Next update!

This weekend I moved in with my family in a smaller community outside of the city. I have a new mom and dad and two little brothers (12 and 7). They speak relatively slowly and repeat themselves multiple times. I also have two dogs, a few chickens, two cows, and some guinea pigs. In case you were wondering there is indeed cheese and ice cream here. On Sunday my brothers danced in El Carnaval. They got all dressed up in crazy costumes (leopard skins and feathered headresses and masks) and danced around the schoolyard. I sat with some other volunteers and their families and got rather suburnt. In fact, I learned the words for swollen, itchy and to scratch.

Funny story (el primer): At one point I had to use the bathroom so I walked to the outdoor toilets. They had no doors! I stood there looking helpless until some little girls made a wall for me.

In language news: the huge frickin green beetles are waqua waquas and to try food, which I´m doing a lot of, is probar.

Today we went to La Cancha which is a huge open air market. It was very overwhelming. My friend said that next time he´s going to bring his compass. You can buy anything from a bar of soap to a wedding dress. I did indeed buy a bar of soap (and a purse and watch) I learned how to haggle in Spanish class but I´m not very good at it. We also went to the waste management plant (to depress us) and a sustainable farm with lotsa neat projects like adobe houses, compost toilets, grass-fed chickens and various other agricultural experiments. Inspiring. And smelly.

Tomorrow I get my first rabies shot and I´m meeting my friend Sarah (from DC) for lunch.

Some things: If you send me a package please make sure it´s under 4lbs and that the customs value is 0. Otherwise I have to pay.

Downside of fame

Critics of my article say:

-well, its not embarassing, but gosh, where did he learn to punctuate?
-dude, you are not the baby
-what is up with the mom stuff? Is she gonna be upset?
-"life-long dream of raising environmental awareness around the world?" did you actually say that?
-I wish there was some signature Ellen humor in it
-I totally did NOT say that the president was going to "fix things."

Several minutes of fame

I just got interviewed by a local reporter with a VERY strong New Yawk accent who kept prouncing the terminal s in Peace Corps (ie Peace Corpse, giggle).

The following are some of the the standard questions he asked, followed by my immediate thoughts:
Why am I doing this? No idea really
What am I afraid of? Chicken buses, Chagas disease, and verb tenses
What do my parents think of this? ANGRY
What do I think about Monroe's environmental issues? The strip malls suck and Monroe is a soulless wasteland.

Luckily for the Peace Corps and my parents, I did not say my immediate thoughts but instead spewed a politically correct wonder of pro-environment-volunteerism-Peace Corps propaganda.

At some point in the conversation I brought up my blog. He asked to publish the address. Um, no.

You can see the masterpiece here.

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As promised, I hereby testimonialize that Justin is a fine catch for any future girlfriend. He is devastatingly handsome, super intelligent (often using sexy words like "redemption", "esoteric", and computer terms that I can't spell), and uber nice (unless mocking women and/or Catholics...just because it bothers me). Unfortunately he can't sing, tucks in his shirt, and doesn't know where Darfur is. But he is trainable. Feel free to contact me for further performance details.

Just goes to show.

So I was in Victoria's Secret today and there was a woman in a full burkah shopping for undies. AND her male companion was holding her purse. Hooray for women's lib!

Could I be more lame?

While driving all over God's green earth over the holidays (and to say "check-you-laters") I noticed quite a few catchy DOT sayings. Allow me to share a sampling: "Stay Alive. Don't Drink and Drive." "Click it or Ticket." and "Drive Hammered. Get Nailed" and from my very own NY "Buckle Up." We don't waste time on cuteness. I tried to think of a few - and wondered who gets paid to write them. Perhaps I will pursue it as a career.

In other news I've been replaced at work. Apparently they will miss me "coming in, telling a weird story, and disappearing again." It's good to be loved.

Mostly packed. Getting excited. Have been having scary dreams about Spanish verb tenses and contaminated water and wolves.