Day 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502
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Day 486 - Saturday, March 1, 2003
We woke up to a beautiful sunrise looking out over the town of San Juancito, Cataranas, and many more that stretched out across the horizon. You can see a lot when you are 4000 feet higher than everyone else. We had a great breakfast of homemade bread, jellies, and cheese, as well as some really good coffee and juice. Around 11:00 am we set out for the waterfall inside of La Tigra National park. the walk took about two hours to complete and we arrived along with about 150 high school kids who were there on a field trip. The waterfall was nice and even peaceful despite the presence of all the young people. We had a snack that we had brought with us and rested for a while before heading back to the cabin. The walk back was much easier since it is downhill instead of up hill.
Once back at the cabin we enjoyed hot showers and then played 500 for a while waiting for dinner. Dinner was home made pizza and Jennifer and Kathy helped out in the making of dinner.
Day 487 - Sunday, March 2, 2003
We left our mountain hideaway and went to church and shopping in Valle de Angeles, where we were stationed for our training. I sat in the central park while Jennifer and her parents went looking for souvenirs.
We took a bus to Tegucigalpa where we checked into the Hotel Maya. Jennifer, Larry and I went over to the Peace Corps office to put together the large amount of "stuff" that we were sending home with Larry and Kathy. We had purchased a large wooden trunk as well as four rocking chairs that we needed sent home. Some how or other we managed to loose the keys for the large wooden trunk which was now locked. After about 30 minutes of looking and worrying I was able to pick the lock with a piece of metal I found in the parking lot. We divided up the different bags of stuff we had in order to distribute the weight and were ready to go back to the hotel, shower, and get some dinner.
After getting ready we went o Tre-Fretelli where we enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner and got to meet a visiting chef from San Francisco. We retired to the hotel where we played our play off round of 500 as we were currently tied one to one.
Day 488 - Monday, March 3, 2003
We went to the airport to send Larry and Kathy off on their long trip back to cold Minnesota. We had a surprise visitor in that Erika (our host mom from training) showed up to say good-bye. We all went out for bagel sandwiches and then sent mom and dad off on the plane.
Jen and I retreated back to the hotel where I read the last part of a book I have been working on reading, while Jennifer went to a doctor's appointment. When she got home we went to see "Catch Me, If You Can", which was a very good movie. For dinner we snuck in fried chicken to the movie as when we left we were a little short on time.
Day 489 - Tuesday, March 4, 2003
We spent most of the morning waiting around the Peace Corps Office. We had wanted to head home today, but got stuck at the office after Jen had to have some follow up done from her doctor visit the day before and were not able to leave in time to get back home. So we went to another movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" which was another great movie, and went out for Sushi afterwards. It was nice to have another day to unwinds, but kind of disappointing since we weren't very productive.
Day 490 - Wednesday, March 5, 2003
We got up this morning and went out for bagel sandwiches and coffee and then went in search of a church to celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass at. None of the schedules really worked with us and we were a little frustrated that there wasn't a standard schedule or an easy way of finding out when and where a Mass would be. We ended up waiting until noon and going to the Cathedral in the center of town. We had to leave a little early as there were what seemed like several thousand people at church complete with TV coverage of the Mass it was HUGE, and kind of out of control. There was no order to anything and I was scared I would be trampled under the surging people. Jennifer and I were separated and I finally gave up trying to make it to the priest to have ashes put on my forehead when Jennifer made it all the way up to the front of the church and I was still stuck in the same place. Shortly after the initial surge when Jennifer made it up to the front of the line people started filtering in from 3 different directions to receive their ashes on their foreheads leaving nowhere for anyone to get back to their places.
We collected our belongings at the hotel and got on a bus for Choluteca. Once in Choluteca we switched busses and got on one headed for Concepción de Maria. We made it back to Concepción de Maria right after dark and I was surprised at how fast the bus driver was going even though it was dark. Luckily we got home without running over any pigs or cows.
Day 491 - Thursday, March 6, 2003
We tried to get back into the routine of things by cleaning up the house, doing laundry, catching up on email and working on a video that we are doing for a wedding where we took photos.
