summarizing more of my life

October 11, 2008

Okay so where I did I end last…oh yes Saturday. Well on Sunday, my niece came to visit she’s 21 her name is Marisela. Then we were invited to participate in the ceremony of the day, this one was especially important, it was the christening of the road in our town. (I have posted pictures) So great at about 11:30 I was walking up the street to await the major of Catacaos to begin the ceremony. He rolled in at a nice and late 12:45. We walked, holding the flag, with the major of pedregal and the senorita of Catacaos from one end of the road to the other end…about 4 blocks. Blocks like in the suburbs. And then we walked back… haha Then the major said a few nice words then more important people said a few nice words then the major of Catacaos spoke about our meeting we had on Thursday and about all I was going to do for the town and promised a bunch of things that I “said” I was going to do and buy. That’s when I almost peed my pants and later that week had to clarify, mind you. Then he announced I was the madrina and yeh! I was off to raise the flag of Pedregal. Then after, we went to a full pitcher of chichi swinging from the tripod and shattered the container over the street and thus, christened the street. The following two hours were filled with games, in the street, of course, to show the diversity of things one can accomplish on the new street that never before could… like… yeh I don’t know, as far as I know chugging contests and soccer matches are pretty much” any where’s fair” kinda thing =) haha lol No, really it was a great time then I had some lunch, consisting of mystery meat and rice and beans. Then drinking began, I excused myself for the night and went home to hang out.

Monday didn’t go exactly as planned but ended up being pretty constructive. I was supposed to have a meeting with the Alcalde but he didn’t show, probably nursing something awful from the ceremony of Sunday. So I ended up chilling hanging out in the municipality to talk with Esther who is the secretary there and also part of Grupo LIDEL which is the youth group of my town. Her and my sister have been talking about starting a library but are having difficulties finding places since all the municipality places are destroyed and falling apart. To help them get on the right foot, she and I went around town taking pictures of each place that would be appropriate for a library. The reason, well 1 to determine the exact locations we are thinking of as well as if they were housing people who had the ownership to but have since left Pedregal or Piura for that matter can give their consent for the use. 2 is something of my own mind, when you actually start something rather than just talking about it, it ends up getting the ball rolling and done faster. We also know that Marcelino (who is also part of LIDEL and a carpenter), if we ask, can give us the estimates of how much it will cost to reconstruct the buildings to not be a safety hazard. With these reports we can then go to several ONGs and also the Piura government to ask for money and help in reconstructing because there have been reach-outs, so to say, but since no one has decided on a place, we haven’t received anything. Also, we set Saturday as the day to meet with the actual youth of LIDEL because I am constantly talking to the people who run it and not those who are a part of it! Also, there is something called a Ludoteca run by an organization from Europe and the US Cielo, I think. These are places where the children can go to place puzzle games and what translates as mind-games. They help stir creative thinking and problem solving while having fun. Also having a Ludoteca gives a place for the organization to run charlas of motivation and such for free to the youth. I ran into this “opportunity/organization” when I was in the meeting in Catacaos with the municipality about trash-dumping. (Which is a whole diff topic) But the guy in charge of the cleaning of Catacaos is on the board of this committee. So Esther and I set a date the following week to go to a local town that has one, and where he will be presenting to see what exactly one consists of and how exactly we can get one in Pedregal.
Then at about 3:30 I headed over to the colegio to start the world map project with some students. Which basically consisted of me handing out some drawing activities to see, who exactly can draw, because since we don’t have a projector to use, we will be drawing by hand a 224x484 cm size map? It is just as much fun as it sounds lol. We ended up drawing the box and figuring out the size then scheduled Thursday to begin painting the white base coat on the wall. Then at about 5:30 I went running with my friend Brenda, she is Esther’s sister. Then at 7 I had a meeting at the municipality to talk about projects and some different things going on, then at 8:30 I had a meeting with Esther and Marcelino.

