Friday, October 23, 2009
My sheets are soapy
Today I learned a major lesson in domesticity. The regular washing machine wasn’t working (I’m not really convinced that it ever works based on the stains on my closed but this time it wouldn’t even turn on), so she introduced me to her old-school washing machine and how to wash like a “real woman.” Basically you dump your laundry and soap in a container, and then some water drips in and it swishes around for 5-10 minutes, and then you have to take each individual soaked item to the sink and wash all the soap out and wring out the water, which with sheets and towels was a serious arm workout and took me about an hour. Anyways moral of the story is I’m pretty sure my sheets still have soap in them, but at least they smell good for once and I can now say I do my laundry like a real woman.
It’s been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Last weekend I went to Uvita, a beach about two hours away, with three Peace Corps Volunteer friends who live nearby. We stayed in this $10/night hostel with colorful hammocks and a communal kitchen and an owner that talked really, really slow. There were lots of surfer/dreadlock types and some German backpackers and a Saturday night jam session accompanied by pork and beans. The beaches were beautiful and pretty deserted since it is off season, but we got lucky and had two sunny days. We hiked and biked and walked out to the “whale’s tail,” where two beaches meet and form a jetty in the shape of a whale’s tail, which was pretty awesome. Kind of exactly how I pictured traveling in Costa Rica.
But I am working hard too, really. I am in week two of my new English class, which is through a program called Centro Cultural that Peace Corps hooks us up with cheap textbooks. It’s nice to actually have a lesson plan to follow and something for students to refer to, and I think they are enjoying it. Classes are two nights a week for two hours, so it can be exhausting but I have a really good group and the great thing about English class is they really want to be there because they think it is really important, rather than some of my other projects where I feel like I am begging people to show up at the meetings.
I also just started a project called Chicas Súper Poderosas, which is 10 workshops that some Peace Corps Volunteers designed for 5th and 6th grade girls that focuses on self-esteem and leadership issues. I get along really well with the girls in the school of that age and feel like they could use a strong female role model, so I decided to give it a try and 16 girls showed up and the first two sessions have been really fun. They are still at an age where they are not too cool to do silly activities, but they sure do giggle a lot.
I’m also trying to start a greenhouse project at the school to teach the kids to plant and eat more vegetables (you think I need to learn how to plant before I teach other people how to do it? Hmmm we’ll get there…). Someone from the Ministry of Agriculture came last week to give a talk on organic gardens, and the students and teachers seemed pretty interested. The problem is that school is not willing to put any of its budget into building the greenhouse, so I am on a mission to find free stuff in San Isidro. I have written letters (they really like formality here) and personally delivered them to the managers of a few hardware and agriculture stores, and so far we have actually had a good response. I have one guy donating the transparent plastic, another the screws and metal bars, and another organic fertilizer and seedlings. Now I’m just searching for four sacks of cement if anyone has any ideas…
Not much on tap for the weekend except a development association project approval meeting and maybe playing some soccer on Sunday. Am occupying much of my free time with thinking about and planning for the many visitors I will be receiving at the end of the year, which is definitely something to look forward to!
It’s been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Last weekend I went to Uvita, a beach about two hours away, with three Peace Corps Volunteer friends who live nearby. We stayed in this $10/night hostel with colorful hammocks and a communal kitchen and an owner that talked really, really slow. There were lots of surfer/dreadlock types and some German backpackers and a Saturday night jam session accompanied by pork and beans. The beaches were beautiful and pretty deserted since it is off season, but we got lucky and had two sunny days. We hiked and biked and walked out to the “whale’s tail,” where two beaches meet and form a jetty in the shape of a whale’s tail, which was pretty awesome. Kind of exactly how I pictured traveling in Costa Rica.
But I am working hard too, really. I am in week two of my new English class, which is through a program called Centro Cultural that Peace Corps hooks us up with cheap textbooks. It’s nice to actually have a lesson plan to follow and something for students to refer to, and I think they are enjoying it. Classes are two nights a week for two hours, so it can be exhausting but I have a really good group and the great thing about English class is they really want to be there because they think it is really important, rather than some of my other projects where I feel like I am begging people to show up at the meetings.
I also just started a project called Chicas Súper Poderosas, which is 10 workshops that some Peace Corps Volunteers designed for 5th and 6th grade girls that focuses on self-esteem and leadership issues. I get along really well with the girls in the school of that age and feel like they could use a strong female role model, so I decided to give it a try and 16 girls showed up and the first two sessions have been really fun. They are still at an age where they are not too cool to do silly activities, but they sure do giggle a lot.
