Bugs, Strides and Common Ground

Bug update: It took me a few days to de-bug my quarters, thanks to a bottle of Raid I smuggled in. It also took this many days to convince the plantel grounds keeper that having a bee hive outside my door was really not my idea of neighbors and I wouldn’t be lonely if suddenly they went away. This year I have added one more level of protection above and beyond my mosquito net, I have hung all my bags to avoid as much as possible bringing home more friends with me than what I left with. I do not wish to have a repeat of that event. More on that at a later date.

I had a successful day today. I was able to connect to the University by satalite and actually arrange for a mental health consult for one of the children terrorized by the bus shooting. I can honestly say I never had to council a child who witnessed her friend being shot in the face. I felt professionally crippled. What do you say……..I can’t imagine what the men and women in Iraq are going through daily. We have tragedy in the US that mentally traumatizes but it is not the usual and it is likely that a person will never have to live experience again……I can not promise her that, I can’t promise her safety. I decided that as with any traumatic experience for children it is important to let her talk about it as much as she needs to, giving her permission to experience all of her emotions rather than attempting to make her move on and bury those thoughts. We are going to have a group meeting for those involved and others who want to attend because they are experiencing fears. We’ll see, I would still like some professional advice.

Yestarday the guardsman caught two men trying to steal trees from the far corner. This is a beautiful plantation and some of the trees are very old making them worth quite a bit of money. They were able to cut down 3 pine trees before they were caught. One man they actually arrested the other escaped but everyone in town knows who he is so it is just a matter of time before he gets snagged. I don’t know what they were thinking. It is pretty difficult to hide a three story tree crashing to the ground mid day! The other two they had taken in the night and they were much smaller.

A note on road construction……they started working on the road that passes by the plantel ( a dirt road) last year when I was here, they put up a sign this week anouncing it would be only 8 more months to completly pave a 1.5 mile stretch. Not so different from Rochester.

And so I complete the day with chocolate cake that was made to celebrate Jen’s daughter coming home from college, three cultures, two radically different lifestyles, one common ground……chocolate!