A routine sets in belatedly

     In the morning Patrik and Katte left.  I had really enjoyed their company and was sorry to see them go.  One of the reasons is that so few men volunteer here.  I'd like to think I'm doing some good work, but I can think of any number of guys back home--Kurt?  Wayne?  Marc?  Charlie?--who could contribute so much more to the place with their skills and strengths.  The fact is, however, that most of the people who want to come here are soft-hearted animal-loving WOMEN.  And now, so soon, after moving so many banana trees so quickly and without regard to so many  bugs, Patrik was gone.

     Another guy showed up though, this time a Brit named Mark from Newcastle, and he too was prepared to work hard and to enjoy Tul's cooking!  Megan and I spent the morning sketching Buffy and Happy Lucky, with the following results, and I spent the afternoon scrubbing the mold off a bamboo wall in a new building on the Project's grounds in preparation for it to be varnished.
      It was not a day of noteworthy events--no runaway elephants or banana buying expeditions, but yet a thoroughly good day that left me with time to contemplate some of the previously unstated features of this place.         
     For example, there are monkeys here--gibbons and what Jemma called "shanks," apparently black shanked douc langurs if my extensive two-minute internet research is correct.  We never see them.  They are very shy.  I keep scanning the treetops in the valley thinking I will see one, but no luck.  Of course, it doesn't help that I can't wear my glasses since they slide down my nose so constantly they are more of a bother than anything else.  So I don't wear them.

       There are also these huge cicadas who have a voice that sounds--no exaggeration--like an air raid siren.  Incredibly loud and piercing.  And then there is a bird, again heard but not seen, that continuously sings,  "When the caissons go rolling, go rolling, go rolling"  and, maddeningly, NEVER completes the phrase.  
       Really, not very many birds considering what seems to be a highly bird-friendly environment.  Jack told me, and I'm not sure whether he was kidding [as is frequently the case around Jack], that the local people eat anything that remotely resembles protein, including birds.  Jemma told of a recent incident in which the cleaners found a rat in one of the houses and asked her for help.  She opened the door and proceeded to attempt to chase the rat out.  The cleaners had a different idea and CLOSED the door, CAUGHT the rat, and you can guess what they had for lunch that day.
    This was the kind of quiet day I like.  I feel so much more comfortable now than during my first week.  Megan and Becca have decided to leave after only one week rather than the two they'd booked.  The bugs are too much, and they're ready to move on, they say.  They generously offered me their week, so I could have stayed a third week for no extra cost.  Tempting as the offer is, I'm looking forward to going home.