Five Minutes Peace

We were warned before we came to live in the village that people would
expect to be able to walk into our house at anytime. In my mind this
translated as one or two unexpected visitors a day, maybe three. We
have since learned to expect that amount per hour! Us being from
America and all, is very interesting to many people here in the
village. People would want to talk, introduce themselves, invite us
over for coffee, see if we needed anything, bring us some
"housewarming" gift, etc. Then as work on peoples houses picked up
they would come over to borrow tools, or need materials. Then Jonelle
started a daily class with the neighborhood kids that were hanging
around anyway, and they all arrive around 11 AM for class. Then as
word got out we had a scanner/printer we offered to copy a passport or
two, and that has turned into about three or four a day sometimes.
There are many more "then's" but I think you get the idea, during
meals, rest times, waking up, going to sleep, showering, etc. the
doorbell is ringing, people are knocking, and yelling for us. It can
be very overwhelming at times, and sometimes all I want to do is hide,
as would Jonelle. We have tried very hard lately to say no,
especially at night and on Sundays, as we retreat if we can to the
safety of the house. Slowly people are learning as we are setting
boundaries, but it still leaves the rest of the day to be pretty
hectic. I was commenting to Jonelle the other day that our calender,
which is usually full of events in America, is literally empty, but
yet we are run ragged everyday, without 5 minutes peace.