It's been almost two weeks since I sent an update and I have to say, I feel rather guilty. It's like not talking to friends for a long while, and then when you talk they reply "Where have you been?!" Well, I've been here. Plodding along. Currently there are a bunch of crackling voiced boys downstairs celebrating Luc's 10th birthday! Woohooo. The double digits. Takes a lot longer to get out of them than it does to get into them.
School has been going well, the kids and I are enjoying ourselves (not to say every day isn't unique) and I'm beginning to look forward to reading aloud! Crazy. I know. But, we are reading Cheaper by the Dozen (the more I read it, the more kids I want to have...I think it's supposed to have the opposite effect) and This Present Darkness. Two very different books but each very interesting and the kids tend to bring up questions I've never really thought about before.
SO, funny story. Today, Lizzie and I were walking around E-city (the IT part of town where we live) as I was trying to get money (ATM, not begging. Though either may work). Ok, slight rabbit trail. The ATM's here are halarious. I have encountered possibly any problem that could come with an ATM...but then again, I shouldn't say that because surely I will discover more in the future. So we go to the closest ATM, my card doesn't work there...which I suspected in the first place. We walk another 10 minutes and come to the 2nd ATM, well....if you didn't know it's a public holiday and the bank is closed. How does this affect the ATM you ask? Well, it means that no one is there to fix the screen from it's frozen position from starting up (these ATM's use WindowsXP if you were ever wondering). With a laugh and more sunburn we turn, walk another 10 minutes to this other bank we passed on our way to the last 2. After entering into a oddly an architecturally (yes. I did have to google that word in order to know how to spell it.) designed building we stumble around until we can find out where said bank is. Hm. Relocated (to about a 10 minute drive away). Well, last shot, we know of one last ATM within walking distance. So we go for it, thinking all the while what may be wrong with this one (please don't ever think I think upon these experiences as a hassle. I thrive on challenge.) [previously these ATM's have been out of cash and/or out of order]. We arrive. I enter. The door almost kills Lizzie with it's automatic swing-back (minor detail.). I proceed to tell the machine I would like to have my information in English. Not Hindi. Not the other one that appears as pretty calligraphy. I enter the amount and press enter, fearing that any breath may scare this poor machine into a seizure. It worked! Both Liz and I felt like doing a Charlie Brown dance right then and there because of our incredible success. As I grabbed my card and turned to leave, the screen momentarily blacked out as the words "This service is temporarily unavailable as the signal to the satellite has been lost." Needless to say, I felt like I beat fate (or there is Divine humour just for our sake ;-) ).
Oh, but that wasn't even the story I was going to tell. Ha, sorry. You know, normally if someone were to ask what I did today, I would sum it up as "School, lunch, school, went for a walk and got some money, Luc's party, got distracted while writing an update, sleep" So. Perhaps there are little smiles behind the mundane.
Now the story I was originally going to tell is going to seem lame. But I'm going to tell it anyways. As Liz and I were walking back from our battles with the money machines, I suggested that we walk a block past our gated community to see if the coffee shop that was being built had opened yet. As we were walking past our gate a tractor came rumbling down the road (oh, doorbell. Ha, guess one little dude missed the memo for the time of the party. :-[ ). Now tractors are not unusual but there was something about this one that made me giggle. First off, it was going fast...like, a tractor on steroids this was. That...and the front two wheels were crooked, and off the ground. The tractor was doing a wheelie (being weighted down by the cart it was pulling behind). Now, the engine (or something rusty) was at the back, fully exposed. I turned around and watched the crooked, wheeling speed down the road. The driver hit, with considerable speed, the speed bump which he had obviously failed to slow down for (his front two wheels went over the bump and the back two kind of flew over it). Not only did the tractor stop quickly and awkwardly fall forward...there was ah...hmm...how can I describe it...clinky sound from the back? At least 5 parts fell from the exposed engine to the ground. Surely the driver must have heard them fall, for he was 10x closer to it than I. But, he looked behind and sped away. Now that I think of it, I think I've witnessed auto theft. If you could even call it that.... So now, when your children (or future children) complain that they think you car is so old that it's just going to fall apart on you, don't think it doesn't happen. I've seen it all....
Something along these lines[not taken by me]...but there was nothing in the load...
Sorry if I carried on to long...I suppose there is stuff going on.
Beth
ps. This is what we do in school (he isn't that tall, I was bending down)
He obviously has a cheek talent (his cheeks are practically touching inside his mouth) that I have an obligation to encourage.
