Bet Mechan

By the pool again. It’s beginning to feel normal. The fabulosity is wearing off. Being by the pool overlooking the sea is now merely great.

Miles Davis, Bitches Brew flowing from the laptop in front of me. Bugs are ringing in the trees. And chirping, too.

I sleep under a mosquito net, but it does not reach the floor. It’s like a mosquito jellyfish. I have strange dreams every night. Tropical places will mess with your sleep. I don’t love that, but I love how tropical places mess with your dreams.

Last night I woke up at four AM and the rain had stopped. I stepped out onto the patio and the milky way was high in the sky and dusty.

It feels to me as if each day is warmer than the last, by one degree. One degree C. There are two air conditioners in the conference room where we have our classes. I turn off one, and set the other for 28 degrees. Work is satisfying and tiring in a good way. The fact that my students here at ACDI/VOCA are so good makes it possible to teach so many consecutive hours. They are motivated to help their Haitian charges, and I’m motivated to help them help them.

Today I reached into my bag, and something grabbed my finger. It felt like a bug. It was a centipede. I got out of the car, and with the help of my driver and a nearby security guard, we emptied my bag and got the poor fellow out of there. I feel bad, because as it was scurrying around on the sidewalk, it headed back for my bag, and I scraped it away with the side of my shoe and wounded it, probably fatally. I brought it home in a jar and now it is slowly dying under the lid of a pyrex baking dish.

I want to write more, but I also want to read more. This weekend I’ll so a good deal of both. Maybe post a video or two.

TTFN