3-25-12
Last week I spent Thursday and Friday in the capital doing some work in the PC office. When I got back I didn’t have any power whatsoever for four days. Someone had knocked down a wire. Electrical wiring here is mind blowing. They use an overly small gauge wire, not designed for outside. Then they splice into it anywhere they please, and many times as they please, running a million connections off it. They tie a piece of a plastic bag over the connections. It’s an electrician’s nightmare.
Sunday I got out on my bike for 5 hours 12 minutes. I went out 3 hours and turned around. When I did I noticed a big storm coming over the mountains so I rode as hard as I could to keep ahead of it. It started to catch me as I was climbing the steepest hill on the way back, and I was starting to get wet, but on the long descent down, I got back in front of it and stayed there the rest of the way back.
The rest of the week I was only able to get out on the bike once for an hour and a half. It’s been a busy week. In addition to my normal hustle and bustle, Thursday the APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director) for the education program came out and had a meeting with the teachers, director of the school and me. She is thinking about placing a volunteer from that program here in May. If she does the new volunteer and I would overlap by about 3 months or so. Today we had an event with the Department of Sports. They gave the baseball, softball, and soccer teams uniforms. They are new but have the names of other towns, but the baseball and softball teams didn’t have uniforms so it is a big help. Bateys 5, 7, 9 and Cuchilla were supposed to come as well and get uniforms and afterward we were going to play an all-star soccer game, but the Sugar Consorcio reneged on their promise to provide transportation, so the other bateys couldn’t come. Instead my soccer team divided in two and played a game using the new uniforms.
3-31-12
Another busy week, thank God semana santa is coming. My math and English classes are all going well. I am especially please with the progress in my reading classes. I wish I had more time and resources because more and more kids want to join the classes but I am already maxed out. I continue my quest for books for our library. I spoke with three different people this week promising me books. Art, chess, and soccer are also going well. Tried to meet with the Sugar Consorcio on Thursday to ask for transportation for the summer soccer league but the public relations guy keeps putting us off. He canceled our meeting at the last moment again. Always says he will call me and never does. Starting to think we need to speak to someone higher up the ladder. Transportation is vital to making the league work. I still can’t find another coach for the boys’ team, so I am teaching the two captains how to coach once I leave.
Today a religious group from Canada stopped by the batey. They do so every year. Half of the group was in the park preaching, the other half was in a church handing out medical supplies. There was also a doctor from the capital with them. They had a lot of sports equipment in the two buses they came in, but it was intended for some other locations. However, after speaking with them, they were nice enough to change their minds and give us about 9 baseball gloves for smaller children and a baseball. We have been trying to get gloves for the younger boys’ team for a while, so this was very helpful.
We’re about 2/3 of the way through the zafra (sugar cutting season). When they burn the cane, the black ash from the leaves floats high up in the air and comes down far away, falling like snow. My house is covered with ash, inside and out. It gets inside even when the windows and door are closed, it’s amazing.
4-1-12
Today the boys played soccer against Batey 7. It was hot and windy, and I had to ref the game. It was still 0-0 at the end of regulation play, but the boys looked so tired that I just called the game a tie. Batey 7 was happy to tie us, and our boys were just happy to get out of the sun.
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