Too many things to do and not enough time

October has been very busy for us what with unpacking and trying to get things arranged in the house as well as trying to do as many fun things as possible.  We had a delicious dinner on a rooftop restaurant with a Business School sectionmate of mine.  The restaurant is right next to a church and when the bells started ringing there was no point in trying to talk.  They were loud and went on forever.  Our friends who have lived here for several years were wearing jackets and thought it was cold.  We were in short sleeves and were very comfortable.

We went on an architectural tour, which was interesting, and on Sunday the 6th, we took our little dog and walked to St. Paul's Anglican Church for a blessing of the animals.  We are not at all religious, but this was a lovely ceremony with many dogs and a couple of cats in attendance.  Molly got blessed and was a very good girl.  Later in the day we attended our first ProMusica event, again at St. Paul's.  It was a violin concert by Susie Park, an Australian who was a child prodigy and has now played all over the world.  It is a small venue and she was about four feet away from us while she played.

The other thing we did was go to the dump to get rid of some furniture pieces and other items which were badly damaged during the move.  The dump is pretty far out of town on a very rough dirt road in a beautiful desert landscape, but the dump itself is a strange experience.  We drove on a scale to weigh the car and then drove up a fairly steep dirt road to the place to unload.  There must have been a hundred dogs laying around on the heaps of garbage, and as soon as we arrived, people carrying bags came running up to the car to see what we were dumping.  Some boys helped unload the stuff and others looked to see what was salvageable.  We could see some little shacks where these poor people lived, or at least stayed at during the day.  Very sad.  We gave the boys who unloaded the car some nice tips, then drove back down to weigh the car again and pay the fee.

Every Friday a local newspaper comes out, in English, with a calendar of events.  There are so many things we want to do, but there is no way to fit them all in.  Tomorrow we will go on a house and garden tour which will benefit a local charity.  We will get to see how the more well off folks live.