I Dream of Turkey

I know some of you dream of Genie . . .

. . .I dream of Turkey. . . .

No no, I´m really not joking. I woke up this morning just having ordered the turkey sandwhich of my dreams!! And then. . . well. . . I woke up.

So sad.

There are plenty of wild turkey´s down here. . . but for some inexplicable reason the locals prefer tamales made of pig heads (mostly fat) to the amazingness of that other flightless bird.

. . . This dream got me thinking, you know, Benjamin Franklin wanted the Turkey to be the symbolic bird of our country. And why not? It´s tasty, good for you, and makes phenomenal leftovers for any occasion ! ! !

Alas, there is no turkey to be had - so I made pizza at 9:45 this AM for breakfast. Not really the substitute of my dreams . . . but yummy anyway.

Although- I should add - the ´vocational teacher´for the adult school generously offered to teach me how to strangle, gut, pluck, and bleed my very own chicken for dinner ! What a GREAT IDEA. . . why didn´t I think of that.

Dad likes to tell this great story about one of our first Family outings to the marché in Switzerland. Mom was trying to buy a chicken and the man behind the counter brought out a dead, but wholly unplucked chicken for her to inspect . . . Dad made it across the store just in time as she started to faint towards the floor . . . maybe the family honor needs to push the envelope a little farther . . . if my own ´chicken killing trade´class does actually happen - I´ll be sure to take pictures.

In other news this week I got bit by the family cat (I call her la Diabla- the devil). I duly followed the advice of our Peace Corps doctor - who is lovingly referred to as Doctor Death, as he never fails to foresee our deaths in all manner of Bolivian activities and food.

So I followed Dr. Death´s advice - I asked Doña Esperanza (my host mom) if the cat had rabies (she said no) and am now observing the cat for 10 days as directed.

If it lives, so do I.

If not, I should have gone straight to the hospital to get 3 more booster shots (we´ve already been vaccinated).

I guess we´ll just have to see. So far there´s been no foaming at the mouth. . .keep your fingers crossed.

Besos,
Sarah

PS. I FINALLY finished painting the new room & am still fighting with the internet cafés to let me upload pix !!

Head Angel in Heaven

I think Mom is the Head Angel in Heaven.

My new life is so absolutely wonderful she MUST be pulling strings!

I am extremely blessed.I´m living with the marvelous Antelo family who are native Tarijañans. They´re very well off as situations go down here - in fact Dón Freddy (the Dad) was Mayor of San Lorenzo for years, and Freddy jr. is now the 2nd in command of the town and engaged to a former PCV. The entire family is awesome - well educated, friendly, and unbelievably welcoming. The first time I met Heidy (one of the married daughters) she and her younger brother Petero pushed me really hard to play Texas hold ´em with the fam that night. . . I thought it might not have been a good idea to lose my shirt or steal theirs the first day we met - so I declined. However, they´ve since won about 20 Bolivianos (about $2.24) off me . . .so I need to practice to get it back !

Dón Freddy has been an avid rider all his life - and is extremely excited that I am so motivated to get a horse ! He and his wife have generously offered for me to live in their house for free, make any changes I want to the house, to stable my horse on their land 5 minutes walk away from the house, have their cousins help me with the daily care of the horse, AND drive me NINE hours down to Salta Argentina to help me find the horse of my dreams!!! I´m sorry this is such a laundry list . . .but it´s a bit overwhelming. They treat me like a special member of the family and graciously fold me into everything they do - while still insisting I keep my independence as much as I want.

Clearly Mom has been working overtime upstairs. I have more freedom of movement than I ever thought I would - being only 25 minutes or so from Tarija city on paved roads ! The nuns have been equally as welcoming and I´m thoroughly enjoying getting to know them and the kids I´ll be working with. I´m definitely not cut out to be a nunnette (what I call the postulates) - I still can´t remember all of the Nuns´names - but I´m working on it.

I spent the day cleaning out my new rectangular/hallway shaped room - note to self - manual labor is NOT for me:) I washed/scrubbed the floor 3 times and it´s still dirty . . .dunno how that works, and I scrubbed and scrubbed the random set of stairs in this room that go from the floor into one of the walls . . . at this point I think paint is going to be my best friend ! Where are my fashionistas when I need them ?? (Steph...Sal...Anouk ?? where are you people?!!)

