Focus people. Focus!

I wish I could say that Phase 3 of my root canal came and went.  But it came and it's kind of stuck with me.  Allow me to explain...

Everything was pretty similar to Phase 2.  My dentist dug out the temporary filling and then started to fill it my tooth with the permanent filling.  I don't know why they couldn't just put the permanent stuff in the first time and make this a 2 part process.  I'm sure there are reasons, but those were not fully explained to me.  Of course I didn't ask either, but I will next time I'm in there.  Yet I digress...

I'm in the chair and all is going well.  He's digging out the temporary stuff and after that is all said and done, starts filling the tooth in with the permanent stuff.  Now it's important that all the spaces are filled, otherwise there is opportunity for decay from the inside again.  So he has to make sure that he gets that filling all the way up in the roots.  Basically, from what I can tell, this consists of putting the filling material on something small and needle like and shoving it into the empty spaces (ie - the roots) of my tooth.  All is well for the first 3 roots.  Ah, but I am one of that lucky 10% who has the 4th root.

Since the first 3 roots went so well, the conversation between the dentist and the dental assistants increased.  They were talking about carnival, who's playing and who's not, internet phone services (Skype vs. something called MagicJack), and the cost of various office items (gel tip pens) in Trinidad vs. the cost of the same item in the states.  All very stimulating indeed - although I will say that I was a bit intrigued about that MagicJack thing.

So Dr. Dentist starts packing the filling into the last root.  He went a little too deep and I winced.  There was pain but at least it was quick.  Unfortunately, I don't think he saw the wince because the next little pack of filling went too deep.  This time there was A LOT of pain and it was not so quick.  From what I can gather, or at least what it felt like, was this needle thing went a bit too deep and really felt like it went through the bottom of the root into my gums.  The pain was fairly intense and my hand shot out to the arm rest of the chair and my back arched up as all my muscles tensed up and as I tried to not jump out of the chair.

He says "Oh, oh.  Ok, it's all right."  But really it wasn't because whatever he was working with came apart in my mouth, with the needle jammed into my gums and him still holding on to the tool.  So now he's trying to get it reattached or dig it out with some kind of tweezers or something.  I don't honestly know how he got it out, but it did come out after a couple quick attempts.

Now, when I said in my last post that the root canal is kind of like digging the marrow of a bone out of your tooth, I think I was only partially correct.  The other stuff that is getting dug out is all the nerves.  So while this did hurt, it wasn't the kind of hurt that you have when you have exposed nerves or a chipped tooth and air gets on it.  This is more like you have that piece of popcorn or apple that gets stuck between your teeth so far that it hurts and you can't get it out.  Except that the popcorn, or apple if you choose, has a needle attached to it and actually imbeds itself into your gums for a minute or so.

I didn't really think that this was going to be eventful enough to have another post about my dental work.  But after that little mishap, I just felt the need to share the final phase.  Next comes the crown.  That should be uneventful.  We'll see though.

Does it hurt when I do this?

Everything is not always blissful down here in my own little tropical paradise.  Sure there are little quirks that drive a lot of ex-pats crazy down here, but that's not what I'm talking about.  Actually most of those things don't bother me much at all.  What I'm talking about isn't about the country at all.

For the last few months, I've had a kind of a dull, annoying pain by my top back tooth.  One day, not quite sure when, it got to the point where I couldn't really chew on that side of my mouth anymore.  So I decided I should probably get it checked out.  I asked around and found a dentist to go to in St. James (a neighborhood about 5 minutes from my house and just outside Port of Spain).  I made an appointment, showed up at my scheduled time and about 45 minutes got called in to see the dentist (I guess some things are universal, no matter what country you're in).  Within about 30 seconds of talking to me and taking a quick x-ray, which took about another 30 seconds, he concluded that I needed a root canal.  Great.  I waited until I had got crappy dental coverage with my insurance and until I moved to a third world country to get my dental work done.  Perfect.  

But he told me "...not to worry.  It would be a difficult tooth for me [him] to work on because it's in the back of your [my] mouth, but that's not anything that you [I] should worry about."  Huh?  That's absolutely something I'm going to worry about.  I'm the one who's going to feel it.  But I needed to get it done, so I gotta get it done.  We made a follow up appointment and I was on my way.  I don't know if it's common in the states, but I guess they do root canals in 3 phases down here.

