It has been awhile since I (Virginia) have written anything. The days have been so busy! I will try to give you a brief overview of what our (Mary Jane and I) days are like at home here on Bonaire.
Usually our day begins around 5:45 in the morning, at least that is the time the alarm is supposed to go off. We usually are awake before that. A quick cool shower wakes one up and readies us for the day. The shower is cool because we have no hot water heater in our side of the duplex. The water pipes run on the top of the ground and heat up during the day from the sunshine and can be very warm in the evenings, but are usually always cool in the mornings.
After getting dressed and having a little quiet time, it is time to prepare breakfast We try to prep as much as possible the night before, but we do have cooked cereal and eggs once in awhile and pancakes on Saturday mornings. We usually eat around 7:00, a hymn is sung after eating, then the guys get ready to leave. They collect their lunch and make sure they have water bottles along.
When things quiet down, after the guys leave, Mary Jane and I clean up, start the laundry and then we sit down with something to drink and go over the menu for the next couple of days and begin prepping for dinner. We do hang the clothes out on the line, but there is a dryer that is run off bottled gas, as is the stove. The dryer is slow and expensive to run, but the clothes dry quickly in the breeze so we seldom have the need for the dryer. The wind blows from the east and the clothes lines run north and south, so it is just right for drying. We have learned to not drop anything on the ground. The ground is covered with burrs of some sort and they are literally a pain to remove. The wind also can blow them onto things and those annoying little things stick to shoes and track into the house as well.
Larry and Ralph, the two grandpas (actually there are some younger grandpas here, too), come home for lunch. They eat lunch and snooze for 15-20 minutes before going back to work. The temperature is in the high 80’s and the humidity is fairly high, and working with the much younger men, creates a combination that makes a break at noon very much appreciated and needed.
Most days Mary Jane or I take Ralph and Larry back to work after lunch and we take the truck to town. Everything is close here on Bonaire so it doesn’t take long to get to the site or to town. We buy groceries that are needed and try to do a little sight seeing and visit the shops. We do have two refrigerators, but feeding 11 people keeps our refrigerators full and us constantly thinking about food. For example we use about 2-1/2 loaves of bread a day. Buying fresh bread and veggies are usually the main items on the shopping list. Sometimes we stop for some ice cream at the little ice cream shop @ $1.75 a scoop or a cool drink in the newer grocery store on the island. All the shops are air-conditioned which makes it even more pleasant to walk into the shops and linger.
We normally have to rush home to pick up the guys at 4:30 when the work day here seems to end. The guys then like to head to the water, which is less than a half mile away, to cool off and relax. I would say ‘beach’, but there is no sand until one gets into the water. There are stairs down the short coral cliff to the water. When they return, they shower under the outside shower to get the sand off and get ready for dinner around 5:30 or 6:00. After dinner we have one or two hymns and then everyone gets out their ‘device’ and talks to their families or sweethearts
I forgot to mention that mornings and evenings finds the young men sitting around with their Bibles or ‘devices’ studying God’s word. Some are memorizing portions of scripture and often we hear them reciting to each other. Such a thoughtful, caring group of young men.
After cleaning up from the evening meal, Mary Jane and I make the sandwiches and lunches for the next day and prep for breakfast. Usually we are done with all that around 8:00 and are ready to shower and drop into bed. We are SO thankful for air-conditioning in the bed rooms so we can relax and sleep well. The cost of utilities is about 10 times what it is in the States, so we only run it at night. We are also thankful for air-conditioners in cars. Air -conditioning makes life so much more pleasant.