Below you´ll see part of an email a fellow B42er who´s serving in Santa Cruz (another department in Bolivia) - I was actually writing something almost verbatim to another friend - I think Naya speaks for all of us :

¨The funny thing is, my friends and I were talking about this over the weekend in the city, we have never worked so little in our lives as in a job, but we have never been more exhausted. The Peace Corps is more about the emotional adjustment that one needs to make and how difficult just life is, not the job that we will be doing for the next 2 years. The real challenge will be, being by ourselves and trying to integrate into a community that doesn´t really understand American culture and we ourselves having to become comfortable in a foreign culture. Our new motto is ¨How far will you go?¨and I think that means how far out of your comfort zone are you willing to go, because it is definitely not normal to feel the way one feels being in the PC. But what a great experience this is...
-Naya¨

It´s awesome to be able to write and hear from friends at home - but it´s such a unique learning experience to be so ¨not busy¨ the way we think of it at home and yet be working all the time. Just today I found myself trying to explain in Spanish why I ¨chose¨not to be Catholic and why the doctrinal differences between Catholicism and Anglicanism are important (footnote: although most Bolivians are Catholic - they tend to be ¨shopping cart catholics¨- i.e. they pick and choose what they like about the faith, and they are rarely sure of Catholic doctrine on various subjects . . .which makes debate highly frustrating) - in essence, on of the most interseting things to get used to is ¨working¨ just by interacting with people all day long. It goes against my Bernie-given proclivity to accomplish ¨tasks¨or get things ¨done¨ . . . but nonetheless is a big part of what PC service is.

Everyone keep your fingers crossed !!! I should be off to Horse Hunt in Argentina within the next week or so !!! All name suggestions will be extremely welcome !

Lots of Love,
Sarita la Tarijaña!!

A Real Live Peace Corps Volunteer

It´s official ! I´m a real LIVE US Peace Corps Volunteer !! You should all be seriously concerned that I am now YOUR face and representative here in this country !

This past Friday afternoon I swore my first oath ever (Dad reminded me that the Brownie pledge doesn´t really count) ! ! I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and the values and mission of the US Peace Corps. FYI - the three goals of the Peace Corps are to provide professional help to developing countries who have asked for it, to increase foreign understanding of Americans and our ways of life, and to bring back to the States a greater understanding of foreign cultures and values.

The realities of a 3rd world ¨Formal¨event were quite interesting. We were sworn in in our best PC clothes (a spattering of skirts and bergen stocks sp?, khakis and polos) in a crowded hotel conference room - brightened with flourescent lighting and peeling mustard yellow paint ! Javier Garza (our country director) and a man from the US Embassy in La Paz both gave ´go get ´em¨speaches - but the best part came after the oath when a large contingent of current volunteers gave us a standing ovation - and came by to shake each of our hands and welcome us to the corps. A little hokey - but pretty great all the same.

An unofficial PC tradition is to have a themed party the evening of swearing in. Our theme was 80s Rockers !! oh yes oh yes, I kid you not. AND one of the most endearing parts of the city of Cochabamba is La Cancha - a one square mile labrynth of hawkers and dealers of anything and everything that is made by the hands of man . . . including used clothing from the States. Let your imagination run wild . . . and perhaps you might have the idea !

. . . Well, we came to the party prepared . . . I´ll post pictures when I can . . . I was sporting a ripped black and neon shirt with the words ¨You Can´t Touch This¨, blue and white striped nylon pants, and a puke green blazer from 1979, with two crooked side pony tales . . . what a night !

I am writing this update from the city of Tarija where I´ll be serving for the next 2 years. San Lorenzo (my actual site) is about 30 minutes away from the city on a paved road ! Thankfully the Nuns of San Lorenzo are no longer under the impression that I´ll be living with them in the convent and I´m spending this week and next trying to find a place to live and settle in a bit.

I hope this finds you all happy and not sweltering too much (it´s freezing down here) !
All my love !,
Sarah Catherine
aka La Sarita !

Peace Corps Technical Week

Hey all,
I know you´ll all be so happy to know that showers are still the things of dreams, and the highlight of July 4th was eating real cheeseburgers. . .yes yes, with REAL burger meat and REAL cheese (both rare commodities down here) but life in general is going extremely well !

We just got back from our ¨Technical Week¨. . . a 10 day period where we visited 3 different current volunteer sites and ¨practiced¨being real volunteers. At the first site (Tortora, in the Department of Cochabamba, estimated pop: 1,200) we spent the first day running various workshops for 1st to 6th graders. I was in a Nutrition group . . . in Bolivia there are only 3 food groups - and nutrition is extremely poor throughout the country - it is common practice to serve some combination of rice / pasta / and potatoes in the same dish - often without any veggies (and you thought I had poor nutrition ! ha). And the following day we worked with Ashley´s (our host PC Volunteer, or PCV) English club. We played games in English and made Papaya marmalade . . . in an effort to be helpful a few of us clumsily tried to help peel the Papayas . . . we lasted mere minutes before the girls of the group laughed us away from anything with a sharp edge.

