A Day Of Giggles
· Today I took a much needed day off from work at the hospital. I woke promptly to the rooster at 5am. I do not think I will ever grow fond of him. Although I opted out of work, I felt compelled to visit the hospital and visit my fellow coworkers at the lab. We joked around as usual about my hard to pronounce name and ensured each other a good rest of the day. On the walk home I said “Good Morning” with a bright smile to all the locals who always seem so excited to see an obruney. Once home I began to create cocoa beans to bring home. I felt as though I was dissecting an alien brain. Cocoa fruit consists of a hard yellow shell and inside is a fibrous center surrounded by cocoa seeds covered in white slim. I had to pick out the slimy seeds and place them in a covered bucket. Once all of my alien brains had been dissected, I left the bucket of seeds in the sun to ferment. After a weeks time, I will remove them and place them on a flat surface in the sun to dry for a few days. Once my cocoa beans were extracted, I battled with my laundry again. I do not thin hand washing laundry will ever get easy. During my laundry, Petra (my three year old house sister) was cruising around on her tricycle anxiously waiting for me to finish so we could play. As soon as my last shirt was on the clothes line she ran up to me and began to try and tickle me. I spent the next few hours chasing her around the house and making funny faces. Although she does not speak much English, or speak much at all, she seems to understand and get along with me. She giggled for hours while making our silly faces to each other. She now greats me with one of these faces every day when I return from work. Once Petra was worn out at down for a nap, I snuck out and went on a walk through the market. I spent a hour just walking town and enjoying the sun (today was the first day there has not been a cloud in the sky). I came home with nothing purchased but a smile on my face. The market had been really busy today as there was a funeral. Unlike America, funerals are a highly celebrated here. The process lasts about a week and during the actual ceremony, the mourners wear all red or black. They listen to very happy sounding music and dance. This is than followed by a parade through town. All of the mourners leave the ceremony and dance through the streets. It is a very beautiful thing to see them celebrating a life fully lived.