Well, Zane's week didn't get much better! He spent one day locked in a drawer, and the next day, he spent stuck on a roof. Yes, that's right, the stupid cat got stuck on the roof! He didn't come home for breakfast on Thursday, but, he's done that before, so I wasn't too worried. But when he didn't show up for supper... well, I was starting to wonder where he was. So, when I went out to the garden to collect some weeds for supper, I called out to the crazy cat. Faintly, in the distance, I heard him mew-ing again. Sure enough, I looked up to my neighbour's roof, and there he was, crying to me.
Of course, I had to bring in some reinforcements, because, well, climbing up onto a tin roof in my flipflops and skirt is not exactly my idea of a safe, fun time. But RM is always game for climbing up onto a roof... so he went to fetch a ladder, and got up on the roof. Of course, the stupid cat being, well, a stupid cat, decided to run away from RM, even though they are usually good friends. So, no rescue was possible.
We left the ladder at a gentle angle, hoping he might find his way back down, once RM was safely on the ground. But of course, he didn't. Eventually, I climbed up the ladder, to try to coax the cat down. I still didn't fancy the thought of walking around on the roof, though, so I ended up having to grab the cat by the scruff of the neck... and before he could escape... tossed him. Good enough, he landed on his feet, as most cats do! He was pretty happy to have a good long drink of water once he made his way back home. A tin roof isn't the coolest place to spend the day!
I've also had a different ending to my week. I spent a few days this past week preparing for a day of teacher training today. Unfortunately, there was a funeral next door last night. They started testing the microphones and giant speakers at 11pm! And when I say "giant speakers", I mean, GIANT speakers. There is a tradition here of doing "Overnights", which means that they sing and play music ALL NIGHT LONG. It's the most amazingly obnoxious and annoying thing. In my house, I closed all the windows, stuffed my ears with cotton, and literally put two pillows over my head. Yet my bed was shaking because of the loudness of the music. There was no way any of us on the compound were sleeping. But I had to teach all day today - from 9:30am - 5pm! So I needed at least a few hours of sleep.
So, at around 1:30am, I decided to move into the computer office, which is in a more sealed container on the opposite end of the compound. So, there I was, dragging my pillow and mattress across the compound in the middle of the night. I almost tripped over the sleeping night guard on my way to getting the key to the office. At least someone was sleeping through all the noise...
I settled down on the floor, next to the photocopier, and got a few hours of sleep. I was woken up at about 5am by someone who was also coming to the office to take refuge from the noise. He is a boy, though, so he was kind enough to not want to disturb my sleep and allowed me to just keep on sleeping, while he went back out into the noise. I guess it was a case of "first come, first served'!
I ended up having quite a good training with some teachers and folks from the Ministry of Education today. But, I was so out of it when I left, that I realized that I hadn't brought my main handouts with me to the workshop! That resulted in a quick trip back to the compound at lunch time, and a bit of switch on the fly of my original plan.... but once again, the tweaked plan seemed to work out even better than what I had originally planned.
Now, on that note, I'm exhausted after so many hours of teaching - in fact, I didn't get back home until 6:30 pm! And thankfully, the party ended at 7pm, and the tent has been taken down, so tonight we shall sleep in peace...
Of course, I had to bring in some reinforcements, because, well, climbing up onto a tin roof in my flipflops and skirt is not exactly my idea of a safe, fun time. But RM is always game for climbing up onto a roof... so he went to fetch a ladder, and got up on the roof. Of course, the stupid cat being, well, a stupid cat, decided to run away from RM, even though they are usually good friends. So, no rescue was possible.
We left the ladder at a gentle angle, hoping he might find his way back down, once RM was safely on the ground. But of course, he didn't. Eventually, I climbed up the ladder, to try to coax the cat down. I still didn't fancy the thought of walking around on the roof, though, so I ended up having to grab the cat by the scruff of the neck... and before he could escape... tossed him. Good enough, he landed on his feet, as most cats do! He was pretty happy to have a good long drink of water once he made his way back home. A tin roof isn't the coolest place to spend the day!
I've also had a different ending to my week. I spent a few days this past week preparing for a day of teacher training today. Unfortunately, there was a funeral next door last night. They started testing the microphones and giant speakers at 11pm! And when I say "giant speakers", I mean, GIANT speakers. There is a tradition here of doing "Overnights", which means that they sing and play music ALL NIGHT LONG. It's the most amazingly obnoxious and annoying thing. In my house, I closed all the windows, stuffed my ears with cotton, and literally put two pillows over my head. Yet my bed was shaking because of the loudness of the music. There was no way any of us on the compound were sleeping. But I had to teach all day today - from 9:30am - 5pm! So I needed at least a few hours of sleep.
So, at around 1:30am, I decided to move into the computer office, which is in a more sealed container on the opposite end of the compound. So, there I was, dragging my pillow and mattress across the compound in the middle of the night. I almost tripped over the sleeping night guard on my way to getting the key to the office. At least someone was sleeping through all the noise...
I settled down on the floor, next to the photocopier, and got a few hours of sleep. I was woken up at about 5am by someone who was also coming to the office to take refuge from the noise. He is a boy, though, so he was kind enough to not want to disturb my sleep and allowed me to just keep on sleeping, while he went back out into the noise. I guess it was a case of "first come, first served'!
I ended up having quite a good training with some teachers and folks from the Ministry of Education today. But, I was so out of it when I left, that I realized that I hadn't brought my main handouts with me to the workshop! That resulted in a quick trip back to the compound at lunch time, and a bit of switch on the fly of my original plan.... but once again, the tweaked plan seemed to work out even better than what I had originally planned.
Now, on that note, I'm exhausted after so many hours of teaching - in fact, I didn't get back home until 6:30 pm! And thankfully, the party ended at 7pm, and the tent has been taken down, so tonight we shall sleep in peace...
No comments:
Post a Comment