Monday, June 4, 2007
Guess where I am?
So, I don't have updates for the past week. I'm actually back in the states. No, it hasn't been 2 years already. I left early. Peace Corps is a wonderful organization with an admirable purpose, but it didn't feel like the right place (or time, I guess) for me. Bolivia is also a beautiful country (what I saw of it) and anyone who's planning a vacation should definitely consider going there. That being said, I have no idea what I'm going to do now. Grad school most likely. And I'm changing the title of this blog and I probably won't be updating it anymore since there won't be anything too exciting to report. Moreover, it is much easier to call me now and I can check email regularly. So, keep in touch and all the best to all of you!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Friday
More classes. Although we made guacamole in Spanish class, so there was a nice snack. Also, I have noticed that it is becoming easier to think in Spanish, rather than thinking of the English word and then translating that into Spanish. Which I think is very cool.
In the afternoon we did more work on our latrine. We poured in the concrete for the slabs and it should be dry in a couple of days. We also made a teeny tiny mistake. For extra stability, we made a frame of rebar for the concrete slab. We had finished pouring the concrete and were ready to leave when Sara picked up the frame and said, “Isn’t this supposed to be in the concrete?” Yes, yes it was. Luckily the concrete wasn’t too dry yet so we just jammed it in there and smoothed the concrete over it. Hope it works!
This evening we watched ‘Volver’ for Spanish class. I brought this chocolate drink called chicolat, which is delicious. It comes in little bags, which is funny. A lot of the dairy drinks come in bags, even yogurt. The yogurt is a little thinner than the yogurt in the States though, which makes it possible to drink from a bag. I also brought Oreos, yum! The only problem was that the movie was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. It would have been ok, but the actors spoke extremely fast. It was a good movie, but very confusing and I’m not sure if I got the plot right. Oh well, we’ll discuss it on Monday in class.
In the afternoon we did more work on our latrine. We poured in the concrete for the slabs and it should be dry in a couple of days. We also made a teeny tiny mistake. For extra stability, we made a frame of rebar for the concrete slab. We had finished pouring the concrete and were ready to leave when Sara picked up the frame and said, “Isn’t this supposed to be in the concrete?” Yes, yes it was. Luckily the concrete wasn’t too dry yet so we just jammed it in there and smoothed the concrete over it. Hope it works!
This evening we watched ‘Volver’ for Spanish class. I brought this chocolate drink called chicolat, which is delicious. It comes in little bags, which is funny. A lot of the dairy drinks come in bags, even yogurt. The yogurt is a little thinner than the yogurt in the States though, which makes it possible to drink from a bag. I also brought Oreos, yum! The only problem was that the movie was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. It would have been ok, but the actors spoke extremely fast. It was a good movie, but very confusing and I’m not sure if I got the plot right. Oh well, we’ll discuss it on Monday in class.
Thursday
More classes, blah! Although I did go to Quillacollo in the afternoon since classes got out early. Most of the big markets were closed. I wasn’t sure if it was the day or the time. I did buy some nice postcards with some pictures of Bolivia. I haven’t been to any of the places yet, but they’re still pretty. Moreover, I bargained for too, yahoo! I also bought a couple of DVDs, though I don’t know if they’ll work in my computer. However, they cost 10 Bs which is $1.25, so if they don’t work, it’s not a huge deal. Just something to entertain myself with after everyone is asleep.
Wednesday
Classes in Cochabamba today – and more vaccines! Typhoid and the second rabies shot this time. Things are pretty much routine now. During one of the afternoon classes I learned to knit! It’s kind of fun. The volunteer who taught me was half of a lovely older couple who are volunteering in Integrated Education. She’s really good. I’m going to try to buy a couple of knitting needles so that she can teach me more. I know how to cast and the basic knitting stitch.
