Monday, June 9, 2008

Things that have happened in the recent past:
I barfed one morning for a while, but then soon felt better (this is also the first time I’ve been sick since I got here, and let’s hope it’s the last!).
I was forced to play soccer soon after barfing, but was relieved to find that our team won 4-0, so not much running was required from me.
We gave Oso a bath and cut out some of the stickers from his tail (which now looks dorky and butchered, thanks to me. Oops!).
We played basketball and are planning on playing fucsol (well, I don’t know if that’s how you spell it, but it sounds like that) Thursday with a group of locals. Fucsol is like indoor soccer except with way less people per team and with a tiny, hard soccer ball. I haven’t played yet, but I’m sure it’s fun.
We weeded the garden and made an official compost pile.
We discovered a snake chillin in our shower, which we removed with a dustpan and set free to roam the streets of Charagua. Oh yeah, so add snake to the animal list. This one was bright lime green and medium sized. It was really really beautiful.
I’ve been working on my vivero project even though the dudes are out of town until Tuesday and they locked the office so I don’t have the outline to work off of, which makes it harder.
We invited some old couple over for dinner this coming Sunday night, and our response was “we’re probably going to be out of town that day, but if we get back early, we’ll go.” So I guess that means we have to cook a nice dinner, then wait to see if they’ll show up to eat it or not. These people and their flimsy answers!!
And that’s all I can think of for now. I’ll keep the updates coming as soon as I can!

3 comments:

This Land said...

I like that there's apparently such a thing as an official composte pile.

The Neither Party said...

Gina,,,
From my observations, most Bolivians are very polite, and would not refuse your kind offer to them, feeling that to do so would be insulting to you.
They would far-rather offer even a very flimsy excuse than to be crude and insulting to you.
My guess is they like you, but haven't known you long enough to really be comfortable coming over for dinner at this time. A further guess is that you will be asked to their house, and if you accept and all goes well--the ice will be broken and more closeness will be developed.
Etiquette/customs relating to food are different in Bolivia than many other places, and a very good overview can be found here: http://www.boliviabella.com/dining-etiquette.html as well as a lot of other very useful information.
Hope this helps,,,John

Traci said...

I like how you're using the first person plural now! Um, news: I'm still working on the package... sort of. I should say: I will soon be working on the package. I started YMCA Camp training on Saturday and haven't done much else but stress about safety procedures, learn songs and games, and read the staff manual. But camp starts next Monday and I get a group of 11 kids. I'm excited. The whole walk home I was trying to think up ways to introduce the ground rules and ways to make them feel like a team. But I'm also very glad that I only have them for 8 hours! It's good to hear things are progressing with your job, thanks for updating!