High/Low-lights of the Week

Since my last blog post, I:

- Got a project approved by the Development Association, meaning enough people showed up to have a quorum, a rare occasion…
- Met up with some Peace Corps friends at a newly discovered “lounge” in San Isidro that played house music and had couches and served scallops in pesto
- Painted Christmas-themed recycled paper products with the women’s group. Unfortunately everything I touched is not sellable.
- Started and finished Season 1 of Mad Men (it’s not as bad as it sounds I had already seen the first 6 episodes)
- Planted trees with the 4th, 5th and 6th graders
- Attended a cooking class with women from my community and an eccentric chef who thought it was adorable that I am helpless in the kitchen and therefore let me be the official taster, which I was very good at
- “Lost” my digital camera
- Received my long-awaited shiny blue bike from Peace Corps
- Gave my first English test and subsequently used LOTS of red pen to correct it
- Had an excuse to by a sequined dress for a “Ropa Americana”-themed Peace Corps dance next week
- Made pad thai and hummus at the house of a nearby Peace Corps friend and then watched old episodes of Sex in the City and got my toes painted
- Went on my first ride with the new bike and lost a pedal an hour and a half up into the mountains
- Attempted to reattach the pedal with barbed wire from a local mechanic
- Cruised 5 km downhill with only one pedal, left my bike in a shop in town, and showed up at home disheartened on foot
- Spent Halloween afternoon/night in an 8-hour strategic planning session that included roasted chicken, wine, and philosophizing about the definition of “problem” but no costumes or candy
- Woke up to an ant-infested room this morning, literally the floor and walls were black with ants. Still have no idea where they were coming from or where they were going, but it was really gross...