Phase 1: I showed up and he sprayed on some topical anesthetic.  It dripped down into my throat, so the back of that was also numb.  That was a weird feeling.  It actually felt like I had a hold in the back of my throat.  Anyway, the drilling started, and the picking, and scraping, and all the other good things that go along with a root canal.  But part way through he said, "Wow, look at that?"  Never something you want to hear as a dentist is digging around in your mouth.  He called in some of the other dental assistants and showed them too.  Apparently I am one of 10% of the population that has 4 roots in my back tooth.  So I get to have more fun during my root canal than 90% of everyone else does.  Woo hoo!!  

The procedure goes fairly well, with my only complaint being that the dental assistant wasn't too good at sucking the spit out of my mouth.  I felt like I was choking on it a number of times.  But there wasn't any pain after the anesthetic set in.  It also gave me a chance to practice my yoga breathing.  Did I mention that I started doing yoga down here?

Phase 2: They go in with another set of files and a drill and scrape out a bit more inside the roots.  My understanding of the whole process is that they have to go in and dig out what would be like the marrow of your bones, but it's inside your tooth, as well as any of the decay.  How do they do this you ask?  Well that's a great question.

Put your thumb and index finger so the tips are touching.  Now stick a tiny file that looks like a thick tip of a needle between those fingers and start moving them up and down.  That's what it is.  And surprisingly this is done without anesthetic.  I stopped him before he started, and then asked another couple of time..."Are you sure I don't need any?  Positive?"  And he said that I would be fine.  But before he can start digging around, he has to make sure that he doesn't go too deep into the tooth's root.  Apparently this is why no anesthetic is needed.  What he does is take different files of different lengths and thicknesses and sticks them in the tooth's root to see if I can feel it.  So he'll stick something in there and if I wince and start making noise, he knows I can feel it and not to use that tool.  And since I'm that lucky 10%, I got to go through this 4 times instead of just 3.  Lucky me.

Most of the filing went well with a couple occasions where he went too deep.  Then he busts out a drill and starts drilling in there.  Talk about a feeling of panic.  What if he hits that deep spot that he's not supposed to?  I think every single muscle in my body was tensed up, but he did not hit anything with the drill.

I got some rinse, got some temporary filling stuck in there, and now I'm awaiting Phase 3, which comes in about 2 weeks.  I can hardly wait.

Holiday in TT

This year for the school's winter holiday, I decided to stay in Trinidad.  Initially, I was going to try to go to Peru, but due to issues with my passport and my multiple entry/exit visa, I stayed here.  Since I wasn't going away, Angie also decided to come down to visit from the 25th, December to the 4th, January.

My first week of break was pretty uneventful.  I did a bit of reading, a lot of napping, and some cleaning for Angie's arrival.  I really didn't feel like I did very much that first week, but that changed as soon as Angie showed up.  She wanted to relax on the beaches, but also wanted a tasted of what my life was like down here.  So we were pretty active and did a lot of great stuff.  I had made some notes of all the stuff that we did when we were sitting on a beach one day, and by the end of her stay, I had about 5 pages (front and back).  Feeling that writing all that out might get a little long winded, I'm going to do like Angie did on her Facebook page and just try to show it all in pictures with little tidbits here and there.  Shall we begin??

Angie showed up Christmas night after about 13 hours of traveling and layovers in airports.  So our adventures didn't begin until after sleeping in on the 26th.  Wanting to get out and see a bit of Trinidad, we decided to go on a hike to Edith Falls and Bamboo Cathedral.  Edith Falls is really only a waterfall after a rain.  We were fortunate to see some water, but sometimes it's kind of light.  Next we went to Bamboo Cathedral, where we ran into Aaron and Katie and Katie's family who were in for Christmas.  We also got to see some red howler monkey's crossing over the path in the trees above.  That was really cool.  Here's a shot of Bamboo Cathedral, so named because of the shape the bamboo trees make over the path.

Day 2 consisted of going to the market.  Wandering the streets of the shopping district in Port of Spain and meeting up with Aaron and Katie for a hash.  This was something that Angie was very anxious to do and she really enjoyed hiking through the rain forest, rivers, and all the excitement that hashes provide.

Day 3 we went to Maracas Bay.  The waves were rough, so we moved to another, nearby bay called Las Cuevas, where we spent the next few hours.  Here is an overlook of Maracas (a bit cloudy) and Las Cuevas (where Angie got her first taste of TT's dreaded sand flies).  She seemed to be a major attraction for the sand flies and mosquitos.  That was kind of nice for me, because they left me alone and all went to her.

