18 January Post

Well we did get dinner last night. It was chicken and chips, as requested, and wasn’t bad. We ended up switching from the outside rooms to the inside rooms in the hotel. Somehow the ones that were “booked” earlier were still empty, so they let us switch. Since there were no more mosquito nets, my friend’s window wouldn’t close, and my door wouldn’t lock, we decided it was better to be inside. I have to share a bathroom across the hall, but there is no one in the room I would share with, so that’s OK. I also have to share my room with Big Bertha. That’s the really large spider that lives in the closet. It’s too high for me to reach it to kill it, so we will co-exist peacefully. I’ve closed the closet door. She can have that room, and I’ll take the part with the bed.

One of our travelling group brought some movies, so we thought we’d gather around one of the computers last night to watch a movie. Sounded like a good idea, but out of three laptops, we couldn’t make one of them play the movie. One didn’t have a DVD player, one player wouldn’t work, and third one could play the movie, but something is wrong with the volume controls, so we couldn’t hear it. Talk about sad! So at 8:30, we all decided to give it up!

One good thing about the room, is that it has an air conditioner, sort of. It has a unit on the ceiling that blows cold air now and then. The temperature here has been relatively cool (mid to high 80’s), so it’s just enough.

Today we spent part of the day in the office learning about processes and procedures. Then we visited a couple of secondary schools and a skills training center. The first two schools were huge. One had 1700 students, the other 1200 students. The physical area doesn’t look that large, but somehow all the students fit!
Tomorrow we will be out in the community again learning about what they do for income, how they live, and about their families. Then off for another 2 – 3 hour drive to the next community area. Tonight at the hotel is looking up! There is at least one TV channel, I have a working light in my room. Big Bertha (the spider) seems to have moved on (perhaps I should be worried about that part….), and we are supposed to have rice for dinner instead of fries. It just doesn’t get better than that!