Apples and Peanut Butter?

Day 4

September 8, 2010

Hello! Good news that didn’t make it to the September 7th Day 3 Blog: I got to take a shower FINALLY! Last night (sept 7) I was able to take a shower and it was great. I never thought that I would be in a situation where running water was not always available. It is hard but I will get used to it. Teresa told me that there are two problems with the water: the water system and people who do not pay for water in the building. It doesn’t seem right that she could lose her water if she pays for it. It isn’t her fault that her neighbors don’t pay!

Today was not as exciting as yesterday. Teresa and I went to the internet/phone place to try and solve my internet problem. The store is pretty big and became very crowded as the time went by. Did I mention that we were there for approximately 2.5 hours? Oh yeah, we were. They were trying to fix the problem and find us an internet option that would work with my Windows 7. It was really hard to understand what was going on so I felt lost for all of that time. It takes 24 hours for the service to start so I will report back tomorrow with the results.
Teresa and I went to a hardware store to pick up supplies for a water tank. I think a handyman or a plumber will be installing it but he must have given her a list because there were quite a few things we needed to purchase. Perhaps this will help the water situation? The rest of the day I read articles and reports about Project HOPE and other important information. I took copious notes and really enjoyed reading about what is going on here and what can still be accomplished.

Today wasn’t as exciting as yesterday but I could still share some fun facts.
Fun Facts:
1. I introduced apples and peanut butter to Cynthia and I think she liked it. She made a peanut butter sandwich after so she must have liked it. The first day I had peanut butter they looked at it like it was some strange substance because peanut butter is not common here.
2. They have something similar to “Back-To-School Night” at their school and Teresa went to it tonight. Their school is modeled after US schools so that makes sense that they have that.
3. The sign on the door at the internet place had a list of things that were not allowed and one of them said guns. Awesome.
4. Plantains or platanos are confusing because they look like bananas but taste totally different. What a tricky little fruit.
5. During a downpour today, a large crowd of people gathered in the underground garage underneath the office. At first I was confused why there were so many people there and then I realized. Duh
6. I have started saying “Ay” instead of “Oy”.
7. There are men that sell green apples in a lime green uniform every day. I hope to take a picture because it is just funny.
8. I have been watching TV in Spanish with the family and they think everything is really funny or really sad. I guess I have been overexposed to media. I can actually understand what the actors are saying and it is either really planned or very poor acting so I can’t laugh or think it is sad.
9. American commercials in Spanish are funny. The voices never match up.
10. I saw a few minutes of Hannah Montana in Spanish the other day and that was funny. Hannah’s voice sounded so silly.

Mosquito bite count: 5

I may be attending a meeting with Teresa tomorrow so hopefully I will have some more interesting things to write about on this blog.



Peace,
Jaclyn