Our friend, Shawn, told us this about living in a developing country: "You will make a list of 10 things to do. Feel good if you get 3 accomplished. 3 out of 10 is a very, very good day."
And we understood that. We thought we were prepared for that. But the thing is, we didn't realize it would be EVERY day. We didn't realize that every time TJ comes home from an errand, I would eagerly ask, "So... How did it go?" There's no way to prepare myself for what will come out of his mouth next. It's always something different. Sometimes a great victory. Usually not.
Here's the list TJ woke up to today:
(Keep in mind, our plans for this morning were to prepare for Sunday worship.)
1) Go to the cell phone store to complain - our phone just ate 200 minutes and now we can't make any calls. Attempt to rectify that situation somehow???
2) Call the water guy to deliver a truck of water - the city water inexplicably hasn't arrived in our cistern in weeks.
3) Call our friend, Joaquin, to see if he can fix our TV - the power spiked SUPER high last night. The TV went "BANG" and started smoking. (We're not hopeful, here. And TV's are expensive in the Dominican.)
4) Drive the car to buy five 5 gallon bottles of drinking water - we're out.
5) Pick up paper towels, juice & 2 different allergy medicines. (That's 2 grocery stores & 2 pharmacies.)
6) Drop drinking water off at home.
7) Pay water truck guy.
8) Pick up TV & take to TV repair guy - Joaquin didn't answer his phone. We have no prior experience with TV repair guy, so we're hoping he doesn't steal parts from our TV. (Again, we're not hopeful here.)
9) Drop car off at the mechanic. It isn't starting properly. Henry changed a part yesterday, but it didn't fix the problem. This is TJ's 12th trip to Henry's this week.
If we don't get all of these things done today, we can forget about it. Next week is Semana Santa, and NOBODY will be working. Maybe I'll post an update later and let you know how things went.
Life in America can be like this, too, though... Can't it?
UPDATE
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So, how did it go?
Three days later, we're sitting at 7 out of 9. Not too shabby. But the two things that we couldn't cross off - the car & the TV - those are the things we'd like to have fixed the most. Maybe today???
4 comments:
Ummm...I guess it can get like that in America sometimes. But most times people are better at getting stuff done for you. My parents would have these exact same problems in St. Thomas - except they speak English there. And how frustrating is this kind of thing for people like you and me?! I feel for you and I hope that you can get some of those things taken care of before next week! Good luck!
Hey guys!
Good luck with the list! I can't wait to hear what got done and what didn't. I'm hoping for your water delivery!
The 3 out of 10 happens to me every day as well.. however the tasks I don't get to finish are completely different from the tasks you don't get to finish. My day consists of drop-in tours and visitors, phone calls out the wazoo, setting up home health, doing assessments, trying to keep up with all of my documentation writing. I never get my entire list finished each day no matter how hard I try!! Good luck with your list though!
wow...
i LOVED talking to TJ today and hearing the chickens in the background. Shouldn't there be a song on our new kids' record about chickens in the front yard? I mean...that would mean something to people in Tennessee too...right?
MISS YOU GUYS
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