This was the first weekend without Ben and Joel. Lokesh says that I need to find a new routine, now that they are gone, and I joked back, "One that doesn't include you waking me up every morning when you come to take me to work!" Lokesh took Saturday off this week too to visit his in laws, so I was on my own even for waking up and driving to work on Saturday. He had a great weekend and, "slept under the clouds," at his inlaw's farm which sounds quite beautiful. This blog entry is supposed to be about my weekend though.
Friday night, I had my regular conference call with Waterloo. I went to the gym after and then to the Galleria to pick up a pen. Dianne and I were continuously picking up pens, I bought some just after she left and the tradition seems to be continuing. I think that I tried out the hotplate in the apartment and made dried soup for supper.
Saturday I talked to Tim before driving myself to work and wrote a script to import historical data into a new system that I am hoping to implement before I go. After work, I went to the House of Peace, to show off my new guitar and fiddle with their computers and blog (which I have linked to). Claudia played my new guitar a bit, and sang. After she told me that Brazilian's don't play each other's guitars, but she played mine very well, especially when factoring in her beautiful singing voice. I brought the bongo along too and Shaji was playing it. It seems to have lost its sharp edge, and it doesn't hurt to play it anymore. They fed me very good chicken and some takeout non veg thali. I guess because of Diannes and my own group home experience, it feels like we have known Shaji and Caudia much longer than we actually have.
Sunday I drove myself to church. The sermon was given by an Indian gentleman, about mission being about helping the whole person and their situation. Kristen and I had a very good practice of Be Thou my Vision. The first time, we had trouble getting the guitar and piano in tune together, but thanks to Carolyn in Waterloo's advice I tuned the guitar to the piano first. Then when we played scales together we were already in tune. We got a little serendipitous surprise from the music. I was in such a hurry to print Kristen her music that I took it from a different version than the one that I ended up using on the guitar. Turns out that there are a couple of bars, of (I hope) nice counterpoint. On the way home, I was just thinking about there always beeing some joker driving on the right when sure enough that joker appeared in front of me, and I had to go around him. I got my Sunday afternoon nap, and when I woke up I noticed that I wasn't bathed in sweat, which brings me to the title of this entry.
There was also a wind blowing, so I put on my sun glasses that I bought with Christine at Mountain Equipment Co-op and walked over to the gym. It was very pleasant out. The wind, wasn't full of sand and dust like I expected, more like the wind in the trees on a lazy summer afternoon back home. While I was using the rowing machine on the second floor gym, I looked out of the window at the slum across the street. I was just thinking about the contrast between the City Club and the apartment and the area around it when someone started flying a kite in the cricket field between the club and the slum. It was such a joyful, glad to be alive kite, that I watched it the whole time I was finishing my rowing. After I was done excersizing I went into the outdoor part of the club and sat on the verandah and people watched for a bit. It was so pleasant out, and everything seemed this bright bright green. I got talking to the manager, and it was then that I found out while I was napping it rained a bit. The much cooler temperature was due to the water being evaporated from the rain. On the way out of the club, I ran into Naresh an NCR employee who lived upstairs from Dianne and the kids and I.