I’m also trying to start a greenhouse project at the school to teach the kids to plant and eat more vegetables (you think I need to learn how to plant before I teach other people how to do it? Hmmm we’ll get there…). Someone from the Ministry of Agriculture came last week to give a talk on organic gardens, and the students and teachers seemed pretty interested. The problem is that school is not willing to put any of its budget into building the greenhouse, so I am on a mission to find free stuff in San Isidro. I have written letters (they really like formality here) and personally delivered them to the managers of a few hardware and agriculture stores, and so far we have actually had a good response. I have one guy donating the transparent plastic, another the screws and metal bars, and another organic fertilizer and seedlings. Now I’m just searching for four sacks of cement if anyone has any ideas…
Not much on tap for the weekend except a development association project approval meeting and maybe playing some soccer on Sunday. Am occupying much of my free time with thinking about and planning for the many visitors I will be receiving at the end of the year, which is definitely something to look forward to!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Read all about it! (10/10/09)
It’s been a pretty eventful past week, the most exciting part being that the first issue of La Voz Quebradeña came out last Friday. We had paid for 200 copies but the printer printed 300, so there were plenty to go around. I was thrilled when I saw the first copy, both because it was very satisfying to see a tangible outcome of one of my projects, but mostly because they guy who designed it did a fantastic job and it looks really professional. I have a PDF version but I can’t find a way to post it on my blog so if anyone wants me to e-mail them a copy let me know.
Anyways I distributed the copies at all the local pulperías, the Internet Café, the mini-supers, and the bar, and I also tried to hand them out personally to everyone who had bought an ad or written an article and thanked them for their support. It was really well-received and so cool to see people reading it in the street and getting excited to see their names, photos, or ads. I even got a phone call from a woman I had never met congratulating me and saying she couldn’t wait for the next one! So all the feedback has been very encouraging and I hope it leads to more people wanting to contribute in one way or another to the next publication, which will come out in December.
Last weekend was packed with various meetings and activities, including movie and sleepover with Peace Corps friends Adrienne and Liz, the annual assembly of the local artisans group, for which I am proud to say I actually helped prepare the arroz con pollo, spending the night at FUDEBIOL hanging out with some university students over chicharrones (basically pig fat…mmmmmm) and beer, and then an all-day strategic planning session with the university students about FUDEBIOL and it’s future goals. It was actually a pretty productive session and people shared a lot of good ideas, but the frustrating part is that it is much harder to get people to act on them, especially since everything requires time and money, neither of which the leaders of this organization seem to have to offer.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I started an “Exploring the Internet” class with six women from the women’s group in Quebradas that runs the volunteer exchange program. They want to be able to connect with more tourism and volunteer organization to expand their clientele, but none of them have any idea how to manage their web page or check their email address, both of which Porter, the volunteer before me, helped set up for them. So I am starting the class once a week at the Internet Café for those of them that are interested in learning. During the first class, after going over the VERY basics of how to turn on the computer and use the mouse, I taught them how to Google things. First they googled their own web page to see how a client would find it, and I had them do whatever they were interested in and they came up with recipes, love advice, images of volcanoes and waterfalls etc. and they were SO excited to realize how much is available out there. So although it’s a SLOW process, and even tougher because the Internet at the Café is pretty spotty, I think they are really motivated by all the things they could do on the Internet and by seeing their kids know how to use it so well. Last week we set up personal email accounts for all of them and I am thinking that this week we might try gchat. Anyways, I think I’m enjoying it both because of how much they’re enjoying it and because it makes me feel like a technological whiz, which is a rare occasion.
Then on Wednesday through Friday I was in San José to help edit another newspaper, though this time in English. La Cadena is the countrywide Peace Corps publication that comes out three times a year with articles from volunteers and staff. A spot was open for an editor that left so I am the newest member, and the other two are girls in Tico 18 who have already been here a year and a half. So the big perk is that we get three paid work days in San José to do the editing and layout, so we spent the days in the Peace Corps office working but got to stay in a hotel and hang out and try new restaurants (which we then reviewed for the paper) at night. It was fun to get to know some volunteers from the previous generation and also see all the staff in the office and become a little more familiar with San José. My main takeaway from my urban explorations is that there were no crosswalks to be found. I actually had to run across two highways and a divider at one point to get to the supermarket (my sincere apologies Connie if you are reading this). So not the most charming city, but we did find some good restaurants and a nice park to run in.
