I took this photo at the bank today. Can you imagine any bank in the USA that would stay in business if they made their customers wait like this – crowds, 2 hours waits, total chaos? Imagine what the fire marshall would say. This company is the only local bank and is majority owned by the local government. Just a small glimpse of government owned and operated. Look close America. Fortunately I was just looking for my friend and didn’t have to wait around. I couldn’t get in the door. I shot the photo from the staircase outside the lobby.
I just love our one stop shops here on the islands. I snapped this photo with my phone. If you need a keyboard, men’s underwear, rubber gloves, or diapers by the single, you can find it all on the back shelf of the “yellow corner store.”
My sister is working on a project and she needed some tropical photos. I took a quick look through my stash from this year and made an album for her. I didn’t have time to go through all of my photos (more than 22,000) so I just went through the ones from this past year. Enjoy.
Beck, I’ve uploaded a larger file size so you should be able to download, print and scrap.
It feels so good when we have weeks of cloud cover. However, the seas usually get a tad bit angry. This picture does not do the storm justice. This is an airport ferry that runs every 10 min or so from the capital island to the airport island.
Our new batch of teachers like to play American Football on the beach. The last three Fridays we have met at the beach to play. We usually play 3 on 3 with a 4th as all time offense. Angie took the camera out today and snapped a few pics. She got one of Braden catching a touchdown pass. We really draw a crowd of spectators. I hope that after Ramadan, many of the spectators will become players. (They won’t play during the fasting month.
This is so frustrating. Stealing gas is just not right. Plain and simple, you can easily disconnect the fuel line (small rubber hose) from the bottom of my gas tank and just take the fuel until it stops flowing… in my case… it just drains it dry. Does anybody have any ideas of what I can do? They are not predictable. Its not every night. So waiting up until 3AM to hide and watch simply isn’t an option for me. As it is, I think I’m going to just leave my cycle empty for the next month and see if they punks will find a new routine.
We recently had really high swells and tides. The waves were coming over the seawall in Male and left the streets neary the edge of the island completely flooded.
I took my new sail out today. It was so much fun. I am really getting into this windsurfing. Thanks to all my family members who chipped in (or put money in my bank account) for my birthday. I put it all together and bought a used sail from a guy here in the islands. Its a pretty big upgrade as far as size goes. It’s a lot heavier and catches a lot more wind. Now that I have another sail, Braden can use my neighbors board and my old sail and we can go together. Hopefully I can get a picture up in a day or so. So thanks again for the new sail.
As I rode my motorcycle to the school this morning, something didn’t sound right. I’m no mechanic and don’t have a clue about engines, motors, etc. I looked down and noticed that my fuel gauge was below empty. While I’m not a mechanic, I am a pretty detailed person and never let my motorcycle run out of gas. I made it to the school and looked under my cycle and realized I had been robbed. Last night, someone pulled the fuel hose from the bottom of the gas tank and drained the tank dry. No, this was not the first time the gas guzzler has hit me. This used to happen a lot when I lived closer to the BBQ area. I assumed guys needed gas to light the coconut shells to BBQ their evening catch. I’ve never had somebody drain me completely dry. I’m really not surprised that my fuel gets stolen in general. However, the fact that it is stolen during the month of Ramadan kind of baffles me a bit. This is the month where all my Muslim friends fast from sunup till sundown in hopes to get a fresh start with God. Their fast includes not eating, drinking or smoking (and maybe a few other things I’m not aware of) during the daylight hours. It just seems a bit ironic that stealing would happen in the holy month of the works-based religion. Fortunately my cycle is not required to fast. I flipped the switch to the reserve tank and headed to the fuel pump to fill it up. Now that I think about it, I better go move my cycle near my neighbor’s sticker bushes and see if that will work as a security system for my fuel. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind sharing. I would gladly give anyone on my island the fuel they need or the money to buy the fuel if they would just let me know they have a need. I am happy to offer the good deed and I don’t believe the deed has any bearing on my salvation. The picture above is a self photo of me and my cycle. The building is just behind my house and is used for political rallies. Yes, that is an old washer in the foreground on the bottom left. Not sure why it’s sitting in front of the political party building.
