Hello folks
Sorry I have not kept up a detailed blog like on many of my last trips, I have been busy running 4 different Pages on facebook so that keeps me occupied much of my online time.
I'll just take you through an average day and share some stories with you. My housemates go to sleep around 8 or 9pm, and I usually go to sleep around 10. the heat all day and the sun make one very tired even if you try to stay in the shade and drink plenty of water. It is dry season now until April so it is usually in the 90s and the sun itself is extremely strong so theres a significant difference between being in the sun and shade. I bought a purple parasol umbrella at the korean supermarket and carry it around town to have portable shade. No one else seems to have caught on to this idea so I get smirks and smiles. I wear 50+ sunscreen and have darker skin than many of the ex pats but still burned last weekend when I spent a day out in the sun while visiting a waterfall. The streets are very dusty and whenever you wipe your face and arms a layer of brown dirt comes off. This brown dirt also coats the floor and most surfaces in the house. They also sadly burn their trash so I imagine we are also constantly inhaling small particles of plastic. When they burn the trash at my house I wrap a scarf around my mouth to try to prevent contamination. I've started a compost bin which I put water into and then dispose of organic material. Every other day I empty it out into a hole in the yard and hope it will turn into rich soil eventually. Maybe that healthy soil can then be put on top of the charred area where they burn the trash. I'm not sure that people understand that burning plastic is bad for the environment. I have taken it upon myself to not buy any plastic water bottles. I boil water daily and allow it to go for one minute, then wait hours for it to cool off in the metal pot before filling up a large jug. It doesn't taste as good as purchased water but it assuages my conscious and helps our lungs a tiny bit.
Last week we had a surprise thunderstorm at night. It was really beautiful and cleansing, I was enjoying the sound of the water gushing off of the room and relishing the cool temperature. Then all of a sudden lightning struck a pole next to my house, I heard the sockets sizzling, my computer buzzed and I could feel the electricity in my hands! Then the power went out and it was pitch black except for the flashes of purple lightning. It was more frightening than relaxing after that.
Sometimes in the morning I will go into town to the Coffee Hut. There is wifi there so I can upload photos to the internet. Otherwise it uses a lot of bytes off of the small usb device which you plug in to get internet. I also cannot watch videos or skype unless I am at the coffee hut to use the wifi because it just uses too much of the modems supply. Its nifty though because you have internet everywhere instead of just where there is a router.
Then I will walk over to the main market. It is a sprawling area filled with little stalls selling everything from kitchen supplies to clothing, to fruits and vegetables, to meat. There don't seem to be fixed prices and a local will get a much better deal on goods than a foreigner. I mostly just visit the produce section. I hope to go there soon with a local friend to take photographs, I don't feel comfortable walking in alone with my big flashy camera, partially for safety and partially because I don't want people to feel objectified. The produce section has heaping piles of tomatos and onions, potatoes, and beans, cow peas, avocados, cabbage, local dark greens known as Do and Bo, ginger, bananas, small passionfruits and pineapples. Everything costs on average about 40 cents, or for 80 cents you can get 4 tomatoes, a pineapple is more expensive at about $1.50. There is no need to ask if everything is organic, it is freshly picked from nearby bushes and trees or grown in local fields. The tomatos and onions are noticeably smaller than in the USA, indicating how much the food there is genetically modified to be larger. They put everything in a plastic bag so I have taken to bringing a basket and my backpack and asking them not to use more plastic and just put it in my container. I almost always leave with my bags overflowing as the women make convincing arguments to try a new option or to get a deal for buying more. I hail a motorcycle taxi called a boda and get a ride home for about 50 cents. Last night I tried making a stew, it came out pretty well although I'm not much of a cook so I kind of made it up as I went along. I do make guacamole just about everyday, it is usually one meal of the day at least. I buy dried chapati chips to eat it with at the local restaurant.
In the evening I go to teach or take the yoga class at 6pm. The students vary in range from 4-10 usually and is often 3/4 foriegners and 1/4 locals. We are working to change that and I tell everyone I meet about yoga and suggest that they come to a class. I have gotten more comfortable and confident with teaching. I really enjoy it and hope to be able to do more teaching soon as our beneficiary classes come together.
