Another good day in Nic.
Mary and I stayed at the house today and worked.
This morning we had breakfast (oatmeal and peanutbutter toast for me; coffee and crunchy cheetos for Mary) and then Mary did some laundry. Then we both hit the books for Spanish studies. Mid-morning, we got together in front of the computer for some online classes for Mary. She's enjoying the website. She is doing really well. We reviewed some grammar and then jumped into verbs. We worked on it together until lunchtime. I had some pasta and chocolate chip cookies. Mary had ramen noodles and a sandwich made from the rest of her restaurant chicken from yesterday. We are such gourmets!
After lunch, I worked on packing up the rest of the gift bags for the ladies at the Concrete Pit. Then we got some gift bags ready for some special friends here in Nic. We are all ready to play Santa next week. And we have stuff ready for the team to use when they arrive in a week and a half.
We grazed a little more for dinner and then hit the Spanish books again. We knew it was getting time to rest our brains when Mary was looking up a Spanish word and couldn't find it in her Spanish-English dictionary. Then we realized that she was looking in the English portion. As Oliver used to ask me when I had thought too long about Spanish "is it beating your brains out?", I asked Mary the same thing. We have had some good laughs while studying.
I have a terrible toothache (which has been bothering me off and on for a few months) and had to come upstairs to doctor it and stretch out on the bed. Luckily, this is my favorite position for working on the computer! :0
I've been trying to follow news on the CNN website and others, but I get bored with it sometimes. It sounds like there are some pretty bad winter storms in the US. I won't worry too much about it until we fly back on Jan 4. Hopefully, it will just be cold then.
Everyone I'm tracking with health problems seem to be holding their own. I know I've mentioned this many times, but I'm so glad to be able to follow their progress on the computer.
We didn't walk on the beach today, but I remembered that we ran into Wilbur yesterday. He's the resident salesman of all things souvenir and overpriced. He is quite the businessman when we have teams here. The only people on the beach these past weeks has been locals who have come on holidays, and a few tourists. Wilbur saw Mary and I walking down on the south end of the beach and rode his bicycle over to say hello. He shook my hand and I asked him in English "how's business?". He slowly shook his head and responded in Spanish "mal", meaning bad. I guess he has hit a recession in his shell necklace retail business. We'll see him around when the next team comes, I'm sure.
Sometimes, Mary puts crumbs from bread or chips on the courtyard downstairs. There is a colony of ants who live under a plant by the wall near the clothesline. We have watched them carry pieces of food anywhere from the size of a small pencil eraser to as big as a (almost whole) pringle chip. She was taking clothes off the line and yelled for me to look. I looked over the balcony from upstairs and I could actually see about 8 pieces of chips of various sizes (dime size, 3/4 of a chip, quarter size, etc) all marching across the courtyard to their little hole near the plant. It sometimes looks like a tiny parade.
The teeny ants are the hardest workers. The bigger ants try to take the crumbs away from them. We are rooting for the teeny ants. Once a team got the large chip to the plant, they seemed to have trouble getting it up the little ant hill. Mary pushed on the chip with her finger to break it into more manageable pieces. Before long, they had all the pieces down the whole. I suggested that she share her Pespi with them so they could have a party, but Mary doesn't share those Pepsis with anyone. :) She did help the teeny ants by flicking away some of the big ants.
Now, ants who dare to cross the threshold of our kitchen are another story. I often hear Mary in the kitchen spraying ant killer and calling out "die you dirty bugger".
This whole scenario reminds me of how we as a society sometimes treat each other. We'll help you along only if you stay within the boundaries that we have set for you. But what gives us the right to set those boundaries? And how are we to know the difference if the 'rules' are arbitrary? Who gets to make the rules? God said to love Him with all our heart, mind and soul. And to love each other as ourselves. Good standards, for sure.
But, I don't want ants in my food either, so I'll let Mary keep attacking them if they don't follow our boundaries. :)
Deanna made it home from her 2 weeks with Jake and Elaine in Las Vegas and San Francisco. I can't wait to hear all about it. I'm glad she is home and can relax and enjoy the animals. I think Kennon (the grandson who house-sat) spoiled the pets just enough. I know Deanna will enjoy getting back into her routine and catching up with her friends and family. I miss her.
We are getting up early to take the bus into town again tomorrow. German offers to drive us in the van, but we enjoy the adventure of the bus. I told him not to worry, if we need him, even if it's just to tell somewhere where we want to go, we'll call. Who knows what kind of trouble we might get into!
Time to doctor my tooth a little more and go to sleep early. I am blessed.
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