when we arrived i douglas admised me to wear my sunglasses as much as possible since there was an epidemic of conjunctivitis, pink eye. so i did. becky didnīt. she scoffed at me when i told her, but now here eyes are both swollen and kind of pussy. yum. our first morning there we were welcomed to a flat tire on one of the wheels and since becky and i didnīt have anything to do in the morning we got it fixed. now i have seen them fixed in a good 30 minutes, there was only a small puncture from a piece of wood, but this was not our story. first an old man, who should not have to work anymore, we are talking the looks of 70īs, of course he might just have been an old looking 50, i have no idea with the people here, came to the hotel and put the spare on. he advised us that we needed to repair the old tire and put it back on since the rim and such were better. so we were given directions to the next place to go. we get there, we think, but it was not quite what we are looking for so a "father" in the church directs us to antoher place, we were told that there were no worries he was a nice man. so we find ourselves at four wooden walls with a metal roof the size of my room at home surrounded by a dirt patch, with a spray painted sign that indicates he fixes punctures. we sit in the car reading whie he works on our car, there was not much else to do, and then he goes to put the fixed tire on. well this time he canīt remove the old one, one of the bolts was put on badly. so the third place now has to fix it. they do this by breaking off two bolts and finally 3 hours after we started we are finished.

the following day i helped out at the conference giving blood glucose tests to 86 people (half of our 162). this means that i need to stick them witha needle thing and then this little machine reads their blood glucose levels. interesting to see how many people there were, and how high some of their glucose was. a lot of them, a good 85% had diabetes. without an endocrinologist they are not receiving the treatment and attention that they need, and the food and water in their city didnīt make things easier for them. the nearest city is cochabamba, a good 8 hours at least on bus. so it was great for them to have so many doctors there, educating them all morning and educating 70% of their doctors that showed up for the conference the day before.

after the morning we rested a bit and then headed out to visit the river. a huge river that enters the amazon and on which you can take all sorts of tours and where a lot of trading occurs. we didnīt make it to a big port but we did make it to a little village on a smaller river. it was beautiful. we wer eon our way to another parc and stopped at this village to take picture sand make sure we were goign the right way. there were women washing their clothes in the mud brown water, children swimming and drinking the water, men hauling logs and such out of the bigger barge-like boats, and canoes that were 20 feet long and a few feet wide made of a single tree. we took pictures of the children swimming and having a great time, jumping into the waters that houses anacondas, thank god i didnīt see one, and laughing and diving. as i stood there i realised that there was no way that i could describe how their house boats, made of wood and metal looked, how their canoes and sticks to push them reminded me of something out of national geographic, how the jungle surrounding the area sounded and smelled, and how dusty, dirty, wet, beautiful, friendly, hard-working, the people there were. we had the wonderful opportunity to receive an invitation to go out on one of the manīs canoes that had a motor on it. the trip was fantastic! we sat two people wide in the canoe, there were five of, and then jose carlos, his son enrique, and his daughter whose name i forget sat in the back steering. the kids were adorable and two of his seven. as we traveled the river we heard about the alligators we would have seen had we been there earlier, the tortoises and turtles they eat, and their eggs, and how gd they taste. and how they donīt sell them, but instead eat them because they have lived there whole lives there and this is their food that the river provides them, how they doīnt eat many of the snakes, because there are wild pigs and there are birds, parrots of all colors all around. we learned how he can make a canoe in five days that will last at least 5 years, and how to make it with one tree cut out and then you put some more pieces on the sides to make it higher, to fit more people. as the sun set over the river we returned to the village. he needed to get back and you canīt see too well on the river at night without light. we passed one more barge on our return, about and hour on the water, and went back to our car. we pais him "what our conscience tells us to pay" and then returned to the "city."

that was the highlight of my trip to motorcycle city. definetely not the states,

hope all is well. and for those of you who donīt know i will be studying medicine this fall and the next part of my life, at new york medical college a bit north of nyc.

Posted at 4:12 PM

Monday, June 02, 2003

These past few weeks or however long it has been since I have written have been very very busy! The time is beginning to fly by and I am starting to feel like I should be counting down the time I have left, even though I will be here until July 20th.

At the clinic we finished helping the 8 families with their gardens a few weeks ago. The second group of families frmo another village nearby had worked very hard on their land cleaning it and preparing it for the first planting so we were able to work very quickly there. We then returned to Santa Cruz to start taking our class in Public Health at a university. This class is every Mon and Wed at 7:30...but the drive is 20-30 minutes, and we take Daniel to school on the way, so we leave the house at 6:45 at the latest. So much for sleeping in while we wer not at the clinic. At the clinic we also help out driving the volunteers to their school, since they normally walk 30-45 minutes to the big road and then wait for a bus, not generally on time in this country, to take them to school. So while we are at the clinic we get up at 6:00. But back to the class. B-O-R-I-N-G. I was an engineering major for enough time to know what a boring class is like, and this fits all the criteria, and even worse is early when you still want to be sleeping. I normally donīt have problems with the mornings, but this is even too much for me. We are also taking the practical part to this class on Tues from 2-5 in the afternoon. They both basically cover writing and doing a diagnositc exam of a population surveying some oaspect of their health, or their overall health. The students are fresh out of high school and are still passing notes to each other and giggle if you talk about a personīs sexual life. Yeah, anyways. But the stuff we are learning and the material we have received has helped us a lot with the diagnostico that we are doing over Palacios and the other villages that the clinic serves.

So my vegetable project was given over to the brother of Douglas to finish up and I have begun working with Becky on this, her, project. At first I felt kicked out of a project, and was a bit disappointed and upset, but I now realise that this is great for me, because this project has us talking to every single house in Palacios, and then I also donīt have to feel as responsible, since it isnīt mine, and I can go and travel a little bit if I want. SO really it has been the best of both worlds. We have had a great time last week for three days, and this week for three days walking around the village, talking to the different jefeīs of the families, or to the women who are home. There are somewhere around 60 families, and we talked to someone in each house. We ask them about who lives in their house, what sicknesses they have had, what they do with their garbage, where they have their bathroom, how rooms they have...etc. Some of the answers really get to you, and make you think about things. Women/girls who are 14 who have their first child, men who are in their 70īs who are of course working as farmers, a son who died in a fight at the age of 25, a family who gets their water from their neighbor, and how often they eat vegetables. The answer being whenever they can get them, which usually means once of twice a week when there is a bus that comes by selling the veggies, and since they doīnt keep very well without a fridge, they doīnt have them for many days. But as well I have become accustomed and donīt think about most of their answers anymore until I start to think about how different they are from back home, since I am used to it now, and I doīnt even react. Their bathrooms are almost all pozo ciegos, which is basically a hole in the ground with at times some sort of a wall around it, but not permanent, they all have chickens, dogs, cats, roosters, and anything else running around their house/yard. Their rooves are made of motacu, which is a palm tree that grows here. Every year they generally have to cut down more palms, fold them in half, and re-roof their home. The family usually has one or two rooms, and a kitchen, which is often separate, serving 5-7 people. So the homes here donīt seem very private, but there are enough kids to make you realise that there exists some level of privacy. And the quiteness and tranquility when the sun sets, and the mosquitoes leave is great. You only hear the crickets and the frogs...though at times it is much louder than NYC traffic I think.

