Immediately after I finished writing my last post the storm clouds rolled in with a final warning and I hopped on my bike to head home. That's the thing about bike as transportation - when it rains you really don't want to be going anywhere. It rained all of Thursday so my day off was spent divided between my bed and a sheltered hammock. I suppose there are worse ways to spend a day. It was still raining in the evening when we went to the Laanta Lanta Festival so it wasn't such fun, but we got good food and had a quick look in some nice booths before giving up and returning to the truck.
Friday night was my first night sleeping in the kennel and it was just about everything it's cracked up to be. The evening begun with Sanchez, a tough looking dog covered in battle scars, whining fearfully at things moving in the night. To quiet him down I brought him into the kitchen where I was sleeping and let him curl up with me, but then Rufus the Terrible figured that if Sanchez got to be in the kitchen then he ought to be as well. And so he begun howling loudly, and Rufus is the kind of dog who enjoys being yelled at and punished so it's really hard to shut him up once he gets going. He became the greater of two evils so Sanchez had to return to face the night demons (frogs and kittens) and Rufus took his rightful place in the kitchen. Have I mentioned that I really dislike Rufus? He's this huge dog who isn't aware of his size or the fact that he's no longer a puppy. I took him for a walk the other day and he wanted to play with some strange dogs but I wouldn't let him so he turned and bounded at me. I saw my life flash before my eyes. Anyways, with Rufus in the kitchen I was able to get a few hours of sleep before they started barking at 3, howling at 4, and getting up at 5 to prevent them barking during the Muslim prayer. It was a less than enjoyable night, but only 7 more of those to deal with.
In the past few days there have been a lot of volunteers coming and going, and more are leaving in the next few. Toni left for Australia, Rebecka is about to leave for Sweden, and Josh is going...wherever Josh lives. A new couple came on Saturday from Canada and another couple came just last night from London. They all seem like good people but it meant I lost my single bedroom. I moved in with Terezia yesterday but she's cool and we get along so it should be fine, but so much for settling in a bit these two months. I feel like I'm getting to know all the volunteers a bit better. We all get along well but it's not like when I volunteered at the farm in Israel when we were all tight after a week. I think part of the reason is that I'm so much younger (over twice my age in some cases), and also a lot of people came with a friend or as a couple so there's automatically some division. But no worries, when we do hang it's great and I also really enjoy doing my own thing.
So my bike...is kind of a piece of shit. I say that affectionately but honestly. It's old. It's a gas guzzler. The brakes suck. It often refuses to start for several minutes. The motor doesn't start well so it kicks and almost throws you off the backseat everytime you get it going. I thought I was just a really bad driver but I let someone else drive it yesterday and they fell off when it kicked so I feel a bit better about myself, but slightly concerned that I'll now have to pay for a cracked mirror. Regardless, it gets me around though I'm eternally teased about my slow driving speeds.
Not much else has been new at the shelter. There's the income of animals for treatments, the daily walking of dogs, the routine chores. None of its hard but my most common phrase might just be, "This is probably the grossest thing I've ever done." Still I'm glad for something to fill part of my time and to meet people through volunteering. The beaches are great and the parties are fun, but I think I'd be a bit bored if I didn't have anything else to do during the day. I suppose a lot of tourists feel that way because everyday we have dozens who visit and walk a few dogs for us.
I guess that's all for now. Tomorrow's my day off and since I worked a morning shift today I'm officially free. I'll write again soon, hope all is well with everyone.
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