Time Filling

Wednesday April 14th 2010 10:00am

I have been very counsious about not having written for the last few days. I did this on purpose. Knowing that I don't have much work to do at the office, I tried to save up some of the weekend events to write about, but yesterday I had to go home from the office early, and didn't get a chance to write everything down. What? Why did I go home early? Did something happen? Stay tuned...you'll see.

Sunday
Hortencia, Betza's sister had called me Sunday morning to invite me over to their house (in the city this time) for a birthday party for their niece who was turning one. I was excited to get out of the house, and around 1:30, I drove over in the green truck that the office had lent me.

I had just gotten on the main road to take me to Betza's apartment, when all of the cars ahead of me started slowing down. As I crept closer, I could see people in the street. About 100 or so young men between 16 and 20 or so were in the street banging on cars. I saw some cars give money to the boys and then drive off. Some cars were being pounded on and shaken. I rolled my window up as I got closer, got a little bit of money out just in case, and prepped for the worst.

When they started coming towards my car, they had dispersed somewhat, and I was able to drive through them and on down the road away from the crowd.

I got to Betza's around 2:00, and was welcomed in to see most of the family that I had met when I accidentally went to the country back in November. Edgardo was there too, and I spent a while talking with him and with the pastor from their church.

A little while later, the festivities started including a pinata for the one year old, a lot of songs, and a lot of prayers from the pastor and various members of the family. After the pinata finally broke, each one of Betza's siblings took a turn introducing me to their female co workers. It was like some sort of weird dating show. I felt very awkward as I was shuffled around from room to room, and just when I felt comfortable enough to actually engage in a conversation with someone, another sibling would usher me off to meeet their co workers.

I left around 5:00 after some picture taking, and many thanks to my hosts for the invitation, the food, and the incredibly forceful meetings of their friends.

The hot dogs for dinner that I made were exquisite, and later that night, Brian and Ellen were online, and we ended up playing our game of RISK for a while. It was fun to be able to connect with them that way.

I had thought about writing about this earlier, and was bouncing around different title ideas in my head. I almost went with "A Grand Day Out." Then I was pretty sure I was going to call it, "A Close Shave." For whatever reason, all I could come up with were Wallace and Gromit titles.

Monday
I slept in late. Really late. I slept until about noon, which for me is very very late in the day. I got up and ate some breakfast, and then played EXILE for a while in the afternoon. I am zooming through these puzzles, not to my surprise.

The sun was out, and I decided to go for a walk up to Plaza. I got a couple of snacks and some Pepsi before heading back to my apartment, where I sat out on the balcony and read for a couple of hours while enjoying my snacks.

When I finished reading it was getting dark, so I headed back inside and watched some television for a while as I made dinner. I played some more RISK and EXILE and read a little bit more before going to bed. It was a very relaxing day.

Tuesday
I returned to the office and got straight to work doing nothing. I asked if anyone needed help with anything, and was offered to help with a translation of half a page. It took me all of ten minutes. I spent some time emailing some people, and figuring out some plans for this summer and for next fall.

My allergies started to bother me, and when I rubbed my eyes, I accidentally rubbed my contact out of position. When I tried to correct it, I think I may have torn it. It was really irritating me all throughout lunch. I couldn't really see out of that eye, and I didn't have my glasses with me, so I didn't want to take out my contacts. I finally did, but my eye was still really irritating me. I wanted to get some drops for it, and Marisela recommended that I just go back to my apartment for the day.

She also recommended that I drive back, but when I stated my reservations about that plan, she changed her idea to have Edgardo drive me back to my apartment. I got back in around 3:00, took some eyedrops, and laid down for a while.

When I got up, I went down to Plaza to buy some stuff to make dinner with, got lazy and bought a frozen pizza. The sky was dark with heavy rain clouds which unleashed as soon as I got back to my apartment. The rain beat mercilessly on the metal roof and noisily kept me agitated throughout the evening.

I read for a while, watched some television, and checked some email as I waited for the rain to stop. When it abated for a little, I tried to sleep, but it soon came roaring back. I kept alternating between reading and watching TV until my eyes could no longer stay open, and I finally fell asleep.