(interjection, I am at the clinic writing this to take home and send it from there, but I just left the computer to use the bathroom that we have here, it is regular, inside and flush,e tc, except that here you put your toilet paper in a wastepaper basket on the side of the topilet. But this time when I flushed I saw something moving around the rim of the toilet seat, and I thought hmmm must have been a moth or something...nope turns out there was a frog in the toilet, but he didnīt get washed down.)

It has been wonderful meeting and talking to the families these past few weeks though. Before I felt a certain level of distance between myself and Palacios since the clinic is well outside of the village, and I didnīt have a reason to talk to everyone at their homes and get to know them like I have recently. Today we went to a meeting of teh village women, hung out with the kids, listened to what was going on in Palacios, and then celebrated all the birthdays of May and mothers day with food. Lots of good food, I stayed away from the chancho cuero (pig skin) but lots and lots of grease. Pobre estomago. As we were walking around today and last week people were all saying hi, knew our names, stopped to talk, waved as we drove by...things that I always wanted, but are difficult to receive when you donīt know people well, and they donītknwo you well either. This has certainly been one fo the highlights of my time down here, since I feel like I am part of the community now, and can also understand them. Phew.

While I was in Santa Cruz, by the suggestion of Becky, I took one of the busses to meet a friend for coffee, since I wanted to get out of the house, but there was no car, and I still donīt really like to take taxis. So I walked to transito, where all the buses seem to congregate, and which is a hop skip and a jump from our house, and asked someone along the way how to get Cristo. This is a famous statue of Jesus in one of the rondabouts in the city. We call him touchdown Jesus since his arms are riased above his head like a football refereeīs after a touchdown is scored. The man I asked knew exactly which number so I jumped on the bus, checked to make sure it was passing Cristo, and enjoyed the ride. The Micros here have all the power so it was great to be the biggest thing on the road, and to not worry about getting killed, really. I sat down and watched as lots of different parts of the city flew past, many places that I didnīt know, and got to my coffee date in time. Perfect. Since then I have used them more and I really enjoy them, but at times it is still faster and easier to take the car.

Animal sightings. I feel like I have seen all sorts of animals here but havenīt yet written about them. The most exciting was the three toed sloth in the parc where we bought our picoleīs, basically a popsicle of sorts, leche con coco is the best, but they also have some milk, as the name of my favorits might suggest. (milk with coconut) as well we have seen a dead boa on the side of the road, what I would have done were it real, monkeys, Veronica in Palacios has a pet monkey who likes coffee, lots of frogs, a coyote, and something ran in front of me today as I was driving...looked kind of like a groundhog or something, but was sprinting across the road. Then of course there are all the chickens, cows and such animals...but the sloth was cool. And the monkey niņa is cute.

Overall things are going well but Becky and I are still adjusting to the macho society that exists here. It is very difficult. Men really do look down on women, and treat them very differently. At times it is obvious, but generally it is more subtle...but it comes from everyone with all levels of education and wordlyness. The women do what the men say here and the men continue telling them what to do. We have had many experiences in this here, and most of the time you can let it go, but there are times when I have just about blown up at someone. I donīt think that anyone here really thinks about what is going on, or really imagines or desires something different. It can just be difficult to become accustomed to it thatīs all.

Oh I am now putting this on and I figured that I could add a littls bit more to it. I went fishing yesterday at the stocked pond at the cabin of my friend and caught a big fish that we ate, a red tilapia. then mostly Becky, but I helped too, killed and gutted the fish and then fried it up! wow, huh? We also visited an amazing waterfall area and walked around in the mountains for a day. It was awesome! so pretty and quiet and the temperature was cool, finally.

Posted at 3:19 PM

Friday, May 16, 2003

These past few weeks I have been up to lots and lots of stuff. I will therefore try to give a few highlights.

I have finally started my project here, working at setting up gardens for 8 families in the villages of Palacios and Arboleda which are near the clinic. There are four families in each village that are participating. This week was the second week that I traveled there with Douglasīs brother Etito and Becky, another American who is now here as well. We started out by building masigos, which consist of a wall of dirt or stones around a 3īx4ī patch of cleaned and enriched soil. Here we planted 7 different types of vegetables, inssed form, to be transplanted later when they are a bit bigger. There are lots of problems with bugs and rain, and soil and fungus and other stuff in the countryside, so we bilt these to try to protect the seedilngs so that they have a fighting chance. It hasbeen great to get out there and work with the villagers and talk to them. Yesterday was great! The people in Arboleda were very excited about their gardens and had worked very hard at cleaning them. Before they were big areas of overgrown weeds and other stuff, but they had all cleaned their 10īx10īareas and were ready to go. We talked a lot with them about things going on and Etito is going to give them lessons on making yogurt next week while Becky and I are going to receive lessons on weaving traditional hats. He he he. This should be a lot of fun!

As well while we have been out there we have been teaching English to the volunteers at the clinic. They are eager to learn and so we have been teaching them for about 1-2 hours in the evening, and then they have been staying over with us at the clinic. So our little room has Becky and me in the twin sized bed and three of them on the ground on a hospital bed mattress and cushions from the couch. Itīs a big slumber party every time that we are there! Then in the mornings we drive them to school, and pick them up afterwards, since it is a long walk and then bus ride for them...14 km. This means though that we have to get up at 6 in the morning...so I look forward to my siesta after lunch every time that I am there. There are four volunteers who help out at the clinic taking blood pressures, heart rates, weight, and other such info, before the patients see the doctors. There are three girls and a boy who are 15-17 years old, I think. Then there is another boy who stays at the clinic with Antuco and keeps watch over stuff there and helps clean and other such fun...