In all seriousness, if you do get the chance to visit - note to self - do NOT get into a knife fight with a Bolivian . . .especially the women . . . they must come out of the womb weilding knives and peeling potatoes . . . no joke.

Our second visit was to Matt´s site : Alquile (Department of Santa Cruz, est pop: 5,000 . . .i.e. one of the bigger sites). Here we worked at an orphanage/boarding school type of place. Most of the kids are not orphans, rather they live so far away in the campo (countryside) that this internado is one of the only ways they can get education. On our first day we ran self-esteem workshops for both the kids and the teachers, followed by an afternoon ´field day´of sorts. My integrated education tech specialist, Jillian, and I ran the water-balloon toss . . . too bad Shimkus wasn´t here to put us all to shame (Jills did get soaked . . . I however, never spilled a drop :). Jillian (or Jills) is a 3rd year volunteer who applied to extend her stay here as an administrative asst. to my APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director) Wendy Van Damme. Wendy runs the integrated education program - of which I am a part. Anyway, self esteem is of immeasurable importance to the development of all kids and people, perhaps not as shocking as it may seem - the entire concept is lacking in this society. To a certain degree, even the ideas of child rights are relatively new.

Our following 2 days were spent running a Teacher ¨Taller¨(pronounced Thai-er) or workshop. We covered all sorts of things - from classroom management (it´s still common practice for teachers to hit the kids) to the fact that different ppl have different learning styles. At one point during the learning style section of one day - a few teachers went on at lenght that a child that likes to learn on their own has problems. That this child is probably having issues at home, likes to act out, doesn´t like to socialize, or has some other type of issue or problem. It was an interesting challenge, as a 20 something non-teacher, to try and engage these teaching ¨professionals¨in a way that they might consider what we were discussing might have validity. In anycase, true to form, I took the to the whole ¨Taller¨thing like a fish to water. As Jills said, ¨Clearly you have no shame when you´re talking to them . . . and that´s good . . . you´re spanish will eventually get better¨:) thanks.

Our third and final site was La Laja with a PCV named Katie (Department of Santa Cruz, est pop: 300), way way up in the mountains. Turns out a great deal of Bolivia is covered with gorgeous rolling mountains - the further East & towards Brazil you go - the more green and vibrant they become - even in the dry season (now). We stayed in La Laja and literally had to snuggle for warmth at night (which was fine, one of my favorite activities:) but during the day we built a greenhouse in another village out of Adobe bricks. Adobe is a combination of mud, straw, and sand - all dried out. Adobe bricks are held together only by mud . . . but adobe buildings are surprisingly stable (not that I´d like to spend my life in one).

All in all I loved it, found out i was really good at some stuff. . .can do other stuff . . .but I´m less than enthused about certain activities (read: umm, manual labor is NOT at the top of my wish list. . . ). I also figured out (rather agonized over) what kind of site I wanted to be placed in. It was relatively hard . . . I´ve wanted to do this for such a long time . . . and I´ve done all this research and thus have had all these preconcieved notions about what I wanted out of PC service . . . or what ¨pc service REALLY is¨. . . I´ve really had to try and come to terms with the fact that all the ideas I´ve had in my head aren´t necessarily connected to realities on the ground. As Jills said to me over Tech week - ¨The difference between PC Bolivia and PC Africa is that in PC Africa you work to live, and in PC Bolivia you live to work¨. This statement becomes more true all the time. Sure there are amenities we´re missing, and of course there are numerous health and physical risks, but for the most part we don´t have to walk 3 hours to get water.
Basically I´ve come to terms with the fact that any ´romantic´notions I had of PC service need to go right out the windo. I believe I´ll be a MUCH better volunteer in a more populated site where I´ll have at least a semblance of support / structure . . . only really to the point where I´ll have a ´place´to go to work. . . and a place where I´ll actually be busy ( i.e. not just sitting around ¨being¨a visible, but bored, American).

