1. Corn can be a food group. In Boquerón there are days when I am convinced it is the full food pyramid. Sean has gone out cosechar-ing corn with our host father and other family members/friends. They spend all day chopping and gathering corn, brining back ful baskets to the house. Then the host fathers mother and I peel the kernels from the corn. Sean and I did this together and, being true Americans, turned it into a competition to see who could peel the corn fastest. The family got a huge kick out of this and now just assumes that any chore we are doing involves competition in some way. After the kernels are seperated from the ear of corn they are in a large bucket. Corn is thrown from the bucket to feed the chickens, or milled in the kitchen to be turned into some new food for the family. It is actually pretty cool to watch the grandma work- at 75 years old she is strong and sharp as ever. Sometimes she mills the corn and then mixes it with water and flour to make what they call a toritlla but to us is more like cornbread. Other times she mixes it with boiled water and sugar to make chichemy, a kind of oatmealish type thing. Sometimes she just turns it into juice, or adds it to soup or to milk. One time I ate corn in four different ways in less than 1 hour...I thought I hit a wall until that night when the host dad told Sean they would be heading back out to the monte to cosechar corn again in the morning...
the kitchen, where all the work is done. behind the grandmother is the fogón, where the cooking is done over an open fire.
2. Our family is awesome and they take great care of us. It is essentially a man, his mother, his brother and his significant other (marriage in the campo is not exactly like marriage in the states...) They make sure to include us in everythign they do, and they are very active members of the community. They are involved in a lot of the local committees (and Boqerón loves committees) and are always to help out with the physical labor for projects going on around town. I mentioned once liking Mangoes and the next day the dad brought me three mangoes that he cut down. I asked Sean to get me mimones one day and they were up on a far out branch on a high tree that Sean could not get to...so he climbed the tree and got the mimones for us. He notced that I was writing in my journal on my lap, and the next day actually made a table! He is very impressive with the machete and can use it for building furniture, cutting fruit, making a path and everything in between. He made most of his house and the things in it. Since there is no electricity we spend a lot of time after dinner chatting- it is amazing quality time that was hard to come by when we were in Rio Congo and we were fighting with the TV. They feed us, and even thought it might involve a lot of corn I can definitely guarantee that we are never, ever hungry.
3. So, of all the animals I was nervous about (snakes, scorpions, bats) I never stopped to think about the boring regular animals of the United States. Now, I am learning that all along I should have been thinking of RATS. I mean, I have really never thought that much about rats, why would I? But now that they are in my room, scurrying up and down our walls, right above our bed, leaving (what else) corn as a morning surprise in our clothes, and keeping us awake all night long, it is hard to imagine a time where the thought of them didn´t strike fear in my heart. We are not talking about one or two rats running around at night (our hsot dad being as awesome as he is started setting rat traps when I mentioned that just maybe they came around at night. He catches one or two every night) but there is literally a swarm of these creatures. The hardest part is when I am trying to fall asleep but can hear their scurrying feet right above my bed and I can just imagine them falling onto the mosquito net. I mean, I knwo the mosquito net is there to protect me, but I really do not want to have this experience....and I am very thankful for a set of earplugs I got for my birthday- they make all the difference in the world
the metal box there is our room, the rats scurry along the top edge of the metal that is not attached to the ceiling
The very beginning of my morning commute
view on the walk down to Rio Boqueron
clothes on the line
7. I have been observing classes in both schools and attending all types of meetings (both related to the schools and not related at all to the schools). The students have a midterm vacation starting next week and I will begin my English classes the first week in August when they return. YIKES! The teachers are very helpful and very receptive, but most of my support comes from the parents who are extremely excited to have their children learning English. When the kids go from the basica schools in Boquerón to a secondary school (7th grade on up) they are often the only kids in the school that haven´t been exposed to English. If we can get a program going in Boqerón it will make a huge difference for how they perfrom in the classroom, and hopefully impact their decision to stay in school through 12th grade, which many students do not end up doing.
Oh I had a million other things to say, but we need to catch the last bus up and that means we need to get going. We are working hard and enjoying the simplicity that comes with camp life. I think we miss some creature comforts more than we thought that we would, but it is probably one of those things that after a few more weeks we won't even notice anymore. We miss our family and freinds a lot, and wish we could share more of this with you. Hope these little updates help give you a good glimpse of our lives!
