Pavo

Happy November!
(This turkey is from last Thanksgivers at Jen and Dave's. Turkeys can just work the converse.)

I made it into the capital this week for a Spanish language training course and also to get Bija his 2nd series of vacs/flea champu! I am back at Dona Roma’s house for a week which is really nice because she is definitely my favorite homestay Dona and they are also letting me keep Bija here while I go to class every day. At the same time it is a very weird feeling being back here and also realizing I have been in country nearly 8 month. A group of us were actually giving advice to the newest group of sworn in volunteers and that was really odd. I am still grateful for the internet time and being able to Skype with the parents.

It’s good seeing the other volunteers as always. I feel like I have met some really good people here and made some great friends. You can get a wonderful sense of validation (that even u didn’t know that you were secretly seeking) along with a bunch of colorful ideas and stories. I love seeing the other projects that people are working on. It is almost always in a non-competitive manner with my group – much more of a check out the basic design and see if you can replicate in your site idea swap.

We are doing language training right now – I am ranked higher on the spectrum and had to request to be in the class and yet I definitely have a cloudy understanding of a lot of things. I don’t see this week clarifying much honestly but I think it will motivate me into self study. I do feel like I can understand my Dona much better than when I arrived though – she was telling me great stories about her childhood and how she was a ‘Maria Macho’ (tom-boy) who liked to run and play baseball right in there with the big boys and also was an accomplished ranch hand who knew her way around a lasso. Seriously, don’t mess with Donas. You never know where they’ve been.

I had a fun Halloween this year. I dressed up as a Pulpo (Octopus). I made 4 tentacles out of some extra foam I had bought with my sofa foam, a cut up black shirt, Petal sewing machines in Eva’s site, bottle caps to look like suction cups so people wouldn’t think I was a spider and a belt I found. I totally copied this idea from my little cousin Maddie I think. Just had the belt with four tentacles – then put on a black long sleeve shirt and pants and therefore had 4 more tentacles –and math doesn’t lie, that’s 8. Kiri braided my hair in a billion little braids too. The volunteers just hung out at a hotel and I skipped ‘de club’ because I’ve realized I really am fourty. Nana says I always have been. I tend to agree.

Just got to my mailbox and THANK YOU AGAIN for the package/letter love. It is so nice. Thank you especially to Lea and Mateo, Nana and Grandpa, and Mom. Lea bought me underwear. She misses me. I miss her too but don’t tell her.

My Dona just told me that you can put Amonium Hydroxide on your Magi bites and it will remove it in a second. I don’t know how I feel about that yet. I have to look up how much damage that is doing to my body. She knows her stuff though generally.

Right now I am working on a few grants to help my community get cement bags and painting materials to fix the condition of the cancha court as well as to do a mural project with my kids. I wanted the mural to correspond to the installation of painted trashcans in my community but I’m working on it….the neighboring town Mayor would be the one to donate them generally so I want to see if that option is open to me before I spend any grant money on trashcans which might not be used (as is the case of many other volunteers).

I have been currently thinking – the things I thought would be the most difficult in the country aren’t really turning out to be any problem at all. You just adjust. Your body can do it after enough time just as long as you aren’t a total burro and refuse to take a bucketbath. What is difficult then? Cultural differences. A lack in validation for your work and an excess of personal opinion on your physical appearance. A lack of personal boundaries and an excess of self doubt. A lack of light and an excess of guineo? Hah. I did have an amazing moment after advertising the cancha to some of my new neighbors and the woman told me ‘Wow, Thank you’ which at this point made the whole struggle worth it because it made me that happy that someone said that. Fellow volunteers help a lot too when it comes to making you feel good. So do friends and family.

I AM SO EXCITED to have my family come out and check out life here. That is going to rock. I’m trying to build a better place for everyone to shower until then. I hope the garden is looking cool too. Speaking of which let me put this for Nana and anyone else interested. It’s a little drawing of my house layout so the pictures make a little more sense. Or you could just come visit me and see…it’s better. (Click on the picture to see it better)

Mark, Ben and Tamara came up to visit (which was ridiculously great) and they were my first visitors. Bija loved having uncles around and it was just so nice to have company. It was also really awesome that Mark described my house to Leeann as ‘Tricked out’. I don’t understand his language sometimes, being the guttural northern California it is – but she explained to me that it means pretty freaking cool. Score! I think it is too – I had a great time making it. Almost done with the bamboo doors for the cabinets and I’m spending any extra energy I have on my garden and reading up about gardening. I’m making humming bird feeders, bird houses, and was considering Toad homes to help serve as Organic Pesticides. I also was reading about how Basil can serve as a natural Mosquito repellent. It has got to be the best plant ever I swear. Repellent and pesto in one night...I mean COME ON! Nobel Plant prize right there.

We’re heading into the capital today for a little fun – to the modern art museum and then to a movie. I am very excited. I’m also excited to go to the Peace Corp office again and mail off a bunch of letters I have written and was storing at my site. Thanks again for reading! Hope all is going splendifically!
Love,
Sarah