In the afternoon I had a meeting the director of the medical clinic, the director of the cooperative, and one of the doctors serving in the medical clinic who are working on putting together a committee to manage the purchase and management of an ambulance for the community. Currently the only way a gravely sick person can get to the hospital in Choluteca is to hire out someone with a car to drive them or endure the three to four hour bus ride. We received some money last month to buy an ambulance and the community is now looking into ways to manage it. I spent most of the afternoon in a meeting discussing how the committee would function and coming up with project goals that I thought would have been better left up to the committee itself.
In the evening I did some reading and responded to the mountain of emails that have been stacking up over the last couple of weeks while we have been traveling.
Day 492 - Friday, March 7, 2002
Today is my birthday and I feel old. I went to bed early last night and got too much sleep today. Our days of traveling and sleeping in different places every night had finally caught up with me and I slept really hard last night, too hard. Our bed here is soooo comfortable. I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning and Jennifer insisted on us going for a walk to get back into the swing of an exercise schedule. I had dreams all last night of fighting for my life and twice had dreams that Jennifer had been killed by a psycho teenage girl. I was a little on edge when I woke up. I walked out onto our patio to go for a walk and was walking towards the gate when I heard furtive movement behind me. Someone was moving quickly and heavily up behind me. My first instinct was to find cover which was right outside our gate. I got our the gate and ducked behind the cement pillar that makes up part of the gate just as a bucket of water was thrown in my direction. A birthday tradition, at least in our neighbors house, is that the birthday person gets dowsed with water. Jennifer was disappointed as she had planned all this with our neighbor and it was the only reason we were out of bed so early; our neighbor had to leave for work early so I had to be out there early to receive my "free shower".
We went for our walk, with Jennifer wasn't really planning on taking. I reflected on the fact that I probably wouldn't have been too happy to have been dowsed with water and started to prepare myself for the next attempt, as I knew it would happen again.
The whole day went by and just kind of passed by in a rough sort of way. I didn't feel well about being in Honduras, getting a another year older, or anything else. I worked on a wedding video most of the day while Jennifer slaved away in our kitchen trying to make enough chocolate cake to feed the various neighbors that we would be expected to share our cake with.
For dinner Jen made me a nice pasta dinner, bread, and wine which was very nice. She gave me a gift certificate that allows me to buy a memory card for our digital camera which is great as we are continually running out of space when we travel. Now I just have to figure out how to get it down here.
I did eventually get dowsed with water later in the evening when we celebrated with the neighbors. The maid has a birthday on the same day as me so we both got buckets over our heads, which I welcomed in the 100 degree heat, it was very refreshing.
I went to bed late after working on the wedding video for several more hours adding sound to it.
Day 493 - Saturday, March 8, 2003
We went to church this morning. It is "Day of the Hearts" and apparently it is a popular day to go to church as the place was packed. As I had flashbacks from my last visit to church where I was almost trampled by people trying to get ashes put on their foreheads, I wondered if the fair country folks would be more civilized. I had my doubts after standing in the door, listening to three different homilies by two different priests (I think they wanted to make the most our of having such a large crowd), and trying to calm my stomach as the putrid smells of body odor, dirty kid diapers, and week old garbage from the street assaulted my well calloused, but still very North American sense of smell. We were doing well as we got to the middle isle of the church (we were standing in the side doors as there were no seats) wondering why no one else was moving, when everyone must have woken up and realized they were giving away free little wafers of Jesus at the front of the church. I didn't hear the announcement, but I'm pretty sure someone said they had a limited number of wafers and they would only be giving them out for the first 3 minutes of communion, as we were soon being propelled forwarded by a mob of people who would have just as soon walked over our backs and stood on our heads to receive the holy host than to wait patiently in line for their turn and for the line to move forward. I was thoroughly surprised when the little old lady behind me put her hands on my hips and pressed her whole body against me. I found myself caught up in the mob mentality forming and urged Jennifer to give the little old lady in front of her a shove as she looked a little confused and had people moving in front of her in line due to her hesitation.
I'm starting to wonder if it is worth it and if it just wouldn't be better to wait and go to the end of the line to receive as once I get to the priest I not normally in a mindset to be able to receive the host. I spoke with one of our friends about it later and she said she has had the same experiences including once when a woman behind her was carrying a candle and started her hair on fire because she wasn't paying attention. So at least I'm not alone with the frustration of getting communion in the middle of a mob.
