A Little Bit About Nothing

I woke up this morning as always. I had to pee. Not just had to pee, but fairly certain that if I waited any longer I would end up with a kidney infection. Nonetheless, I turn over on my side for just a Little bit longer. Feeling a Little less pressure on my abdomen, I peered into the eyes of my puppy looking up at me.I believe, for an instant, we shared the same longing to run outside and squat to our great relief, but somehow we were both stuck in our respective sleeping areas. The instant passed and Barro relieved himself on my floor… and I was left contemplating just how much it would suck to hand wash my sheets today.

It was 6am and I thought about just how much I could get done before the heat actually arrived in La Montana. But I really just didnt want to do ANYTHING. Unfortunately, the same wave of emotions was going through my head as always, just as certain as I would tomorrow wake up with the fear of approaching kidney infection. One moment I smiled at just how much you could accomplish here before 8am, and the next momento I was lying in the hammock with Barro on my lap. He seems to share the same emotions as me.

But after Reading a Little bit of ¨Salvador¨ and becoming depressed, laughing a Little bit at ¨The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid¨ and finally regaining my strength to start my day from Paulo Coehlo (thank you Danielle for the kindle) I jumped off the side of my hammock, Barro fell and together we searched for breakfast.
I opened the fridge to find a cup of carrot juice, 3 limes and a giant papaya that I had accumulated all in a matter of 10 mins on my walk home past my nieghbors last night. This made me smile and for the next hour or so my mood was up.
I felt my luck continue as I the bus approached and I thought ¨Wow, I´m going to get the last spot. How lucky¨. My spot was hanging out the door with the cobrador barely holding on by one finger and in a position behind me that would in any other place and circumstance be grounds for molestation. But here there is no such thing as personal space and on the bus you just accept it. But as we pulled over to pick up 3 more ppl, I realized, I was far from the last person to get a spot on the bus. The cobrador kept caling ¨walk to the middle, theres space in the middle¨. But clearly there was not and he should have isntead said ¨sit on someone´s lap, stick your face farther into someone elses deoderant-less armpit or get off.¨ It was the first time in my life I didnt know where my left arm was.

But lets see, whats going on in life. A couple weeks ago I was asked to be the Madrina for the 3rd grade girls class in school. After I mistakenly bought a softball instead of futball, I frantincally rushed to clean my own soccer ball so I had something to present the class. But that was a cool day. I found some sort of Iguana called a ¨chenga¨living in my kitchen area that occassionally also uses my bathing area and is supposedly deadly. I also found a cat behind my fridge who likes to sneak in through my windowless window and eat my dog food. I have killed 2 scorpions in my bedroom and seen 1 other running on the ceiling. A cockroach fell onto my lap in the letrine and I´m pretty sure I have ¨regalale¨-d all my mangos away to the neighbors.

As for the Salvador book, it was written during the war period and is an interesting perspective on the history of hte country. One part that stuck out was a quote about how many people here smoke cigarettes. The author noted that the chances of living long enough to die from the effects of cigarettes was so slim that the health risks weren´t a concern. I wonder how the statistics have changed today with the increasing homicide rate, upper respiratory infections and diuretic problems. This is sometimes why your emotions get down.

But other Little moments make me laugh and bring me back up. Like walking into a house and seeing a women in the nude bathing…but thinking about how scandalous it is to have part of your thigh exposed in a daring pair of shorts. Or when my counterparts granddaughter sits on my lap on rubs my legs because they are so smooth. Yes, I still shave! And if she is not doing that she is rubbing my chest. I dont know, apparently boobs are nothing here. I am now only offered a fork 1 out of 2 times I eat and only end up using it 1 out of 3. A Salvadoran friend visited my house and was shocoked I could leave my cereal box out because I didnt have rats.
I dont know. These Little moments have to make you laugh.

But Thursday I have my Asamblea General. My boss is coming to my Little community and Im supposed to present myself to my ENTIRE community (expecting they show up), explain the Peace Coprs and my program, and talk about what I could possibly do here to help. Needless tos ay, Im stressed and procrastinating. I have to still give out over 60 invitations, make some posters and trying to sound like I make sense in spanish and am somewhat sophisticated. We´ll see…

This blog has once again turned out to include about 10% of what I wanted to say, is mostly rambling, a Little bit of compaining, and nothing of real importance. I will try to work on that…