I got back super late last night and then had to get up bright and early for our first recycling campaign. The name really makes it sound more exciting than it was, but we basically advertised and spread the word all week that the school would be open from
8-12 for anyone who has been storing material in their houses and can bring it by. It got off to a slow start and I was a little worried that everyone would get discouraged, but then people started coming by and other people saw people coming by and remembered they had material in their house too, and by 11 we were pretty booming and had the whole committee and a few kids helping clean and separate. We collected 532 glass bottles, and when we get to 5,000 Coca Cola will build us a real Centro de Acopio where we can separate and store our recycling, so we’re one tenth of the way there! The only problem is where we’re going to store all those bottles in the mean time, since right now the bags of recycled goods are going under a tin roof next to the school cafeteria, which is neither very clean nor very large.
Anyways I thought it was a successful first campaign and hope that more and more people will catch on every time. The best part was definitely the kids who are in my environmental education classes who came with their parents to drop off their recycling and were really proud that they had gotten their parents involved.
So now I am totally exhausted and will probably go to sleep before 9. Another wild Saturday night in Quebradas!
10-11
So it turns out after high hopes for finally going to bed early some friends called to go watch the Costa Rica-Trinidad and Tobago game so I got out of my pajamas, which I had been wearing since 4pm, and went out with them which ended up being really fun because both Costa Rica AND thus US won, so everyone was happy!
Anyways I distributed the copies at all the local pulperías, the Internet Café, the mini-supers, and the bar, and I also tried to hand them out personally to everyone who had bought an ad or written an article and thanked them for their support. It was really well-received and so cool to see people reading it in the street and getting excited to see their names, photos, or ads. I even got a phone call from a woman I had never met congratulating me and saying she couldn’t wait for the next one! So all the feedback has been very encouraging and I hope it leads to more people wanting to contribute in one way or another to the next publication, which will come out in December.
Last weekend was packed with various meetings and activities, including movie and sleepover with Peace Corps friends Adrienne and Liz, the annual assembly of the local artisans group, for which I am proud to say I actually helped prepare the arroz con pollo, spending the night at FUDEBIOL hanging out with some university students over chicharrones (basically pig fat…mmmmmm) and beer, and then an all-day strategic planning session with the university students about FUDEBIOL and it’s future goals. It was actually a pretty productive session and people shared a lot of good ideas, but the frustrating part is that it is much harder to get people to act on them, especially since everything requires time and money, neither of which the leaders of this organization seem to have to offer.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I started an “Exploring the Internet” class with six women from the women’s group in Quebradas that runs the volunteer exchange program. They want to be able to connect with more tourism and volunteer organization to expand their clientele, but none of them have any idea how to manage their web page or check their email address, both of which Porter, the volunteer before me, helped set up for them. So I am starting the class once a week at the Internet Café for those of them that are interested in learning. During the first class, after going over the VERY basics of how to turn on the computer and use the mouse, I taught them how to Google things. First they googled their own web page to see how a client would find it, and I had them do whatever they were interested in and they came up with recipes, love advice, images of volcanoes and waterfalls etc. and they were SO excited to realize how much is available out there. So although it’s a SLOW process, and even tougher because the Internet at the Café is pretty spotty, I think they are really motivated by all the things they could do on the Internet and by seeing their kids know how to use it so well. Last week we set up personal email accounts for all of them and I am thinking that this week we might try gchat. Anyways, I think I’m enjoying it both because of how much they’re enjoying it and because it makes me feel like a technological whiz, which is a rare occasion.
Then on Wednesday through Friday I was in San José to help edit another newspaper, though this time in English. La Cadena is the countrywide Peace Corps publication that comes out three times a year with articles from volunteers and staff. A spot was open for an editor that left so I am the newest member, and the other two are girls in Tico 18 who have already been here a year and a half. So the big perk is that we get three paid work days in San José to do the editing and layout, so we spent the days in the Peace Corps office working but got to stay in a hotel and hang out and try new restaurants (which we then reviewed for the paper) at night. It was fun to get to know some volunteers from the previous generation and also see all the staff in the office and become a little more familiar with San José. My main takeaway from my urban explorations is that there were no crosswalks to be found. I actually had to run across two highways and a divider at one point to get to the supermarket (my sincere apologies Connie if you are reading this). So not the most charming city, but we did find some good restaurants and a nice park to run in.
