Boa Noite!
Well this week has been a roller coaster of activity. We started out with a real bang on Saturday when we returned home, from a baptism, to our apartment. We found the outside door that leads to our stairwell didn’t open with the key. I went next door and got the owner and he tried for a few minutes with the key, no luck. He then decided that he could get into our apartment from the common airway. The three apartments, each on separate floors, share an air well that is about 8’X8’ with each apartment having a cat walk. There is a padded locked grate between us and the apartment below. So if he could unlock the pad lock, he could then come thru the back door into our apartment. Unfortunately none of his keys worked so he employed the family down stairs to break off the lock. The teen age son worked on it for awhile and was able to break the pad lock. We always lock the back door, so he began banging on the door and the lock there. All the while we are trying to convince them to stop and just go back and break thru the entry door, so only one door was broken instead of two. As we would still have to deal with the front door. Anyway to make a long story short. The teenager finally broke the back door and started wandering in our apartment. We finally got his attention and about that time the front door was broken into and we were into the apartment. Now we had two broken doors!!! The owner assured us he would be back the next day to fix the front door. The back door was repaired, I am not so sure how secure, and a new padlock applied to the grate. At one point there were four strangers standing in our entry way either fixing a lock or just looking around. I gave them all snickers bars when they left. It only took 3 minutes and there was a knock on the front door. One of the youth was back and wanted another snickers bar. Needless to say we have been a little concerned since, even though it took almost 40 minutes to break in, we are not to happy that it was so easy from down stairs.
I had to speak in Sacrament on Sunday; this is becoming a usual thing, so I just keep the talk for the next meeting. Hopefully I can keep track of which talk I give, and where.
Well this week has been a roller coaster of activity. We started out with a real bang on Saturday when we returned home, from a baptism, to our apartment. We found the outside door that leads to our stairwell didn’t open with the key. I went next door and got the owner and he tried for a few minutes with the key, no luck. He then decided that he could get into our apartment from the common airway. The three apartments, each on separate floors, share an air well that is about 8’X8’ with each apartment having a cat walk. There is a padded locked grate between us and the apartment below. So if he could unlock the pad lock, he could then come thru the back door into our apartment. Unfortunately none of his keys worked so he employed the family down stairs to break off the lock. The teen age son worked on it for awhile and was able to break the pad lock. We always lock the back door, so he began banging on the door and the lock there. All the while we are trying to convince them to stop and just go back and break thru the entry door, so only one door was broken instead of two. As we would still have to deal with the front door. Anyway to make a long story short. The teenager finally broke the back door and started wandering in our apartment. We finally got his attention and about that time the front door was broken into and we were into the apartment. Now we had two broken doors!!! The owner assured us he would be back the next day to fix the front door. The back door was repaired, I am not so sure how secure, and a new padlock applied to the grate. At one point there were four strangers standing in our entry way either fixing a lock or just looking around. I gave them all snickers bars when they left. It only took 3 minutes and there was a knock on the front door. One of the youth was back and wanted another snickers bar. Needless to say we have been a little concerned since, even though it took almost 40 minutes to break in, we are not to happy that it was so easy from down stairs.
I had to speak in Sacrament on Sunday; this is becoming a usual thing, so I just keep the talk for the next meeting. Hopefully I can keep track of which talk I give, and where.
Statue in Downtown Mindelo. Water has always been a precious item.We have been asked to represent the church in any Humanitarian aid projects in the area. We have the Ashbey Foundation that works with the church in finding and assisting here in the Islands. They find the projects and help administer the project and the church provides many of the items. We will help distribute the items and document the Humanitarian efforts. It will require some travel around the Northern Islands. Some of the travel will be by boat, so it ought to be a fun assignment.
Sharon picked one more music student this week, but she is having problems getting them to practice. I suppose this is a problem with all music teachers regardless of where they live.
We have entered the hot season and it has been muggy and hot in the apartment. The dust has been so bad lately that we decided to keep all the windows closed and circulate the air with fans. The apartment actually stays cooler this way and then the dust is kept to a minimum. When I say dust I mean dust, you can sweep a room and then start over and there is a new layer already on the floor. Everything is covered with a fine dust; even the clothes in the closet. So it is a constant task. I think on preparation day we spend almost 4 hours just on the floors.
We had nice Mothers Day and Sharon was able to talk with all the children. We especially enjoyed hearing Livvy singing and watching her bounce around the room. Avry was a little quiet this week but we sure enjoyed the pictures of her and Edyn playing of the slippery slide.
We have been advised never to eat pork here in Cape Verde. We wondered about that until we saw how they are processed here. The pig is hit over the head, throat cut and then doused with gasoline and set on fire. They then scrap the outer skin to get all the hair off and then process the pig. This is all done outside on a piece of tin. Pictures are enclosed. I suppose I should give a parental warning with this posting, it might not be suitable for youngsters. Oh, Danny, I like hot BBQ but this is a different story!!
Sizzling bacon for sure!!!! Hot Pig, Hot Pig!! The beginning of feijaoada.We had the opportunity of visiting part of the hospital and the School of Nursing this past week. The original building of the hospital was built in 1899. The nursing school has one class of 54 students and it is a 3 year course. So every 3rd year they start a new course. They are in need of some basic instruments for training and we are going to look at the possibility of an aid program.
I am not sure how tall the ceilings are but they were way up there, only basic health care. Most of the Drs. are trained in either Brazil or Cuba.Well that is about it for this week. Love to all.
E/S Waller, Mom & Dad, Bama & Bampa
