Early AM Chores

Thursday, September 23, 2010

We had all been talking about how we hoped it would rain soon.  It’d been a few days since our last big rainfall, so our water was getting lower.  Now don’t get me wrong, we have plenty of water, it is just nice to have an abundance of that wonderfully useful liquid.  That way I feel okay about doing laundry, shaving my legs, or washing my hair. 

 

At 4:30 AM, it started to rain.  TC and Paul got up to set up extra pots and pans to fill.  I was laying in bed thinking, “I hope TC washes some clothes.  My pink shirt (the one I’d been wearing for the past three days) is really smelly.” 

 

Then I said to myself, “You could be a nice partner and get your butt out of bed and start washing the clothes on your own,” so I did.  Yes, at 4:30 in the morning, I was doing laundry – my most hated chore.  I guess I am becoming better adjusted to boat life.  The good news is that it didn’t stop raining until we were done.  So even after we did our clothes, all of our water containers were full. 

 

Since we had the early morning activities, we all slept in.  TC made a yummy 10-grain/oatmeal mixture with raisins and diced apples.  Then we read for a while. 

 

Then we decided to take our sheets on shore to wash.   Those are harder to wash on the boat (but it has been done), so we figured we would help stimulate the local economy by making use of the Laundromat.  Unfortunately, only one of the washers was working, TC and I let Paul take it (since he had the bigger load to do) and we figured we’d wash our sheets on the boat later when it rained again. 

 

TC and I walked back to the little store where the wi-fi signal is the strongest, so I could upload some pictures.  A group of boys ranging in age from 10 to 13 or so said, “I love you,” as we walked by.  TC thinks they were talking to me, but I told him that he’s pretty lovable himself.  

 

Of course, as soon as I started trying to upload pictures, big black rain clouds appeared.  We quickly shut down our computers, put them into our drybag and headed back to the boat so that we could get back to the boat to wash our sheets (our clothes had been washed in the early morning laundry session).  Doing the chore together definitely makes it less work.  I don’t think I will complain about doing laundry when we get back to Kwaj.   How easy it will be to throw it in the washer and then in the dryer. 

 

The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent on shore trying to upload pictures (I was successful!!) and chatting with people.  All of the kids are enthralled by our computers, so it’s fun to show them slideshows of different places from our travels.  We also got invited to the Manit Day celebrations at the Catholic elementary school and the high school tomorrow during the day and the high school talent show tomorrow evening.  It should be a fun day.  I can’t wait!