Less than 2 weeks til Belize!

Spent Tuesday afternoon in Santa Elena and Flores with Carola. It was good times. We scouted out prices on things to renovate her house. We need to go back with a truck to bring it all back and I'll be investing in a fan, kettle, hopefully a French press if I can find one, and rocks for the path. Investing, as in asking CUSO to invest in. The prospect of a fan is very exciting to keep the bugs away. Bought some tongs. Feel like I'm living the life now. Except I looked at Veronica's pictures and saw her bathroom and living room...Que bueno! We found a restaurant in Flores where you can use wireless and they also have computers hooked up. It was nice but the food was expensive for what it is and they charge you to use the Wi-Fi. And the security level of the Wi-Fi was too low to let me search for articles on the UofT website for my research :p Although Carola did point out that they have mojitos, so we'll probably be going back! (I was telling her and Mirko that it's so sad that no one I've talked to knows what a mojito is even though they have great rum, fresh limes and mint here all year round! Yes, I do say this jokingly as obviously people who barely make ends meet are not going to be making fancy cocktails with their natural resources. I get it!!!!) The women who work there were cool, too. This guy came in and made one of the rude noises that a lot of the men here make, kind of like a half whistle, half grumble. One of the women came out and said "How many *noise* do you want?" Put him in his place!

A VERY SHORT ENGAGEMENT

On that note, the "engagement" ring has made 0 difference in the way men look at me and talk to me in Santa Elena. They're too busy staring my face, boobs and legs and making noises to even notice my hand. I've managed to contain myself to just roll my eyes and groan. I'm very tempted to start a fight when they start making noises because they're the same noises they make to get the attention of dogs and horses. Maybe when my Spanish is better, I'll argue. I've seen some of the younger women respond verbally to the treatment, so I wouldn't be totally out of line.

Not only that, but as soon as the restaurant meals with Mirko stopped, my fingers magically shrunk in size so the ring is too big for my ring finger. I initially took this as a sign that I shouldn't pretend to be engaged but Shawna explained to me very wisely that this is actually a sign that I need to buy more jewelry. Of course! She's a smart one, that cousin of mine. I think the ring may have more success with the tourists and when I travel around...not sure.
So no longer engaged, I have a date! Okay, he's 7, but Audelio and I are watching Madagascar, Chicken Little or Bambi II (?? Did anyone else know there was a Bambi II?) on Sunday :) I'm excited to make popcorn and drink Sprite. I watched Chicken Little last night and the parents, in the Spanish version anyway, are named Linda and Melvin! (Which, for the uninformed, are my parents names.) I found it very exciting. My life is kind of boring.

NO VACACIONES

So at our CUSO training, Dave and I were told that, because we're working 2/3 of a year, we get 2/3 of the vacation of a regular cooperant. This was incorrect information and we, in fact, get no vacation. And working an extra hour for 6 weeks also does not merit any time off either, so vacay with the madre isn't going to be quite as planned. Oh well. Turns out my visa renewal needs to be done during the week, so I'm off for 4 days for that, anyway. August 11-14, baby!! Figured out there are national holidays on Sept 15 and Oct 20 so I'm hoping to use those days to see people and travel, or at least go to Guatey City to watch a movie and do something "cultural" (museum, gallery, ballet, play, etc).

AH GOT SKIIIILLS

So the most useful skills I bring here are definitely my computer skills and experience with working in an office, not what I've learned about microfinance or community development in university. On Thursday, I made Luis and Maritza's days, first by fixing some problems Luis had with tables on Word and then by retrieving some major documents that Maritza deleted. Most of my job is making Excel spreadsheets to organize data and fancy forms. I think the biggest "legacy" I could have here would be to make a decent database that is organized and, I hope hope hope, they maintain.

UPDATES

Still waiting on the goat...My grass is getting a little out of control so I'm hoping Tono can find one ASAP! Have the name all picked out and everything. Mo. As in lawnMOwer. As in saves me MO time trying to find someone to cut the damn grass. As in I hope he won't be too MObile and leave the house. As in I hope Coquette doesn't get too eMOtional when he/she gets here. Okay, I'm done. I like the name anyway. Good thing about not having other goats in the community is I won't have to deal with kids. As in the baby goat kind. I think I'd lose it if I ended up with another pregnant animal.

Of course when I brought my phone in to the Claro store, it worked perfectly fine and has worked perfectly fine ever since. Go figure.