worldly belongings

my ship has finally come in! quite literally.

all 341 kg of my worldly possessions are in boxes at my doorstep. despite putting the value of these things at $250 on the forms i had to pay the Customs Man close to $400 for the privilege. sucks, but i've been living out of a suitcase since may 29.

i have a serious Greys Anatomy addiction of late. you can buy series of DVDs here for very cheap, so instead of watching them one episode per week like a sane person, expats find themselves watching 5 straight hours of one show or another.

mosquitoes continue to be a big problem at my house. i kill about 5-10 every night, and that is with screens. something about the stagnant canal in the backyard...they started fogging here yesterday (at school) while the kids were out at recess. i had a sore throat all night from breathing it in. disgusting, but you have to make the choice-- deadly chemical or deadly disease? malaria mossies at night, dengue mossies during the day. there's just no escape. they have tennis rackets with an electrical charge that make a zap and buzz when it kills the mosquitoes. quite fun, but not at 3 am.


my co-worker greg is a compulsive photo-taker, and i've stolen these from his personal site.


we share the job of special ed teacher here at school-- here we are in front of our office. before here, greg taught in kuwait with my friend annie (who i taught with in ecuador).

this is a photo of the front of my house-- i've got a big wooden balcony on the top that you can't see-- also lots of plants in the front.



the first few days were orientation for new staff. before i had the house i was in a hotel and couldn't leave little percy locked in a room all day, so i brought him along to the meetings at school.




setting up house is a trip-- not like you can just head to IKEA and get what you need...a few of us rented a tuk-tuk and headed to the wicker market to haggle for some furniture.



i am one of the few folks here who have an oven! most homes just come with a stovetop. it wasn't until after i moved in did i notice it came with two settings--- hot, and hotter. its quite funny because there are two "icons" to choose from, a big flame and a small flame. so i won't be baking anything complicated.


looking forward to unpacking boxes this weekend-- i have a worker coming on sunday to drill holes in the walls (they are cement so you need a special drill) to put up my artwork. little by little it feels like home.