Tidbits (2006.12.05)

Saludos blog fans. Please allow me to apologize for my recent absence with blogging. I have been in and out of my site a lot for many different reasons and it's hard to find time to sit down to write about stuff when you never really have time to get settled in one particular place. Also, I have no singular amazing story to tell this time, just a few short and hopefully entertaining ones. These "tidbits" are in no particular order. Hopefully bit by bit as people send me pictures I will be able to post some of them as I am still without a camera.

"Ya se fue la barba"
For those of you who were fans of the beard, I'm sorry to report that it has made its sad departure. No real reason aside from the fact that I was beginning to look really absurd. Everyone in my site kept asking me why I didnÂ’t shave and told me that I looked really old. My family was telling me that the girls around town were asking about it too. "They'd give you a kiss if you shaved," they'd say. Not that I'm looking for a ton of kisses, but one or two would be nice :) Another deciding factor was that I needed a full time helper monkey to be sure there wasn't stuff (food, bugs, sticks, oil filters, etc) stuck in it. It was longer than my hair had been in years. It wasn't uncomfortable or hot, which was kind of surprising. I enjoyed messing with it...my friend Mary even braided it one night and I looked like Captain Jack Sparrow, which was awesome. I'd say if there was one reason above all why I did it, it was because my host sister is getting married in a couple of weeks and really really wanted me to cut it. She wants me to cut my hair too, but I think I'm going to hang on it a while longer.

My pal James and I were the only two of us left in the beard bet, and when we showed up for Thanksgiving, I decided to offer him a draw. I had gotten some hair clippers from a volunteer that had left and I pulled them out and showed them to James. "I was gonna do the same thing, dude. Let's do it." Around 8pm that night, we went into the bathroom with the hair clippers and a camera and went to town. By the end, we had left nothing but moustaches. James looked like Prefontaine with all his long hair and 'stache...I just looked like a real-life dirty Mexican (sorry, Naya). We took some pictures of the 'staches, and then I cut mine off...all the way down to a bare face. At the end of it all, the clippers were shot and there was a nasty mix of black and red beard hair all over the bathroom. I had been growing the beard for 6 months and 13 days. For right now, I'm back to the 'ol Ben Ranz goatee, but I think after the wedding I'm going to bring back the full blown beard...it was just too cool not to have around. Plus shaving is a pain cause I don't have a mirror and a sink in the same place in my house.

"Back to Cochabamba"
A few weeks back, the rest of my training group and I returned to Cochabamba for what they call "In-Service Training," which is a week of sessions and classes similar to those we had during our three months of pre-service training. We all shared our experiences from our sites and had sort of an information exchange with the other people in our project groups and talked about the challenges we'd faced and how we all deal with them. Some of it was worthwhile, but in general it made me remember all the stuff I didn't like about training...the mind-numbing sessions where they would tell us about a topic, tell us to break down into groups to discuss it, give us a big piece of paper and a marker (visions of FFA flipcharts ran through my head) to write down all our thoughts. Then we reconvene and share our groups thoughts with the bigger groups. It wasn't until we did it all again that I remembered how much I didn't like it back during training.

The good news was that I got to see all my friends from training that I hadn't seen in three months...all the people who aren't in the Santa Cruz region. It was great to catch up with everyone and hear how they are doing with their projects in their sites. It was also fun to see our trainers again, Armando & Sue, as well as our language teachers...those people that we had spent so much time with during training. One afternoon we played Walleyball at a gym in the city where my friend belongs, which was a really fun time. We stayed up late playing Catch Phrase and just shooting the bull over a few beers, laughing and reminiscing. We even had a beer pong tournament one night, which my partner Mike and I promptly won...I credit all those Thursday nights at 100 E. Frambes for our success. We had a barbeque at our boss Tim's house, which was some great food and good time to relax.

After 2 days of training sessions, we started with more language classes. I felt pretty comfortable with my Spanish, so I decided to take Quechua lessons. I don't really NEED Quechua in my site, but it's always good to have a few phrases down...just to kind of impress people. It was just my friend Vicki and I in the class, and we had a really awesome teacher named Hilarion, who also speaks pretty good English. It was really awesome to get a handle on a new language, although I still need a lot of practice if I want to really learn it, but I felt like I learned a ton in those two days of classes. It's the language of the Ancient Incans but these days there is a lot of Spanish mixed in because the Ancient Incans didn't have words for everything that is around today. Most people who speak Quechua can't usually read or write it, so I felt pretty lucky to get some good lessons in. There is a guy Jose in my site who talked about giving me lessons, so we'll see if I find time for that.