Last Saturday we helped them celebrate three birthdays in the month of May and took them all to the only ice-skating rink in Bolivia. It was hilarious to watch our little Bambies out on the ice! They got a lot more daring with time though and were quite good towards the end. We then got some food at a great Brazilian bakery, ate it in the plaza and then came home to watch Scream. It wasnīt nearly scary enough for them, so they were disappointed. I think that the language thing has something to do with it. When you have to read things and canīt be so worried about looking behind doors or other stuff I think that it isnīt as bad...but then again scary movies are terrible for me, so who knows. Becky and I drove them back that night to Palcios. It was so beautiful there that evening. The sun had just set, it was cool in the air and was so calm and peaceful. We drove with our windows rolled down and the lights on the car were off as we drove on the dirt road. This was the first time that Becky and I spoke English with each other. It was interesting to see how little we knew about each other. I have found that while I can get across what I want to say in Spanish there are lots of things that I donīt even think about saying because my language doesnīt allow for those words. Phew I still have a way to go that is for sure. But every time that I return from the clinic after a few days I feel like it is better. They mumble a lot out there, and slur words together and have a slightly different vocabulary...but I am finally getting used to it.

Becky is really interested in learning more about Public Health down here and is thinking abotu studying that in grad school. So she talked to Douglas about it and they went a meeting with the head of public health for the region. The woman they talked to is a professor at one of the universities here and Monday we are going to start taking her class. She is letting us sit in for free and start in the middle of her class. We will see how our language skills are, but I think it should be an awesome experience. I am very interested as well in the public health down here and how it all works and think it will be a geat experience to get out and meet some other people while I am here. As well there is no better way to learn about public health of a third world country than to be in a class taught in one. We will be expected to do some of their class projects and participate in class, so I have feeling that we will both get a lot out of it. She will then use some of the techniques to evaluate how well the clinic is serving the population out in Palacios to see if there are things that can be changed about it. YEE HAW!

What more? Well we are on our third person helping out in the house now. The first one left for a weekend and didnīt come back when she said that she would and then the same thing happened with the second one. Now we have a third different person working at the house. I canīt imagine not coming back to work after a weekend, but that seems to be a trend at this house. So who knows about this one. They have all seemed really nice though and I have liked them all, so it is a bummer. Maxi is still here though. She is the one that helps out with Diego during the day and is awesome! She asks all sorts of questions so my Spanish has gotten a lot better talking to her and trying to figure out what she says, since she slurs all her words together.

In other news that I havenīt informed everyone of I was rejected from medical school at the University of Washington and put on the waiting list at New York Medical College. So I wrote another essay for them abotu what I have been up to here and a bit about waht I have learned...So now I am back to the fun old waiting game. Damnit I might though have to start thinking about re-applying and writing my self another personal statement.

Posted at 7:27 PM

Saturday, April 26, 2003

As I mentioned in my last Blog there is an International Theatre Fair of sorts going on in Santa Cruz right now. I went to the Illiad and missed a lot of what they were saying, but last night I went to another one, translated to That Which Undoes a Family. This was put on by an Uruguayan company and was about two women whose mother had just died and they were now having to deal with all of her stuff. The one sister had been away traveling for years and had missed when her father died, and didnīt have much connection with her family, who didnīt know if she was married or divorced, had children or not, and what she was doing for a living. Over a bottle of wine, some Whisky and Gin they talked about their lives, their families, their pasts and in the end rolled dice to decide who would get what in the family. I was very excited when I understood entire dialogues one about what it is like having children, you worry about them, they cause you pain, you wonder if they are eating, happy, safe, are going to get hurt, are going to die, and all of the rest...deciding to have a child is like deciding to become eternally masochistic she said. ĄI actually got to laugh with the audience!

It was a really good play, but I am also so excited that I understood a lot of what was going on, despite the fact that they spoke Spanish slightly differently and spoke very rapidly at times. Of course they were actresses and therefore pronounced their words very clearly, except when they were drunk, which made it harder to follow. Ok, I just thought that I would give a little update on my Spanish and how things were going for me over here with the language.

Posted at 12:54 PM

Friday, April 25, 2003

Okay so I have been a little more than lazy and bad about writing in my Blogger. I appologize. At times though there just isnīt all that much to write about, and I have become accustomed to all the things that at the beginning were different so I forget what is strange. But this past weekend I headed out of town, so I will write a little bit about that since it was gert and beautiful.

For Easter here they celebrate by taking days off from work Fri-Sun. Semana Santa. With this three day weekend the entire town heads out to the country, or to other places. So my friend Johanna and I did the same. We headed out of town on Fri morning to this nearby village in the mountains called Samaipata. We knew that there were going to be a lot of people from here heading up there so we porbably wouldnīt find a room, but decided that the Jeep was the perfect place to sleep so I brought a sleeping bag and off we went. We drove with Douglasīs brother and his girlfriend because there is a police chekpoint along the way and we just didnīt want to have to deal with my American license there...it all went fine and then Johanna and I were on our own. The town is a small town in the mountains near an old Inca or pre-Incan fort and ruins, one of the entrances to a national park, waterfalls, and just a beautiful place. We stopped along the road, two lane and curvy, with frightening drivers, and took pictures and drove slowly. Firts we drove up to Samaipata to get some lunch and just walk around the center for a bit. The plaza was filled with lots of people, many smelling quite strongly of alcohol, people selling food, and a bunch of hippies selling jewelry. Ahhh it is nice to be around hippies. I just feel so comfortable around them. They had some really swet jewelry, but I didnīt buy anything. We finally found a plce to eat, tlaked to some people that Johanna knew and then decided to go to see the fort.

We drove back on the road we had come in on and then began up this side road...steep as shit, dirt, and not big enough for two cars i swear, but I saw a bus ahead of climbing up ahead, so the while time I was hoping not to meet his friend on the way down. The views on the way up are beautiful. Green hill/mountains everywhere you look, you can see where waterfalls would be in the rain, little pueblos and houses scattered intermittantly in the green, winding trails, rivers and cliffs. NICE. So we get up to the ruin area, around 5 and Johanna goesd to buy tickets, and they tell us that there are no more tikets for Bolivians, I can buy mine, because the non-BOlivian one is more expensive, but since there are no more tickets for her, we have to come back tomorrow. The drive up this road took around 30 min. We tried arguing with the man, but he woudnīt hear any of it. And the whole concept of it bothered me enough that I didnīt want to pay the extra $1.50 for her to be a non-Bolivian. Sometimes we doīt always think straight. So we headed out back to Samaipata to retunr the next day. I should interject here with a description of Johanna. She has a mother frmo Bolivia, and a father from the Netherlands, and looks very gringo-like, especially when hanging out with me. She has light brown hair and greenish eyes, and is as white toned as I am. I think a lot of people were thinking that we wereboth foreigners. he hehe.