On Monday we finally recieved our site postings for the next two years !! I was extremely lucky and was placed at a site called ¨San Lorenzo¨ (which is actually in a few guide books) in the Department of Tarija, just a few hours North of Salta, Argentina. I´ll be working in an orphanage / boarding school of sorts where I will have the opportunity to teach people of all ages. This internado is run by Nuns who are apparantly VERY excited to get a PC volunteer to help them with all their educational endeavors; which include a soup kitchen for local needy children, a school, after school programs, a boarding house, and an adult school ! I´m most looking forward to being busy. Throughout training it has become clear that many volunteers must work through a labrynth of beauracracy full of political fiefdoms and most efforts result in extreme boredom and frustration :) Hopefully, my site will have less such hassles (although there are bound to be quite a few nonetheless).

I´ll only be 18 Km from the city of Tarija - maybe 30 / 40 minute drive on a PAVED road (very key). Tarija is heavily influenced by Argentinian culture - which thankfully means better beef, wine, and cuisine options in general!

I´ll be changing my mailing address shortly . . . thank you all so SO much for all the letters and care packages (you know who you are) ! All my fellow trainees want to know if any of you want to adopt them !

Missing you !,
La Sarita
(literally, THE little Sarah. . . much better than La Gordita . . .I won´t translate)

Carnival Water Balloon War Zone

Oh, soooooooo Carnival - let me explain the coolest thing I learned today. During Carnival the ENTIRE country turns into a Water Balloon WAR zone. I mean it´s ALL out guerilla warfare . . . ppl hang out of trufis & taxis (trufis are little vans that function as public transport) and do drive by´s . . . favorite targets include Gringos & women. . . so a few of us PC ladies are already strategizing. One pcv just told me how she and two friends made a 3 - man sling shot . . . and their balloons went over a block and a half . . . so yes, we will be prepared . . . we will be armed . . .and NO THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS WILL NOT APPLY !!!! ( and YES they do sell super soakers here. . . !!! the possibilities are endless) I´m soooooooo psyched !!! Apparantly it ¨really gets bad¨when women on the street sell big bags of filled water balloons for 1 boliviano (it´s $1 to the 8 Bolivianos). You MUST come visit during Carnival !!! There´s also a bunch of dancing, drinking, & eating . . . basically I must find a way to spend every carnival here !!!

I´m quite sure there are many more details about this CLEARLY amazing cultural practice of sharing LOVE and AFFECTION with all you see (it´s completely normal for pcv´s [peace corps volunteers . . . i´m only a trainnee at the moment] to recruit 13 yr olds to be on their team because Gringos are so immensely outnumbered) . . . so I´m sure I´ll be writing more about the subject in the future.

Miss you all !!!,
La Sarita

PS. Many thanks go out to my favorite big brother Armstrong, and our mutual Brazilean friend Miguel . . . without whom I doubt I would be ready for this water war of Mamouth proportions !!!

Chez Moi!!!

So we’ve been here a month and I’m sure you’re all just DYING to see how a REAL LIVE PEACE COPRS TRAINEE really lives!?!?!?!

I know I know, the excitement may be too much to bear – but below you’ll find pix of my dwelling.

We have all sorts of containers for food – laundry baskets tend to be used for dried goods . . . and actually I’m very lucky – my ‘mother’ even washes her hands occasionally before she starts cooking !!
Never fear – if you brave the journey – I’ll cook for you myself (I hope that comes across as an incentive !)

The pic below taken from my second floor landing – down into the small courtyard where I live. Oh, and the random lines you see in the picture are clothes lines – where one is welcome to hang their unmentionables at any time ! And the small shack-like structure to the left of Lucy is our kitchen . . . turns out you don’t actually need a Viking stove to produce culinary brilliance !!!

The vista to the left was also taken from my room the house on the other side of the clearing is Susan’s house – we could probably pass a football if either of us could throw one . . . might be a good experiment . . . though the ball might land in cow manure . . . maybe we’ll save that one for later.

Alas, my personal space !!!

I’m actually very lucky – and multiple other trainees are jealous – I have a TABLE, a STOOL, AND . . . I hope you’re sitting down as you read this . . . A CHAIR!!!!
Contrary to popular belief I’m actually not being dramatic for effect – most everyone else has only the Peace Corps provided bed (see pic) and requisite mosquito net.

This is a picture of my ‘motivation’ / “People still love me” wall. Though it be small – it be mighty ! If you really want to be cool please send fun pictures/cards/collages or motivational quotes of any kind.

Oh, and an extra special shout out to Peggy White has contributed 4 out of the 6 cards on the wall !!! (Peggy I WILL find a way to get you a Kir when I get back!).

I hope this finds you all well – happy – and hopefully laughing a bit at my expense !

Miss you daily,
LOVE,
Hawaii 5 – 0 !!!

Life is Wonderfulin Bolivia

Hola todos !!

