It’s raining. It’s Wednesday afternoon and it’s raining. It started raining Monday morning and has pretty much been raining since. So, any plans I may have had to leave seemed to have been soiled. But, luckily, I didn’t or don’t have any plans to leave. And by the way this rain looks, I probably won’t be leaving until February. Which is troublesome because I’m not sure I have enough Ramen Noodles to last me that long. I may start eating frogs, since they seem to flourish in abundance here in my house. Mostly in the bathroom. So maybe eating them isn’t such a good idea. Seriously though, there’s nothing to worry about on the food front, plenty of rice and potatoes to keep me plump enough for the Big Bad Lobo. And plenty of hair on my chinny chin chin too for that matter.
I’m turning a bit Bolivian. How can I tell this? Because I no longer go out when it rains. Not just out of my house, I hardly leave my room. If I do leave my room, it’s to fill up my water bottle and empty my bladder, a process which I then reverse once returning to my room. I also muster up the courage to run up to the kitchen in the rain to get food every 5 or 6 hours and a cup of hot chocolate mixed with coffee. About a half hour ago I was forced to leave my pajamas for the first time in two days to head out because we were out of coffee and milk. Don’t worry, once I got back to my room, my pajamas found there way back on. Speaking of pajamas, I would like to take this time to personally thank my parents for making a special trip just to bring me my Ohio State sweatpants, quite possibly the most comfortable lower-extremity cover in the history of the world. And the best part is, they still smell like good ‘ol Cincinnati Tide. I am leary of wearing them too much so they don’t lose the smell, I’ll let you know how that goes. Talk about living in the third world making you appreciate the little things…the smell of Tide is definitely one of those. Since they were down here already bringing the sweatpants, I decided it might be a good idea to show my parents around Bolivia a little bit, which was great…but that’s a story for another day. Because today it’s raining.
I’m not going to lie, it’s been a relaxing couple of days. My parents also brought down a pack of Uno cards, which my host family has fallen in love with. Since I taught them how to play, it has become all we do. Here’s how it usually goes when I come in from the office at lunchtime.
Me: Good afternoon family
Them: Good afternoon Benjamín. How about some Uno?
Me: Sounds good. After lunch?
Them: We’ll worry about lunch later, sit down and start shuffling.
Because they don’t know how to shuffle. Or at least do the bridge. (Totally random side story: I remember the day I taught myself how to do the bridge. I was probably 8 or 9 and I had seen someone, most likely Uncle Ron or Aunt Bea shuffling cards and asked them how I could learn that and they just said “you just have to keep practicing.” So a few days later…I think it was a Saturday, I went to work with my dad…we went to Burgundy Court to pour part of the pool deck…Bill Tepe was helping that day, which was a little weird. Anyway, I had brought a deck of cards and instead of working that hard I just practiced and practiced until I got it. Ok, back to Bolivia.) So we play Uno, and they love it, especially when someone has to keep picking cards until they get one they can play. They hoard the Wild cards until the end too, which is endlessly obnoxious…like not moving your back row in checkers. But it’s fun, I like watching them laugh…and when people come over, they teach them too. So we’ve been playing a lot of Uno during these rainy days as well.
I have not been completely unproductive. I finished one book (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey) and started another (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins), I’ve done a lot of work on spreadsheets (my whole life is a spreadsheet) and drawings of well drilling parts that I have needed to catch up on for a long time now. It’s amazing what I can get done with some chocolate coffee, a white patio chair and some music. Well, and having an Apple iBook G4 certainly helps as well. A friend of mine has lent me some West Wing DVD’s as well. I am currently in possession of all of Seasons 3, 4, and 5. I told myself I was only going to watch one episode a day, which I was never capable of even in college, when there was many other things I should have been doing. Jody and I would spend a whole Sunday on Doug’s sister’s horridly ugly but extremely comfortable couch at our apartment on Highland watching episode after episode. Around 6pm or so we would decide that getting food and perhaps starting our homework was a good idea. Anyway, when I had Seasons 1 and 2, I stuck to the one episode a day rule and was quite proud of myself. But, since it has started raining, I’ve plowed through about 10 episodes in the last two days. If the rain keeps up, I’ll probably finish season 5 by the end of the week. But God Bless the West Wing. This is going to sound extremely corny, but it seriously inspires me to work harder…well, at least when I can find time between episodes. No joke though, watching this show makes me want to find a job that will make me want to work as hard as they do in the show. Something that is worth working that hard for, you know? Something where going back to the office after midnight is a fun thing and not a pain in the butt. Yeah I know I’m young and idealistic and it’s just a TV show and I’ve never really had a real job, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with thinking like that.
