With not starting teaching, no TV, Internet, gym, or family, we fill the days by amplifying small dramas and setting ourselves challenges. 99% of the classrooms here use chalkboards. Sue happens to teach in one that has a whiteboard and was running out of markers. Our quest for the day: find her some new markers. We went to at least six different vendors, who stared at us blankly - but finally, after walking miles in the blazing heat, we hit pay-dirt at a Lebanese supermarket. There is a big Lebanese population here, very successful. The supermarket also had ICECREAM bars covered in white chocolate. I died and went to heaven after not eating sweets for a week.
Second challenge of the day was to find peanuts - Ide is unnaturally fixated on them. We had to hit just as many stores to find them, until we realized we had had a communication breakdown with Ishmael who was under the impression we were looking for peanut butter. Success on that front too - a huge bag of peanuts from a street vendor for just $1.50.
As if that wasn't enough excitement for the day we returned to find Haja had stranded her car in a huge pool of mud. Ide was at home and heard some screaming and yelling, so he went outside to investigate. Of course, it was Haja making all the noise, and she wanted Ide to use the SUV to tow her out. Ide gets stuck in the mud too but she tells him she doesn't need him anymore because some men have come to help her. Ide turns to see a bunch of guys bouncing her car, and next thing he knows it comes roaring out of the mud full speed in reverse, flies into the air, and lands BAMM on top of a two foot barrier, right on the axle. Haja gets covered in mud and goes bananas and starts arguing wih everyone (no one seems particularly concerned that little Jackie's been sitting in the car the entire time). They tell her okay, okay, nothing's damaged, and that they will just pick the backside of the car up. They get it up and start moving it to the side, but half the guys lose their footing and drop it again, which puts another huge dent in the axle. They pick it up again, Haja is screeching like a police siren, the wheel clears the barrier, and instead of lowering it down they drop it the full two feet. By now the car is so messed up it can't drive straight, and needs some major repair work. It wasn't Haja's day, as she had also had to take Jackie to the hospital for some expensive blood tests.
Challenge for tomorrow: find Sue some Earl Gray tea.
