October 13, 2008

Today I went with my counterpart to visit families and remind them that INNFA will be paying the second half of the becas (scholarships) on Wednesday. Then we planned out the sex ed charla that we are going to give to the local elementary school. While we were doing that the librarian called to tell us that the head of the cultural house in Machala wants to meet with the leaders of the community to discuss the computers that I am going to buy for the library on October 24th. He was quite adamant that it should be that day… which, unfortunately, happens to be the same night as the cultural night we are planning in my site. My counterpart and I had to explain to the librarian that we can’t change the date of the cultural night. If this head of the cultural house wants to get involved (and I have no idea why) we will have to have it another day. So I have to go to Machala tomorrow and explain to that I’m not going to jump through his hoops. After all, he can hold the meeting until I buy the computers.

In the afternoon my counterpart wasn’t feeling well so we canceled our afternoon activities and I decided/was forced out of necessity to wash my clothes. I really hate washing my clothes because it takes FOREVER!!! We don’t have a washing machine… or a ringer… or anything technical. I go outside to the old wooden picnic table that has a piece of metal on top and use a baggie of detergent, a bar of soap, a scrub brush, several buckets, and a garbage can full of water and wash all my clothes. By the time I’m finished, I am completely soaked and the clothes I’m wearing are filthy. It is NOT a fun process. I really miss washing machines.

Once I finally finished, I went to Machala to pick up another fabulous package from my mother. She sent me lots of cute things—sequins, cookie cutters, coloring books, my favorite type of gum, etc. I then went to my dance class and was very excited to find that the good instructor was teaching today. It was a great workout and lots of fun! When I got back to my site I picked up some ingredients to make my mother’s delicious banana bread. Unfortunately, walnuts are really expensive here, so I had to nix them. Although the sides of the loaf burned, it was still delicious.