"O-H!"
How 'bout them Buckeyes, eh? As luck would have it, we were all in Cochabamba the day of the big game and found out that we could pay a little money and watch the game over streaming video on the internet. So after some finageling (sp??) we got to an internet cafe with a fast connection and gathered around the screen to watch. They were nice enough to give us speakers and everything. The connection wasn't fantastic...truth be told the majority of the time it would be like this...(voice of Brent Musburger): "And the buckeyes are lined up with 3 recievers and Antonio Pittman in the backfield...play clock winding down...here's the snap-" (screen and sound freeze...we all groan)...25 seconds later the screen unfreezes and we see Ted Ginn, Jr celebrating the amazing catch he just made which we didn't see. But all in all, it was about all one could ask for for being in Bolivia. It was also much easier to swallow since we won the game. One of my best friends down here is a UM grad, so we were happy to get to see the game, but I was happier since the bucks came out on top. I didn't gloat, but I did spend the rest of the evening annoying them with Ranz renditions of "I Wanna Go Back to Ohio State" and "We Don't Give a Damn For the Whole State of Michigan."

I got to talk to Ben Coleman during halftime which was fun and I called Dan Jaynes afterwards to revel in the victory, but truth be told it was really weird not being in Columbus, much less Ohio, much less the United States. It just didn't feel right and kind of brought me down a little. It was the first time in a long time that I hadn't been there for a big game like this. I definitely didn't foresee that coming. But I got over it and went to sleep with visions of Troy Smiths and Jim Tressels dancing in my head.

"Gobble gobble"
Many people have asked what went on down here for Thanksgiving. Well, first of all, Bolivians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but that didn't keep us volunteers from having a good time. The Peace Corps tradition (at least in the Santa Cruz region) is to rent out a bunch of cabins in this resort in a town called Buena Vista (about 2 hours from the city) and celebrate there with all the other volunteers from the region. Peace Corps even provides turkey and fixins for the kitchen in the hotel to cook. And since they've been doing it for quite a while, they know how to cook the turkey well enough (it's not as good as grandmas, but it wasn't bad). It was a nice place and fun to see everyone and have a good time. We hung by the pool, had a few drinks, played some frisbee, and even got to toss a little softball, which felt great. I didn't feel as homesick as I thought I would, probably just because there were so many people around, but the highlight of the day was definitely getting to talk to my family as they were celebrating Thanksgiving back home. Our food didn't end up arriving until about 10pm due to a blockade (I don't really get it either) but when it finally did arrive we completely destroyed it. After the food digested a bit, we spent the rest of the night dancing and swimming around and having a jolly old time. It was certainly a Thanksgiving that won't soon be forgotten.

"I've been had!"
So about a month ago I ran out of toothpaste. Being the good volunteer that I am, I wanted to support the local economy in my site as opposed to buying more in the city. I wasn't sure if they'd have decent toothpaste in my site, but it was a chance I was willing to take. I headed across the street from my house to the store ans asked if they had toothpaste. He said they did and headed back to the shelf to get some. As I watched him I saw him go for a box that said "Colgate." "Oh, wow they have Colgate here!" I thought. "This is great." I asked him how much it was and he told me it was 6 pesos. "Six pesos!!" I thought, "I paid 18 in the city, this is amazing!" I told the good man to give me two and walked away happy. It wasn't until I got back to my house and looked a little closer at the package before I realized that it actually said "COOlgate" instead of "Colgate." Fooled! Crazy Bolivian rip off artists. I found a tube of Colgate in the city and compared it to what I had bought and it was all EXACTLY the same right down to the fine print on the tube, except for the extra "o" in the name. Not having anything else, I tried out the Coolgate. Not only am I sure it has no teeth cleaning properties whatsoever, I imagine it's actually DETRIMENTAL to the health of my teeth, as it tastes exactly like the candy cigarettes Barney and I used to buy at Osterhue's. Everything's a learning experience.

"La Familia Jimenez"
So the small amount of time I have spent in my site this past month, I spent a good amount of time with one particular family in town. I've known them since I've been in Hardeman for different reasons but have gotten to know them a lot better since. I met Don Pedro on my site visit...he is the biology teacher at the high school and is really friendly. I remember the frist time I met him I could hardly understand what he said just because he spoke so fast, but now I have no problems, which tells me that my spanish is in fact getting better. He wants me to drill him a well in his lot outside of town, and it will probably be the first well I do around Hardeman, which is cool. He wants to take me to his hometown for their town festival, but we'll see if I end up going. He's a great dancer and loves to cut the rug. He tore it up with everyone in town the night there was a party in town. It was hilarious to watch.

