Chicken Lizards

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There was no plan again today, so I just woke up when I felt like it.

Mary, who is hosting us, told us that she’d like to have her old chicken coop repaired so she can put chickens back in it. My first order of business was to check it out and see what it would require. Apparently, the lizards get in and eat the eggs and the cows scratch themselves against it and pull the boards off. Much of the chicken wire is shot or missing as well. After acquiring some tools, I went to work. I was excited to have something to do as long as I wanted and to be alone in it. It’s become “my” project, so I can really throw myself into it.

There’s a few feet at the bottom of one of the sides that’s missing all the boards. I scavenged for boards that would fit and do the job. George gave me 4 items: a hammer, a mallet, a tape measure, and a box of concrete nails. Between the two hammers, I can usually get it done. The concrete nails aren’t great to work with and aren’t super sharp. That, combined with the fact that the wood is amazingly hard makes my job a little more difficult. I sent nails flying all morning, and one even hit me square between the eyes. I tried getting one nail in for almost an hour, and then gave up to go have lunch.

Lizards are everywhere! There are some on the walls of our room and building. The big ones live in the woodpiles, as I found out today. Some are a foot long, and several inches tall. I even saw a red one today- as opposed to the black and green ones everywhere else. Some of the little ones are so small that you can’t see them; when they move so fast it just looks like shadows moving across the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, it looks like the ground is moving! My mom would be freaking out! But it would be cool to bring a pet back for Tato, only my dad warned me about trying to bring animals back through customs.

I also saw an impressively big spider in the chicken coop today.

The sun here seems more intense than anywhere else I’ve been. Yesterday, it was cloudy all day, but I tanned amazingly fast- there’s even a line where my bracelet was for a few hours! My feet look like someone used a bleach pen on them and took out color, rather than adding it. The sun was out in full-force today, with not a cloud in the sky. I was sweating like crazy while working on the coop. Between the sweat, the heat and the humidity, my curls are out of control!

Sarah was totally in her element today! She went to the school early this morning and was teaching there. I guess she taught some English, a bit of history, and when I got there, they were making paper cranes. It was fun to see her like that again. The kids seem to enjoy it too. It was Tim’s class, so I visited for a while, and then drew a poor map of the US on the blackboard to explain that New York was in America. I also got to eat lunch with them, which was fun.

I kinda like this schedule of work a few hours in the morning and then have the afternoon off for whatever.

After some time off, we went to the school for devotions. We did our skit again, and had a good time singing with the kids. Most of the Canadians went swimming in the dead time as well.

Chilling at the internet café tonight while others do grocery shopping.

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