I got back super late last night and then had to get up bright and early for our first recycling campaign. The name really makes it sound more exciting than it was, but we basically advertised and spread the word all week that the school would be open from
8-12 for anyone who has been storing material in their houses and can bring it by. It got off to a slow start and I was a little worried that everyone would get discouraged, but then people started coming by and other people saw people coming by and remembered they had material in their house too, and by 11 we were pretty booming and had the whole committee and a few kids helping clean and separate. We collected 532 glass bottles, and when we get to 5,000 Coca Cola will build us a real Centro de Acopio where we can separate and store our recycling, so we’re one tenth of the way there! The only problem is where we’re going to store all those bottles in the mean time, since right now the bags of recycled goods are going under a tin roof next to the school cafeteria, which is neither very clean nor very large.
Anyways I thought it was a successful first campaign and hope that more and more people will catch on every time. The best part was definitely the kids who are in my environmental education classes who came with their parents to drop off their recycling and were really proud that they had gotten their parents involved.
So now I am totally exhausted and will probably go to sleep before 9. Another wild Saturday night in Quebradas!
10-11
So it turns out after high hopes for finally going to bed early some friends called to go watch the Costa Rica-Trinidad and Tobago game so I got out of my pajamas, which I had been wearing since 4pm, and went out with them which ended up being really fun because both Costa Rica AND thus US won, so everyone was happy!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Jewish in Quebradas
Below is an article I wrote for the upcoming issue of La Cadena, the countrywide Peace Corps publication (of which I am now one of the editors) that I thought you might enjoy...
Well, let’s just say it was different than past High Holiday celebrations. Honestly, I didn’t even remember it was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, until I got a call from my dad in a rare spot with cell phone coverage in my community and answered it to the sound of the shofar playing in our synagogue in Los Angeles.
To many of you, some of the above Jewish jargon may not mean much, but trust me they mean less to Ticos in Quebradas. At least most of you probably got a day or two off each fall during high school thanks to the Jews, so you know we’re busy celebrating our new year and repenting for our sins around that time. But in a small rural community in a 98% Catholic country, even I almost forgot it was a holiday. Here are all the ways I did NOT celebrate Yom Kippur this year: I ate. I ate pork. I said grace before eating pork. I worked. I did not go to temple. I did not think about going to temple. Fortunately, my Jewish mother is very forgiving.
This is just one of many situations that have made me think about how I identify with my own religion and think about religion in general since I arrived in Costa Rica in March. I think it is safe to say that in the past six months, I have spent more time in church than I have spent in synagogue in the past 10 years. Almost every piece of art in my current family home is a representation of a church, a cross, or Jesus Christ. I now know the Santa Maria prayer in Spanish better than any prayer in Hebrew due, unfortunately, to two recent deaths in my community and the ensuing nine day rosary.
I would call myself a cultural Jew. For me, being Jewish is less about my beliefs and more about the family traditions, sense of humor, and of course, the food. But I have found myself having to explain my religion to many Ticos in my community who, including the priest, have never met a Jew and do not have a clue what it means. At first I was a little uneasy about it and felt like I had to be on the defensive even though I do not feel that strongly about Jewish doctrine. But to my pleasant surprise, I have found that I have not once been judged for being different or for not believing in you know who, but rather that people are genuinely curious about what kinds of holidays we celebrate and how we celebrate them. And I have been able to draw some apt analogies to relate Jewish tradition to daily life in Quebradas, such as Bar-Mitzvahs and Quincineras, sitting shivah and rosaries, Yom Kippur and – oh wait, the sin here would be to go a day without rice and beans.
In all seriousness, it has been far more interesting and comfortable learning about and participating in another religion than I had imagined. I never envisioned myself being able to relate to people for whom God is such an integral part of their daily existence that they will only show up to my English class or recycling meeting if He wills it. But now these people are my family and friends, and I respect and appreciate how Catholicism guides their charitable deeds, family values, and faith in the face of challenges and disappointments. I feel blessed that they have welcomed me, an outsider in so many ways, into their blessed community.