  

Day 4 was an early wake up and a ferry ride to Tobago.  The waters were incredibly rocky and Angie got pretty sick.  I normally don't get motion sickness and even I was feeling a bit queazy.  The rest of that day was spent waiting for our hotel room to get ready and recovering from the ferry.

Day 5 we went to Pigeon Point.  One of the most beautiful beaches on Tobago.  It's a private beach and you have to pay an entrance fee to get in.  We stayed there from about 9:30 AM until about 6:30 PM.  The day was perfect.  We swam, slept, went for walks, read, and really just relaxed the entire day.

And let's not forget about the sunset.  It was incredible.  Oh, we also saw Queen Latifah vacationing there.  Not an actual queen for the older folks - she's a actress and hip hop artist.

 

Day 6 we headed up to the northeast coast of Tobago to a small town called Speyside.  Along the way we stopped at a place called Argyle Falls that has 4-5 tiers of waterfalls.  We hiked up to the waterfalls and hiked and c

limbed to the top of the 4th tier.

 

At the top of the 4th tier, you could see the down the waterfalls and out past the trees to the ocean.  It was an amazing sight.  Then down at the bottom tier, the pool was deep enough that you could jump in from the surrounding rocks.  That was really fun and felt like we were diving from the tops of the waterfall, although in reality, it was only 6-10 feet up.

 

After Argyle Falls and a dip in the pool at the bottom of the falls, we finished our trek to Speyside, where we would go to a local Old Year's party (what they celebrate instead of New Year's Eve) and bring in the new year SCUBA diving.  This was where we stayed in Speyside, a place called the Manta Lodge.

Here is a view from our balcony.  The Manta Lodge is as peaceful and cathartic as my aunt Jane and uncle Mike's cabin in Hayward.  No tv's, no phones.  Just the peaceful sounds of the water to put you at ease.  Of course Jane & Mike's has a phone and tv, but they are rarely on.  Yet I digress...So we took ourselves a nap, had dinner, and went to the Old Year's party.

Day 7 was New Year's Day.  We got up early and had a big breakfast.  Angie got a shotgun course in the pool on how to use the SCUBA equipment and I tagged along for a quick refresher.  We were geared up and ready to go.

What an experience SCUBA diving was.  At times I had a hard time keeping my breathing regulator in my mouth because I was smiling so much.  Angie felt the same way.  It was an incredible experience and a first for us.  A couple years ago, I decided that I wanted to try to do, see, or experience something brand new on New Year's Day.  This fit in perfectly with that.  SCUBA diving was so incredible, that it will get a post of it's own.  As a matter of fact, I'm going back for more diving in a week, so I'll put something up about my first few dives then.

Diving apparently burns a lot of calories and really takes a lot out of  you.  When we finished, we went back to the Manta Lodge, ate, took a nap, and immediately ate upon waking up.  We played cards with another couple there in the lodge, snacked a bit, and called it a night.

Day 8 we're heading back to Trinidad.  We got up, Angie took a dip in the pool while I read, and we headed back to Scarborough to catch the ferry.  Angie doped up a bit heavier on motion sickness pills for the ride back and slept the whole time.  I didn't sleep, but the ride was considerably smoother.  Apparently on the way back, you're moving with the waves instead of against, so it makes for a smoother ride.  We got some take away Mediterranean food and finally got back to my flat around 6:00-ish.  Promptly upon finishing dinner, we were both asleep on the couch and didn't wake up until about 9 AM the following morning.

Day 9 was a pretty low key day just hanging out at my flat.  I taught Angie canasta and she kicked my butt the first hand.  I may have found a natural here, because we both crossed 5000 at the same time, but I had about 200 points more in the end to just barely win.  After cards, we went out to a place called Bombay Duck, which was excellent Indian food.  Then we went to Aaron and Katie's house and also met up with Ryan and Meredith and traded vacation stories for a couple hours.  But we didn't stay late, as we had an early start the next morning to get Angie to the airport.

Day 10 we were up by 5:30 to get some breakfast and to get Angie to the airport in time.  It was great having her down here and it was sad to see her go.  But we both had a blast with all the stuff that we did and even though it chocked full of activities and experiences, there was also plenty of relaxation.

This is the way that vacations should be.

A Strange Morning

This morning started out like most mornings of my holiday break - waking up at 7 AM.  For some reason, I can't seem to sleep past this point in time.  Granted, while school is in session, I'm getting up every day between 5:00-5:30, so I guess in some respect, it is sleeping in.  But that is not the point of this story.