Life is wonderful down here in Bolivia. I get a suntan during the day, and am sure my water bottle will be frozen when I wake up in the morning . . . but at least my trusty insect net keeps me safe - even if I do feel like I'm getting into a spaceship each time I get into bed :)

As always I'm a bit on the run . . . but the pix from top left to right are :

Fellow trainees Sarah Anderson & Noah (integrated ed) , Sydney McCall & Phil (also I.E.), my spanish class : Susan Grundstrom, Justin, & Maritza our teacher (also I.E.) outside of one of our classrooms ... Justin's house. A girl making one of the many awesome cakes they're so fond of here (really big for mother's day which was yesterday). Finally Ana (I.E.), Me, Rachel (Basic Sanitation), Susan, and Jen (I.E.).

I'm just figuring out how to upload pictures - so please have patience ... I'll try to make another post with more pix.

xo,

S

Free Cell Phone Love Texts

WELLLLL, if anyone is interested in sending my cell phone LOVE texts for FREE follow these directions:

Go to:

www.entel.bo

Under "Nuestros servicios" click on SMS: and then 'Graffiti'

Where it says "Movil" scroll to 727 (that's my 'area code' kind of ) and in the empty box next to it enter 07750 (the rest of my number).

Where it says "Codigo" just write the letters/numbers that you see to the right - it's to verify that you're a human. OH, and it's REALLY important to sign your name b/c otherwise I have no idea who's being sweet enough to go through all this trouble!!

The larger empty space below is for your notes of admiration, love, laughter, and general sweet nothings ! Then hit "Enviar" to send !

I know this LOOKS complicated but when you try it you'll see it's all pretty simple (hence why I can explain it).

Can't wait to hear from all of you . . . and those of you on the internet all the time - I KNOW WHO YOU ARE !

Lvs,
Sarah Catherine / SC / Haunce ... y Sarita!

Contact Info For Sarah Robinson

HEy all,

Got to run - only 1 comp for 31 PCt's . .. just so you all know my address down here is :

Sarah Robinson
US Embassy (or US Peace Corps)
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla #1603
Cochabamba, Bolivia
South America

If you'd like to call from the States : 00591 - 7 27 07750

AND if you'd like to send packages (very appreciated) please keep them under 4 lbs. and write "Hermana Sarah Robinson" - i.e. Sister Sarah Robinson . . . apparantly they take better care of the packages ?!? Go figure . . .me as a nun (monja) Ha!!!

LOVE and miss you ALL, (but I love the ones who write/call me more!),
Sarita

Buenas Dias from Cochabamba!!!

I´m here safe & sound - I´ve just spent the last 3 hrs sleeping off some of the trip and I feel much better. we were met in La Paz at 5:30 am by a bunch of the folks that are support staff & they helped get us through customs and the long layover there before flying with us the 30 mins to Cochabamba. It was amazing to get off the plane this morning in Cochabamba - as my new friend Sydney & I were walking off the plane, on the tarmac, towards the terminal - all of a sudden up comes this huge ROAR . . . from an elevated deck looking down to the tarmac . . . Sydney & I turn to see what movie star just got off the plane & then we look confusingly around . . . until we look carefully at these screaming strangers - turns out they´re our ´welcoming committee´ - fellow PCVs who have travelled (many longer than 8 hrs) to come greet us. Wow what an entrance. After getting our baggage we literally jogged through a guantlet of screaming, clapping, laughing, smiling volunteers . . . I´ve sure gotten out of practice of having screaming fans greet me where I go (jk) - but really what an amazing foot to start off on.

So far my fellow volunteers seem to be pretty amazing people - the range of talents / personalities / and attitudes towars life etc is really interesting and is becoming quite fun to figure out :)

I´ll learn more about everything this afternoon. . . so we´ll see !!

I hope you´re all doing well
xoxo,
Sarah

PS. ´Nouks if you´re reading this . . . you can´t say I didn´t try to catch you !!

Off to Bolivia in T-Minus 48 hrs!!

Hey all !!

I'm off to Bolivia in T - minus 48 hrs !! Off we go . . . and where we'll land at the end of all this - NOBODY knows :)

My address during training will be : Sarah Robinson
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla #1603
Cochabamba, Bolivia
South America

Love notes of all kinds are GREATLY appreciated!!

Please Note :

The comments and opinions posted on this website are of a personal nature and in no way reflect the opinion of the United States Peace Corps. Please do not publish anything that is written here, without the specific authorization from the USPC (or myself), as such an action could result in the termination of my service.

Thank you !!

Luvs,
S