Farewell et Adieu, Home and Native Land: Grab the Nearest Plastic Bag

My weekend was short, even more so than usual. On Saturday, I woke up and found that we didn't have any water. Some dry-shampoo and splash-and-go wipes later, I was off to work. I ended up having to working until 4:30. This caused me to miss out on meeting up with several friends to do a tour of the museums in the Colonial Zone and also saying goodbye to Andreea in person. By the time I got home, I had enough energy to make dinner and settle in for the evening.

Sunday was not overly exciting. I slept in a bit and then proceeded to do a lot of cleaning and other things around the house. I scrubbed (and I mean really scrubbed) the tub to get it looking a bit more respectable along with the rest of the bathroom. I also attempted to mop the floor in the main area and kitchen but I really suck at mopping. I tidied up my room, mopped, did laundry, hemmed a pair of pants, did some ironing, etc. Lots of fun... Once again, I took the late afternoon and evening to just relax and prepare for the harsh reality of having to begin another work week.

The work day today was quite stressful for me. The report we've been working on for the past while (the same one that caused me to work an extra 3.5 hours on Saturday) now has to have a lot more changes done to it. I spent most of my time trying to shrink* the report and ensure there was no duplication of data. All of this led me to be quite frustrated, but it is all a part of the learning experience. I'm trying to find a way to gradually introduce some more efficient ways of doing things.

It was raining at lunch today. I always carry my umbrella so this doesn't really bother me. What I do enjoy though is watching people and their use of plastic bags as a rain shield. The other weekend, when Maria and I were waiting at Nacional, I saw countless women, dressed very well, walking out of the store with the bright green Nacional bag tied around their head, protecting their hair (looking almost like a shower cap or kerchief - there appeared to be a sort of art to it). Today, while eating lunch, I watched the delivery boys come and go, replacing their large black garbage bag with a new one, for their main cover-up, and placing new small grocery bags on their feet to protect their shoes. There's something about all of this that I like. I think it is the way that no one cares that someone is wearing a grocery bag on their head. In my mind, I still go, oh, they look silly, but that's because in Canada, most people I know would not consider doing such a thing. I know I wouldn't. I could not imagine myself being at Safeway, realizing it is raining out and asking for an extra bag so that I could wrap my hair up into it while I run to my car. It sort of makes sense though. I mean, if you put all that effort into your hair and makeup, why let the rain ruin it. Sure you may look a little bit silly, but when you arrive at your next destination, the beauty will still be intact. Yeah, I still couldn't do it.

I made a very yummy supper tonight. One of the girls that I lived with in residence in my second year has a blog with some yummy recipes and even yummier pictures. I saw the one with the strawberries and thought that would be good. So I made that, along with some pasta that just had a simple sauce of olive oil, lime juice and pepper with a bit of Parmesan on top, and I treated myself to a glass of wine as well.