Back to Samaipata. We walked around some more, talked to some more people and then sat down near a drumming group and some hippy that I had been talking to for a while. We talked to him some more and then some guy that Johanna had met one time at a party came up and starting talking to us.One of his friends offered to take our picture on a digital camera to send to us, so we got our pictures taken and talked a while....you can all imagine how great those picturesof me turned out, no? actually one was good. We talked a bit more to them, and then the girl asked what we were planning on doing in the evening. We of course had no plans and she told us that if we wanted we could meet up with them, and head out to this field where everyone, and then some more, were going to be at night. So we decided to do that. few hours later we were up on this field, with hundreds at least of other people, drinking, sitting around fires, dancing to music from their cars etc. We of course had to do the same...although our group was more of a dancing group and not so much of a drinking group in the same way...so some of the guys tried to teach me how to dance...any of you Bri or Dave specifically know how easy that is, huh? yeah. But it was still fun. While we were hanging out one of the guys asked me where we were staying at night. I pointed to our car and told him wherever, we have a car and that is where we are sleeping. He invited Johanna and I to join him and about 10 other people to go to his cabaņa instead...so we said sure. Later that night after stopping for some empaņatas and a warm drink made of some fruit or vegetable...I forget, we headed to his cabaņa. Johanna decided to stay behind with some friends, these new people that we had met a few hours earlier sent out great vibes, so I told her I would pick her up in the morning.

The entire time I was so amazed at how welcome we were with these people. We had never met htem before, but yet here were we invited to their cabaņa, hanging out with them, it was great. Around 8:30 in the morning Johanna somehow managed to find her way to cabaņa and found a mattress somewhere to sleep on. In the morning I walked around and it was awesome! kind of cold and crisp...it has been raining heavy all night, and sounded great on the plastic-like roof, and stuff was so damn green. I walked along the road, stopped and talked to a man who was staring out at the view, and saw his tractor inthe distance that was collecting clay for his pottery. In the morning we had coffee and tea and breakfast in another house on the property...and then hung out for a bit skipping stones and throwing rockds at targets near the river on teh other sideof the house. Later we split up a four of us went to the fort, and the others went back to the town.

The fort was cool, but I coudl have used some more information about it. It was pre-Incan, and there were all sorts of cool looking things, but without pamphlets and such it is a little difficult to make out whath is going on all the time. Either way I can imagine why one would have put a fort up on the top of the hill like they had. Apparently this was the boundary between a very belligeerent grup and the pre-Incan/Incan group and this was the pacifist peopleīs vista point. So we walked around there for a while and talked and had a few aha moments, where myself and this other girl who is from germany, finalyl realised what certain words meant...it was pretty funny. Then we headed back got some lunch went to nearby village to pick up a soccer ball and played a bit of soccer...not too much though since Johanna and I were going to head back to the city.

So all in all it was a good weekend, and we managed to make some new friends...ee-Tan I can now say that I have my own group of friends here, since I have been hanging out with the people that he knew up until now.

I also went to a fashion show, and saw a play here this week. The fashion show was interesting since I had never been to one, although I wasnīt to impressed with the girls..I think I have become accustomed to women with brown eyes and hair, and such. And the play seemed to be really well done, it was a form of the Illiad, with modern twists on war and such added in. Very well done but three hours entirely in Spanish was a little bit tough for me, especially since I was tired, and we were sitting on gym bleachers, and my long legs didnīt really fit. Tonight I am going to go to another one with Douglas at 9:30 form Uruguay, it is for young people and adults alike. Tonight a new Miss Santa Cruz is going to be crowned ending fashion week...very important here.

Posted at 2:16 PM

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Today I went to a place where 134 disabled people live. Most of them have been abandoned by their families and are taken in by the Brothers who run the facility. It is a beautiful place. They are out in the countryside on a few acres of land with parrots flying around, I am very impressed still when I see a colorful bird in a tree. The best way to describe it is that there re a bunch of big rooms, where 10 people or so live, and then there is a dining hall, a kitchen, a hospital side to it, a chapel, a classroom, some art rooms, physical therapy rooms, and grass, cobblestone trails, a small playground, lots of greenery, and a small waterway and waterfall amongst it all. It probably resembles many summer camps.

I was hoping to help out in the afternoon with art. They have some people that make things out of clay and then paint them and sell them, and well as making bowls and other things out of tighly wound newspaper. They were actuallly really cool. I was too late for art though, and pyhsical training was done for the day, so I walked around and saw the place again, asked some questions, and then helped in the high needs room. I have actually no idea what it is named, but the 7 people in this room are not high functioning. They canīt sit or talk, some have tubes in their noses many are quite maldeformed. Today I helped feed one of the little boys. He is about 7 years old, and had some control over his eyes, and then his mouth. So I fed him his creamy white dinner. He is able to open his mouth about as big as a snake might be able to do when it dislocates its jaw. Buthe also liked to play around and bite the spoon. After a while I got the hang of making him laugh, noises or airplanes, and then when it was really big I coudl stick another spoonful in there. I still think though that a good portion of the food never made it to his stomach, and instead rests on his chair. Whoops. All in all it took about 40 minutes or more to feed him his bowl. The record for him eating a bowl is apparently 10 minutes. I think that the nurse was eating some of it herself....she claims she wasnīt though.

While it is beautiful it is also very difficult. Many of the people are very physically deformed. It is still difficult to see that, and not want to stare and ask questions and know more. I realise that it is a natural reaction to something that is different, yet I still feel bad, and think to myself “how would you like to have people looking at you all the time?”. Heck isnīt that is one of the reasons that I figured I would dye my hair a bit darker before I came down here? I figured if my hair were darker I wouldnīt stick out quite as much. The ratio of people with diabilities to volunteers there too isnīt all that good. It seemed that wherever I went there were about 10 people to one volunteer. That doesnīt provide nearly enough one on one attention to each of them, but they do have each other to interact with on some level. I just donīt know though. It is hard to see. And hard to imagine a person leaving a child. But then again I canīt judge. Many families here have very little money, and a child with a disability can be very expensive. Tthey might never be able to provide their child with the medication that he/she needs, and might have to take from the other family members while trying to do so. That a well isnīt fair to them and hurts others in the process. Itīs a lot more complicated than it seems at first glance I guess.