We went to our neighbors farm this afternoon where we got to relax. I got to work on this journal while a cool breeze blew (their cabin is higher up in the mountains so it is cooler) and I laid in a hammock with my laptop. It was fun. they gilled up meat for my birthday and we got to have more yummy chocolate birthday cake that Jennifer made yesterday. It was a very relaxing and fun day.
Day 494 - Sunday, March 9, 2003
I relaxed today and worked a little more on the wedding video. I'm really pushing to get it done by the middle of the week. I spent a bit of time reading "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy. It is a very intense book that plays out the strategic movements of a conventional war with old communist Russia that starts because of an oil shortage. Very interesting.
Jennifer went to a town called Orocuina which is about 4 hours from our house by bus. She went to visit Michelle, another volunteer, and to get her hair colored. She will be back tomorrow, but I sure do miss having her here. The house is so quiet and dead with out her here.
Day 495 - Monday, March 10, 2003
Jennifer got home around 2 pm we then went to a meeting with the ambulance committee and watched them elect their members and talk in a semi unorganized fashion about what they would like to do with an ambulance. Cost was a big concern since fuel and operating costs alone would force them to charge more than most people would be able to afford.
After the meeting we had classes with the cooperative employees. We have incorporated the scanning pistols that we purchased into their curriculum and they are learning how to properly enter different types of products. It has been fun to see them evolve into computer users. They are still not very confident of their abilities, but I think that will change as we incorporate the computers into their everyday lives.
Day 496 - Tuesday, March 11, 2003
We visited the High School today as they were having a printing problem and needed some help setting up a printer. So we went over and visited. They were a little annoyed that they did not have internet access in their school and I showed them again how to connect to the internet and hooked the secretary up with an email account. They seemed pretty happy about that. We talked a little about doing a tree nursery with them and will be taking some seeds over next week to plant in a project that the cooperative already has working there.
In the evening we put the finishing touches on the Wedding Video. It turned out really well and think Eliel and Donna are really going to like it. It looks a lot nicer than the one we got for our wedding.
We had some more classes with the cooperative, but I was a little disappointed to find out that the key people in the administration that we are working with were all leaving for a meeting in Tegucigalpa and wouldn't be back until the weekend.
Day 497 - Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Today is our month-a-versary. There are no flowers anywhere in town as everything is dead and dry. We drew a flower on our white board and put different goals we have for our marriage in the petals. Dinner was a shared activity with Jennifer dong the prep work and me doing the actual cooking. We made Ti-stir fry in a peanut sauce with chicken. It was good, but next time I think we will use more chicken. I bought a pound of chicken to use, but they sell the strangest cuts here and they don't have a lot of meat on them. About 3/4 of that was bone and skin so the dogs got more chicken than we did. We talked for quiet a while as to what we have done to improve our marriage over the last month and what we plan on doing over the next month. I feel like we are really growing in our marriage with our time here and we are going to return more adjusted than we would have ever been if we would have stayed in the states. For that and that alone it has been worth coming to Honduras.
Day 498 - Thursday, March 13, 2003
We went to the high school this morning and talk to the teachers who are helping out with the tree Nursery. I have some kind of pain in my lower back that has been getting progressively worse since breakfast this morning. By the time we were finishing up at the high school I wasn't able to sit down with out severe discomfort in my lower back. I laid on the cement floor for a few minutes and that seemed to ease the pain. By the end of the day I was in a hammock not wanting to move at all.
In the afternoon we worked on computer related items in the library which was closed as the librarian had gone to Choluteca. I spent about 3 hours printing digital photos for a Peace Corps Photo Contest. There is a photo contest that we are actually organizing for Peace Corps Honduras for photos from Volunteer service. I think we have a pretty good shot at winning a few different categories. Last we won based on a photo that I took for a married couple who were here and who also organized the last photo contest. There are cash prizes so it makes it hard not to want to win. I think we have a pretty good shot. We had three photos that we submitted to a national Peace Corps calendar contest that we just found out won and will be used in their 2004 calendar. So we are looking forward to seeing the results of this contest. The three that won were all digitals that we had processed by a company in Arizona. We uploaded the photos to them and they turned them into slides. That would be a better way of getting prints of them than printing them out on the poorer quality of printer that we have available to us here in Concepción, but you have to use what you have available and I got a good balance on the photos so they look pretty good.