We went out in the evening to a restaurant in Cochabamba (since we were already there). The waiting staff looked petrified when all forty of us walked in. But it was great. The service was slower because there were so many of us, but the food was amazing. I had a cheese quesadilla. Mmmmmm, cheese! I think that’s the first time I’ve had cheese since being here. Mostly what we get is a locally prepared cheese called quesilla. We were told not to eat it since the preparation is kind of icky. People might not wash their hands much, even after going to the bathroom. Also the milk might be straight from the cow and not pasteurized, so Dr. Death told us not to eat it. Dr. Death is the medical guy who tells us what not to eat so we don’t get really sick or die. It’s very nice of him to do so, but it seems that the only safe thing to do is go back to the U.S. every time you want to eat a real meal. :) Anyways, things are still going good. Talk to you later!
We went out in the evening to a restaurant in Cochabamba (since we were already there). The waiting staff looked petrified when all forty of us walked in. But it was great. The service was slower because there were so many of us, but the food was amazing. I had a cheese quesadilla. Mmmmmm, cheese! I think that’s the first time I’ve had cheese since being here. Mostly what we get is a locally prepared cheese called quesilla. We were told not to eat it since the preparation is kind of icky. People might not wash their hands much, even after going to the bathroom. Also the milk might be straight from the cow and not pasteurized, so Dr. Death told us not to eat it. Dr. Death is the medical guy who tells us what not to eat so we don’t get really sick or die. It’s very nice of him to do so, but it seems that the only safe thing to do is go back to the U.S. every time you want to eat a real meal. :) Anyways, things are still going good. Talk to you later!
Tuesday
Guess what we did today??? More classes! Things have pretty much settled into a routine here - language class in the morning, some other class in the evening. We went to Quillacollo to check out the veggie market and find out prices and where they were grown. It was funny because most of these women selling the veggies speak a mix of Quechua and Spanish. We speak no Quechua. Well, except for ‘Wen dia’ which is equivalent to ‘Buenos dias’ in Spanish. For the afternoon class we divided up into groups and had mini charlas (charlitas) with some of the host families that volunteered to do these charlitas. I was with my neighbor who talked about vegetarianism in Bolivia. Sounds like that will become a bit of a challenge when we move to our sites in the campo. It was still light out when we finished so I was able to take a shower, yay! I can hear some of you going ‘ewww! You don’t shower everyday???’ Well, no. This is because of a lot of things. My family is trying to charge me 2 Bs. Per shower, even though the water is not heated with electricity and is therefore not a significant contribution to their household expenses. Also, the light in the bathroom does not work so it’s kind of spooky (Vitha, spooooky!) in there at night. Also I can’t shower in the mornings because it’s so cold, I will catch pneumonia. It’s a battle just to get myself to wash my face every morning, that’s how cold the water from the sink is. So there you have it, my incomplete list of reasons why one shouldn’t shower daily while in Bolivia during the winter. I guess that’s it for today. We have classes at the training center tomorrow in Cochabamba (my mom likes saying that name) so hopefully I’ll get to an internet café to do some posting. Ciao amigos!
Monday
At 8:30 we had Spanish class as usual. This week it was at Sarah’s house and she went all out for breakfast. We had a fruit plate and real coffee from her coffee press. You might think that since Bolivia is part of South America we would have excellent coffee. Unfortunately that’s completely untrue. All the coffee in Bolivia is imported from other countries, and most of it does not taste that great. So having real thick aromatic coffee from Sarah’s coffee press was a huge deal. Real coffee, yummm! And yes I fell off the non-coffee wagon. How could I not? It smelled so good!
Our technical class this afternoon finally got a bit interesting. We started constructing a baño ecológico. I had no clue about anything but a lot of people were in the same boat so they took their time to teach us. First we had to level out the area where the baño would be built which meant clearing the area of guinea pig poop and grass. Apparently if you construct the foundation over organic material it’s a bad thing since the foundation will shift. Then we placed rocks over the leveled area for some reason that I’m not sure of yet. Meanwhile we started cutting rebar (sp?) and tying them together. This is what the concrete gets poured over for the bottom of the latrine. It provides a frame of sorts (I think). Two compartments will sit on top of the foundation and above that is the actual bathroom. So once the latrine is constructed they will have to climb about 3 steps to go to the bathroom. Another group got started on the floor level of the latrine which consists of two squares of concrete with holes in the middle. Why two holes? Because the toilet goes over one hole while the fecal material under the other hole composts. You have to keep changing which toilet the hole goes over so that you don’t have an overflow of the compartments below. Hopefully this was somewhat clear. If not, don’t worry, I have pictures!
