Sunday, December 21, 2008

Saturday's Adventure

Getting off station isn't something I get to do too often, as I am not allowed to go by myself. So I thought that going for a hike would be a good idea. I talked to Lawrence and Kim Lee (FP resident and his wife) to see if they wanted to go and then talked to Bill, our tour guide. Due to events of the week, Bill wasn't able to be gone for a long time, so we did a modified hike and a trip to Suicide Rocks, works for me. I wish we had a pool here to go swimming more regularly, but we don't, so a trip to Suicide Rocks is always fun. Bill and I successfully completed the first Synchronized Jumping at Suicide Rocks. We weren't quite up to Olympic quality, our splash was a bit large, but it was fun. Kim decided she wanted to jump in, but Lawrence passed.
Lawrence asked me at one point as we were walking by some houses, people actually live in these houses? Yes, yes they do. Compared to what we are use to, the houses that they live in are quite simple. They are made of bush material - grass, wood, bamboo and other things that are woven together in ways so that it all stays. The whole house is usually about the size of a room in an American house - or smaller, with a cook house close by. As we were walking we saw people doing their daily activities - kids fishing, women working in the garden, women washing clothes and kaukau in the water, kids washing and playing in the water.
Once we got back from our short journey, I set out to work in the garden, which I have really come to enjoy. A few weeks ago, I managed to lose a piece for the weedeater, so we have lots of weeds growing all around. I took the lawnmower to the garden and got everything I could, but it isn't the same as the weedeater. We have some very large watermelon growing, which we are hoping to enjoy on Christmas. We also have lots of cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, and recently some green peppers. I have sure enjoyed being able to go outside and pick and eat vegetables without having to go to the store for them.
After gardening, I joined Becky, Lawrence, and Kim for dinner, discussion of our Christmas Party entertainment, and a game of Cities and Knights (Settlers). We had a good time and enjoyed the company of one another. Becky was on call and got called away, but she still managed to win, as we kept playing for her.