Day 499 - Friday, March 14, 2003
My back is feeling a little better today, but I didn't sleep very well. I've opted to just laying in the hammock today and rest since most everything is kind of painful. I spent most of the day reading my Tom Clancy book "Red Storm Rising". It is kind of sad. I almost don't want to read on, but there is no way to put it down. War is not a cool thing, ever. Sometimes we are left with few choices though.
Day 500 - Saturday, March 15, 2003
My back was worse this morning. Don't know what is going on. I'm fearful that I've slipped a disk or something. I could barely walk when I got up this morning. I finally conceded and told Jennifer she could call Peace Corps and have Azucena, the town nurse, come visit me. I guess the Peace Corps doctor was a little upset we waited so long to call her, but we explained that we just thought I slept on it funny and that it would go away in a few days. She sent a Peace Corps vehicle, Toyota Land Cruiser, down immediately to bring us to Tegucigalpa and check me into a hospital. There is no way I would have made it on a bus. It took us about 3 1/2 hours by car and I was pretty uncomfortable. I got the whole middle seat to myself and was even able to sleep a little while we were driving.
We got to the hospital and was told they didn't really know what it was and they could keep me comfortable with drugs and then start a series of tests on Monday when the X-Ray and Laboratory staff were back on duty. It looks like some kind of pulled muscle or muscle spasm. They said it may have happened from so many hours hunched over the computer. I can believe that, especially after spending so many hours on the wedding video over the last week. I know my posture hasn't been very good, but it is hard when sitting in a plastic patio chair to maintain good posture.
I'm not completely comfortable with the hospital staff and am keeping a close eye on them. This is the same hospital I stayed at when I had mono right before we started our service in Concepción de Maria. They are nice enough, but I got a shot of some kind of muscle relaxant when I first checked in and then a nurse showed up to give me another one an hour and a half later in my room. I told her she should check the chart and confirm it with who ever issued the order as I didn't want to OD on muscle relaxants. She said that was probably a good idea and never came back. Now 12 hours later I still haven't gotten another shot, which tells me they are not very organized and I would have been one very relaxed patient if she had injected me a second time.
We were also supposed to put in a room on the other side of this floor. I think the rooms over there are a little nice as it is where we stayed when I was here last time. The reason they gave us for putting us here was that it was "quieter". From the time we got into the room until about 9:45 PM there was a group of people in the room next door and in the hallway whose children were yelling, running, playing, screaming and crying and their parents were much better talking in the jovial voices that you usually find in Hispanic cultures when 2 or 3 people are competing for a place in the conversation. I guess they didn't see the "please be quiet" signs when they got off the elevator. It was kind of annoying, and I wondered just how much "noisier" the rooms on the other side must be.
Day 501 - Sunday, March 16, 2003
I'm feeling better this morning and have some of my mobility back. I am still in some pain, but whatever they have been giving me seems to be working. They said I should rest for 3-5 days and not do any work. I wonder what the doctor will say when he walks in and I'm typing away on the computer. Oh well. It doesn't put in stress on my back since I'm laying in bed with the laptop on my stomach, tipped up with my bent legs. It's working really well.
Jennifer went to Mass for the two of us this morning and also to run a few errands. She should be back in a couple of hours. Breakfast this morning was pancakes with honey. They were ok, but there were only 3 of them and that is all I got; along with OJ and coffee.
Day 502 - Monday, March 17, 2003
I had a series of X-Rays this morning to determine what the problem is. The doctor came in in the afternoon and explained that #1 I was over weight, I've never heard that before. It was especially a surprise since I've dropped about 20 pounds since I came to Honduras. So I guess I will starting a new diet plan that involves less food and more exercise.
After talking to the doctor he ordered another set of x-rays that were a little more detailed. Afterwards I was told that I have a minor herniated disk in my back. The doctor seems to think it will heal with some bed rest, exercise, and better eating and moving habits. I'm starting to feel old.
Day 503 - Tuesday, March 18, 2003
We left the hotel this afternoon and moved into the Hotel Maya where we have a nice room to rest for the rest of the week. We will be staying until at least Friday. Peace Corps has been very supportive and they said it was a good thing it was a minor hernia or they would have had to medically separate me. I'm glad that didn't happen. I'm just hoping that I can make up the time that we are loosing for our work projects this week. March was supposed to be a big month for us to get things going in the cooperative and we hadn't had any plans to leave our site.
