Another Day

Went on my run today and found that the loop I normally do has gotten easier. The loop consists of running on the PanAm until getting to a village called Sacramento. From there, I go inland through the fields for about twenty minutes. I normally pass people who are working in the fields planting and spraying pesticides, and I try to sneak past them so they don´t whistle at me, which they used to do all the time. It´s quite, quite degrading I find. But, many people have stopped whistling at me and simply yell my name, which is way better. Today was a lucky day and people just yelled my name and their attempt at ´good morning!´ Then, I ran through the practically dried up river, through more fields and little villages (amongst them was one I am doing the cocinas mejoradas project in) and out onto the PanAm. Total time: 35 minutes.

Then, off to the radio station to talk about jobs for kids finishing secondary school. Unfortunately they were busy. I think we might look for another radio station that can serve as a ´back up´ station for when Radio Hispana is too busy during the week to give us time.

Then, as I was walking through the streets of Palpa I saw a woman holding a land line phone in her hand, with the ear piece up to her head and she was talking! Hah! Not sure WHO she was talking to…or how, since she had the plugin in her hand. But, there she was. She looked quite campo, which means I don´t doubt that she really didn’t understand how a phone works. It made me laugh and was quite accurate to a Peruvian comedy I had seen on television the day before. It had a campesino woman being taught how to use a cell phone and she would go off on her own with the new phone and mess up every part of how to use it – first trying to recharge it (by paying a man to run around with it strapped to his push dolley), then trying to get a battery (a car battery), then trying to turn it on by pushing the green button (buttons on her shirt), etc. So funny! And I just had to laugh. Here I am in Palpa, Peru with people who walk around trying to use landlines like cell phones. I don´t know WHAT kind of work I should be doing, and for WHOM?!

p.s. the I got about 300 pieces of rebar cut today - yay! poco-a-poco gunna get this cocinas thing done!

when the clock is ticking and the agenda is empty

Happy two years in Peru as of September 11th. Two years later, and I didn´t think I´d be able to say this, but I AM BORED! Even after two years of perfecting how NOT to be bored (and I have come to totally enjoy and look forward to my Person Fun Time), here I am, today, totally, incredibly, miserably bored. This is due to the fact that my Municipality is totally failing me on their end of the project bargon and they haven´t gotten any of the materials we need to build the kitchens. I would liiiike to start building, because we have two done, and seventy-three more to go. I have....about ten weeks left. Jeez. Thats all I have to say.

So, I am just waaaaiting for the Municipality to buy there materials. But, while I am waiting, I´d rather not be bored. But, I feel I have exhausted all my free-time fun stuff and need something new. What I´d LIKE to do is jump into some group sporting event (Frisbee!) or something, where it´s not weird that I´m playing, and I don´t feel like all eyes are on me. To participate in a group event thing here, I feel I always have to be the one organizing it! Sigh. Hm...so, my plan to counter boredom for the rest of the day is the following: yoga for the next hour (since I´m too jazzed up for a nap), paint a plate for this dude in site, write my Kids to Kids Follow Up Grant thing, read in the plaza with my grandmother friend lady who knits, cook dinner, and watch a movie. Great plans, huh?!

How I fill my Personal Fun Time (today, what I would call incredible boredom, and not many of these things currently sound fun to me…I´m ready for a new activity):

1. Read a book – I still have 9 I want to read before leaving
2. Study Healing Touch
3. Meditate
4. Paint plates or watercolors
5. Make wallets
6. Run/walk/yoga
7. Cook
8. Hang out in the Plaza
9. Use the Internet
10. Write notes
11. Journal
12. Clean my room
13. Do my laundry
14. Hang out with the host family
15. Hang out with the ´hole in the wall´ ladies
16. Hang out with the juice stand ladies
17. Hang out with the mailbox lady
18. Do paperwork
19. Go to the Municipality to talk with someone and end up waiting/reading/twiddling my thumbs for hours.
20. Think
21. Notice how hot it is
22. Swim in the natural swimming hole
23. Hang out with the people in the Potable Water Office
24. Call other Volunteers and talk…for hours…
25. Sleep/nap
26. Walk around my town
27. Go visit other Volunteer´s sites

*****several hours later, at the end of the day..... I finished my day with painting a plate, taking a 1.5 hour nap, eating dinner with my site-mate Beto, and talking with my family on Skype. Awesome day, and totally fun. :)