More Friends Gone

Yesterday, Gary and Sara came to see me at the museum. They have been here for five weeks. I really thought they were going to be good friends of ours. Gary came to work as a divemaster, but hurt his back. They lived in an older house next to museum.

But this is not an easy place to live. I forget that often. They left at 1:00 and flew home.

My first three weeks here were miserable. One of the best decisions we made was that I came down two months before Deneen. I have often thought that had I Deneen spent my first three weeks here she would have been on a plane home. It took a long time to learn how fight the roaches, the mosquitoes, and heat, and to live with the ants. Not to mention water and anything more than a lime.

By the time Deneen got here, I had worked many of the difficulties of life here out. Well, the reality is that Deborah and Thomas worked many of these out for me. Our life here would not have been possible without their help, support, and a lot of dinners my first week here. Deborah and Thomas leave the TCI at the end of this month.

I wish now that I would have put more of a hand out to Gary and Sara. I had thought I would give them their space. But I keep thinking that I should have done more to make their first few weeks more comfortable. This may not have made a difference whether they stayed or left. But I could have been a better host to their five week adventure.

I love it here. I like the challenge and the puzzle of figuring it out. But I also understand that this is not an easy place to live.