First month in site!

I´ve been in site a whole month! I don´t really have any cultural news. There were only three festivals this month, none of which I took part in. I flew into Tarija on Tarija day and all I witneesed slightly out of the norm was a lot of marching bands in the street. And really, that is only slightly out of the norm. Marching bands are real big here. On Labor Day I had the day off and I noticed that there was no one in town so it was more boring than usual. I was told later that the people were most likely inside getting sloshed so perhaps it´s good that I didn´t particpate. Then there was some very small happening where some townspeople hiked up to the plateau over the town where there are stations of the cross. They brought one of the crosses down and remained in a house praying, eating, and drinking for a day before they returned the cross. I´ve been wanting to hike up there for weeks now but apparently the trail is very hard to find and as I am really clumsy it might be better if I go with other people...who can scrape my body off the rocks. And I´m gonna miss Chuquisaca day because I have a meeting in Tarija. (Grr! And I was invited to a barbecue and everything!)

So work has begun to pick up. I do get some glimpses of how many problems I will face from lack of transportation, lack of enthusiasm, language barrier, and some uniquely Bolivian problems.

Last week I went to a school that my organization has a program with. I was introduced and given ideas on what they want from me...including a workshop on didatic games and help in their tiny tree nursery. I went back later to coordinate this but the Principal wasn´t there and the teacher responsible for the nursery told me in no uncertain terms that she was NOT interested. I went back yesterday and was introduced to two teacher who actually DO want to be involved so we outlined the next steps and I somehow agreed to give two talks this week (Friday and Monday). Luckily, I guess, I don´t work on Friday afternoons so I had to cancel one talk which will give me a smidge more time to prepare.

I also went to visit the Director of the School District twice but he wasn´t there. So I went with some coworkers out to the campo to visit two schools there and check out their schoolyard gardens. It was nice to have a different perspective because right now I live in a "zona urbana" and the culture and the kids seem different. Also, one of the schools gave me a bag of radishes...so that was nice.

This weekend the five closest volunteers came to visit me....or really to use the internet and eat in a restaurant...but I´m a perk. It was a perk for me too because I could visit them at the hostel and take a hot shower and watch cable tv. So rather than doing nothing alone, we did nothing together. One night we actually tried to visit as many hamburger joints as possible to compare the quality of food. (There are only about four if you´re liberal about your definition of hamburger.) We plazeared, played cards, ate, and visited the one bar in my town. My poor friend Steph got propositioned in the five seconds it took for my friend to walk me home. But of course she promised to introduce me to this lovely married man whose relationship is on the rocks. Apparently we have a lot in common, like believing in extraterrestrials, thinking that the US is spreading disease to further capitalism, and harboring atomic bombs. (To clarify just in case, these are not beliefs that I harbor strongly or at all.)

I also have started to play basketball with my coworkers and other gente. I learned the words for "pick and roll", "sprained ankle", "cheering section" and "shoot already gringa!" I got my butt kicked by the secretary in 1on1 but later beat a male coworker. He blamed this occurence on the fact that I am an American and therefore must be vastly superior at all sports except soccer. (For those who don´t knnow me, I´m about 5ft2 and 105 pounds. Not exactly star player material.) The next day I got my butt kicked by a 12 year old girl. She wasn´t American.

I visited the Director of the School District and he wants me to work with three schools in my town and five in the campo. I have to somehow balance this with working in the municipal tree nursery (which I haven´t done at all) and with the Mayor´s program on green spaces. And to think I was bored last week.

Yesterday the director took me out to the campo to check out three schools and meet everyone there. I must work on introducing myself. It is very formal here, as are goodbyes and thank yous and as an American I have trouble with expressing deepest gratitude for having met someone and wishing them all the best in all that they try to accomplish in their life...after only five minutes of talking. Anyway the schools were very small...two were one room schoolhouses which should provide a unique challenge. The kiddos were cute like all Bolivian children and none of them knew where the United States are. Now I just have to schedule activites, figure out appropriate lessons...and manage transportation out to the schools. Two might be close enough to bike it.

That´s all folks.