Tuesday, November 20, 2007

we had a day off today from school

what did we do? many things.
1. didn't sleep in cuz our children do not understand "days off" yet
2. found that we had many emails to catch up on and that was fun!
3. organized and put things away as we have more places to put things now...we are so american in that we have "more" than what we need at the present moment 'stored' in our house. we also had one of paul's friends over to play. his friend, Niko, thought Hazel screams too loud.
4. after we picked gavin up from school, he and i went with my new dutch friend to the market. gavin found a prized item. fly paper. you lay it down (we have seen it all over) and the flies just attach themselves to it and you don't have to go around swatting at them...which we are all getting really good at here :D i saw hazel get one with her hand today! (yes...we washed her hands) so anyway we bought 4 packages...3 papers per package. for 20 cents a package. we open it up right when we get home cuz we are soooo extremely excited to see how this works...we wait for an hour...no flies...we have had constant flies, mosquitoes...you name it...flying around inside our house for weeks...and now today there are none? hmmm?
5. so we leave again to go to the dr. cuz gavin has his 3rd ear infection. this was an event i will remember! no one spoke english in the waiting room. it was apparent that we arrived just after nap time. for everyone. i was thinking "this is going to be great to hear indonesian words from an indonesian doctor...do i know ANY medical terms? i don't even know the word for EAR!" so we sat there and i was practicing in my head as gavin whined about not wanting to do this whole dr. thing. could we leave now? no...they called us in. so we began the visit and dr. here use the same instruments on everyone...i didn't know how to ask if they were clean! something i have been told from other moms..."make sure you ask for a NEW needle...and watch them open the package" ---so i am looking around the room and thinking it's not going to be bad. gavin is thinking otherwise. i get out in my best indonesian our situation and she takes a look in his ears. yes...one ear is very sick she says. and to make a long story short, she had a tube that sucked out all the green stuff in his ear. he loved that. we went home with medicine and we have to go back on monday. the whole thing cost $17...including the meds.
6. we get home and the sticky fly paper has been turned over on the floor somehow. (kitty? hazel? paul? or greg? i pull it off with great distress. it really sticks but...no flies. but the glue is on the floor. while i go get a paper towel and fingernail polish remover...the cat runs into it and is now all over her feet. gavin comes and does the same. i tried to get the glue off the floor but it ended up all over me??? now i am even sticking to this computer! all of this...and still not one single dead fly! we paid way too much for this stuff!
7. you ask what did greg do today? he did his best to understand finances on this end. it's difficult for everyone on our team...not just the artists :D. he and paul went to one of our indonesian teacher's house. and his brother is an artist...a very good one...we hope to buy some of his stuff??? he came home and took paul and hazel to a soccer game that he is now playing in. we are waiting for them.
8. ok...i just remembered something from the REAL SIMPLE magazine. corn oil, olive oil, any of those oils will take the sticky stuff off your item that you bought and tried to pull off the sticker price tag....but it just wouldn't go. so i thought...yeah...same stuff...and i just tried it and it worked...our feet...our hands and our floors are free from stick...and are now extra slick from the oil! :D we should have a great night!

4 comments:

cristina said...

you guys are awesome... i thoroughly enjoying hearing all that's happening! i miss you guys!

Marshall said...

Good job figuring out the stick. Love reading your stories on the blog. It was so GREAT to talk to (and SEE you) the other night.
Lindsay

Marshall said...

Good job figuring out the stick! It was great to talk to (and SEE you) the other night!
Love you guys!
Lindsay

Lana said...

Hi Copelands,
I am a friend of your mom/grandma Linda and I faithfully read your blog. I have never left a comment, but I feel like I should introduce myself.
Anyway, they used to use the "sticky paper" stuff in barns when I grew up (or in houses) which was back in the dark ages (I'm 64). It was gooey, yucky, icky, and caught a few flies, but was it worth the mess?
I laughed when I read this!
Lana