Random Ramblings…

Sometimes it’s more interesting to read things that aren’t a daily account of what I’ve been doing everyday and right now it’s 1:30 am and I woke up from the crazy barking dogs outside and snorting pigs so I figured I’d do a little writing to keep you guys busy since I haven’t been very good about keeping you updated since I went on my site visit several weeks ago.

Things I miss in Bolivia…was just reading, yes, I said reading, my cookbook that my lovely mother sent me. You know the one, Better Homes and Gardens, red checked cover, lots of practical recipes and tips. And I miss food! The food here isn’t bad actually and I can find stuff that is appetizing to me always, but I miss the grand old days of the dinner parties…fondue parties…the successful recipes, and the attempts at not so successful recipes (tiramisu Evie?) I was just telling my site mate, Pat, today about how I used to scavenge in the clearance home goods section of Macy’s and buy random platters to serve my spinach dip and steaks on. I miss the fondue of gruyere, swiss and emmenthaler, the brie in puffed pastry with walnuts and honey on top served with granny smith apples, the simplicity of the Toll House chocolate chip cookie. I crave sugar snap peas straight out of the bag (might I mention ridiculously overpriced at Stop & Shop at I believe $3.69 for a teeny little bag) served with Hidden Valley ranch dressing, Vlassic bread and butter pickles by the jar, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, microwave bacon (microwaved Evie!), and even Stouffer’s frozen dinners (chicken a la king is my favorite). I yearn for Pio Pio (full out dinner Steph – all the way with maduras, salchipapas, avocado salad, chicken, and sangria – please, let’s eat it in the restaurant and not set off any smoke alarms), dim sum, seafood (any kind! maybe shrimp cocktail though…), and some of that tasty Stamford food like Kit’s Thai Kitchen (drunken noodle!), Hope Street Pizza, and of course Grand’s cheeseburgers with fries. Enough though. Before I curl up in my bed and cry myself to sleep. Only consolation is that I bought 3 regular sized avocados in the market for 1 bs (about $0.13) the other day…the pits are much larger in these avocados but that means guacamole any day I want it!

There are Bolivia moments that make me laugh everyday though…the other day Pat had her dog stolen by a 4 year old girl. No, I’m not kidding. Apparently she went to one of the preschool centers that she is working at and this little girl that she had bought the puppy from (actually bought it from the girl’s mother) took her dog and wouldn’t give it back. So when Pat was getting ready to leave she asked the girl for the dog and tried to take it…but the girl started to cry so she tried to bribe her with ice cream from a tienda. Yeah, that didn’t work so well…so she left the dog and figured she would go back to get it later. So later she enlisted my help and we hiked back over to get her dog…and we asked the girl for it, and she still wouldn’t give it back so we went to find her mother…and finally the girl went into the house and got the puppy out and gave it back to Pat (but she definitely was not happy about it). Only in Bolivia would a young child steal your dog and make a grown woman angry about it. Okay, maybe you had to be there. But in the market the other day Pat and I were buying some veggies and the woman was like, is she your mother? This is conclusive evidence that all gringos look alike. Whether or not they’re chinitos (I guess their version of Chinese/Asian gringos? Or maybe just Chinese people) or the regular everyday white gringo. Let me remind you that Pat is a short, blond, white woman. I asked the vegetable selling woman if we looked alike…then she got it. Just have to look a little closer I guess…hehe. Then again, during training I was mistaken for Tammy (the only other Asian girl volunteer in our group) on occasion (who just happens to be literally 8 inches shorter than me and with long hair). Another thing that I’m enjoying about Bolivia is that fact that you’re not expected to go outside when it’s raining. Which is pretty freaking awesome since I hate rain. And right outside my door turns into a mud wrestling pit when it rains. Please, can someone send me those rubber rain boots? Yeah, like those cute J.Crew ones that everyone wears, with little critters on them…I actually have a practical purpose for those around here. Anyways, the expectation when it rains is that every event is canceled so you can just sit inside and stay dry…although my roof in my house is soooo loud when it rains, even sprinkles, since it’s corrugated tin. I think the game plan during rainy season (which is quickly approaching) is that Pat and I are going to sit inside all day long at my house in front of my fireplace or at her place at her lovely kitchen table that’s well stocked with snacks and drink coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. And of course we’re using powdered milk in those beverages because that’s what we do around here! Fortifying our diets with vitamins. Did you know that Pil brand milk down here even makes a lactose free version? I thought that was pretty nifty…and they sell all their beverages in plastic sacks down here…juice in a sack, milk in a sack, yogurt in a sack.

Oh yeah, and any newspaper in English rocks when we get it down here. I recently discovered a stash of NY Times that a friend of another volunteer brought down here and whoever took the rest of them (late October editions) apparently did not like reading the business section so I have the business section of the Times for like a week along with one day of the WSJ too. I’m pretty happy about this because it’s probably one of my favorite sections anyways. I don’t think the majority of PC volunteers are too concerned about NYC business dealings…but I find the fact that they just opened a new Tiffany’s store down by Wall Street very exciting. That along with seeing where the price of oil is going…and if it will ever stop. Must be very exciting times in the energy industry right now.

In other news I just scored myself my own English class today! That begins tomorrow actually…I kind of stole a few of Pat’s students that wanted an earlier class so I told them I had free time to teach. I have absolutely no materials on hand, which sucks in comparison to the massive library of resources I had when teaching for Literacy Volunteers, so I’m going to wing it tomorrow and see if I can print out a bunch of stuff in Coch over the weekend for upcoming classes. That and ordering some books to get sent down here…where are my Easy True Stories? And Beginning Stories from the Heart? Haha, those were some great books that required virtually no preparation for class. Stand Out series not so much my thing, but oh did I love those books with short stories. If anyone wants to give me a hand with that just let me know.

And I wouldn’t mind if people start planning their vacations down here to visit me either! Friendly reminder…I am ready to receive visitors starting in February and if you make it down here I’ll take a few days to travel or we can just hang out in my site and go into Coch (first come, first served since I can only use vacation as I accumulate it so in February I’ll have 6 days).