I had made plans with my friend Aaron to go find a new doubles stand that a colleague of ours claims are the best doubles in the country.  (Doubles are an incredible breakfast that are served only by street vendors and are rampant all over this country.  You usually can only get them in the morning hours and they are usually sold out by 9:30 or so.)  Anyway, Aaron had said that he would call when he got up and we would head out.  Knowing that he probably wasn't going to be up at 7 AM, I read a bit and actually fell back asleep a for a bit.

I woke again around around 8:00-ish and as I was laying in bed, I heard this really big truck drive by my apartment.  I live nearby a fairly main thoroughfare, so it's not uncommon to be awoken or to hear the traffic driving by.  But this was an usually loud truck.  

Then came this weird rumbling and my apartment started shaking a bit.  I thought there may have been an accident, but there weren't any noises of the truck hitting anything.  I ran to the windows and didn't see anything that looked like an accident.  So I thought, maybe there was an explosion.  I have no idea how the oil derricks in the ocean dig for oil and I'm very near the coast, so maybe that was it.  Or it could have been this building that is going up not too far from here (developers are taking out part of a mountain to put up these condos, so maybe they were doing some demo).  But I didn't hear any after effects or noises of the earth rolling down the mountain.

So after all this, I came to the conclusion that there was a small earthquake.  Now there was one in Indianapolis before I moved and thinking back to that, I think that's what this was.  I had no idea that earthquakes occurred down here (or in Indy for that matter), but apparently they do.  I got a call from Aaron and when he showed up, he confirmed that he felt it too (it sounded like a large truck to him also) and that they said something about it on the radio on his way over.  Now that we got that cleared up, we shrugged our shoulders in the manner of "Oh, I guess there's another thing about T&T that we didn't know about."

Ok, learning that there was no need to dwell, we moved on to our short trek to get some doubles.  The directions, which are quite common in Trinidad were as such:

"Go to Valsaynes (a town east of here) and turn left at the light by the drive in theater.  When you take a left, you're going to go up the road a bit and about 2 blocks before the stoplight, there will be a little lady with a doubles stand.  That's the one you want.  Now don't get confused with the orange pedestrian crossing lights, you want the actual stop and go lights."

Directions are given strictly by landmarks and visual clues and never by street names.  This is probably because only half the streets are labeled with street signs.  For a while, this was very confusing, because I didn't know where anything was, but now that I have a number of places committed to memory, I'm getting better at following the directions.  And surprisingly, we found this lady quite easily.

As for her doubles, I wasn't that impressed.  Aaron and I decided to do a taste test and got one doubles (always stated in the plural because you get two pieces of barra or the baked dough/bread that they put the channa or chick peas on) from the lady we were seeking out and one from a nearby competitor.  We both decided we liked the competitor a little better, but the jury is out because Aaron got the bags mixed up when we purchased them, so we aren't really sure which was which.  Either way, I still think I had better doubles at other stands, but these were still pretty good.

Now we were on our way back home - this stand we went to was about 30 minutes away.  And as we were driving down the highway (Aaron driving and me as the passenger) he blurts out "Pig".  I thought there was a cop, but the police in Trinidad don't really do much.  As I looked around, there was a huge pot-belly pig walking down the side of the highway.  Stray dogs are a frequent sight.  You might even catch some roosters and chickens here and there.  But pigs are a rarity.  Especially strays just wandering down the highway.

I can say that the rest of the day was relatively normal and lazy.  But it's not everyday that you have an earthquake, drive an hour round trip for street vendor food, and see farm animals wandering along a highway.  But that's Trinidad for you...once you think you've got it figured out, they throw something like this at you.

Darkness and Christmas

I've heard stories about the northern parts of Alaska, Canada, the U.K., where there are periods of the year when it is dark for 20+ hours a day (or something like that) and other parts of the year when it is light out for 20+ hours a day.  Apparently this can effect people adversely.  People go into long hibernating sleeps when it's continually dark and have intense bouts of insomnia when it is light out.  It's hard to get a bearing on what time of day it is when the days do not change to night or the nights do not change into days.

That's kind of how it is right now for me here in Trinidad.  I have absolutely no concept that it is almost Christmas.  Don't get me wrong, I still see advertisements on TV about the coming holiday.  The Trini's do Christmas big down here and there are decorations out.  But not having any change in the temperature has made this kind of a non-event for me. 

