One Good Thing About Music

My days consist of moments of "I need to blog about that" and then I sit here and have nothing. It doesnt help that it takes me 6 attempts to get the quote marks to show up because the keyboards here look exactly the same but function differently... enough to make you not care about grammar and punctuation. But it interferes with my thought flow.

Right now Im sitting in the internet cafe with Barro Zeus passed out at my feet. Barro is my little puppy that I purchased yesterday unexpectedly. I went with David on his schools field trip to an artesania. He acquired a grant from Kids to Kids to show a group of kids from his school a workshop on black pottery. It was pretty amazing. Not only because I had a "Ghost" moment as the instructor was teaching me how to work the spinning machine, but because the finished products were so cool. Okay, not as cool as the process in making them, but it was an amazing morning....

Okay let me backtrack. It didnt start amazing. So I woke up, at 5, as usual. Sometimes by choice, other times not, but either way Im up before there is light. Whether it is the chickens, the cows, my dire urgency to pee, the mosquito bites that torture me alive, the praying mantises that have been swarming my room, or mangos falling on my tin roof and scaring the living daylights out of me... I get up. I was particularly rushed this morning because I wanted to take a bus and not a pick up into town. The rocky dirty roads leave you both with tremendous backpains and a layer of dust coating your body by the time you arrive sweat drenched in Osicala. So I was determined to make the 7 am bus. You would think this would be easy but I am quite lethargic in the morning and my addiction to music causes delays. My philosophy is that "One good thing about music is when it hits you feel no pain." Okay thats not mine but I like it. Its the first thing I do when I get up in the morning and it really cheers me up and sets the mood for my day. My recent obsession has been the Toots and the Maytals. Anyway, after postponing my bucket back to the last possible minute, I encountered the problem of procrastination. You see my landlord had built me a bathing area outside and this would be my first day using it. I did not anticipate him coming back this morning to do some finishing touches. For some reason, 5 minutes after I wake up he is outside my house. Everyday. Im still not sure how he manages to walk his farm field, maenuevre his cows, open the wire fence and get to my house by the time I have exited the latrine...but he does it everytime.

Anyway, I quickly packed a bag and headed to his house to shower. As I was walking out frantically with my hair still wet, I saw the bus coming. I threw my backpack over the fence to my counterparts house and jumped on board. Frazzled, with 20 bucks in my pocket, but ready for the field trip.

Soon after arriving, I fell in love with Zeus, the 1 month old puppy living at the artesania house. After approximately 3.5 mins of deliberation, I owed 20 bucks to David and had a puppy covered in clay in my arms. Hence, Zeus became Barro. translation: clay. Fluffy black with brown paws, 6 toes on each foot, possibly a rott weiller, and with every passing person asking "how much for the chucho". NOT FOR SALE. And although I got about a full 20 mintues of sleep last night, I have fallen in love and it didnt matter if he peed my bed. Which brings me to my next train of thought...

I woke up this morning, after tossing and turning all night with Barro on the side of my head, at 4am. I gave up trying to go back to sleep and headed outside to watch the sunrise. Yea I had a few hours but I could hear the world coming to life as I pulled the covers off and I wanted to get out there. At first I was bummed I hadnt brought my book, but before I realized it, it was 630 am. It started dark, quiet, with a slight hum of the birds wakening, flowers opening and, of course, a rooster crowing here and there. As it got brighter, it got louder, a little warmer and I heard Barro crying at the door. I scooped him up, grabbed a blanket and together we watched the sunrise. It was an amazing start to my day. And for that, Im glad Barro didnt let me sleep. After a quick pee on the hotel floor, we packed up and headed to breakfast at the Perquin Lenka Hotel.

That morning, during the clay field trip, Daniel and KCs counterpart in Perquin texted me to come to a Development Meeting at the Hotel Lenka in Perquin. Its awesome up there, and I was interested in the meeting, and they have apple pie, so I packed as soon as I was home from the field trip and headed up there. Since the meeting was at 4pm, and its an hour away, I was forced to spend the night in the hotel overlooking the mountains...and take 2 hot showers. My first hot showers since Ive been here. 2 monthes. And I was torn between enjoying a 30 minute long experience... and social responsibility. I compromised.

My sister Danielle recommended I talk about WHAT IM ACTUALLY DOING HERE. Reading my blogs, I may sound like Im on vacation. So maybe I should explain.

I kinda talked about the confianza thing. Basically, in the next...now 7 weeks, I have to know my community. Were required to do a Census. I have to go around to the 400 households in my community see what level education they have, how much money they bring in...most likely from family memebers in the US, what their needs and wants may be. I have to meet the community leaders. Youth groups. Womens group, Schools, Mayor, Police, etc. Ive met most already. End of April I have to present my findings and possibilities for plans of action to my entire community and my boss. Basically, I have to stop staring at the beauty that is my dog, jumping off bridges, furnishing my house, bathing in waterfalls, playing soccer, and get to work. Well not really...all that stuff helped get my face out in the community...but now I need to start seeing how I can help the people here know how to help themselves.

Im not sure yet. But what I do know is that there is A LOT of potential here. I have met so many ppl that have told me whatever I need to ask. That means they want to work and thats what I need. My counterparts have great ideas and are strong women. There are a lot of kids who are pretty obsessed with having a gringa so Im pretty sure I can convince at least a handful of them to work with me.

The trademark of my area is Henequen. This is hemp. It grows here and people fabricate it into many products. Working on the management of this business will definitely be an area I touch upon. I would like to form more sports groups, especially for women. And Art classes. Im already working with illiterate adults and the Police have requested English classes. I wouldnt mind getting on their good side. I would like to work on a Trash service for my canton, since 100 percent of the community burns it... or just litters. Litter is everywhere and it sucks. I have lots of other options, but I have to look into them more deeply in the next few weeks as I get to know people on a more personal level now. Im gonna steal a quote from a former volunteer and that everyone here uses to explain how important it is getting to know the community and forming a mutual trust...thats what im working on now...

¨Your community will not want to know what you know until they know that you know what they know.¨

Hence, I have got to start knowing what they know so that they know that I know what they know and then they will want to know what I know.

And so, I am putting Barro back into his basket, throwing my backpack on my back, grabbing my grocery bag of dog treats, swinging my purse of coras for the carro onto my hip, and heading out to the first pick up I see to my little mountain side, with a smile on my face everytime I hear the Toots still humming along in my head...

"We gon' do our best, Never let it rest.
Till our good be better. And our better best"