and the rain came down down down

yikes January!

right now I am sitting on the back steps in my Mayors office charpsing the free internet. Having just come from another meeting about this summer school we keep talking about. I almost wish i hadn't even tried to get help and had just done it alone. I say that really just because after pushing to get something planned amidst the Christmas and New Years shuffle was impossible and then after returning from vacation, a lovely one at that in Buenos Aires with my fellow Bolivia volunteer Michelle, I find that my original counterpart good old JV has somehow been ousted by my 16 year old host sister. Yesterday, since the rains wouldn't let up I found out through good old fashioned girl talk with my two host sisters that the personnel in the office are being changed due to some sort of corruption. But the only reason JV is out is because my host sister is the Queen of the town, she won the pagent last year, and with the victory comes a year of work in the mayors office and somehow it means she is the new secretary. Amazing. Good in some ways and bad in others. I think JV will still help me out a bit, but I am far from understanding and frankly feel that to ask questions would be silly. So again we have met and planned to meet again and the months slip away like the slugs trying to crawl up my wall.

yes I have slugs and fleas and spiders and all sorts of creatures searching safety from the rains. Girl talk also revealed the potential danger of the mine up the mountain possibly, due to heavy rains, caving in and barraling into town in the form of mudslides. Needless to say I am packing an emergency bag and looking for potential higher ground. In the meantime I will hopefully be participating in a reading club, maybe weekly movie showings, dance classes and any other fun activity we can come up with to keep us sane in all this rain.

Reading heavily as well and experimenting in the kitchen with my family. We made a plethora of desserts for our midnight Christmas feast including brownies, key lime pie, craisen white chocolate chip cookies and two types of banana bread, one being bomb banana muffins. Mari Carmen is a genius in the kitchen and she graciously allows me to observe and sometimes help. Though I am never allowed to wash dishes, even after I tell them how many dishes I washed at home with dad singing his "Do the Dishees" song so fervently in the background. It doesn't translate all that well into Spanish. Abuelita (grandma) watches tv, Chabo, at 6pm everyday. She usually falls asleep but I sat with her the other day and I think we had a a good time. Granted she doesn't hear very well so its hard to have a conversation me shouting into her ear and loosing all faith in my Spanish as she nods, smiles, sometimes responds and laughs. Oh how she laughs, little pearls. It is one of my most favorite things Abuelitas laughing. So it goes here in the mountain rains but in a way it is nice and leaves time for lazy afternoons spent chatting or dreaming or dozing in my hammock. Thrilled to have more time for letters, I hope I stay true to my promise. Might go and salvage an old bookshelf to put in my room now, or help Mari Carmen read a childrens book in English. We do an hour a day and she is really good just needs practice. I guess I am looking forward to the green that the rains bring. I feel like a frog hopping around the puddles in my green shoes!
till soon
slug hugs
lebo