Now if only I could get them to start eating bagels and lox…
Well, let’s just say it was different than past High Holiday celebrations. Honestly, I didn’t even remember it was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, until I got a call from my dad in a rare spot with cell phone coverage in my community and answered it to the sound of the shofar playing in our synagogue in Los Angeles.
To many of you, some of the above Jewish jargon may not mean much, but trust me they mean less to Ticos in Quebradas. At least most of you probably got a day or two off each fall during high school thanks to the Jews, so you know we’re busy celebrating our new year and repenting for our sins around that time. But in a small rural community in a 98% Catholic country, even I almost forgot it was a holiday. Here are all the ways I did NOT celebrate Yom Kippur this year: I ate. I ate pork. I said grace before eating pork. I worked. I did not go to temple. I did not think about going to temple. Fortunately, my Jewish mother is very forgiving.
This is just one of many situations that have made me think about how I identify with my own religion and think about religion in general since I arrived in Costa Rica in March. I think it is safe to say that in the past six months, I have spent more time in church than I have spent in synagogue in the past 10 years. Almost every piece of art in my current family home is a representation of a church, a cross, or Jesus Christ. I now know the Santa Maria prayer in Spanish better than any prayer in Hebrew due, unfortunately, to two recent deaths in my community and the ensuing nine day rosary.
I would call myself a cultural Jew. For me, being Jewish is less about my beliefs and more about the family traditions, sense of humor, and of course, the food. But I have found myself having to explain my religion to many Ticos in my community who, including the priest, have never met a Jew and do not have a clue what it means. At first I was a little uneasy about it and felt like I had to be on the defensive even though I do not feel that strongly about Jewish doctrine. But to my pleasant surprise, I have found that I have not once been judged for being different or for not believing in you know who, but rather that people are genuinely curious about what kinds of holidays we celebrate and how we celebrate them. And I have been able to draw some apt analogies to relate Jewish tradition to daily life in Quebradas, such as Bar-Mitzvahs and Quincineras, sitting shivah and rosaries, Yom Kippur and – oh wait, the sin here would be to go a day without rice and beans.
In all seriousness, it has been far more interesting and comfortable learning about and participating in another religion than I had imagined. I never envisioned myself being able to relate to people for whom God is such an integral part of their daily existence that they will only show up to my English class or recycling meeting if He wills it. But now these people are my family and friends, and I respect and appreciate how Catholicism guides their charitable deeds, family values, and faith in the face of challenges and disappointments. I feel blessed that they have welcomed me, an outsider in so many ways, into their blessed community.
Now if only I could get them to start eating bagels and lox…
Friday, October 2, 2009
Back in action (10/1/09)
Hello dear readers! It has, indeed been a while, which generally means things are either so great and busy that I don’t have time to write or so tough that I don’t really feel like writing about it. In this case, it’s been a little bit of both. So I went back to the US on September 11th for 10 days with the main purpose of being a bridesmaid in my cousin Ryann’s wedding in LA, but I stopped by New York City and got to see many friends and hang out in some of my favorite neighborhoods and take the subway and experience the incredible water pressure in Dan’s apartment. Then in LA I got to see more friends and my entire mom’s side of the family and much of my dad’s and eat brisket and noodle kugel and ride my bike on the beach in Santa Monica. The wedding and all of its related events were really beautiful and I couldn’t have been happier to see my cousin so happy and to get to be a part of the event. So all in all, it was a pretty perfect trip home.
Which of course, made coming back pretty difficult. It really hit me for the first time that I have now these two entirely separate existences and worlds that I am a part of. I hardly thought about Costa Rica or the Peace Corps or my projects while I was home, and the first few days I was back in Quebradas it just felt totally out of context. It was nice because everyone noticed I was gone and asked how my trip was so I felt missed, but nobody here really has any idea what my life was/is like back in the US, so it made it harder to share exactly how wonderful it was to be home. Anyways it took a few days to snap back into things, and let’s just say a few tears were shed at inopportune moments, BUT then last Sunday was our river clean-up day, and that’s when things finally turned around for me…
So I really didn’t know this about myself before I got here, but apparently I really enjoy picking up other people’s trash. I have become somewhat of the recycling police in Quebradas; little kids come up to me with coke cans and milk cartons and ask me what they can recycle, and I find myself eying a plastic bottle in somebody’s trash can and being very tempted to go dig it out. Anyways on Sunday about 80 volunteers from the Red Cross, the Cerveceria de Costa Rica, and from the community met at the school and we broke up into groups and picked up trash from FUDEBIOL all the way to San Isidro along the river, and we ended at this big sports complex in town with an arroz con pollo picnic. It was just really fun because people were enthusiastic about cleaning up and recycling and it’s always better when you’re working with a motivated group rather than on your own, which I have found myself doing too often.
