The Local 7 Eleven

Here you have it, one of the many local shops, called a dokan. The closest one is just several houses down from us and we can get anything from potatoes and onions to packs of noodles or laundry soap. Sometimes it's nice to live close to such conveniences. Other times I wish I'd have to walk down a mile long lane to get to anything. Why, just yesterday afternoon I walked into the kitchen to get a hot pad so I could check the pie I had in the oven, and was shocked to see a lady standing on her roof, which is no more than 2 feet away, staring unashamadly into my kitchen. It's the second time she has done it. One of these times I'll have the courage to ask her what she is looking at. I just wanted to scream, "Leave me alone! Don't you have any shame?" She quickly walked on as soon as she saw me.

Another occurance lately has been the power outages, called load shedding. There is a much higher demand for electricity than there is supply, so we take turns doing without for a while. As the weather is getting hotter, more people are using fans, as well as pumps to irrigate fields, which means we have more frequent power cuts. The hardest time for me has been at night. Being a light sleeper, I wake up as soon as the fan goes off. If I'm lucky enough to doze off while it's off, I'm sure to wake up when the loud but welcome whirr begins again. When this occurs during the middle of the night I get irritated but try to just roll over and tell myself it will be over soon. But last night it seemed like a very long time and some very loud and obnoxious young guys were walking up and down the street, laughing and carrying on. I was very aware of the fact that I live in a city and am surrounded by people who are so very different from me. I was still irritated when I woke up this morning. I fixed myself a cup of coffee and went out on the veranda just as the sun was coming over the palm trees and I relished the thought of finally getting some quiet. But that was not to be. Two little children came running down the street, chattering very excitedly and stopped in the alley just below our house where they attempted to climb the neighbor's fence. (Good grief. If I wanted to climb a neighbor's fence, I'd do it quietly.) Needless to say, I abandoned my favorite spot.

So, there it is. My "quiet" city is not always quiet! Not that I really have anything to say, when my boys are running around the house, playing tag and running races in very loud and excited voices. In fact, they have probably popped in 6 times since I started writing this, asking if I'm about done. (You see, Riley gets to play a computer game when I'm done and they all plan to sit and watch). I pity the people who will some day move in to the empty apartment beneath us. I'm sure they will think the roof is falling on them. But then, like my next door neighbor told me when I asked her if she was bothered when the boys run on her side of the roof, they are used to it. Oh, if only I could just be "used to" such things. But no, I love the quiet. Yet I live in a noisy household, in a noisy city in a noisy country. God has a sense of humor, although it doesn't feel very funny at the moment. So I am going to sign off, let my boys have the computer, and shut myself in my room and think of a way to cope with it all!