Birthday day

June 30

So my birthday went very well. It was nice to take the day off to do whatever it is that I wanted to do. I slept in, and instead of taking the morning to write I read the paper and dozed on the couch. I went to my massage in the morning. It was fabulous and relaxing. I could have laid there for three hours while she rubbed me down. She even did my stomach, and I could choose the type of oil, which was eucalyptus. After that it felt like I floated down to the hair salon.

One of the women in the compound told me about a place where a white man could cut my hair. I needed one so bad, I thought I would take the risk. It turned out to be a much better idea that trying to cut my own hair. He did a great job and it felt so good to have my hair washed. The salon was in this really nice hotel/country club. It is sort of weird to be in a place like that. It seems so serene and removed, but then you have to step back out into the city again.

I think my favorite part of the day was to loose track of the time. When I came back I ate some lunch, and distracted Dustin while he was trying to work. Grace was there and sang happy birthday to me.

We had planned to go out to get sushi, so I hopped in the shower to get cleaned up and to wash some of the oil off me, but when I came out, people had already started to arrive! I wasn't sure what had happened because we had banked on them all being late. This was the first time I anyone had ever arrived early,and people were notorious for being late. So we had to scrap that idea and come up with a new plan of action.

I also didn't realize that as the birthday person, I was supposed to provide food and beverages to everyone at the party, so Dustin and I started scrambling to come up with at least some snacks. We actually pulled it off very nicely, but we were lucky because Grace had been to the market for us earlier in the week, so we had a lot of food on hand. Dustin was fabulous in playing host and cooked banana bread for me as a cake. Everyone was so impressed that Dustin could cook at all, especially the banana bread, which takes a little bit of measuring and mixing. It all turned out great, and we had enough food to feed everyone.

We sat down to watch a movie, Seven Pounds, but I didn't really like it. Too slow for me, but fine. People hung around for a little while, but most of them left after the movie because they all had things to do in the morning.

Dustin walked Joan to the road where she could get on a taxi, and on the way back he found a kitten in the ditch. He came in and said "Ginger don't be angry" and then walked in with the kitten. (I thought something had really happened, and of course I was not angry about it). It was so pitiful that we decided to clean it up and find a home for it.

It has turned out to be the sweetest little kitten. It's really too small to be away from it's mom, so he thinks that I'm his mom. He insists on always being in my lap and sleeping. Even now while I'm laying on the couch and typing he is trying to make a nest in my hair so that he can sleep. I suppose my hair is a bit of a nest anyway. I'm not sure what we are going to do to find a home for it. It's not like you can just take it down to the animal shelter to be adopted, and we can't put it back outside, something will come and snatch it up.

So that night we spent cleaning up the kitten after every had left. He was pretty filthy from having been in the ditch. After a washing he turned out to be orange and white tabby, with little green eyes. I wish I could ship him home to mom cause I know she would find a home for it.

July 1

I can't believe we have been here for an entire month now. I turns out the kitten, although a little small, is actually pretty healthy. He has perked up a great deal since we have given him a few meals of milk.

Today I went to have a dress made. Joan said her sister could make formal dress, so I thought I would give it a shot. I need a formal dress for Katie's Debutante ball. I picked out the fabric and everything. I picked out a maroon and green pattern, so it should turn out very interesting. I will certainly look different from everyone else.

Then we went to the foundation for a meeting. I was actually impressed with how well the meeting went. We were also supposed to have an interview, but we got tired of waiting around and tired in general, so we went home.

Tomorrow we are supposed to go to a school for the first time to see the children. I hope it goes well. I hope we can at least find it. We still have trouble finding places because we don't know the city well enough.