Gecko, Gecko

In keeping with this week’s theme of adaptation to my new environment, I need to tell you about my roommate.


See him?

No?

Let’s zoom in a bit.


Zoom more?


Isn’t he cute? He’s not, however, the first gecko I met this week. I met another at a friend’s house on Monday when she gave me a dress to wear to a training event. The event, ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) was a 16 hour course.  After two intense days of classes, I am now certified in suicide intervention.  The problem for me on Monday was that I had only packed one suitable dress. I felt like I needed another for the second day. At least, that's what I thought on Monday. As it turned out, I probably could have gotten away with wearing my white capris and a top.

Anyhow, when my friend heard my dilemma, she offered me a dress right out of her closet. I found a pretty one, long to the floor, sleeveless, fits perfectly. Best of all, I get to keep the dress. She and her husband are moving off island in September so she is getting rid of everything she can. But not Mack the Knife. Mack is her house gecko and he lives in her kitchen inside her butcher block knife holder snuggled next to whatever blade calls that slot home for the moment. Mack gets to stay to welcome the new renters. Mack the Knife. Such a great name for a gecko who lives on the edge inside a knife block that gets used every day. Mack the Knife lives dangerously, what can I say! I don't think he is purposely trying to get himself killed. But, if I knew how to speak Gecko, I might after this week's suicide intervention training, ask him why he chose such a dangerous place to live.

It can sometimes be hard to ask each other hard questions like that, can't it! A person in distress, though, needs exactly that. They need access to a safe person who cares enough to want to know their story. I want to be that kind of safe person.

Here s a picture of Mack the Knife living in my friend’s kitchen. They had posted it in on their Facebook page last week. And then this week I got to meet him in person! In this picture he had come out to take a quick drink, licking the condensation off from a cup. I didn't see a cup on the counter when I was there for the dress. Yet Mack came out anyway. I think Mack the Knife came out simply to meet me. I think he knows a gecko-lover when he sees one.


I will have to watch my own gecko for a while to get a feel for his personality before I name him. Unless you have ideas? Let me know your ideas.

And please remember. Never forget. Your story is important to me. Gecko lovers tend to love people too!

Bye for now,
Amy

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Beach Experience of Living Hope

Image
Yesterday was Wednesday in Saipan, which means Lu Min was here. She is the Buchers' housekeeper who comes once a week to help tidy things up. Lu Min doesn't like people "under her feet" so we typically take our day off on Wednesday. At least, that has been the pattern for the past three Wednesdays. Yesterday's adventure was a hike through the jungle to see The Old Man by the Sea. See him? It's the rock formation in the center of the photo. Getting here we parked on a road and then headed into the jungle on foot. A shy mile later we emerged onto this hidden beach guarded by the old man's head. (That clump of hair in the center front is a decomposed palm tree stump. Yes, I wondered about it too.) Anyhow, the jungle path was a narrow footpath with sharp descents that required holding onto ropes people had left tied to trees. Slipping, sliding, repelling, we made it through the jungle overgrowth to a mangrove forest that mediated between the jungle and sa...
Read more

For Every Thing There is a Season

Image
I have thought all week about what I might like to write in what will likely be my final post of the summer from the Saipan location. I thought about telling you about the last couple of days we spent with the newly appointed Micronesia District Superintendent who visited our church to start the process of becoming acquainted with the churches he will be overseeing. He is from South Korea, a place unlike Saipan yet somewhat similar to Davenport climate-wise, but unlike both in mannerisms and customs. Sharing our various stories with him as a church the past couple of days is something I will remember for the rest of my life. Monday night we all ate together as a church, and around the table five different heart languages were represented as we conversed in our only common language, English. We ate grilled brats and hotdogs, spaghetti and mac-n-cheese bites with forks and spoons --- and cupcakes for dessert. The next night three of us went with him to a Korean restaurant wher...
Read more

Constellations and Other Body Movements

Image
Many clear nights I can see the Southern Cross out my window as I lay in my bed. My iPhone didn't capture it well enough to post here, so I borrowed a picture of the Southern Cross from the internet. This one is courtesy of Astro Photography of Australia.  It's the four stars with the pinkish one at the top. The Southern Cross is a new constellation to me not visible from North America. In Minnesota we have constellations such as the Big and Little Dippers, with Polaris the North Star being the set-point or "pole star" in the sky. The southern pole star is called Sigma Octantis, a star too dim for navigation, so the nearby Southern Cross is used in its place. Like in the northern hemisphere where the stars in the sky appear to revolve around Polaris, the southern hemisphere stars appear to revolve around the Southern Cross. Excuse me for a minute while I go put on some flip flops. A wasp wants to be my friend. I snipped it off my mouse and now I can't see w...
Read more