That's the sound a baby crocodile makes when you grab it around the neck. I don't normally make a habit of strangling baby animals, but I also don't want to get into the routine of letting them gnaw on my fingers. That's just not being a good steward of what God's given me.
I didn't really hurt the thing, I just wanted a picture of it. I was at a student's house - really a farm - to see the crocs they hatched in their backyard pond. He told me about them in class and invited Melissa and me over to see them. After school I knew he meant it, because he came back on his four wheeler, pulled up to my window, and informed me that, "If you and your wife want to see my crocodiles you have to come either right now or at six, because I have to mow." So, I left work right away. Such a funny guy!
I don't think he got much work that day though, I hope I didn't get him in trouble. But we weren't expecting to find so much cool stuff at his house. The view itself took awhile to get over, I swear you could see the edge of Belize from his house. Their hill faces the school, so you can see everyone coming and going, then across from that our apartment, the medical center, the park, the hills leading down from Blue Creek, then the farmland and roads stretching across the flat terrain all the way to the coast. It was a hazy day but I can imagine how breathtaking it would be on a sunny day in the dry season.
This property pretty much has everything you would ever need. A comfortable home, thatched roof garage and shop, cows, coconut palms, lemon trees, mango trees, banana tress, a garden and pumpkin patch, one sheep, chickens, turkeys, huge Mayan artifacts, dogs, and two trampolines. I'm sorry, did you say you were leaving to Canada and wanted me to house-sit for a year?
While we were there, Earl knocked a few coconuts down and got his machete to give us something to drink. I thought he was going to cut the nut out of the middle of the thick, green case they grow in. Instead, he just chopped away at the top until there was just a quarter-sized opening into the nut itself, stuck a straw in, and handed it over. Now, I knew in my head that it was natural, unsweetened coconut. But, my tongue is still very American. It is not familiar with the flavor of coconut without sugar. So, the first sensation when you taste the clear, watery coconut milk is confusion and surprise. You have to work through that. Then you taste it for what it is. MAN THAT'S GOOD STUFF! After we drank all the milk - which was a lot - he chopped them in half and with a spoon we ate the coconut flesh. mm MM mm!
His mom was very sweet, too. It's such a pleasure to talk to the families of my students and meet new people in the community, everybody is so friendly and thoughtful. While we were talking she had Earl go pick a bag of lemons for me. It didn't take long before he returned with a heavy, clear plastic back filled with small, perfectly round fragrant lemons. "Six per gallon plus one cup of sugar."
"Thanks, Earl. Oh, and this will not effect your grade - you still have homework."
On the way out, his mom mentioned something about the turkey. I couldn't see it by the chicken coup, so Earl said something to it in what was probably low Turkey (since they speak low German). "Lobolobolobol!" Suddenly I saw and ugly red thing flip over the beak of a giant white head in the shadow as it responded, "LOBOLOBOLOBOL!" I think the turkey likes Earl. Then it walked toward him. Huge! This bird was huge! I want to go there for Thanksgiving!
That's a meal we still need to plan for, I think it will be exciting to have it here. Last night's meal was good though. The youth of the community planned a "Disco Supper." I got really excited, got my wig, platform shoes, bell bottoms, and gold chains. Then they explained that a "disco" is a type of wide shallow pan they put over a fire to cook a lot of food for a lot of people. So, the youth cooked for the community last night, accepting donations as a fundraiser for a new piano.
It was a good time, with volleyball and a chicken game after dinner. They had a raffle for the chicken game. $2 a ticket. Then they drew the numbers on the ground, put a plywood fence around it, and dropped a chicken in. Everyone screamed at the chicken, it pooped, and the number the poo landed on was the lucky winner of $50! I had number 37. The chicken pooped on 53. I never win the chicken poop game.
I watched Melissa play volleyball afterward. That girl can play! She got game still! But I was standing there watching her, enjoying the sport, when I felt a stray cat brush up against my ankle. I looked down and saw instead that it was a Jurassic Moth. It was not my happiest moment ever.
So, time to get ready for tonight. Our neighbor Maria had an awesome conversation with her students that turned into a student-led worship service tonight. It's going to be in the common area/open room by our apartments. It's going to RAWK! So pray that leads to something that happens often because I am SO excited to see the kids take initiative for the first time and start something they want to see happening anyway. I love this job! Let us know how you guys are doing!
Love ya!
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