the days are getting longer

Good Saturday-

Its sunny and chilly here in Villa Montes. Last Saturday we celebrated the Night of San Juan, the longest night of the year, with a bonfire and the ladies soccer championship. In trying to bring a little bit of a June bonfire in the States, I brought a few bags of tri-color jumbo marshmallows (they didnt have plain white ones in Yacuiba) and showed the kids the many ways to toast a perfect marshmallow. To my delight, the vast majority came to the conclusion that marshmallows are much more delicious when set on fire and then blown out, as opposed to the slow roast, something that I have spent years trying to convince my nearest and dearest. Chimeo beat the pantalones off of Villa Montes in penalty kicks, and each member of the winning team went home with a 2 L bottle of cola. After the game, most of the ladies, kids, myself, and my quasi-site mate Chachi filtered out to our warm beds to escape the winter wind. The majority of the men remain unfazed, and continued to drink their Tigers Milk (powdered milk and hot pure alcohol-ick ick ick), raising a ruckus and swimming and doing all the crazy traditional San Juan things Chimeño men like to do that usually leaves them with a cold and a terrible hangover on San Juan proper.


On this same cold night, Chachi stayed the night for a sleep over and confirmed what I had long been feeling but dreaded to admit-my room is terribly depressing at night. Sure its big, new, clean, and is full of all of my awesome stuff, but it also has the lonely hum of my inherited refrigerator and the maddening glow of one terrible fluorescent lightbulb. Combine that with the face that Don Marcial, my one-time-grumpy-landlord-host-grandfather, had long since runn oft to La Paz to visit his ailing sis with the wife he hates, and I was also living alone, breaking a big Peace Corps Bolivia rule. So this week my lovely housing coordinator came down to help me set up a possible new place, the vacant house of my counterparts brother. First and foremost we had to check and see if I could get cell reception in the new house, so we sent the technician, a wonderful fella with an adorable belly named Carlos, and my agile counterpart with endless brio, Enrique, up a tree to try it out. Success! It worked! Miriam otherwise approved of the house, and even though I will still be living alone, Im about 100 meters from great families on either side, so I guess thats enough. Peace Corps will pay for the materials to make some changes, like installing water, light, and pouring cement for a front porch, and Enrique and his brother Cecilio, one of my best pals here, volunteered their time to help me. I am constantly amazed by the goodness and caring that they and the rest of the folks of Chimeo show. They are such busy men with big families and live off of the sweat of their brows, but they dont hesitate to offer their help. I am truly so fortunate to know them. I am also SO SO excited to make my own place. Im told that as of now, folks are shy to visit me because they fear Don Marcial will be around. I can plant my own sugar cane, sweet potatoes, and whatever else I want and really like of the fatta tha lan´, so to speak. I can paint the new, cozier, tinier room however I want, and the kitchen and the humming fridge will be in the other room. Most importantly, I will be more integrated into the community (the new house is right in the center of the small town) and my rent and additions to the house will benefit the Terceros family long after I go. Our rent negotiations were truly unforgettable. I told Enrique I am currently paying 150 Bolivianos a month (about 20 bucks) and Id like to pay the same. He said that wouldnt be necessary. I told him really, I want to pay rent. He said, ok, 50 Bolivianos. I said, how about 130. He said no, Ill only let you pay 100 Bolivianos (about 12 bucks) a month. I said deal, and we shook. What a wonderful wonderful wonderful man. Again, I am so fortunate.

As for work, Ive been teaching computer four nights a week for about a month now (minus the past week due to a TERRIBLE flu, but Ill get more into that later) and the kids and adults are progressing nicely. I hope to set up an email pen pal program with my almamater to help them practice their writing and composition which, as of now, needs work to say the least. This probably makes me angrier than anything else on a daily basis-the state of the school. There are other excellent schools in nearby small towns, Chimeos quality of education is just especially lacking. I dont know as of yet what it comes from, the teachers, lack of pressure from the parents, or what. I do know one thing, however-every every EVERY kid has the right to a good education that leaves the able to express themselves well. Its a right. Its fundamental. I should not see 7th graders who dont know what syllables and paragraphs are. But I do. And its enraging. So we shall see where this pen pal program goes. Either way, something has to change.


The flew. I was struck down Monday afternoon with a terrible bout of what I think was the flu, even though I was given an injection to prevent such things during training. I was in bed with a real ugly fever for three days in that depressing room in the house by myself. Save afternoon visits by the daughter of my best friend, Serena, to bring me fresh baked bread, I might have gone insane. It was this week that I realized, Peace Corps really is hard. I was hoping that maybe if I could be the right kind of person, easygoing, minimalist, close to nature, that it would somehow be easy. But no, its hard. Its wonderful and hard. I think the PC tag line, ¨The toughest job youll ever love¨will prove itself to be terribly true.

Im still doing good, despite the hard times. This month Ive got some great stuff lined up, like a workshop on solar ovens, 4th of July celebrations, furthering on our communal mothers garden, and starting a community tree garden. At the end of the month Ill be switching homes, attending a 3-month reconnect in Coch, and receiving a much much much anticipated visit from the States. Thats all for now and I appreciate thew over whelming response to my last email-Ive already received a couple of toothbrushes and books and am waiting for a response from Toms of Maine to send some paste for these kids.


Go roast some mallows til theyre flaming,
Yakelyn