Just a day

Played in my first game yesterday after three weeks of injury rest (tore three ligaments in my ankle). I was able to play a good 60 minutes. Happy that cycling at the gym has kept my fitness up enough to play for that long.

We have all been sick for the past week. Brandon had a sore throat and fevers. The kids had gastro of some sort, mainly just cramps and no eating. I had gastro as well. I thought I was better until we headed home from my game yesterday. I now feel like I have been hit by a truck (which may be due to the game more than the sickness), sore throat and fever.

Gu headed back to China yesterday for a three week holiday. When he returns he will be leaving us and moving in with a classmate. I find it odd that he never calls them friends. They are only referred to as classmates. Even those he went out with at home were also given the name classmate, never friend. Perhaps westerners use the term too loosely? Or maybe they don't use it enough? We are a little sad that he won't be living with us any longer but understand the desire to live with a friend, I mean classmate, as well as someone that speaks your native language. The university has already asked us if we would take a student from Japan. I would like to but we might need to take a pass this time around.

Upon arriving home from the soccer game yesterday we met another neighbor. He is from Chile and lives directly behind us. I am not sure if he had planned to walk by our place. He did have something to discuss. Apparently he is worried about the back fence. He thinks it will fall over soon due to time taking its tole. We explained to him that we are renting and that this type of problem the landlord needs to handle. I didn't want to discourage him by stating that there were several things inside the house needing to be fixed which were being ignored. Brandon said that our next door neighbors had commented on the fence as well. They were also worried it would be falling over soon. So I suppose we will be writing another e-mail asking that the fence issue be addressed. I really don't want to be on bad terms with the neighbors over a fence.

This morning the same next door neighbors came over and asked if we had heard any commotion last night. Apparently around 3am someone had smashed their back window with a crowbar while attempting to break into their house. The unnerving part is that the whole family was home at the time. They had two cars in the driveway. Brandon thinks they were after their nice media centre. We don't have anything too nice so we may be overlooked. The girls have been worried about robbers for sometime and often ask about it before bed. They are especially worried that the wobbers (as A says) might take their jewelry. I told them that their jewelry should be fine and not to worry. I can't imagine the pawn shops receiving much demand for plastic, sparkly, heart shaped rings.
While writing this something peculiar came to mind. Brandon and I have both been approached by a white van in the car park of our local shopping centre. They drive around slowly with their window down asking if you might be interested in buying a stereo system.

Well that just about sums up our Saturday plus a few hours on either end.