Randomly, one of the sons in the family is the father of the little girl that live's in my house, Vianka. He lives in Spain now, but Don Pedro and his wife are Vianka's grandparents. Another brother, Yingo, is always super friendly to me and helps me out whenever I need it. There are two younger guys (twins) named Ronald & Remo who I have gotten to be good friends with. Ronald is usually in the city during the week doing classes (studying international relations) but comes back on the weekends, and now that school is out he's around all the time. Remo works in a boys home in Santa Cruz so isn't around as much but we manage to see each other whenever he is. It's nice to have people I can just chill and hang out with, and they are definitley that. They know everyone in town and have introduced me to some other folks. Ronald is actually working on a big youth project throughout the entire province and I told him I'd help him out if he needed it, so that should be cool.

I always feel welcome at the Jimenez house, and I can't even walk by without them beckoning me into have coffee or just chit chat. It's taken some time but I'm finally starting to find my people.

"Good Day's Work"
In preparation for the wedding, where I live we have torn down one of the older, uglier sections of the house. Then on Friday, Juan Pablo (the soon to be husband of Bilma, my host sister) asked me to help him put up a roof where the room used to be, extending a roof that was already there, and providing more shaded area just to chill in. I had borrowed a power saw from fellow volunteer Andy so I could build some shelves for my room, and Juan Pablo was definitely thankful he didn't have to cut big beams with a dull handsaw. We spent the day framing it up an putting on these huge pieces of asbestos roof tiling, which got to be kind of a pain because all we had was this crappy ladder...no scaffolding or anyting...so I had to hand them up to the roof to him and then push them along with a stick to get them into place. It was a bit of a hassle but good to do some physical labor, which I hadn't done in a while...made me think of helping my dad around the house back home, although there were no piles involved. I got my shelves built too...they're not very straight but they will serve just fine for what I need them...plus the only wood I had to work with was wood that had been already been used and was pretty twisted and warped. I think my family was impressed I knew how to build stuff...I really think they think I'm just some silly gringo that only reads books all the time. Oh man, they should see me sling plaster.

"Buying Well Materials"
Since I have found at least 3 people who want wells around my site, I made plans to go into the city to buy materials for them. I was expecting it to be a pain, not only just because most things in Bolivia are, but because this would mean finding a way to transport sixty 6 meter (about 18ft) pipes from the city to Montero, then loading them on a bus and getting them to my site. Life would be so much easier if they gave us a truck. But alas, that's not going to happen.

So I hopped on a bus to Montero Wednesday morning around 9am, not really dreading nor looking forward to the normal 3 hour ride to Montero. What I hadn't thought about was that it had been raining a pretty good amount the past couple of days and that the road was sure to be a mess. But I realized this rather quickly. The blus slipped and slid all across the road, going perpindicular to it at times. Usually on this trip there are at least 3 or 4 instances where I'm certain I'm going to die...well this time there were about 10. It's really amazing what these bus drivers plow through. We ended up getting stuck about 6 times, having to either be dug out by the bus attendant and his shovel or be pulled out by another bus. It was a mess. The usual three hour ride ended up taking 7 hours. Insane. The only redeeming factor was that the bus attendant looked exactly like Peter Boyle (of Young Frankenstein and Everybody Loves Raymond fame) and I couldn't stop laughing at him. I hope that when my parents come we get him and they can laugh too. I got to the city a little exhausted but was happy to find out that my friend Sydney was in town and that I didn't have to be in a room by myself that night.

The next morning I set out to do the shopping. I had the money I needed from the guys that were going to get the wells and I had called fellow volunteer Bryan to come in and help me out. The plan was to find a taxi driver that was willing to take us to the plastic factory where we could by tubes, then have him go to the bentonite store and load up the bentonite, and then drive us all the way to Montero, where we would put it all on a bus. This was to be no easy task. We thoght it would be better to split up...I'd go get the tubes and meet him at the bentonite place. Well, the taxi driver that took me to the plastic factory was not interested in sticking around and waiting for me. I went in and bought what I needed, but then got a phone call from Bryan telling me that there was no bentonite until 4pm that day, which was too late to get it back to my site because of the bus schedule. We decided to completely part ways...I would get the tubes back to my site by whatever means possible and he would get the bentonite to his site by whatever means possible, then we could worry about getting the bentonite to my site at a later date. The most important thing was the tubes because they are a pain to transport.