I know that in the states, everyone would say that I am completely nuts to say that being in the caribbean for Christmas doesn't enhance the holiday, but it's true.  I miss sitting in my house, watching the snow, illuminated by the street lights.  I miss being in a house that is dark, but only lit by the Christmas lights and maybe a fire in the fireplace.  I am anxiously awaiting the time when I can be bundled up in a sweater, and not because the AC is on at a ridiculous temperature.  The crunch of fresh snow under your feet...the feel of cold air in your nose and lungs...the joy of being in bed, bundled up under the covers...

All of these are things that we take for granted when we are immersed in them while rushing off to work or trying to get the windows of your car scrapped off or battling the drafts in our houses.  (I blame being born in a blizzard for my love of the cold and snow.)  

But this is also one of the things that I love best about traveling - that you stop taking things for granted and start appreciating what you have and what you are experiencing.  So while I still don't know if I'll truly be able to get into the Christmas spirit, I will be sure to enjoy the warm weather, the beaches, and everything else not cold.  I'll enjoy it enough for those back home cursing the cold.

Local Assistance

Normally I don't really believe in hiring people to do things that you can do yourself.  For instance, you can get a relatively cheap cleaning lady here (and many places abroad) to do your house/flat once a week or you could hire one to come every day and she will clean and cook your meals for you too.  While that would be nice, and as people say, help the local economy, it just feels a bit to bourgeois to me.  Instead I will live in filth until I find it too unbearable to handle and will then go on a two day cleaning and straightening spree (it takes me two days because I just can't clean for more than a couple hours at one time).

But recently it got to the point where I needed to call in the reinforcements.  I have a small strip in front of my house of various plants that were completely overwrought with weeds.  There was actually one weed that nearly reached the overhang above it (approximately 7 feet up).  I knew I was in deep when some pest control people came to spray for ants and they said that I should probably clean it up a bit.  I asked what was a weed, I've never been really good at identifying weeds in my native land let alone a foreign place, and they basically pointed to everything except 2-3 plants.  I kind of knew it was bad, but was just trying to play dumb foreigner.  Now that it was specifically pointed out to me, I realized that I had to do something about it.

There were a number of prickly weeds in there too that they told me to watch out for, so I figured that I would have to get some gloves.  Well, that would take at least a week of me procrastinating before I would be able to get gloves, regardless if there is actually a home improvement center a mere 5 minutes away.

I was finally getting to the point where I starting to get uncomfortable about the amount weeds when a little, old Trini man came to my door and said, "Jou need a bit of cleaning up wit d weeds here?  I work in d complex an can do it for you."  I'm trying to write phonetically so you might pick up a bit on the accent.  I said, "Umm, yeah I guess I do need to get on this.  How much would you charge?"  He said $40 (which when you convert to US, is about a little less than $7).  Being a bit of a miser about these types of things (as previously mentioned) I had to think about it for a second or two.  After thinking about weeding in approximately 90 degree temperatures, I decided that it would be $7 well spent.

In all honesty, even though I can't prove it, I think my neighbor probably said something to him to ask me because that guy is out there all the time cleaning and sweeping  his parking space, washing his car, tending to his little patch of plants, etc.  I guess when you pay as much as these folks are for the apartments, they want them to look nice.  Even though he has a tree that is planted in a cardboard box, which I never said anything about, I'll accept that my space was getting a bit out of hand.

Anyway, the little Trini gardener said that he couldn't do it that day, but would be back next time he saw my car in it's spot.  I week passed and I still didn't see the little guy.  Fortunately I didn't pay him ahead of time and I was about to actually go and buy gloves yesterday (the first day of my Christmas break) and I saw him coming into the parking lot.  I asked if he was going to be able to do my space and he said that he would do it on Sunday.  Whew!  I almost thought I was going to have to do some work there.

This morning I awoke to the pleasant hacking sounds of weeds whittled down to size by a cutlass (a machete of sorts) and the digging of pitchforks into the small swath of land I call a garden.  I feel good about helping out the local economy.  I feel even better that I didn't have to do this work in the heat.  But I feel best about being able to play up all the hard work I had to do to clean it up "from the prior tenants leaving it in such poor condition" when Angie comes down and impress her with my incredible gardening skills I inherited from my mother.  Now, if I could only prevent her from reading this for the next couple of weeks.

