Shake, Rattle, & Roll

Yesterday, Oriana and I were both trained in various administrivia-related tasks. So, I was on database duty for the morning, and Oriana took her turn in the afternoon. I worked on some other projects that were more interesting.

As the work day came to a close, we made dinner plans with Franklin and Jessica. We walked down to the neighboring town of Ciudad Vieja to pay a visit to what I would call a street barbeque vendor. I asked for chicken and cheese on tortillas. That was served on a little plate that then gets piled high with beans, guacamole, salad, and salsa with another tortilla on top to make sure nothing falls off. So this outdoor establishment has plastic stools for its customers and we sat down and ate. Except I didn't sit down. There were neighborhood dogs everywhere eyeing us for a piece of meat. I stood and ate for a while, but when our drinks came (yummy hot chocolate) I drank and held my plate up. Eventually, I drained my cup and asked the vendor for a bag--and I finished my grub when we got back to the house.

Once back at the house, our clan played Spades. For someone who didn't know how to play two days ago, I'm doing pretty well--only misplaying twice. My partner (Jessica) and I won both rounds. Oriana and Franklin are sore losers. They will likely get their tooshies whooped again tonight.

The most exciting part of the night was not the Spades game. It rains pretty hard at night--so much so that we have to yell to hear each other over the noise (rain on tin roof, remember!). And last night was no different, except that in the middle of our second round the floor started to shake. Much to my surprise, I sat through a 4.7 on the Richter scale earthquake. It was a bit scary, but not as bad as I would have thought. Franklin told us that had their been less fog, we could have seen the volcano erupting a little.

So, we finished our Spades game and Oriana and I were goofing around before going to sleep when the rain and thunder subsided a bit, and then the power went out. The best part was that I have (in my Brooklyn apartment) about 14 flashlights. I didn't bring any with me--I didn't think I would need one. So, we fumbled around in the dark for a while and finally found a crank flashlight. We then proceeded to search for a second flashlight because the before bed bathroom operation would be far more difficult without light.

So, just as we were about to panic (okay, not really, but we were anxious), Franklin and Jessica came out to tell us that the electricity was back on. We just had to turn things on.

Oriana and I then got ready for bed and took turns killing annoying moths. The thunder and rain got progressively louder and so we read for a while before eventually crashing for the night.

Today, like the other mornings so far, Oriana and I get up around 8 AM, shower, get dressed, make coffee, and run across to the bakery for pan dulce (sweet breads). Then Laura shows up around 9 AM--and that's our cue that it's time to start working.

So, I was on database duty most of the morning--not the most exciting, but crucial for As Green As It Gets. Oriana got to work with Francisco, AGAIG's jade artist, to build a saw. At lunchtime, I asked folks to pick up a sandwich for me. We've been eating the same sandwich all week. It's pretty good. But, they got to the sandwich lady too late, and I got a bean and cheese sandwich with ketchup...not quite what I wanted. The ketchup was definitely not good with beans and cheese.

After lunch, we went over to our new apartment to see if we could move in tonight. So, surprise surprise, our apartment is not quite ready. The previous tenants (and our landlords) were fixing the electrical wiring, painting, and cleaning out their belongings when we showed up to see if we could move in tonight. It did look much better than it did when we saw it. According to my sources here, it's pretty normal for things to take longer than expected. So, we'll be at Franklin and Jessica's for another glorious night.

Until next time!