Nov 30: Baseball Day

I was disappointed to wake up feeling no better or no worse than the night before. The loud volume, and slightly achy muscles had given me a poor nights rest (Nicole as well) and I was still exhausted. And then, mid morning, the baseball tournament started.I wish I had had the mind at the time to take a picture, although perhaps I will next time. As part of the tournament they drove up to the field behind our house in a small red pickup truck with two large speakers that filled the box, a portable generator, and let the music loose. The speakers were pointed at home plate, for which we were just on the other side. The good news is that we didn’t hear the generator! Needless to say we had no trouble hearing the music. In fact, it really blew my mind. I know I told you before that it was loud in the barrio, but this was silly. I found myself laughing out loud at the outlandishness of the entire situation. We would literally have to shout at each other to talk if we weren’t standing nearby. This didn’t deter the mobile street vendors who seemed to be able to find a couple extra notches of volume to be sure they were heard. Then the crowds came, the shouting began, and my chances of getting better went downhill. Firecrackers were a regular occurrence throughout the day and their usage accelerated towards evening. I can assure you that it is not possible to sleep through a round of firecrackers set off near ones bedroom window.

It was actually a very difficult day. My muscles were aching, but I couldn’t get comfortable on the bed. I’d try to walk, but this would upset my digestive system. I would try to clear out my system and this would give me chills and hot spells. At times my body felt like it just didn’t know what to do. I did start to get a little more energy by the aftenoon and was actually able to get out and watch the game from the front row seats on our balcony for a bit. By dinner my neck was hurting like a splitting headache does, and I had to try to get to sleep. But sleep did not come easy. Mentally I was beat up, physically I was exhausted, and it didn’t seem that there was an end in sight to the noise. I began to wonder if I could ever get better in this situation, but ultimately I did fall to sleep.

To top it off, two of our best friends were getting baptized today back in Calgary and the Internet connection wouldn’t co-operate enough for us to watch.

The kids on the other hand had a great day. A little girl from the neighborhood dropped by and played with them most of the afternoon. They loved hosting her, and we think that being in the comfort of their new home gave them the confidence for interacting with the locals. The girl was very generous, helping Nicole with the housework and showing her (by doing it) how to mop the floor.