Day 504 - Wednesday, March 19, 2003
We walked to the grocery store this morning. It is almost a mile away so it was kind of hard on me. I was sore when we got home, but glad we went. We took a taxi back to the hotel. I took a hot bath after we ran into a Canadian woman in the grocery store who was doing price comparisons for the Canadian government, she used to be a massage therapist and Jennifer had told her I had hurt my back. She suggested a hot bath to relax the muscles. It worked really well and I think it will be a regular thing wile we are here. I relaxed for most of the afternoon while Jennifer worked on a video for our Guatemala/Copan Trip. We watched news coverage in the evening of the beginning of the war. The war to free Iraq started this evening with cruise missile attacks on Baghdad.
In the evening Jennifer fell asleep while I chatted with her dad on Yahoo.
Day 505 - Thursday, March 20, 2003
I'm feeling pretty good this morning a little stiff, but better. I downloaded some exercises off the internet to help loosen up and exercise my back. I'm looking forward to being healthy again. Jen worked on the video for our Guatemala/Copan Trip for quiet a while today. In the afternoon we went to the movies and saw "Gangs of New York", which I was excited to see as the previews looked interesting. I hadn't realized that the movie was a Martin Scorsese film or I think I may have thought twice about going to it. It was so violent and bloody at one point in time it just wasn't all that entertaining any more. Not that violence and gore are entertaining to begin with, but this was pretty bad. We saw a former Peace Corps Volunteer at the movie, she was in Honduras visiting her boyfriend, and she left in the middle of the movie because of all the gore.
In the evening we retired to our little hotel room which we have outfitted with a fridge. We bought groceries to keep us going this week which has been nice since then we didn't have to spend money going out to eat or traveling in taxis to get food and such.
I put together 11 photos for a local Peace Corps photo contest. There are 5 categories and each one pays 500.00 lempira so I am hoping we will have a little extra cash in a month or so. The guy accepting photos said ours were the first ones he had received. We may just win by default. we only had 3 actual film photos and the rest were digitals that we printed. They turned out ok, but I had to print them on a lower grade photo paper on an older lower quality printer in our town. I also had some problems with color matching and it took about 3 hours to balance the printed version compared with what appeared on the screen; they all kept coming out dark with a green tint. I made adjustments to color levels in the photos as well as saturation and ink balances on the printer and 8 out of the 11 turned out stunning. A person would really have to look carefully and know what to look for to see that the photos are digital prints and not film prints.
Day 506 - Friday, March 21, 2003
I talked to the medical office today. They said I should stay until Monday as they have been very busy and haven't had a chance to send my case to Washington for a concurrence. They need Washington to examine my medical records and say weather or not this type of injury can be dealt with in country or requires medical separation and additional care in the U.S. My Peace Corps nurse said it was just a matter of routine and since I was making such a fast recovery and it seemed to be a minor injury so I would be cleared to stay in the country. I was glad to hear that we get to stay for the weekend as I am not looking forward to the bus ride. We also wanted to do something with Wilmer and his wife (friends of ours who live in the capital).
In the late afternoon we went out for pizza with our director (Maria) and another married couple (Megan and Ryan) who both went to St. Olaf College in Minnesota. We had a very nice conversation and stuffed ourselves with pizza. Jen and I have come to the conclusion that we need a comprehensive plan and change in attitude if we are going to loose weight. Being a member of the "Clean Plate Club" for so many years it is hard to see food go to waste or to not eat everything that is placed in front of me. This is very dangerous since one of the key elements to any weight loss program is to eat a little less than you usually do, which is hard when you want to eat everything that is in front of you.
We retreated to our room for the evening and watched CNN and a movie or two. Jennifer chatted with a friend in the U.S. most of the night on Yahoo after putting in some time on the video.
Day 507 - Saturday, March 22, 2003
We hung out today and went to the mall for a while. Overall we had a pretty laid back day.
Day 508 - Sunday, March 23, 2003
We got up early this morning and went to Mass in the town center. Then we went back to the hotel, rested for an hour or so and then went to an Episcopal church where we met Ryan and Megan. We then walked to the mall (it was pretty close), had lunch, and went to the movie "Life Goes On". The movie was interesting, but not something I would probably go see again. I liked the premise and everything, but there just seemed to be something missing.
After the movie we went out for an appetizer at Fridays, and then headed back to our hotel room.