Tomorrow I will go back earlier to help out with the art projects and try to talk to some of them a bit more.

Posted at 11:12 AM

Tuesday, April 08, 2003

This past weekend I went with Douglas to visit a patient while we were running other errands and we visite done of his patients in the hospital who had his toe amputated. It was really striking. He had had an ingrown toenail, that he hadnīt taken care of, and it got to the point where his toe was black, it smelled terribly, dead dog said his wife, and it hurt like shit I am sure. He has diabetes so that makes his circulation worse so these things donīt heal very well...we were at the hospital when the doctor who performed the surgery was there to change the bandages so I was looking at a foot with a huge open wound where it was missing a toe. It was pretty gross to see, and seemed like it would have been really painful, but I was assured that he couldnīt feel it. The man was doing all that he could to hold back tears and not look at it. I imagine it must have been so difficult to realise that he no longer had his ring-toe...but then on the other hand he was damn lucky that he was able to come to Douglas who arranged for the best surgeon in Bolivia to only remove the toe, free of cost. In the other hospital in his small town they were going to amputate his entire foot, so that means half of his leg, and he wouldnīt be able to walk again...with this he will certainly be walking some time...

At the clinica on Sunday I went around with Tito, Douglasīs brother, Douglas and another doctor, Jose Luis to see where each of 10 families are going to start growing their gardens. They have a lot of work to do. Most of them just chose a spot, usually it was about 4-6 m X 6 m covered in grass and wild growth and other things. They are each going to clean them and round up some manure. Then this week from Wed until the following Thurs Tito and I will go and help them mix in the manure, prepare the area, and plant their vegetables, teaching them how to water and everything else. We will try to do about one garden per day. These gardens will hopefully provide them with vegetables that they would never be able to buy otherwise. Most of the homes were made of compacted dirt and water, clay, and had grass for a roof, which generally here contains a bug that gives them chagas which is a disease that affects the heart. There are houses though that have tiles on their roof, which is a lot better. There were always animals, chickens, roosters, ducks, and dogs running aorund.; slightly emaciated and looking to become dinner...not the dogs though, I donīt think. Itīs a different world though, thatīs for sure.

As we were driving around we were also transporting people who needed rides, so at one time in a 4 door 7 passenger car we had at least 11 or 12 people in the vehicle. Ha. One of the places we stopped at gave us some eggs, along with the oranges that we got everywhere else too. So we had three eggs that we had to keep safe. Douglas gave them to an older woman asking her to hold his eggs, to which she responded, are they falling down doctor? Of course eggs here hold a second meaning for men. I have found that the people here are very open about their sexuality and are constantly joking and talking about sex. Nothing too strange about a conversation about the noise of a wedding night while are eating lunch, for example.

As well this weekend I went out dancing again at a club called BED. Every time someone had told me the name I thought it was BAD, since they sound the same when a s. American pronounces them, but when we walked in and there were beds along the walls, I understood. So Ede and I are out dancing, finally to some American music, or at least not all Bolivian salsaish music, and I nothice that everyone is dancing in a line. Parallel lines facing each other covering the entire dance floor. You canīt dance sideways because there is someone there, and you canīt really move backwards because then you run into someone elseīs butt. We decide that there is no way we can dance in a line so wejust get in the middle of the dance floor, prependicular to the lines, and start dancing. Three times that night Ede was tapped on the shoulder and asked to please dance in a line with everyone else. We just moved to another spot on the floor. I donīt understand it. This is a country where they canīt wait in grocery lines correctly, there are few rules about driving, people are always late, and canīt keep appointments, all things that seem like they might be important. They canīt do these, but when it comes to a freeing activity like dancing they dnace in lines. Weird.

The other activity that I got involved with yesterday was helping out at a soccer school here. I will be helping out with the U-16 boys team. Yesterday I just watched the practice, there was a lot of running, and then talked, kicked the ball around, juggled, and other such stuff with some of the boys who were hurt. It was a lot of fun to be back participating in some soccer, and this is the perfect age I think. They have skills so you can teach them tactics, they are really willing to talk and ask questions, which is perfect for my Spanish, and they are constantly joking around, while still taking thigns pretty seriously when they have to. I think that I am going to enjoy helping out a lot. I donīt fully understand how the school works, but I think that it is a foundation that helps children who are poor to get an education and to train for soccer, so that they might be able to earn a living off of it. Many of the players on the Bolivian team are from Tahuichi, and there are few who are playing in the States now.

