Allí no menos

Allí no máscito…so what did you do for christmas, I got to listen to scary stories about death and listen to fireworks until I finally fell asleep, after writing a report I have been procrastinating for a week…good time up on the mountain…on the bright side of things I got to eat some pretty kick ass tamales, as an old custom here is to make tamales this time of year…its funny how Christmas hasn’t really felt like Christmas at all. I don’t know if it is the lack of gift giving, maybe the fact that I walk out my front door to a nice green patch of grass that I recently cut with my machete, or the fact that I spent Christmas away from my family and friends for the first time. The funniest part of it is that although there are some things I miss (spending time with family, friends, and the food which is usually pretty awesome this time of year), I really haven’t missed the whole consumer part of Christmas that I don’t have to deal with or see hear considering the only things they sell in my village are coke and a few necessary food products (beans, rice, eggs, etc.) Recently I got to go and participate in a bird count with one of Peace Corps business partner type NGO’s. it was very educational and a whole lot of fun, and now whenever I am anywhere and I see a bird I watch it until I can’t see it and I only wish I had some binoculars and the ability to distinguish it. Some of the birds we saw were really amazing, and all of a sudden I am interested in birds, it’s funny how a little event can do that to someone…we’ll see how long it lasts J Recenlty I finished up the first job type thing that we had been working on for the past couple months, and now it is just sit and wait to see if anything happens. We can only hope! I have been living in my house now for almost a month and I am liking it a lot. Although I will not deny that living with the family for the first 2 months was a great experience and esentiall in my integration process here in the community. In Fact I still go and eat frequently in my host parents house, because the food is delicious, they are my neighbor, and sometimes I am lazy and do not like to cook. I still am in the process of getting rid of my bad habit of cooking more than I can eat, without refrigeration it leads to much waste or me looking for someone who wants to try the “weird” food that the gringo just made. Recently I have been cooking a lot of potatoes considering I keep getting given them. The other day I was given a whole stem of bananas which I hung up in my bodega, and they just started ripining, and considering there are probably 150-200 bananas on the stem I am in the process of eat and giving away a lot of bananas. It is amazing that there’s so much banana here and yet the people here rarely eat banana. Anyway the coffee season is coming into heat and lots of people are starting to show up to work. I am not really sure where this is gonna leave me, but pretty soon I am going to learn how to pick, and I could have some long days ahead of me. I hope everyone has a happy new year at home and try and check out some of the photos I am gonna put online today if I have the time.