Today it rained on the mountain, and drove my trench members and I into hiding under a tarp that was covering a pile of rocks. I looked and Lyle and Arthur crouching there in the mud beside me, shivering, and we giggled. We pulled the edge of the tarp all the way to the ground so that we were completely invisible to sight and waited silently for Our Fearless Leader`s yell of annoyance. Which isn`t quite fair, since Tristan is the best trench leader I could ask for. But we have never had rain before, and it makes the dirt quite impossible to work with.
This is what I`ve learned so far: everything is screwed up. Rocks are more important than people, and I can now read very much into very little. I can wash pottery, and spend an entire day sweeping dirt off of dirt. It is like the book Holes, where you spend the day digging in the hot sun without really knowing why, and when you find something unusual you are rewarded with a treat, like a cold beer.
But I love it. I love it`s backwardness, the dirtiness, the thought of finding something cool.
Saturday night is our night off. We started at 4 in the afternoon with sangria on the steps of the school in the sun, laughing and singing to ABBA, and waving to the farmers driving by in their tractors. And flagging down the shepherds and giving them a glass of wine with fruit. After dinner I really wanted a moped ride, so Arthur talked one of the village boys into driving me around in the dark, and I laughed at the wind in my hair and the wild dogs chasing after us. Then we all went to the soccer field and we played a wild, Dioynicitc game of chase and soccer and dancing all in one. And we lay in a heap and star-gazed, and Our Fearless Leader was there too and that`s why he is the best.
I love swimming. Us girls swam for hours and lay on the rocks, and the Albanian boys thought we were AUstralian, haha. The water is almost too warm, and the rocks burnt the soles of our bare feet, and our tan lines are hilarious. We picked garbage out of the Aegean Sea and closed our eyes and pretended to be dead, and the salt dried in waves on our backs and legs and then we were mermaids with seaweed and a wild look in our eyes.
You really put people there in your shoes, Jane (or sandals, as the case may be). I could feel the wet dirt under my hands as I crouched under a wet tarp, a giggle at the back of my throat.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you write about the insanity of things and then point out the beauty in that insanity.
"But I love it. I love it`s backwardness, the dirtiness, the thought of finding something cool."
There it is. The thought of finding something cool.
Great post. Glad to hear things are going. Not going well, not going bad, not going normal. Just going differently.
Interesting that the Albanians automatically assumed you must be Australian...maybe it was the ridiculous tan lines.
You reminded me of this:
http://lesinge.org/ch/95/ch950603.gif
Hi Lovely,
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the book holes, and it's funny you mentioned that because when I envisioned what you were going to be doing this summer, I instantly thought of that.
I really want to see you when you come back. I'll meet you at the lake, if you want the company
postman...thank you. as always, you say the nicest things that make my day. i am going right now to your blog and reading as much as i can in 10 minutes... i miss the leisurely reading i used to do! oh well. such is life.
ReplyDeletejacq: i misssss you! and it totally was like holes. and if you arent in school, or can take the weekend off, then you are for sure coming to the lake with me :)