Posted at 1:41 PM

Saturday, March 29, 2003

Well this week I havenīt been up to too much exciting stuff. I have been mostly studying and hanging out taking naps during the day, and going to the gym at night. The gym is a bunch of fun! I was worried when I came and they didnīt have any machines that I wanted to use, they only have treadmills that you canīt run on, and bikes. But I have now joined the ranks of those people who take classes. I like the woman who teaches at 7 at night so I take her classes which rotate between step three times a week and body pump twice a week. I am officially a dork. The gym is owned by the teacher, and her sister who are both Brazilian and around my age, beautiful. They combine dancing, mamba, cha-cha, and other latin dances, with step. Itīs great! Of course I am only beginning to figure out what it is that she is saying when she instructs us, so I am usually a step behind, but I am improving, and there are other people more lost than me now. Ha ha ha. Last Friday we used little cha cha shaker thingys in our hands to make noise. I am not going to be able to go back to classes in the states.
While I have been here I have attended a few dinners, Fatherīs Day with dinner with Douglasīs family, a birthday dinner for one of his medical collegues, and a dinner here last night. I am still learning the rules of etiquette down here, since they are different. First off people dress up for these things. I of course donīt have nearly enough nice clothes, so I will be wearing my two skirts all the time, and will probably have to buy a non-cotton shirt down here. Which is just fine, and who knows maybe I will even buy a shirt that ties up the front, since everybody else here wears them, just that mine wonīt be white. So back to dinners. People dress up. That makes them seem more formal, but otherwise they seem much less formal. People donīt care where you sit, as soon as the food is brought out or it is announced that you can eat, people go and grab it and either eat while they are getting other food, or take their food back to their table and begin eating. There is no waiting for other people to join the table, and if the food is on the table, everybody is standing up and taking whatever they want. There is also no heirarchy or who gets to eat first. They donīt care at all if kids get their food first, or last, or whenever. It works though. As well while everything at these seemed really nice, clothing, nice tableclothes, centerpieces, great food, etc, they were also among good friends getting together, and so it might different other places. Ee-tan got the priviledge of eating in front of a crowd, I think the entire town with his parents, and almost had to eat a Hepatitis chicken, so I am not that important yet. There is certainly something nice to take from all of these though. People are doing what is comfortable and normal. When you eat at home with your family you donīt generally follow a bunch of formal rules, so why should you when they are good friends either? They know that they like to pick at the food, that you canīt really walk back to your chair with dessert on your plate without trying it, and that everyone will get food so isnīt it nice if the kids get theirs and sit down and eat. I am slowly converting.
Another thing here that I am still getting accustomed to is that we have help in the house. There are two girls who live here and cook, clean, do laundry, help take care of Diego, and do all sorst of other stuff. After college, living in an apartment, and growing up without people helping in the house I still struggle with it. I canīt just leave my plate on the table when I am done, I canīt cook food and leave the dishes dirty, I still want to do my laundry, and find it strange when they try to figure out what I am doing when I do those things. In Bolivia there are a lot of people who donīt have jobs, and there are a lot of people who have a lot of money. Here there seems to be no middle class. It is either upper-upper, or lower-lower. With this stratification people are pretty much expected when they have money to hire some help, providing jobs for others, while making their lives easier. Thinking about it this way has made it easier for me to accept that Maxi and Esperanza will do certain things around the house, and be expected to do these things, but I still do a double-take sometimes when they do something that I have been doing for myself for the past ten years of my life.
While our wonderful government is focusing on the Middle-East and itīs oil, I mean the need for humanitarian aid over there, they are also getting involved over here. Apparently the American ambassador to Bolivia told the government that he knew that the second most powerful political party here was planning a coup dīétat here next week. Ok, do they know this just like they knew that we were going to get attacked by Iraq unless we acted first? What does this do to the government here? They canīt rightly ignore the issue, since obviously those happen in this part of the world with some frequency, but who is the American ambassador to say these things. Why does he have this information I want to know. So I am not sure exactly what is going to happen as a result of this, but it might become more interesting living here if he is right. This is not the first time that our government has interjected in Bolivian politics. When we donīt like a candidate down here, for whatever reason, it has been enough in the past for our ambassador to announce that this person doesnīt have our support, for him to lose his partyīs support. This power has been used, if I have understood correctly, to oust popular candidates from their races, and put into the race American supported candidates. This is absolutely ridiculous, and I am beginning to see why we arenīt all that well liked. It is good to get out of the States to see what is really going on there I tell you.

Posted at 3:07 PM

Saturday, March 22, 2003

Last night, typical. I decided that I would go out with a friend from the gym, Edę. We decided that I would meet him at this house, because the only places that I can get to in town are the gym, and his house since I went there with ee-Tan a few times and it is across the park from the gym. And since I have no idea where I live in the city, I canīt explain it to him anyways. So I get in the jeep, I have not driven it before, and head off. I get about 1 km or so and run into a huge police blockade. They are stopping everybody. Great. What a time to practice my Spanish I think. Now I have heard horror stories of ee-Tan and the police, and Alisa and the police, so I am weary to say the least. They canīt take my license, I know it is valid to drive with here, I can just pay them some money, and I for some reason I had checked my wallet before I left and knew that I had 20 Bolivianos I could give them to get away. So they come over and I roll down my window and they ask for my license. I show it to them, but refuse to give it to them. They can see that I am slightly weary, but I soon realise that I have to give it to them. So they take it, there are two of them, and look at it. Oh you are from the United States. (yeah, what a great place to be from right now when we are attacking another country for no reason, I think to myeslf...how do I say I am not proud of being an American???) So they talk to me some, and ask me some questions, I tell them to talk slowly, so that I can understand. I tell them I have only been here for 2 weeks, since they asked, and they told me I could go on my way. Phew. No money spent, I still have my license, and am glad that the insurance card on the car was just updated last week...thank goodness, I could not have talked my out of that one. So we go out, and I have a drink since I am stil nervous and shaking slightly when I get to his house. Then we come back. I take my car out of his garage, and drive it to the sidewalk. Cars are often broken into here, so I had placed it in the garage. I open the passengerīs side door of the jeep to write down a number, and then close the door, to walk around to the other side and drive away. Click click. I turn around. SHIT. Do cars here normally lock themselves? Whenever they feel like it? I look in the car. Passenger side: my wallet, and the money that I had in my pocket, sitting on the seat, on the driverīs side: the keys to the car, and to the lock on the inside of the car too. This is a car to steal presented to the world on a silver platter. Money, wallet, and keys in sight. Nice. So we get back in his car and drive to the Villarroelīs who I now realise that I have to wake up, including Diego, their 2 year old. I feel terrible. It is 3:30 or something in the morning. We canīt find the keys anywhere. Half an hour later and every car, bag, and nook and cranny have been checked, no keys. So Edę drives back home and finds one of the guards in his neighborhood and tells them to pay special attention to the jeep. We recovered it this morning, but what a night.

Change of subject matter completely.

So what am I actually doing here you must wonder, since everytime I write I am either commenting on the state of affairs in the country, its roads, drivers, or some combination of the two. Well we have finally decided on a project that fits me perfectly and could make a huge difference to the community near the clinica if it succeeds. In Bolivia there is a huge problem with obeisity. Maybe half of the country is overweight, and very much so. This leads to lots of health problems that can be prevented: diabetes, hypertension, lots of other heart problems, all because they fry all their food and in the villages generally eat potatoes, and yukka, and fruit, and some meat. Basically carbohydrates that have been fried, and something else slightly healthy on the side, but no vegetables at all. The spice of choice here seems to be corn or vegetable oil, I kid you not. So I am going to talk with some nutritionists, Douglasīs brother who likes organic farming, maybe consult some recipe books, and we are going to try to teach them about nutrition. The idea is that if we can provide them with some seeds for some plants they can grown themselves some vegetables. If we only provide enough for their family, and not enough to sell, then maybe they can begin to learn to incorporate some of the more healthy foods into their diets. The ground at the clinica is very fertile, and we hope that if they have the resources, and some other ideas on how to prepare the food they will be more willing to try them. I am excited and feel that this could be something that might have a lasting impact on the community and its health. So we will see. Here at home Douglas is also beginning to work out more, and he said in an unprecedented quote yesterday, “I am not going to eat any fried food until Simone leaves this country.” HOLY COW. So that is a little update of my world here. Tomorrow I think that I am going to go to the clinica, and see what I can do there for the day. Gerneally the doctors go on Sundays, and I will try to help out wherever I can. I am going to check out a possible place in the city to volunteer at later today, and we will see how that turns out.


