Since the last time I posted on the blog, not much has really gone on here in Buena Vista. Last week I went to Santa Cruz for the weekend and hung out with Brenda. On Saturday night we went to a bar called HPNOTIK with the daughter of the owner of the hostel where Brenda is living in Santa Cruz. The bar is exactly the type of place I would never go in the USA: people have to wait in lines to get in, the inside is decorated with advertisements for different brands of alcohol and cigarettes, there was loud techno music and strobe lights. To top it off, nobody was really dancing except me and Brenda, and there was very little room to do so. I will chalk that one night out as an experience, but next time I stay up late dancing must be included, because going deaf and inhaling smoke is just not enough fun to make it worth it.
On Sunday we went to a Peruvian celebration in the central plaza to see the dancing. We did not stay for the whole thing because after every dance was a half hour of the emcee talking before the next group went onstage, which was pretty irritating
The Peruvian festival was held at the side of the church on Sunday and while the emcee was blabbing I took this photo of the church and beautiful sky.
I have been noticing of late that I am rather lonely here in Bolivia, the excitement of being in a new place and meeting new people has begun to wear off a bit, and I am starting to miss having friends to hang out with after work. As a result, I am staying in the office most of the day just to be around the company of others. Tragic tale, I know, it could definitely be worse, but it is still difficult to be lonely and I was informed by my male coworkers that their wives are jealous, so I am not going to be invited to any weekend BBQs with the wife and kids...
With Aude at the River Surutú 3km from town during lunch.
The Peruvian festival was held at the side of the church on Sunday and while the emcee was blabbing I took this photo of the church and beautiful sky.
I have been noticing of late that I am rather lonely here in Bolivia, the excitement of being in a new place and meeting new people has begun to wear off a bit, and I am starting to miss having friends to hang out with after work. As a result, I am staying in the office most of the day just to be around the company of others. Tragic tale, I know, it could definitely be worse, but it is still difficult to be lonely and I was informed by my male coworkers that their wives are jealous, so I am not going to be invited to any weekend BBQs with the wife and kids...
With Aude at the River Surutú 3km from town during lunch.The one thing that was pretty exciting this week is that I started teaching English classes in Candelaria and despite my reservations, they have been pretty fun. On Tuesday night there were 11 students and on Thursday we had 13, and all we are really doing is going over how to have a basic conversation with a tourist. I prepared a ton of material which I thought we would cover in the first day, but due to repetition everything took a lot longer than I thought, so it looks like my class is set for the next two weeks. All the students are really excited to be learning and they find my amusing enough, especially when I make mistakes speaking Spanish, so it is a fun environment.
Second night of English class, Thursday 07-24-08 in Candelaria. This photo shows about half the class. The students range in age from around 10 to 30 or so and five of them are siblings (in the community of Candelaria there is one family with 11 siblings that has really spear-headed the development of the area as an eco-tourist destination. I have met 6 of the 11 siblings and five are currently taking my class, they are its youngest and oldest members).
Students practicing a dialog in English class in Candelaria Thursday night. The classroom is the store in front of the shop where the artisans of Candelaria make bamboo furniture and art. They wanted an English class in order to better communicate with tourists who come by, so I am teaching basic conversation that they´ll need to sell goods and make hotel reservations, and whatever else they might be interested in communicating to tourists. Check out their blog: www.ecoalberguecandelaria.blogspot.com, which I updated with English-Spanish entries.
I also decided this week to start working on a project to gather information about producers of basic agricultural goods that could be certified Fair Trade. I am going to go around and do interviews with some local associations of producers of honey, rice, tropical fruit and coffee to get basic information and hopefully start them on the certification track. I also plan to ask questions about the challenges the associations are facing and will then write a report for the Mancommunity, CEPAD and whoever else is interested about how to better serve the needs of the agricultural producers in the area. I am excited to hopefully have more fulfilling work for the next 1.5 months, not that making a database was not titillating, since I enjoy talking to people and having this project will keep me busy.
Second night of English class, Thursday 07-24-08 in Candelaria. This photo shows about half the class. The students range in age from around 10 to 30 or so and five of them are siblings (in the community of Candelaria there is one family with 11 siblings that has really spear-headed the development of the area as an eco-tourist destination. I have met 6 of the 11 siblings and five are currently taking my class, they are its youngest and oldest members).
Students practicing a dialog in English class in Candelaria Thursday night. The classroom is the store in front of the shop where the artisans of Candelaria make bamboo furniture and art. They wanted an English class in order to better communicate with tourists who come by, so I am teaching basic conversation that they´ll need to sell goods and make hotel reservations, and whatever else they might be interested in communicating to tourists. Check out their blog: www.ecoalberguecandelaria.blogspot.com, which I updated with English-Spanish entries.
I also decided this week to start working on a project to gather information about producers of basic agricultural goods that could be certified Fair Trade. I am going to go around and do interviews with some local associations of producers of honey, rice, tropical fruit and coffee to get basic information and hopefully start them on the certification track. I also plan to ask questions about the challenges the associations are facing and will then write a report for the Mancommunity, CEPAD and whoever else is interested about how to better serve the needs of the agricultural producers in the area. I am excited to hopefully have more fulfilling work for the next 1.5 months, not that making a database was not titillating, since I enjoy talking to people and having this project will keep me busy.
This weekend I will be going to the Día de Tradición in Colpa Bélgica, which should be a good time. Along with ridiculous amounts of meat and consumption of alcohol, there is going to be live music and dancing, so I plan to take good photos for the next entry.
1 comment:
I'm glad to see that you don't seem to be sick anymore! It's good that you've created some projects for yourself to keep busy and engaged - I've rediscovered facebook procrastination. Haha, I love the idea of all the little Bolivian women being jealous of you! Que suave! And I can't WAIT to get loads of gifts with all your Deans Fellows money!
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