yesterday was a good day. i got my life sort of back in order for the first time in like six weeks. being back at "home" and having time to clean my stuff, etc. we once again have a water problem. it turns out that a couple days ago someone put a hole in the main pvc pipe that runs water to our house.....meaning that if we turn out water on at all we lose a lot of it. so yesterday by the afternoon i'd used up all the water we had in our spare tank, and right now there's someone here fixing it, so hopefully i can get a shower soon. also yesterday afternoon the little boys from the gomera (tire repair shack) started venturing up my stairs and right up to the door of my apartment. i started talking to them some. they were three little boys, shirtless, with pants that were too big that sagged to show their underwearless bottoms. they're aged 5, 7, and 10. the 10 year old they tell me can read. this was okay until i decided to go inside and they continued to stare in at me through the door. that got a little old, so i went deeper into my apartment hoping they'd go away. they then for like fifteen minutes started yelling "bonita" and "cosita" into my apartment trying to get my attention. they eventually left to come back a while later yelling to tell me that there was a man peeing at the foot of my stairs and around the corner. it was a bit awkward when he walked out from around the corner with them sitting there telling me about him. eventually hector came by and took me out to sit on the corner outside the colmado with him, his uncle, and his friends. this was a different experience just chilling with the guys. he kept asking if i was okay to which i said "yeah, this is like at home. i have a lot of male friends up there." i felt like i was hanging out with the engineers again. i also went with him to the complejo which is like a sports area and met some of his other friends and just sort of saw stuff. i figured out taht handball is played on what looks like a basketball court but with hockey like nets instead of hoops. all in all one of those days where you don't really do much but you feel like you learn a little bit more about life in these parts.