Posted at 3:23 PM

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Let me see here. Last time you checked in I was driving around and we had dealt with a very stuck vehicle. Granted ee-Tan dealt with it longer, but it was his fault...so it has been a while. Friday night some friends from the gym that ee-Tan and Chemita, and now myself belong to, went out for some drinks and to go dancing. With my 5 days of Spanish and a short course in Utah it was all I could do to keep up with the subject of what people were saying. All the same I managed, and even broke away from ee-Tan for a while, which felt great, to try to talk to some other people. When people are nice enough to slow down and repeat themselves, I can understand pretty well, but talking still takes a long long while, so the have to have lots of patience. But anyways, there was a whole group of us. We hung out at a cafe for a while and then went to a salsa dancing type place next door, and then to another dance club. They were okay, but nothing that was amazing, but I am determined to take some dance classes at the gym now. It was though great to meet some other people and have a chance to try to talk and get to know them.

Sat I got mt firsty case of stomach sickness. I will spare all details, not very Simone like, and say that I was just not a happy camper. We still headed to the clinica in the afternoon to try to get some stuff done, and we managed to begin organizing the medicine, but there is a lot more to do.

Sun ee-Tan wanted to thank 4 of the girls and the boy who have been helping out at the clinica by takign them all to aqualand. It is a waterpark-type place with high steep waterslides, curvy ones, a wave pool, with huge waves, and such fun things. This was really the only time that these kids would probably get to go there, since it is a bit expensive and I am sure that this isnīt the first place they are going to spend their money. So we were there all day long, frmo 11 am until it closed at 6. We went down the slides, we ate hamurgers and fries, we played in the little kids area, we swam in the waves, “gritando” (screaming) was the method of sliding we chose, we overcame our fewars and went down the big drop off slides, ate ice-cream, we did it all. The one things though that our poor gringo Simone did not do, was put on enough sunscreen. Today, three days later, my feet are still bright red and swollen, and my shoulders still ache. Lesson learned though. I forget that for all intensive purposes we are in Haiti, yes the sun is bright there.

As we drove home on Sun after the day of hot sun, we were welcomed to the road home with RAIN. This rain was great! It began pretty suddenly, after the southerly wind moved in and cleared out the mosquitos, and didnīt stop. The entire drive home, one and a half hours, we got dumped on. There were points where we were driving on the highway in third gear because we couldnīt see out the window far enough to drive faster. Maybe itis because I grew up in the desert, or perhaps I am just crazy, but I love the rain here. It has probably rained 85% of the days that I have been here. This was the second time it came down hard. As we drove through Santa Cruz there were huge puddles covering half the road, and we laughing hysterically as a taxi was drowned by the wave of a car that passed it. Fun! Just because it rains though doesnīt mean that it isnīt warm and sunny half of the day either though. That is what makes it so pleasant, the rain comes, but then the sun dries up all the rain, and the itsy-bits..never mind.

This morning ee-Tan left to go back to the states and study for the MCATīs, so now I can begin really learning Spanish. I have some HUGE shoes to fill, but at least I make good apple pie which seems to count big here. (Thank you Daveīs mom)

Posted at 10:06 PM

Friday, March 14, 2003

I have been doing it since I was about 15 years old. I have done it on the right, on the left, with a stick, without one, very quickly (sorry mom and dad) and slowly and carefully as well. But none of the driving that I have done in my life could really have prepared me for driving in Bolivia. I drove the first day that I was here out in the countryside. There was nothing to that. I had to know how to drive a standard transmission and how to maneuver a little bit in muddy conditions and manage to get the tires onto the bridge, mentioned in the first installment, but there was nothing really to it.

The third day, after watching ee-Tan drive all over the second day, I tried driving in Santa Cruz. Holy cow! People donīt signal, they turn from the right side of you to the left, you merge continually with about 5 lanes of traffic into 2 or 3 at the roundabouts, where people then cut you off in all sorts of interesting fashions, there are stop signs on the main roads, but every other place, when actually driving in the city, doesnīt have them, people honk left and right, I can only assume that I am doing something wrong, buses especially, and taxis, stop on a dime whenever they feel like it and are bigger than anything we drive, so they have the right of way all the time, and of course I have still no idea where I am going when I am driving. Ee-Tan tells me I just need to get into the mindframe that I am the man. They have to stop for me, I have the right of way, and they better get out of my way because I am generally bigger. Easier said than done

Another car story driving to the clinica. The road that we take to get to the clinica is very bad after THE bridge. It is a dirt road in the middle of very rainy country. When it rains too much not only does it take out bridges it necessitates 4-wheel drive. Thankfully the vehicle we drive has that, but it is not always enough. As we were driving out to the clinica a few days ago, ee-Tan, Maria the nurse, Antuco the cook, the priest whose name I forget, and myself were in the car. Ee-Tan was driving and made it over the bridge and through some muddy areas. There was a point where we got stuck and had to rock the car between first and reverse to get out, but we managed. But then we faced the major crossing. When I was there over the weekend it was bad, now it was worse.