I forget what I did on Tuesday. I had a meeting in the night with my artisan. Ohhh I remember… lol I had some meeting in the morning but in the afternoon I decided I was going to attempt the removal of a stump in the front yard or front strip. My family just cut thetree to make room for the road but didn’t actually remove the stump or trunco and personally I think it was ugly. So I sat for about 2 ½ hours trying to remove this stump and I had so many people from the neighborhood come up and were like, the gringa is doing lawn work omg, I doubt she’ll get that out. And I said just wait, woman can do things too, this because they were like just have a man do that. So 2 ½ I worked and still it wasn’t moving then a 5 year olf came out form the house next door and him and his machete started helping me lol. We didn’t get much further then esther’s brother in lawn came over with his axe and tried to make it budge, it wouldn’t. So here’s the image of the three of us hacking at this stubborn trunk and then slowing started moving and removed it, I had to take a picture, hence the photo duhh! Then I said to people who asked and people that came up to me and where like I didn’t think you were going to do it! And I said well you have to be big enough to know when you can’t do something yourself and you need help, that’s called teamwork! So all the kids that day were talking about trabajo en equipo (team work)! Felt nice.

Wednesday, Georgie’s birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I woke up at about 7 to head to my artisan’s house to talk about a few things then schedule a meeting with Karrie’s group at 10. We headed there to spilt up the material and have everyone pay. There are a lot of difficulties I don’t feel like explaining, but I don’t think we will be doing much with the material and incorporation into the purses designs in the near future. Then Karrie’s friends from the states came in so we ended up going into Piura to have lunch with them. I had a glad of wine and it was perfect! Then I went to the market bought paint for Thursday and headed home, but of course stopped to call Geo first! Then I made banana pancakes for dinner, drizzled in honey =)

Thursday, was a great day! I went to the colegio with the head of the health post to give vaccines of Hep B to all the kids. Though I didn’t give them, he wanted me too, I was like I’m this is def where I draw the line, not my specialty! Lol, so I just called out the kids names, which should I mention is another non-specialty of mine lol try pronouncing some of these names! And not to mention that half the class has mas o menos the same name so you need to say the whole thing or ten kids turn their heads! Then at about 12 I came home at lunch with was awesome, I sautéed cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, red peppers with grilled fish! Delicious! Then at about 3:30 headed back to the school to do the first coat of paint with Brenda and another guy from LIDEL with the alumnus del colegio. This is when we saw the anti-progress we made with the inclusion of the kids in this project. This is one of the many reasons that I’m nervous about this project. They can’t even do white paint evenly, def worried about drawing and the small, color in the lines problems. Then after this I came home to an empty house, because my sister and mom went into Piura for the bday of my nephew, Cesar. So I provechar-ed this time to watch the Sex in the City movie (thanks brent and meg!!) and made a fruit smoothie and salad for dinner! Though there was continual knocking on the door and window from Nene the kid who lives next store, he wanted to come in and didn’t understand what “alone-time” meant. He’s still getting the silent treatment from me. Then about 9:30 Mari and Angelica returned with sweets and cake! Then on Friday I woke up for the 8 meeting I had with Martha but again she was too busy to talk to me grr… then we headed into Piura at 10 for a meeting with the gobierno regional about problems artisans are having in their sites. This is with a lady names Consuelo who works there, I scheduled a meeting with her on Monday at 9 to talk with Karrie and me about our associations and our concerns! Then I ran back to site for a meeting with Cely the teacher of math to re-work the tutoria classes. But I messaged her that I wouldn’t make it back in time, rescheduling for Monday at 1. Then I headed into the market at Catacaos to buy more paint and thinner. 3:30 I did another pasado (coat) with Brenda and the guy from LIDEL, sin kids this time and it took about ¼ of the time. When I came back my sister and my brother-in-law where in full swing redoing one of the rooms here so I joined in and helped them, showered and was in bed by 8:30!! Can you believe that Friday night at 22 yrs old and I’m in bed by 8:30…what has my world come too??

Saturday, today, I woke up early to get prepared for English class at 9, at about 9:30 when no one showed I realized, oh wait we changed the time to 3:30. Sooo, I went back upstairs to lie down and read and await the call from mom and dad at 11. Then I changed locations to the patio to sunbathe and read. Ate some lunch and now I am writing this blog entry and it is 3:26, so I shall stop and head downstairs to await my pupils!

Chaufis <33 ekh