Getting settled in – 12/29/2010

Our guests left a few days after Christmas and the house quieted down a good bit but I made my way to having coffee at the first house that was adamant I stop by.  It turns out that Nuria had had a volunteer live with her in the early 1980’s in a town I actually have a friend in now.  She slipped a few times calling me Becky and I felt so honored.  

It’s a funny image that we tend to have of returned volunteers especially ones that volunteered thirty years ago.  Their job was a little different than ours now to say the least.  They had to fetch water from the wells and had no electricity.  I on the other hand am sitting at my desk typing my on my computer listening to music in front of my gorgeous window with flowers on my desk.  To my right I have my own bathroom with running water and a hot water shower.  Although the hot water tends to shock me from time to time, and that I have to go in there to wash my face and brush my teeth I have it so much better than so many volunteers around the world.  I do also encounter about fifteen new bugs in my room a day.  I don’t know where these giant spiders keep coming out of but I also know they’re too big to kill bugs, at that size they eat humans.  

But still I face normal volunteer issues.   I find myself in a small town with limited resources in respect to books and internet access.  The closest internet café is an 1:40 walk… I’ve made it.  The bus runs through town four times each way which is more than some of my friends can say.  Plus I live in a large commuter town so whenever I know someone who’s heading into town I can catch a ride pretty easily.  

 

Now, in respect to the town’s organization they do have several committees that run smoothly but it seems that it’s the same people always involved.  And it turns out that the town is kind of set up in three parts.  Uphill is where the church and soccer field are.  The original center where I live is in charge of the school, and the furthest part downhill doesn’t really have anything to be in charge of.  Anyways, I still have a lot to learn but I hope that I can be a unifying character in town and find ways for the youth to get together outside of school which doesn’t seem to happen well, ever.