The road was muddy. Soft mud that from past experience pulls you to the sides, since it is slightly crowned. To the right side there was a huge puddle, in the middle the mud was very deep and soft, we know it is pretty much impassable, and on the left we had very little space before entering into the jungle-like growth on the shoulder. Ee-Tan stopped the car in front of it and we all sat there discussing the best way across...to the right weīve always gone that way, yeah, but look at the puddle, straight down the middle, with one wheel there and the other on that patch, no to the left but not too far, no slightly to the left, then cut across and hit that spot...we thought about it all. Finally we backed up a little and went for the left side. We didnīt get too far before the car was getting pulled and ee-Tan stopped and backed up again. This time we went further back for more speed and decided on a different route, more to the center, but not straight down the center, not so good either. The car got stuck. Antuco got some help and we managed, with the help of 5 others, me behind the wheel at this point since pushing is a manīs job, to back the car up, after a lot of grunting and pushing mind you. At this point I would say about 20-30 minutes have passed trying to get across. I back it up and it is decided that Antuco is going to try to drive the car across. With only Maria in the car he takes off and decides to go left. He starts out and then gets pulled into the ditch, somehow he stays out of it, and straightens the car. He manages about 2/3 of the way before he is royally stuck. But do not fear we have 5 men to help push the car out. They decide to push it backwards as ee-Tan and the priest and I stand by and watch. They begin pushing it while Antuco gives it gas. The car gets pulled to the left side further, and then in some swift motions I see the car head right into the jungle area, and hear a huge PANG. What used to be a bad problem, is now a terrible one. We are out in the middle of nowhere, with a car in the ditch/jungle, something just PANGED, and there is no way that manpower will get this out. Ee-Tan and I thnk that were there a mouse sitting on top of the left side of car, it would have tipped over. I am being eaten alive by mosquitos. And havenīt eaten since breakfast, it is now 6ish, while ee-Tan hasnīt eaten all day. Maria and I walk with ee-Tan to the clinica, about 1 km, and then ee-Tan goes back to wait for the tractor that is coming takign the flashlight with him. Finally around 9 they make it back, muddy, sweaty, hungry, and missing a vital key. The key necessary to change the tire, which popped and was the cause of the PANG. The next day a taxi drives this key to the village, and it all gest figured out. Phew. Now I know when to try and when not to try to cross the mud patch.

The rest of the time at the clinica I learned about the computer system that ee-Tan has set up, went to English classes that he is teaching some of the girls that help at the clinica, got to play some soccer with their younger brothers, picked up broken arm girl from the hospital, who is doing much better, and continued to learn Spanish. It has been a rollercoaster or events since I have been here, but I am promised that it is not always that way, and I will be staying in the city more after ee-Tan leaves so that I can improve my Spanish for 2 weeks or so, which will also cut down on the clinica road stories.

Posted at 5:48 PM

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

18 hours of flight, I’m in a new country, and I am alone. I wait. I wait some more. A short little woman walks in. I think I have seen a picture of that woman before, but I’ve been travelling for 18 hours, so who knows?
“Simone?”
must be Chemita.
Still no Ethan

Informed that Ethan had been out all night before with a broken armed girl, we expect him to arrive soon. He shows up, my stuff goes one way, and I go with Ethan. First though he leaves me in his car with some doctor, who speaks little English, and I speak very little Spanish, yeah that went really well. Finally we are off. No nap, food, shower, change of clothes, nothing...

We head directly to the clinica, about an hour and a half drive from the city. Thankfully we stop in a small town, and I get an empanada to eat, my first taste of Bolivian food. Not too bad.

After braving the Santa Cruz traffic, the highway, the mud road, and THE bridge, we arrive at the clinica. I found that the only thing I can understand is what the technicians are doing wih the centrifuge and the chemicals, those words translate easily, otherwise I just follow Ethan (pronounced ee-Tan) around and smile, and kiss people when it seems like the right thing to do. Here I meet Douglas, the husband of Chemita, who is the main doctor at the clinica, and who I also will be living with. The two of them get in the car and I follow. I have no idea where we are going.

Now I need to interject with some info about THE bridge. There is a river that we have have to cross to get to the clinica. A while ago it rained hard for 2 days straight and wiped out part of the bridge, so people who were going to the clinica had to cross the river on foot. When ee-Tanīs mom came down, the famous doctora Susan, they “fixed” the bridge. It was only a 10 foot segment that was downed due to the erosion caused by the rain, so they replaced it with 4 planks, 2 for each tire of the car, with about an inch on either side for error.

Well about that inch, Douglas needed more than an inch. Without stopping and calculating, Douglas began across. ee-Tan’s fault for not getting out and directing him. Everything is ee-Tan’s fault. Stoopid ee-Tan. So over the boards we went, and whoops, there went the front right tire. So here I am, two hours in and already I’m about to die. As ee-Tan and I opened our doors on the right side of the car, Ąall we saw was the riverbed 12 feet below us! (ee-Tan likes punctuation) The tire was completely off and only three were left on the bridge. Thankfully we did very well in our phsyics classes. With the stray pieces of wood lying around and my handy pocket protractor, we rigged up some support. One sign, two little branches, and a plank connecting the sign to the dirt, we decided it was time to try. Douglas closed his eyes and shifted into first. We watched as the back tire teetered on the edge and our makeshift support collapsed just as the front tire got back on the bridge. The truck was across. Thank you Dee Brown.

The rest of the day went without any further attempts at my life. We picked up some people who were walking to the village, drove over the bride a few more times, checked out some land that ee-Tanīs mom might buy, ate a lunch with the landowners, I drove, even over the bridge, and then we picked up another woman. Her village had been waiting on some doctors to come last week, but they couldnīt make it. So finally she took a horse and came to the clinica, after waiting a few days. We drove her the hour and half back, and brought the nurse, some doctors, and the blood technicians with us. When we finally left her little village it was 8 pm. Did I mention I’ve only been here for 11 hours.

We stopped off in Montero, one of the smaller towns between the clinic and Santa Cruz to see a patient that Ethan’s mom had dropped off the night before. The patient is a 14 year old girl that has been in and out of hospitals for a while now. She had Hodgkins, that she has recovered from through Chemotherapy. Ethan’s mom believes that this treatment provoked what caused this visit to the hospital. She had started coughing up blood the night before after being brought in for an irregular heart rhythm and fluid in her lungs and stomach. She’s been recieving blood transfusions and seems to be doing better. We’re not sure what will happen.

So, we continued on to Santa Cruz and dropped off the technicians and one of the doctors, while Ethan headed off to visit a girl with a broken arm that’s been waiting a few days for surgery. It was 10:30 before we had dinner, and then I went to bed. I had been up since 7 am the day before, and had been surrounded by Spanish, in a very different country all day, it was great, but tiring.

Yesterday was a little different, all we had to do was run a lot of errands around the city. We visited the broken arm girl in the hospital, exchanged some books, walked around the center of the city for a little bit, ate some ice-cream, baked some cookies, and I tried my hand at Spanish. I can understand pretty well sometimes, other times not at all, but speaking is another world for me. I am becoming less timid, but find that French words keep interjecting themselves into my sentences. Stupid French.

Posted at 12:03 PM

Friday, March 07, 2003

Just testing this out.

Posted at 5:21 PM