Well, it hasn’t stopped raining since I started writing this. However, if you are reading this, it means that it DID stop raining, at least long enough for me to get out of my site and get to the internet to post this blog entry. It has probably started up again since then. I’m going to reward myself for writing this by watching another West Wing episode. Will Bailey just came on board and things are getting interesting…
Send a helicopter and instructions, I’ve always wanted to learn. Then again, maybe don’t…I could handle a few more days of this…
Ben
08 December 2007
(untitled)
Another Sunday morning in Hardeman. For the first time in a long time, this is my second consecutive Sunday morning here in my pueblito. It has been a pretty wild last few months. I think the last time you heard from our hero, the craziness was about to begin. At some point I hope to catch all of you faithful readers up on all that has transpired since then, but for now I will recount little of it. Because while there are certainly days that are more interesting than others, my life is not one adventure after the next. For the past ten days or so I have been tranquilo here in Hardeman, sipping my instant coffee/hot chocolate mix in the mornings, munching on delicious home-made bread in the afternoons (quite literally, hot & fresh out the kitchen), sitting and chatting with my fellow Hardemeños about the heat, the likelihood of rain, as well as the weather. It has been quite a productive week in the office, catching up on documents I have been neglecting and making plans for future projects.
Hardeman is anxiously awaiting the rainy season…more anxiously than in years past due to the current construction they are doing on our road. In order for them to be able to lay asphalt in the future, they have been digging on the road since may, carving out large ditches on either side and piling and packing the earth onto what will be the new road. In order to allow vehicles to pass, there is currently a one-lane “detour” right next to the high flat road-to-be that is by all means passable in dry weather. But when it rains, this byway fills with water and goes from being a temporary road to being a permanent river. They then close the road until there is sufficient draining of the road to at least allow lightweight vehicles to pass. This system has been serving us more or less sufficiently for the past few months. But during those months it has rained for only a few hours at a time. I shudder to think what it’s going to be like once it rains for a week or so on end. It will be another week before the road dries out…and even then it will be so packed with enormous semi trucks hauling soybeans which without fail will get stuck that it will become doubly-impassable. What does this mean for me? It means I should stock up on Ramen Noodles and West Wing DVDs to last me until February. Yes, I am being a little overdramatic, but literally just a little. I will be able to get out of my site but it will probably end up taking me a day or two. And truth be told, I am looking forward to it. It has been way too long since I have spent an extended period of time in my site and with the realization that time is winding down, right here in Hardeman is where I want to be the most.
It’s quite comforting to be content here. I guess one could say I’m living a “simple” life but for some reason it doesn’t seem all that different some days, although that may be a little hard for you to believe. I think the most striking difference for me is my lack of a car. But perhaps even more striking is the lack of NEED of a car. If I want to go visit friends and chat, they are a mere 2 minute walk away. If I need food to cook, the store is just as close. My office is two doors down. I don’t consider it a hard life, but I would definitely call it a simple life…one without excess. Except for an excess of dust or perhaps rice.