After I bought them, I went out to the road and spent about 20 minutes flagging down a cab with a roof rack that was willing to put 60 huge pipes on the top. Finally I found one, and he only charged me 90 Bolivianos to take them all to Montero, which is pretty darn good. We strapped these things on, tied down on the top, in the front and in the back...I only wish I'd had a camera because it was hilarious looking. We made it to Montero without incident and unloaded the pipes at the bus stop. I found the next bus heading to Hardeman and begged the driver to put the tubes on the bus. He really didn't want to but I stayed strong and explained to him that they were for wells for people who didn't have water and that it was really important and also that I'd pay him 50 more Bolivianos. Usually when you mention money they crack. He and the attendant complained some more but eventually loaded them up. The road was better this time after a day or so of drying out, but we still got stuck twice and it took 4 hours instead of three. These are just things you get used to in Bolivia. We finally arrived in Hardeman without much incident, got the pipes unloaded and that was that. The simplest tasks can be a bit of an adventure here in Bolivia.

"As Always, the Good Follows the Bad"
For reasons I won't go into here, I had a terrible Saturday (a week ago). I might call it my worst day in Bolivia, but I don't want to sound dramatic. My worst day in Bolivia really wasn't that bad. But the fact of the matter was that I just didn't want to be in Bolivia that day. I had een in the city and decided to head back early to get away from the hustle and bustle of Santa Cruz and back to the tranquilo environment of Hardeman. It felt good to want to go back...it means it's starting to feel like home. Well, this busride was just as terrible as the other I told you about. First, the radiator broke, then something else, then the tire popped, then there was mud and trucks that were stuck, blocking the road...I actually ended up walking the last 2 km to Hardeman at midnight only to be attacked by dogs when I got there. However, I was thankful we popped a tire because it just happened to be on the only part of the road where I get cell phone service and as luck would have it, my phone rang. I was suprised to recieve a phone call at 10pm on Saturday night, but delighted to hear my favorite Chinaman George's voice on the other end. I had emailed him earlier in the day telling him I was having a rough go of it and like a good friend should he gave me a ring to cheer me up. It was a really good conversation and made me feel a lot better.

I was feeling pretty crappy again Sunday morning, but knew it would be good to get out of the house, and I had been invited to a graduation ceremony by my friend Trifon. Trifon is the physics and chemistry teacher at the high school, but three years ago started a school for adults or people who had to drop out of high school who wanted their high school equivalency. Sunday was the graduation of about 12 students all of different ages. One of them was a friend of mine, Ana Maria, who also wanted to have her picture taken with me afterwards. After feeling so crappy for a while, that tiny gesture really went a long way to make me feel better. Then Ronald and Remo came up to me and started asking me if I'd seen Benjamin, cause they haven't...alluding to the fact that they didn't recognize me without my beard, and joking with them also made me feel better. After the ceremony Trifon came up to me and asked me not to leave...that they were having a lunch afterwards and that he would be honored to have me stay and eat with all the other estimado invitados (esteemed guests). So I stuck around and had a good meal with a few of the other teachers and after some beer mixed with coca cola (that's how they do it in Bolivia) we were having some really great conversations. I had just spent pretty much the last 3 weeks speaking english with gringos and it felt good to get back in the spanish groove. I met the English teacher from the high school and he wants me to help with classes when school starts back up in March...he is a super cool dude and I'm looking forward to that for sure. We talked about politics, both of Bolivia and the US and lots of other things under the sun. It was awesome.

That night, there was a town party celebrating the graduation and I met up with Ronald & Remo and we stayed out until 3:30 dancing our pants off. This is when I saw Don Pedro dancing like a crazy person and laughing madly. It was a great night.

I'm not sure whether it's easier to feel really high after feeling really low or if things just work out to balance like that. Would I have enjoyed Sunday as much if I hadn't had such a crappy Saturday? The truth is I don't really know, but I think I would have. I have no idea why the really really great days seem to follow the really really terrible days, but all I can say is that I'm thankful. Hardeman feels like home more than ever now, and that has been my goal this entire time.

"Giardia?"
So I think I'm sick. That's why I've been in the city, able to email and post blogs these past two days. Not to get too disgustingly graphic, but I haven't had what one would call a "solid" bowel movement in about two months. No big deal really, just something else you get used to. But Saturday it started to get really bad and Sunday it was even worse and accompanied by nasty sulphur flavored burps, which usually means giardia. I spent more time on the toilet on Sunday than I'm sure most of you did last week. I called the Peace Corps doctor and got authorized to come into the city so they could check out my poop. I gave them a sample yesterday, another one today and will have to give another one tomorrow if they don't find anything. Then we'll play it by ear. I'm feeling a lot better and eating again, but if I've got something going on down there I'd like to get rid of it if I can while I have the chance. So we'll see how that turns out. At least I've finally gotten the chance to update this thing while I'm sitting around waiting for test results. If you've enjoyed reading, you can thank giardia :)

All for now. Be well and enjoy the December cold. I certainly am missing it these days, as summer is starting to kick in full swing. Over and out.