and now a word from...

ok so I got this e-mail from my former boss at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.  The Garden Apprentice Program is all about teenagers doing apprenticeships around the BBG, including in the Children's Garden.  These teens are really great (taught me some sweet dance moves), so if you feel like giving your support, read below!

Tiers two and three of the Garden Apprentice Program have been working on various environmental action projects around BBG this summer with the intent to educate the public on the urgent issue of global climate change and our power to enact change.  
                The culminating group project is a sculpture they created from discarded goods we gathered from around BBG like plastic bags, newspapers and cardboard boxes. They have worked long and hard for several weeks organizing and crafting their vision. The final product will be on display in the rotunda following the end of this week—please stop by to admire their work. 
                We were also able to enter the project into a craft contest put on by 350.org, which is a website that advocates to reduce national carbon emissions to below 350 ppm. We would like to invite you to check out the 350.org website to view our project and to please vote for GAPsummer’s “Average U.S. Citizen.” The contest is judged based on viewer responses so the more votes the better.  You can follow the link below to the page:

http://www.craftster.org/350/voting/index.php?start=20&column_name=&contest=craft;

                We hope you enjoy our piece and will join us in taking action to curb your own carbon emissions and  raise awareness about our power to make a difference. Thank you so much and have a great evening. 

All-vol conference!

Bolunteers (that's a clever way to write bolivia volunteers, especially in a country where b and v are interchangable in most people's opinion) rock.  We recently had a consolidation of volunteers (where we're all in one secure place, just in case...) due to possible outbursts stemming from the August 10th recall election.  It was a precaution, no mas, and everything ended up tranquilo (enough) that we could all go back to our normal activities a few days later.  To make this consolidation productive, the powers that be re-arranged and logistified our schedules so that many meetings happened during this time.  In other words, it was a massive conference in which people could share ideas within and without their project groups, training groups and regions.  I got to meet SO many interesting people who were so passionate about their projects, both major and minor.  I am so inspired to go do EVERYTHING in my site.  I want to do more with literacy (we have a library, after all), I'm going to try really hard to realize my goals in the family gardens/seed production area, and I want to be one of those volunteers that is a go-to person for information about doing a specific thing.  There are people that just have so much to talk about when you ask them what they're doing in their sites, and that's what I want to be.  

OF COURSE I was thrilled to see my training class buddies (it's been since April for the 20 of them in regions other than Santa Cruz).  Here we're doing a typical non-smiling Bolivian photo.  Although Bolivians love to laugh and smile a lot, they don't like to smile in pictures.  So we tried that.

We had very official technical meetings, some interesting group discussions about why we're here and what it all means to us, and some very fun learning sessions to "aprovechar de" (take advantage of) our diverse talents.  In other words, I learned to belly dance, do a traditional dance called the chaquerera, and helped teach a hip-hop session with my friend Tammy (who I only really got to know during this conference...she lives only 3 hours away!).  Our excellent third-year volunteers (who do double or triple duty helping out in regional offices, while keeping working in cities) and leadership committees organized some activities that I really got into: scavenger hunt, egg toss, relay race (complete with potato-digging and throwing a rock at a picture of a dog to replicate our experience in site), and a dance where the theme was cross-dressing. 

Painting my friend Pat's nails for our scavenger hunt.  He kept the look for the cross-dressing ball the following night.  ((Yes, I cut bangs for myself.  Good music can inspire poor decisions in haircuts--makes you want to be a cool rock star/hipster.))

I'm so fortunate to have had this happen only 3 months into my service, I'll be able to use this experience and inspiration to the full advantage of my community.

oye!

So if you see, as you often do, a señora walking down the street with a delicious basket of baked goods, or soda, or any snack, how do you get her to stop and sell you something?  Don't bother shouting "señora" as it's not very effective.  Instead, shout "cuñape" or "cafe" to signify you want some of that, and she will stop and sell to you!

We are part of a community of volunteers

Well, this post isn't at all about Peace Corps Bolivia.  Though we are dealing with some things politically now, they haven't gotten prohibitive towards our work or proven too risky for our continued presence in the country...and I'm happy about that!  However, it's important that we as the volunteer community (and those generally concerned about awesome people like PCV's) stay informed about other members of this larger group.  We are having a conference right now, thus have more access to CNN, the internet, etc., so we have been informed of the breaking news about Georgia.  Check out the link below, if you haven't yet informed yourself.  It's a serious situation and I can't imagine what the Peace Corps Georgia volunteers are feeling right now.  I would be scared, confused, angry and full of questions about what this would mean for my service.  Probably what the Kenya volunteers felt last winter when the violence broke out there.  At that time, I recall, I had felt concern but didn't understand that feeling of attachment for a country and people, let alone projects and work!  Part of me is selfishly saying, "thank goodness that's not here, let that not happen here" and another part of me just feels the pain of seeing your host country turn to violence.  On top of that, it's the opening day of the Olympics, so this sort of violence seems even more inappropriate than normal.  Please keep the Georgian people and PCV's in Georgia in your thoughts.  Why not use this as an opportunity to learn about a very interesting and rich country history?

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/08/georgia.ossetia/index.html

For Peace

I NEED SOCKS!

I've updated my "wishlist" over on that sidebar, but I'm putting out a special request for socks.  The dirt here is all reddish-brown, and anywhere I walk it gets in my shoes because it's the windy dusty season.  I can kind of scrub out the dirt, but it stains and the scrub brush I use to wash my stuff absolutely tears up the fibers in the cloth...thus I have some quickly deteriorating stained socks.  I'd love some new pairs!  Don't bother with those cute socks from Target or whatever that are fashionable and cute but not very functional.  They won't last a single washing...something sturdy and cushiony would be verrry appreciated :).

Japan in Bolivia

Burning Sugar Cane

Well, after a week being stuck in Santa Cruz for medical reasons (don't worry, the doctors couldn't actually find anything wrong with me, and I ended up feeling better by the end of it all anyways), I was all ready to go back to my site.  Then there was a landslide on the highway back to my (and other volunteers') site.  Huge boulders fell down a slope, cracking the road and actually killing two people.  Needless to say, taxis and buses weren't running for a few days.  I was really bummed to be out of my site for even MORE time (knowing that I'd be back here for meetings), but with Peace Corps' blessing, I went to visit two volunteers working about 2 hours north of the city, in a Japanese colony.  For more info on their site and work (they're totally awesome people), I've linked to their blog...Tom and Anna.  It was a very refreshing visit, and it was so fun to see that type of landscape--the hot, flat plains of Santa Cruz.  It's definitely the tropical climate I had hoped my site would have, complete with sugar cane and a laguna with alligators (or is it crocodiles in South America?).  I mostly enjoyed seeing how volunteers who had been here a year already spent their time--visiting, hanging out (it was the weekend, I know they do work during the week too).It was comforting to know that it's ok to spend time reading and cooking and going on runs, you have to make a "home life" to go along with difficult development work, and the pace of life here in Bolivia definitely allows for free time.  So I've stopped being stressed about not having lots to do every day.  We also ate sushi, tempura and delicious fried catfish-like fish (from the river nearby I think!).  

Finally I did make it back to site, spent all of 6 days there in which I actually helped plan school lunch menus (I basically just said si, si, ok, si to most things the people wanted to do...they know better than me how to cook for 120 students).  Next step:  bumping up the vegetable production by the schools, so they don't have to buy vegetable to add to their dishes.