We were supposed to go to the fields today to enjoy a quiet day by the river. Auntie Baby promised me I could ride on the carabao on the way there. And it was a gorgeous day as well.
However, when she came to pick me up, she said we were forbidden to go. Tomorrow is the Dark Monday of Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus; therefore, it is believed that the snakes would be out and about today and tomorrow. "Piesta ng mga ahas" (feast of the snakes), she said. I asked if they also have a marching band and a parade, like small towns do when they celebrate the feast of their patron saint. :-)
So we ended up doing laundry instead. Luckily, Auntie Baby has a washer and dryer. When I got there, I found out what the "washer and dryer" is. Both washer and dryer are in one unit. The washer side is a cylindrical basin (just like a normal small top-loading washer). You have to fill it with water yourself which you pump from the artesian well into a bucket, then you carry the bucket over to the machine and pour the water in. Then you add powdered detergent to the water. Then you add the clothes. There is only one dial for the washer; it's actually a timer which indicates how long it would swish the clothes. And the swishing is different as well; it goes in one direction first, then goes the other direction after about a minute. When the machine stops, you rub the clothes a bit more before wringing them out. Then you take them out to the artesian well, where you rinse them three times. Then you wring them out again and take them back to the machine and load them in the dryer. The dryer is actually just a spinner, that spins the excess water out of the clothes. It's a smaller cylinder, probably half the diameter of the washing cylinder. Just like the washing side, the dryer only has one dial, also a timer, that indicates how long to spin the clothes. After it has spinned most of the water out, you take the clothes to the laundry line and hang them up to dry completely, preferably where it's sunny, which can be tricky if it's stormy out. But, we had a nice sunny day today, so my clothes were dry by the time we finished lunch.
In the afternoon, Auntie Baby, Vincent (her youngest), and I went to town to go to the Internet cafe. I was just there a few days ago to upload entries to this blog and some pics. While Vincent did his own thing, I taught Auntie Baby how to use the computer and how to get on the Internet. Vincent created an email address for her at Yahoo.com, so we sent out a few emails so she could practise. She's beginning to get the hang of it. Her hand is still a bit shaky with controlling the mouse and she still hunts and pecks on the keyboard, but I figure she'll be there very often. She's hooked. Soon, she'll be reading this blog too. (Hi, Auntie Baby!)
After three hours at the cafe, we went back to their house, where two young boys were waiting for us. John Paul (Auntie Baby's oldest) found them walking around at the market, recognized them, and took them with him. It turns out that they're my cousins, sons of my mom's late brother Pablo with his second wife. They're 9 and 7 years old. The older one apparently inherited Uncle Pablo's intelligence. And they're both computer-literate already.
And so ends the day and we haven't seen a single snake.
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