So from there I’ve gotten back into a rhythm. Last night I had my first “Exploring the Internet” class with six women from the local women’s group that hosts volunteers who want to learn how to maintain their web page and communicate with clients via email. So we have to start with the VERY basic, like how to turn a computer on, use a mouse, etc. But they started googling stuff by the end of class and were so excited when they found bread recipes, pictures of waterfalls, and love advice. So I’m hoping that continuing to show them how much is out there will keep them motivated. We also had our first sale of recycled materials to the Cerveceria de Costa Rica today and made – wait for it - $12! Yeah, that’s six weeks of separating trash and cleaning the ants off the inside of milk cartons. So clearly we have to be in this for the good of helping the environment and not the cash, but it was still exciting to get paid! The sixth grade teacher said she would photocopy the receipt and frame it in her classroom…
Tonight is my final conversational English class, so we are all bringing food (I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies) and are going to play trivia and listen to American music. In two weeks I am going to start a more formal class with textbooks from an organization called Centro Cultural that has a relationship with Peace Corps so we get them for much cheaper than any student could in a city where the classes are offered. And tomorrow, si Dios quiere, our community newspaper is going to be all ready to distribute! I did all the final edits the day I got back from the US, and the guy who designed it did a really good job, so I am hoping next blogpost I have good news about how it was received in the community, or at least that it was received. Until then, it’s good to be back!
Which of course, made coming back pretty difficult. It really hit me for the first time that I have now these two entirely separate existences and worlds that I am a part of. I hardly thought about Costa Rica or the Peace Corps or my projects while I was home, and the first few days I was back in Quebradas it just felt totally out of context. It was nice because everyone noticed I was gone and asked how my trip was so I felt missed, but nobody here really has any idea what my life was/is like back in the US, so it made it harder to share exactly how wonderful it was to be home. Anyways it took a few days to snap back into things, and let’s just say a few tears were shed at inopportune moments, BUT then last Sunday was our river clean-up day, and that’s when things finally turned around for me…
So I really didn’t know this about myself before I got here, but apparently I really enjoy picking up other people’s trash. I have become somewhat of the recycling police in Quebradas; little kids come up to me with coke cans and milk cartons and ask me what they can recycle, and I find myself eying a plastic bottle in somebody’s trash can and being very tempted to go dig it out. Anyways on Sunday about 80 volunteers from the Red Cross, the Cerveceria de Costa Rica, and from the community met at the school and we broke up into groups and picked up trash from FUDEBIOL all the way to San Isidro along the river, and we ended at this big sports complex in town with an arroz con pollo picnic. It was just really fun because people were enthusiastic about cleaning up and recycling and it’s always better when you’re working with a motivated group rather than on your own, which I have found myself doing too often.
So from there I’ve gotten back into a rhythm. Last night I had my first “Exploring the Internet” class with six women from the local women’s group that hosts volunteers who want to learn how to maintain their web page and communicate with clients via email. So we have to start with the VERY basic, like how to turn a computer on, use a mouse, etc. But they started googling stuff by the end of class and were so excited when they found bread recipes, pictures of waterfalls, and love advice. So I’m hoping that continuing to show them how much is out there will keep them motivated. We also had our first sale of recycled materials to the Cerveceria de Costa Rica today and made – wait for it - $12! Yeah, that’s six weeks of separating trash and cleaning the ants off the inside of milk cartons. So clearly we have to be in this for the good of helping the environment and not the cash, but it was still exciting to get paid! The sixth grade teacher said she would photocopy the receipt and frame it in her classroom…
Tonight is my final conversational English class, so we are all bringing food (I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies) and are going to play trivia and listen to American music. In two weeks I am going to start a more formal class with textbooks from an organization called Centro Cultural that has a relationship with Peace Corps so we get them for much cheaper than any student could in a city where the classes are offered. And tomorrow, si Dios quiere, our community newspaper is going to be all ready to distribute! I did all the final edits the day I got back from the US, and the guy who designed it did a really good job, so I am hoping next blogpost I have good news about how it was received in the community, or at least that it was received. Until then, it’s good to be back!
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