July 4

Jackie made something that looked like Tandoori chicken, but it tasted even better, for lunch.  I took seconds.  It was HOT today.  About 3:30, I could not keep my eyes open.  I tossed and turned until 5:30 or so, and slept until 6:45.  After a shower and clean clothes, I feel much better.  For dinner we had something Jackie made with ground pork and minutely hand chopped carrots for the filling, wrapped in a spring roll wrapper, and fried.  Very tasty!

Let me talk about noise!  It is a constant assault on my senses, and today it really started to bother me.  Perhaps that's because I had not stopped to think about it before.  There are no rules against custom horns on vehicles, so you can get blasted with sirens, Star Wars sound effects, cruise ship horns, or anything else you can imagine, and it can be coming from a Jeepney, a bus, a taxi, or even a motor bike.  The common factor is 120 or more decibles.  People are in pretty much constant motion from 5am to 10pm, so there is almost always the sound of a motor bike outside my bedroom window.  I have the corner room, which improves air flow, but one side is on the street.  The apartment is in the approach pattern for the Manila airport, and that doesn't help.  If the wind changes, and we are in the takeoff path, I long for the relative quiet of approaches.

In my siesta stupor, I was dreaming about a QUIET place on the ocean, with no noise but the surf.

Normally I find I have less aches and pains after sleeping on my 4" foam pad than I remember from sleeping on the best mattress available, but today I feel beaten up and bruised.  I think it was all the tossing and turning from the heat.  I always hated fans in the US, but since the land lord said I could not install an airconditioner, fans are my friend.  They help keep the sweat evaporating and my clothes damp, rather than soaking.

Jackie says in November,  I will be wishing for some of this heat, especially when it is time for a shower.  This is not even the hottest part of the year.  I guess March and April are the hottest part of the year.  I think I will have to find someplace else to be about February.  Still, maybe I will get used to it, or decide to pay the price of an airconditioned apartment.