The Delay

It's been awhile. Sorry. We are what makes us tardy.

The school garden has been built. Seeds planted. Waiting to see what insects will attempt to destroy our good work. And then we will fight back: a metaphor, perhaps, for my service as of lately. There are ups and downs here just as there are anywhere for any person. All in all, life is surely good.

I recently came back to my site after spending the better part of a week in spanish classes at the training center in San Vicente. The classes were needed. As most of the phrases and topics of conversation in my rural site tend to be a bit redundant, it's good to take the opportunity to expand into more complex learning. In truth, this means I am attempting to speak Spanish like a 4 year old rather than a three year old.
Hung out with my host family in Molineros for a couple days. The rains have started coming. I don't think I realized how much I had missed trying to shout a conversation with Gladys over the ruckus of rain pattering on the corrugated tin roof above the patio. It had been 5 months since I visited Molineros. The community remains unchanged more or less, but what a strange feeling to be in the same place where i started, now after 5 months of absence. Sitting in the same old hammock thinking of what my expectations were, how they have changed, the good and the bad. What I am learning right now, my god, knowledge is empowering and enabling, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. I was excited to finally have the ability to converse freely with my family. The language barrier is ever decreasing, and never ending. So much to learn.
Mario, my old neighbor, and I began to talk about the war. I began to understand I think. Just a beginning, a little bit of a feeling. In academia, I've studied many conflicts, wrote many papers, was graded on what input I could offer to classroom discussions (often not much), and there is certainly an important place for that. But whatever I didn't retain while I was there in the classroom; it hits like a brick now.

It's difficult to quantify what I've done yet, but many of you have asked what kind of projects have kept me busy. Here's an updated working list:school garden, english classes, computer room construction at the school, sex ed. lectures, local community elections, etc. I'll expand on those later.

Please if you're interested in any specific aspect of my PC work, or anything really, just post a comment.