ODDS AND ENDS

Ok, so I hear the roosters every morning around 4 Am, early risers, and then the church bells, not sure what time they start but I was up at 3 AM and sure enough they were ringing, not sure why, do they have services at that hour? And of course, the dogs are also early risers and the horns of the people going to work start at 6 Am but why does someone not hear that baby crying and take care of him?  Well it turns out that that baby is a herd of baby goats.  We have a large marsh like area behind our apt building and as I was preparing to close the windows for the rain that was coming I spotted them heading around the pond and as I watched, they proceeded to go down the street and into a warehouse type building, that I guess they call home. I have seen and heard them several times since and they have found an old piece of cement to lay down on and sunbathe ! It is so cute to watch.  

Oh what you can see from ten stories up.  I love the view and so I am at the windows alot.  There always seems to be someones roof top that needs repair, especially since the wind can blow hard when the storms get ready to hit.  Since the roofs are made of tin, there is always someone out there banging away with the repairs.  Then there are the antenna's, of which every home has, they are a thin pole that reaches to the sky above the housetops.  The winds love to reek havoc with them too.  Of course, there is also the factory near us that has this metal crushing sound coming from it.  Do they recycle here?  

Saturday night Mark went hunting, on foot, since we have no motor bike, for a new place to eat.  He came back and we ventured out to his great find.  It was a couple blocks away and we had to use sign language and pictures to order.  We decided to just try the basic fried rice and there famous noodle soup.  We were not sure if they understood but when it arrived we ended up with fried rice with several types of meat in it and the soup, well, I have no idea but it had no noodles and  the meat in it had lots of bones. Next time we take the dictionary with us.  Then there are the girls who stand guard over you, I mean who serve you.  They never take their eyes off of you.  I am not sure if it was because we were foreigners and they were curious or if they guard everyone.  The service was good, the tea never ran out.    We ended the evening on the 17th floor cafe of our building, which only serves coffee and ice cream, not sure why they call them cafes, and watched the airplanes take off and land.  

I decided that I had to do something about my gray roots.  It was way past time to have them colored.  I got a recommendation for a salon that catered to foreigners and called them.  They wanted $80.00 US to just color and that did not include a cut.  Well we are on a budget so I went next door to the market and since it is pretty small they only had black dye so on Sunday Mark and I took a taxi across town to a larger market.  We had pizza and shopped at another larger market.  They had black and two bottle of blond.  I chose the blond since black just does nothing for my skin color, although I might blend in better.  The directions came in four different languages and since I am not fluent in any of them yet, I checked out the pictures and then found a bit of English subtitles.  I got ready for the process and prayed that I would not look like a freak at the end of it all.  Well the results were good but I sure enjoy it more when I can have it done by someone else.  Don't even ask about a haircut.  Mark got one for $1.00 US and yes you get what you pay for.  I had to cut the back because they only trimmed the top!! I think we will continue looking.