For the second strait day in a row I woke up at exactly 7:08 in the morning without anybody waking me or any alarm going off. I had managed to get a few hours of sleep between the screeching horse and the snoring uncle. I went through my normal morning routine of blogging, checking my E-mail and checking the weather. The sun was once again shining, and Chiquinho had called to see if I still planned on going to the beach. I had planned on going to the beach in the morning and then heading to the Planalto in the afternoon.
He got to the house a little before 9:00, and then William, Chiquinho and I waked the mile to the beach. Once we got there he led us down to where you can sit on beach chairs for free rather than paying for them. After leaving our belongings under the safe watchful eye of a coconut water vendor we went into the water and walked waist deep about a half mile down the beach in the direction in which we had just came. Once we reached some waves that were sizable enough for our liking, we spent an hour or so body surfing and jumping the waves. Some of them got to be around 6-8 foot swells that William rode like a pro. After swallowing enough salt water to kill our taste buds for life, we got out and headed down to where our stuff had been resting.
After giving the coconut vendor a generous tip of 1 Raies or .50 cents US, which he could have multiplied by 50 plus a digital camera had he chosen to move his cart to a new location, we collected our items and began the long walk home. The water level in the pool was now down to about two feet, and I decided that I was going to take it upon myself to find and fix the problem since our winner of a landlord was nowhere to be found. I tested and retested the settings on the filter system until I found out why the water was slowly leaking, and then began the process of refilling it.
Uncle Mark had spent the morning working on the drawings for the work he was planning on doing for the hall, and after lunch he needed to go make some copies to show to Luis and the other people at the hall. Chiquinho also said he knew of where to get baseball equipment and Caroline needed to get some supplies for the English class that she would be teaching to some of the girls in the meeting her age. Chiquinho, Mark, Caroline, William and I piled into our boat of a car, a VW Gol, and headed to the shopping center. After we tried two sports stores, we learned that there is no Baseball equipment in all of Natal, and the copy center at that one mall would not enlarge a drawing. We tried another place for copies with no luck. Our third try was able to make the copies, but they ran out of paper. After all this we had no equipment and only half of the copies were the correct size.
Caroline had purchased her supplies, but by this point it was almost 4:30. Chiquinho said he wanted to come back to our house, so we brought him back where we swam and then played some games. I was exhausted at this point. A day of sun and walking around on less than 2 hours of sleep has a tendency of doing that to a person. I thought Shikinjo would have went with Uncle Mark back to the Planalto when he went to drop off Inacia, a woman from the hall who was serving as our housekeeper, but he stayed. It was very clear that he didn't want to go home, seeing as there is nothing to do in the Planalto at night. Luis and Lillia came over for their Bible reading with Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori, and Chiquinho was planning on going home with them.
Three hours went by. My mind was fried and I had a killer headache. I could only imagine that Chiquinho had a headache as well from having to listen to me speak an English-Portuguese mix all day. I was exhausted, and I was still planning on talking to my dad that night after everyone left. At about 10:45 Lillia, Luis and Chiquinho left for the night and I managed to contact my family for the first time in almost a week. This had been probably the longest and hardest day for me since I had arrived. Entertaining someone who doesn't speak your language for 15 hours is enough to drive one to a mental state where a migraine would be considered a vacation.
William had fallen asleep on my bed, and I decided it would be worth the effort of waking him up to not have to sleep on the wooden plank that he calls a bed. I spent almost 10 minutes trying to wake him up, but once we were situated in our own spaces it was not long before I was asleep. It was pouring outside, and the only good thing about torrential rains in Natal is that they keep the crazy horses away from our house...
He got to the house a little before 9:00, and then William, Chiquinho and I waked the mile to the beach. Once we got there he led us down to where you can sit on beach chairs for free rather than paying for them. After leaving our belongings under the safe watchful eye of a coconut water vendor we went into the water and walked waist deep about a half mile down the beach in the direction in which we had just came. Once we reached some waves that were sizable enough for our liking, we spent an hour or so body surfing and jumping the waves. Some of them got to be around 6-8 foot swells that William rode like a pro. After swallowing enough salt water to kill our taste buds for life, we got out and headed down to where our stuff had been resting.
After giving the coconut vendor a generous tip of 1 Raies or .50 cents US, which he could have multiplied by 50 plus a digital camera had he chosen to move his cart to a new location, we collected our items and began the long walk home. The water level in the pool was now down to about two feet, and I decided that I was going to take it upon myself to find and fix the problem since our winner of a landlord was nowhere to be found. I tested and retested the settings on the filter system until I found out why the water was slowly leaking, and then began the process of refilling it.
Uncle Mark had spent the morning working on the drawings for the work he was planning on doing for the hall, and after lunch he needed to go make some copies to show to Luis and the other people at the hall. Chiquinho also said he knew of where to get baseball equipment and Caroline needed to get some supplies for the English class that she would be teaching to some of the girls in the meeting her age. Chiquinho, Mark, Caroline, William and I piled into our boat of a car, a VW Gol, and headed to the shopping center. After we tried two sports stores, we learned that there is no Baseball equipment in all of Natal, and the copy center at that one mall would not enlarge a drawing. We tried another place for copies with no luck. Our third try was able to make the copies, but they ran out of paper. After all this we had no equipment and only half of the copies were the correct size.
Caroline had purchased her supplies, but by this point it was almost 4:30. Chiquinho said he wanted to come back to our house, so we brought him back where we swam and then played some games. I was exhausted at this point. A day of sun and walking around on less than 2 hours of sleep has a tendency of doing that to a person. I thought Shikinjo would have went with Uncle Mark back to the Planalto when he went to drop off Inacia, a woman from the hall who was serving as our housekeeper, but he stayed. It was very clear that he didn't want to go home, seeing as there is nothing to do in the Planalto at night. Luis and Lillia came over for their Bible reading with Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori, and Chiquinho was planning on going home with them.
Three hours went by. My mind was fried and I had a killer headache. I could only imagine that Chiquinho had a headache as well from having to listen to me speak an English-Portuguese mix all day. I was exhausted, and I was still planning on talking to my dad that night after everyone left. At about 10:45 Lillia, Luis and Chiquinho left for the night and I managed to contact my family for the first time in almost a week. This had been probably the longest and hardest day for me since I had arrived. Entertaining someone who doesn't speak your language for 15 hours is enough to drive one to a mental state where a migraine would be considered a vacation.
William had fallen asleep on my bed, and I decided it would be worth the effort of waking him up to not have to sleep on the wooden plank that he calls a bed. I spent almost 10 minutes trying to wake him up, but once we were situated in our own spaces it was not long before I was asleep. It was pouring outside, and the only good thing about torrential rains in Natal is that they keep the crazy horses away from our house...
Monkey in the Coconut Tree First Thing in the Morning
When You See a Rainbow, Remember God Loves You...
Back Seat Photography
William and Caroline After Shopping
Los Loco Americanos
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