One last thing – I have to comment on one of the dinamicos (icebreakers). It was all about counting our blessings using a point system. Some of the blessings were funny. After being alive and healthy (10 points), the blessings that counted the most were having regular sex and regular bowel movements. Both of those got 8 points. Having living parents was only 4 points. Interesting!
Our technical class this afternoon finally got a bit interesting. We started constructing a baño ecológico. I had no clue about anything but a lot of people were in the same boat so they took their time to teach us. First we had to level out the area where the baño would be built which meant clearing the area of guinea pig poop and grass. Apparently if you construct the foundation over organic material it’s a bad thing since the foundation will shift. Then we placed rocks over the leveled area for some reason that I’m not sure of yet. Meanwhile we started cutting rebar (sp?) and tying them together. This is what the concrete gets poured over for the bottom of the latrine. It provides a frame of sorts (I think). Two compartments will sit on top of the foundation and above that is the actual bathroom. So once the latrine is constructed they will have to climb about 3 steps to go to the bathroom. Another group got started on the floor level of the latrine which consists of two squares of concrete with holes in the middle. Why two holes? Because the toilet goes over one hole while the fecal material under the other hole composts. You have to keep changing which toilet the hole goes over so that you don’t have an overflow of the compartments below. Hopefully this was somewhat clear. If not, don’t worry, I have pictures!
One last thing – I have to comment on one of the dinamicos (icebreakers). It was all about counting our blessings using a point system. Some of the blessings were funny. After being alive and healthy (10 points), the blessings that counted the most were having regular sex and regular bowel movements. Both of those got 8 points. Having living parents was only 4 points. Interesting!
Sunday
Today was pretty nice. I had a full day off in which I planned to do so many things – wash my clothes, clean my room, buy some groceries. I did none of these things (oops!). I woke up late around 8:30 am, which is late around here, especially when your family has been banging around since 5 am. Then I went over to Sarah’s house because she had said that she wanted to find an internet café. Since I had been to Quillacollo and had found a really good one, I told her I’d go with her. So we left our houses around 10:15 and walked. It’s a pretty long walk. We finally made it to the main road around 11 and decided not to go all the way to Quillacollo and just stop at the next internet café we saw – which turned out to be a block away. It was a decent one, not as good as the one I’d been to in Quillacollo, but still quite serviceable. I got a chance to talk to my parents, which was nice. So we hung out there for a couple of hours, listening to the Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham (sp?) soundtrack.
In the afternoon, I went back to Quillacollo just because my house was empty and I had nothing to do. I went with my neighbors. When we got there they had closed off the street for a giant party. For those of you in Sioux City, it looked like Saturday in the Park. They had a band playing and food all over the place. They also had people selling their artwork in the street (which is kind of normal anyways). After walking through the fair, we bought a litre of ice cream to share and sat and ate it on a park bench. They also had those jumping things where they pump air in and kids can jump really high. It was fun to watch. In the evening we tried to watch Troy (or Troya in Spanish). It was funny because it was obviously a pirated version and people in the movie kept getting up and leaving the theatre. I guess the movie wasn’t as popular in Bolivia!
In the afternoon, I went back to Quillacollo just because my house was empty and I had nothing to do. I went with my neighbors. When we got there they had closed off the street for a giant party. For those of you in Sioux City, it looked like Saturday in the Park. They had a band playing and food all over the place. They also had people selling their artwork in the street (which is kind of normal anyways). After walking through the fair, we bought a litre of ice cream to share and sat and ate it on a park bench. They also had those jumping things where they pump air in and kids can jump really high. It was fun to watch. In the evening we tried to watch Troy (or Troya in Spanish). It was funny because it was obviously a pirated version and people in the movie kept getting up and leaving the theatre. I guess the movie wasn’t as popular in Bolivia!
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