we had a peaceful morning here at the beach. it's nice to have a couple of days of american-style toilets and no travel. we even cooked eggs this morning. we hung out at the beach in the am, and are now preparing for class. i look forward to a nice, cool sunset on the beach.
here's blake's arm (note that it is larger than my arm) and a couple of women in traditional garb as we prepare to negotiate taxis out of the city. the market was pretty packed as we were leaving. i've seen enough markets for a while. i have honed my negotiating style, though. this is what i recommend (with currency converted to US$). you say "how much is this gift for john hoover (who has given you gifts before and was a great help in funding this trip and is partly responsible for why you're here along with theefforts, encouragement and funding of drew allvine) worth to me?" you decide it's worth $20. you say "i'll give you $15 for this" (you've already set a general parameter that should be much lower than what he would have started bidding at). he will say "these are antiques. they are worth $40" you say "not to me. i'll give you $20. then he'll whine about the price, and you say ok, then you'll just look somewhere else. he'll go speak to his manager, then return t say "i can give these to you for $25" you say "sorry, no" and walk away. he crumbles as soon as you turn. the second time he calls after you he sells it to you for $20. start to finish this takes 3 minutes. no stress. no haggling.
so, i type this from the back seat of my taxi. my other three fellow travelers on this leg of the journey all are listening to their ipods. they suck! they should be talking to me. i'm more interesting than "fisher spooner" (whoever that is). guess i'll just watch the sunset and reflect on the trip so far. btw, one thing that's been on my mind these lst few weeks is "being the man." in an effort to facilitate this i want to get myself a placard that i can place above my door so i can jump up and touch it each morning before i leave. this trip has underscored my still-constant vacillation between the way i am and the way i aspire to be. maybe a placard would help. it couldn't hurt. maybe i'll cross-stitch something or spell it in maccaroni.
i should maybe mention that i think i'm getting carbon monoxide poisining from the car's exhaust (which seems to be coming out of the tail pipe through the trunk and over my shoulder) and this post she not be considered to represent my best acquittal in the areas of spelling or sentence structere. also the thoughts expressed herein do not necessarily represent the thoughts o viewpoints of my producers or the network. this blog can not be re-broadcat or re-transmitted without the express written consent of major league baseball. i am charles breland, and i approve this message.
here we are freshening ourselves after an afternoon in the market. we're getting ready to head to meet with our contact and attend some more intensive classes. what you see in the picture is jen "powdering" trey's armpits at great personal sacrifice. this trip has given us a ton of insight into what life in 33ad would have been like. let me tell you NO ONE smelled good. that's for sure. one other thing that definitely stands out is the anger many of these people (particularly in the big cities) have. it's common to see people yelling at each other. today we saw a man hitting a child with a stick in the market.
btw, in response to sela's post from last night, my hat rocks and many (of the coolest) locals are wearing it.
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