Busy, busy, busy

I think I can say with some fair amount of certainty, that I have never been as busy as I have since I moved down to Trinidad.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but I'm going to (hopefully) use it as a solid excuse as to why I haven't posted anything in the last month or so.  Of course, with the holidays, everyone's social calendar picks up a bit, but for me, this was a little silly.

Let's go back about 2 weeks ago, starting on Wednesday, December 3rd.  Normally Wednesday nights are "guys night" where all the guy friends who are down here who are married or living with girlfriends, ditch the girls and get together to play poker, insult each other, make bodily noises, and just do the crass things that guys do when they are together with a bunch of other guys.  This guys night was a bit different from the others because Mark, the guy who began the tradition and usually hosts, was not going to be able to make it.  To make a long story short, he asked his girlfriend to marry him.  Not something that one would typically do on a "guys night" but we all congratulated him nonetheless because Rebekah is an awesome girl.  So to celebrate, we all got messages to come meet them at this wine bar and have cocktails.

Then on Thursday, there is a standing Ultimate Frisbee game, which has become one of my new obsessions.  I love it!  It's kind of a cross between soccer and la crosse.  You try to get into an end zone to score, but you can't move once you catch the frisbee.  Lots of running and trying to get good field position.  But I'll go more into that some other time.  We (well they) tend to top off the game by sitting in the savannah where we play and drink beers.  I of course indulge in water.

Friday was our ISPS staff party.  Normally, employer sponsored staff parties are a little stiff.  But this was off the hook.  Everybody, and I mean everybody - myself included, were dancing and having a blast.  At times, it was a bit uncomfortable, as the local dance (called wining) is...ummm...basically rubbing and grinding on your partner, or whomever is nearby.  Definitely a bit of a culture shock, but when you see people of all shapes and sizes doing it, you see principals and counselors and teachers all doing it to each other, you realize that it is just a dance and that there is nothing implied by it.  An odd concept to get past, but it loosens everyone up because everyone's guards are let down, everyone is invading everyone's space, and you just have a good time.

Saturday rolls around and there is another game of Ultimate Frisbee planned, which is promptly followed by a going away/engagement/birthday party at my neighbors flat.  Going away for a student teacher at ISPS who is heading back to the states.  Engagement for Mark and Rebekah and birthday for me.

Sunday was kind of a lazy day until about 5:30 when I went over to Katie and Aaron's place and met up with Meredith (Ryan was ill) and had a mini barbecue and played a game of Monopoly for my actual birthday.

Monday I got the day off.

Tuesday was the high school staff party.  We went to this place called Sails, which is on a small wharf overlooking the ocean, some of the smaller islands, and as I've found every day in Trinidad, a beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, we were back to guys night.  This one was hosted by me and only went until about 11:00 or so.  But I couldn't fall asleep until about 12:30.  Which kind of sucks because I usually get up between 5:00-5:30 to start getting ready for school.

Thursday was supposed to be another game of Ultimate Frisbee, but I just couldn't go.  I tutored some kids after school and that took me up almost to the point where I had to leave for Ultimate.  Granted since I was constantly moving, I probably could have made it, but I was just too tired.  So I took a nap instead.  I felt bad for letting my fellow Ultimate players down, because sometimes it's hard to get enough people for a good game, but it just wasn't in me.

Then came Friday, which was our last day of school before break.  Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you want to look at it), it was also the day that I had to go to Immigration to get my multiple entry/exit visa so I could leave the country without having to pay every time.  So I missed a day that would have been pretty low key and filled with parties and good times in my classroom, but I also got the day off of work.  And considering it only took the 4 of us who went 2 hours at the Immigration office, it pretty much was a full day off.

Saturday (yesterday) we had another Hash.  They come around every other week and I am really loving these things.  It's fun to run through the rain forests and rivers and mud and all of that.  It let's you act like a kid, but as an adult.  And it's good exercise too.  I was also invited to go to a party at the Marine's House, which is where all the Marines who guard the embassy live.  But I was kind of burnt from the week and decided not to go.

That brings us to today, which will be filled with a pool party at a friend's place followed by a spaghetti dinner at the parent's of a student's house.  They are also the ones who held the 'misfit' Thanksgiving for all the ex-pats who didn't have someplace to go to celebrate.

I think that takes care of most of my scheduled plans now until Angie gets here on Christmas.  I'm looking forward to just hanging out around the apartment and just relaxing and enjoying my time off.

So was all that a good excuse why I haven't posted in a while?