The latest bit of good news around here is that cell phone service has finally arrived. It is a whole new world, just like I imagined. I am proud to announce my first phone call from the states was from none other than my good pal Steph (Woody) Goetz. It was incredible. Just an average Wednesday afternoon turned into a fantastic day after talking with her for about 45 minutes. I can only hope I get a call like that every couple of weeks to keep me in a perpetual good mood. Muchas gracias mi querida amiga. So, anyone with a calling card and a little patience can give me a ring, anytime you feel the need. The number is 591-77871737. Those first three numbers are the country code and the numbers after that pertain to my cell phone. If the phone rings and I don’t answer, try back again in a couple of minutes. If the phone doesn’t ring at all and goes right to the nice lady speaking Spanish, it means I am out of range (out in the jungle drilling or something) and you can leave a message. Messages are always welcome. Like I said, a nice lady will start talking to you in Spanish, then it will beep. Then she will say a couple more things and then it will beep again. It is after this second beep that you should leave a message. I should get the message and can either give you a call when I get it to let you know I’m free or whatever. The point is, if you want to talk to me, it’s not that tough. George Wang figured it out and he’s only a Stanford PhD student.
So yeah life is good. Christmas plans are still a bit up in the air and everything depends on the road of course. The adventure continues.
Hardeman is anxiously awaiting the rainy season…more anxiously than in years past due to the current construction they are doing on our road. In order for them to be able to lay asphalt in the future, they have been digging on the road since may, carving out large ditches on either side and piling and packing the earth onto what will be the new road. In order to allow vehicles to pass, there is currently a one-lane “detour” right next to the high flat road-to-be that is by all means passable in dry weather. But when it rains, this byway fills with water and goes from being a temporary road to being a permanent river. They then close the road until there is sufficient draining of the road to at least allow lightweight vehicles to pass. This system has been serving us more or less sufficiently for the past few months. But during those months it has rained for only a few hours at a time. I shudder to think what it’s going to be like once it rains for a week or so on end. It will be another week before the road dries out…and even then it will be so packed with enormous semi trucks hauling soybeans which without fail will get stuck that it will become doubly-impassable. What does this mean for me? It means I should stock up on Ramen Noodles and West Wing DVDs to last me until February. Yes, I am being a little overdramatic, but literally just a little. I will be able to get out of my site but it will probably end up taking me a day or two. And truth be told, I am looking forward to it. It has been way too long since I have spent an extended period of time in my site and with the realization that time is winding down, right here in Hardeman is where I want to be the most.
It’s quite comforting to be content here. I guess one could say I’m living a “simple” life but for some reason it doesn’t seem all that different some days, although that may be a little hard for you to believe. I think the most striking difference for me is my lack of a car. But perhaps even more striking is the lack of NEED of a car. If I want to go visit friends and chat, they are a mere 2 minute walk away. If I need food to cook, the store is just as close. My office is two doors down. I don’t consider it a hard life, but I would definitely call it a simple life…one without excess. Except for an excess of dust or perhaps rice.
The latest bit of good news around here is that cell phone service has finally arrived. It is a whole new world, just like I imagined. I am proud to announce my first phone call from the states was from none other than my good pal Steph (Woody) Goetz. It was incredible. Just an average Wednesday afternoon turned into a fantastic day after talking with her for about 45 minutes. I can only hope I get a call like that every couple of weeks to keep me in a perpetual good mood. Muchas gracias mi querida amiga. So, anyone with a calling card and a little patience can give me a ring, anytime you feel the need. The number is 591-77871737. Those first three numbers are the country code and the numbers after that pertain to my cell phone. If the phone rings and I don’t answer, try back again in a couple of minutes. If the phone doesn’t ring at all and goes right to the nice lady speaking Spanish, it means I am out of range (out in the jungle drilling or something) and you can leave a message. Messages are always welcome. Like I said, a nice lady will start talking to you in Spanish, then it will beep. Then she will say a couple more things and then it will beep again. It is after this second beep that you should leave a message. I should get the message and can either give you a call when I get it to let you know I’m free or whatever. The point is, if you want to talk to me, it’s not that tough. George Wang figured it out and he’s only a Stanford PhD student.
So yeah life is good. Christmas plans are still a bit up in the air and everything depends on the road of course. The adventure continues.
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