The goal is to be able to travel with just this setup, anywhere, anytime. I'm working on it. At least one of the tops I brought is too tight. In my defense, it was too tight when I bought it. It was an impulse by at REI because it was on the sale rack and I had not yet realized that I am no long a 'small', or even really a loose 'medium'. I guess it should go into the give away pile. For today I'll wear it, and really know that it needs to go away by the end of the day.

More Saga

When I last wrote,  L and the racoons has made peace via some wire over the holes that the racoons had been using to get into the house.  It has become obvious that she had been feeding them for a very long time and just didn't know it as they came and went as they pleased.  L just thought her 2 cats ate a LOT of cat food.  A couple of nights ago L decided to leave a door to the screened in porch open as she used to do pre-raccoon saga.  She heard a noise in the night and got up and saw a tail sticking out of the large can she uses to store the cat food.  She promptly put the lid on the can and put something heavy on top and called her grandson (my age) to come get the raccoon.  He said "Granny, it's 3am" to which she replied that no, it was 5am and to get over there (15 min drive).  So, he shows up and takes the lid off to give the 3(?) racoons inside some air, tapes it so they can't get out and off the (now 3) racoons go to the country.  Being soft-hearted but practical, neither Mom or I have inquired into their fate.  So, the next night she hears more noise, and it turns out that at least one more raccoon has pushed out the wire screen over the hole and in again chowing down.  She chased it and saw how it got out, so now the large trap has again been baited and set.  I'm thinking I'll be hearing raccoon stories (and sharing them here) into the fall.  Did I mention that L is late 80's or early 90's in age?

Minor Update

Talked to Mom tonight.  Turns out they are racoons, not opposums.  Two very large racoons.  The conservation officer said to put chicken wire in all the openings to the outside, so various grandsons came over and did that today.  The larger trap set out last night didn't catch them.  The food in the trap was gone and the trap wasn't sprung.  These are smart racoons.  Mom thinks that L. has been feeding these coons for a long time, since she kept saying that the cats sure ate a lot of food.  I wondered why cats needed to be fed twice a day when it was first mentioned.  So, tonight we find out which side of the chicken wire the coons ended up being trapped on.  I didn't ask if anyone has looked for them in the house before blocking all the access points.  And, why are there holes in the first place?  Seems that when L's husband built the place he decided that was a cheap way to get heat under the house to keep the pipes from freezing.  So, there was no floor under the bathtub or something.  Sometimes the truth is just to weird to ask for more details.  No word on if the rifle is still part of the plan.

Unwelcome guests

When my Mom and I Skype I keep up with the goings on in the small MO town where she lives.  A friend/extended family member went on vacation for the first time in decades, and Mom and my Aunt were in charge of feeding the cats, Mom in the evenings and Aunt in the mornings.  The lady has a cat door and apparently other openings to the outside that hadn't been an issue when she was there every day.  However, turns out that 2 opposums decided they had found heaven with her gone, and moved in.  There were countless messes each day, and her son was called in to help with a trap, which didn't work.

When the lady returned, she cocked her bb gun as far as she can (she's in her late 80's and small but wiry) and when she heard them the first night she was back, she crept down the hall and popped one in the head.  Didn't phase it.

Now she's got the rifle out.  He great-grandson told her she can't shoot that in the house!  She says it's her house, she can if she wants.  Family members descended with more traps...  I'll keep you updated.

Friday Fragments (on Sunday)

I sometimes like the cute little ways blogs come up with something to post, like Friday Fragments for ideas that don't flesh out to a full post, or Sundays in My City with pictures from around town on a Sunday.  However, those require actually posting on a particular day.  So, my fragments are on a Sunday, which doesn't really rhyme.

I went down to breakfast in the restaurant this morning.  I had the desayuno typical (my spell check doesn't do Spanish, so I hope that is close...), or typical breakfast here in Honduras.  It was really good.  It's fried plantains (done right!), refried beans, and egg over easy, something that looked like a slice of fried Spam, some kind of cheese/cream and fresh made tortillas.  I prefer the creamy sauce rather than a hard piece of white cheese of some sort that is sometimes included instead.  At any rate, the owner of the hotel told them that my breakfast was 'on the house'.  I left a 50L tip anyway.

I'm sorting and packing.  I'm already probably too late to have my stuff arrive in MO when I'm there in September.  I'll set up the storage unit so that all Mom will need to do with the movers is point.  The place here is total caos (spell check can't even come close for that word, so just go with it...) as I pull everything out and decide what to send home and what to leave here.  It is making me think in detail about what I need to have to feel comfortable.  A table is high on the list, it seems.  My kitchen table I bought in WA is going back.  It is a nice, stable flat surface that is doing duty lately as my ironing board.  I'll have to come up with something else.  My hammock stand that has done more duty as a temporary place to hang clothes will also go back.  It's the little details that make a lifestyle comfortable or not.  I'll see how it goes.  I may find that it motivates me to do what I need to do in order to leave Honduras even faster.  That would include having a job someplace else to go to.

No progress on my hammock this week.  I didn't feel good and had no energy.  Once I get the stuff packed I'll start working on it again.

I still feel like I'm shooting an arrow towards the future and I don't have any idea what or where the target is.  Just aim in a general direction and shoot.

What else I'm doing

When it comes to studying, I can find all kinds of cool things to do instead. Last week I started weaving a hammock in the hammock shop on post. I'm slow. It will get done, eventually.

First you load the 'needle' that I think is called a shuttle in regular weaving. Specific terms kinda get lost down here. And with me in general. Anyway, this is the needle, and I'm loading it up.






Then you poke, pull and prod the yard through what you have already done. What you see here got unwoven because I made a mistake. I did this part three times, because after I fixed the first mistake and got back to where I'd left off, I found another one lower down.






The gold/red/black hammock behind me I found out that night is being made by the Chaplain. The Universe does have a sense of humor. So far I've only cussed in front of him once. I'm learning to watch my mouth. I guess that is a good thing. He wasn't offended, and may not have actually heard it as I was cussing that it was raining hard just as I was getting ready to leave. Rain on a tin roof is nice, but not so much when there is a half mile walk to the gate.




I'll post progress pictures as I go along. It will be multicolored as I got what yarn was left over from the post's order. I had to buy it myself since I'm a contractor, but I can use the facilities for free. This won't be an ultralight hammock, the yarn weighed 20lbs.

Happy 4th of July

Yes, they have a 4th of July here in Honduras.  It's a normal work day for them.  I'm off work, getting things caught up.  Mostly I'm taking care of the small things that make me feel out of control of my life on a regular basis.  Laundry and ironing are almost finished.  Then I can put away the towel that has graced the top of the kitchen table for weeks.  Papers are being sorted and scanned and packaged to be sent home.  Most of it is being tossed or shredded.  Piles of papers are shrinking and disappearing.  This is good.  I may be sending my big stuff home in a couple of weeks.  I need to get the small stuff organized so I know what goes where.  The only things left after that should be things small enough to mail home or things that I'll leave here.  I'll be living out of 2 suitcases, something I've said I want to do for years.  We'll see if that is true or not. 

I have no place yet to go to when my contract is up here.  I can stay here until I find something.  I have not been studying, I have not been working on weaving the hammock I'm making in the shop at work, I have not been working on my resume.  I'm still not totally in control.  It's a start.