Day 509 - Monday, March 24, 2003
We visited the medical office this morning. I still haven't received clearance to leave, but the nurse told me as long as I was feeling better and making improvements I should be fine. We left in the afternoon after a mad taxi dash across the city. We had got a taxi to take us to the bus. He decided to stop and fill up his gas tank in the middle of our journey, which has happened a few time now and it always annoys me. Fill up your stupid gas tank when there is no one in your taxi, not when I'm trying to catch a bus. So we arrive at the market where the busses for our town leave. We told him to hurry so we didn't miss the bus. He made a u-turn and then just sat behind a parked bus. In the mean time our bus pulled out and left. We told him to follow it, but he refused and said there was another bus right there and we could take that one. We got out, I was pretty angry. The bus that was parked there wasn't leaving for another two hours and I really didn't feel like spending 10 hours on a bus with 2 hours just sitting there waiting to leave. The bus driver was really nice and got us another taxi, told him where we could find the bus, and to hurry or we would miss it. the woman who was in the taxi already told the driver to skip her stop and just take us directly, which was very nice. We made it to the last stop out of town right as the bus pulled up behind the taxi. So we made it.
After an uneventful bus ride back that seemed to take forever, we arrived in Concepción to our neighbors who were very happy to see us. My back was better than I ever thought it would have been on the ride back. I took advantage of stops to stretch and walk around a little, which helped.
Day 510 - Tuesday, March 25, 2003
We slept in this morning. Traveling here always takes a lot out of us. I miss the air conditioning from the hotel already. It was 98 degrees when we pulled in at 5 pm. Way too hot, and on top of that it had rained recently making the humidity about twice what it was before we left.
We went to the cooperative and talked to the director who said they were busy preparing for an annual meeting with the members of the cooperative. We told him we were planning a vacation for Easter and would be gone 3 weeks. He told us that would probably work better for him too, so we are planning on going to Argentina, Chile and Peru for April if Peace Corps agrees to our travels. It looks like it shouldn't be a problem, but it is not a really good time to be traveling with the war going on in Iraq right now, however if we don't go now we will never go.
In the afternoon we visited the high school to see how the tree nursery was coming along and to send and receive email. In the late afternoon we went for a walk and went visiting different friends in town to update them on how I am doing and let them know we were back.
Day 511 - Wednesday, March 26, 2003
We had our last Spanish class with Ruth this evening after which we ate dinner with her and Mario. We had a typical Honduran meal with beans, tortillas, fried plantains, and cheese. Jennifer and I brought salsa and guacamole. It was all very good. We will miss our Spanish lessons with her.
Day 512 - Thursday, March 27, 2003
We worked on the Mom and Dad VP video most of the day today and worked on our last minute plans to go to South America in a week. Jennifer went to the high school to help Ruth out with her English classes as they needed a native speaker to give them tips on pronunciation. In the evening we studied Spanish by candle light as the power was out.
Day 513 - Friday, March 28, 2003
I worked a little more on the Mom and Dad VP video before I ran out of battery on the computer. The power was still out this morning, but came on right before lunch. Jennifer delivered rosaries to the Christian education woman at church told her that she had been praying for something to give to her teachers who would be graduating tomorrow. So they arrived just in time to answer a prayer.
In the evening we read through the stations of the cross.
Day 514 - Saturday, March 29, 2003
We were invited to go to Cedeño today with Ruth and Mario for Ruth Maria's (their daughter) birthday. Cedeño is a beach town on the Pacific coast of Honduras. The beach was kind of dirty and the water was more or less the same. The town is still recovering from a tsunami that hit last year destroying most of the buildings and property along the water's edge when a 20 foot wall of water pounded the shore.
In the evening Jennifer had a sleepover with the neighbor girls. They had facial masks, took photos, watched a DVD movie on the laptop, and slept in the main part of our house on several thin mattresses.
Day 515 - Sunday, March 30, 2003
Jennifer woke up this morning and made pancakes for the girls. The power was out again today for most of the day so we didn't do a whole lot. We went to church and did some reading.
Day 516 - Monday, March 31, 2003
We worked in the cooperative this afternoon and got them started on categorizing and giving numbers to products that don't have bar codes. We also went for a walk and took a look at another store in town that is stealing much of their business away. the store is well organized, always well stocked, and very clean. We wanted them to see what their competition is how organized they are. The only thing they lack is room to expand, otherwise they are doing a very good job of running their store.
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