Day 18

I got a lot of writing done today, which is one of my relaxation goals. I joined Amy and the kids at Selma’s hotel, Villa Serena, for swimming and lunch. Every angle of Serena is a postcard view – incredible. After lunch Amy took the kids to school, and I came home. I was so tired that I attempted to nap, but sounds are so amplified here that it sounds like the person walking in their house next door is actually downstairs. Today it sounded like someone was walking through our yard, and I ignored it and went to sleep. But it sounded like they were closer, and I heard steps right outside the window. I looked from our second floor bedroom, and saw someone at our outdoor sink, in the cabinet underneath. I thought it may be a gardener-related person, but they kept looking around as if they were afraid of getting caught. I snuck down the stairs, opened the side kitchen door, and made no pretenses of nice Spanish – “What’s up?!” he looked up, with a bag of charcoal briquettes in one hand and the remaining bag of charcoal we had bought in the other. He said something in Spanish, but in my panic I heard none of it, and just replied “No comprende.” I did motion by pointing down and saying “charcoal aqui.” He didn’t act upset, but tried to say a couple more things, and I kept saying “Aqui. Aqui.” I also told him, in very disjointed chunks of vocabulary, that Amy would be home later and she could talk to him. He said “gracias” a couple times and walked away, leaving through the backyard, where he grabbed a wheelbarrow that he had left next door. I didn’t know what to make of it since, with the language gulf, I didn’t know if he was there for a legitimate reason or otherwise.

I was a little worried after he left. Would he be back? Was our house being watched? I wanted to run an errand, but I worried that as soon as I left someone was watching and would come back in.

After ½ hour of watching out the door and windows, I finally decided to leave, thinking that if someone did see me, they wouldn’t know how soon I’d be back, and then they’d be the worried ones.

I went to Cyril’s where he re-set his network for my computer. It worked fine, and we even chatted for, oh, 3 minutes.

That night, at the soccer game, only the white / blanco guys showed up, about 8 guys in all. I played terribly, but Jean taught me how to say “nice try “ – “bueno intendo,” a very good phrase for me to know. (see my foreign phrases of acquiescence.) During the game some of the Dominican / Haitian guys came by and watched, and I noticed / remembered that one of them was the same guy I chased out of the backyard with our charcoal today. I told Mel what was up – “I think that guy was trying to rip me off today” – in case I needed someone to translate for me. After the game, again in which I played terribly – I don’t know the rules, and keep making infractions intentionally – and was exhausted, I approached that guy, whose name I was told is Felix, and tried to make the connection in my disjointed Spanish – remember mi casa? Carbone? Today? At first he acted like he didn’t know me, but after the carbone reference he had a look like recognition on his face. I then attempted to ask him to come by again and I would give him some charcoal – I figured if he needed it that bad I’d be glad to give it to him, saving him from a criminal act (or as Paul, our ex-Boston cop neighbor would refer to it, “a crime of opportunity.”) and possibly earning some neighborly chits – he wouldn’t try to rip off someone he knew, and might actually tell anyone else to avoid us.