Exactly a week after my computer had been miraculously saved by the kind hearted man in the Mac store, it died again. Same fateful screen with a blinking question mark. When your computer dies once, its unfortunate, when it dies twice in the same week, its a sign (or at least that's how I took it). So I put it in a drawer and picked up a book.
A lot happened in those few weeks without a computer. I will try my best to catch you up. The local government held their yearly town meeting successfully, my soccer team organized a feria (a day of soccer games and food), the students from the colegio and the escuela had graduation ceremonies, I am organizing two day-time summer camps for the kids in my community and I got another kitten. Kitty's name is Gidget. She is just about a month old now. And super cute, besides she is still learning about where to go poop, which means extra cleaning for me. Not so stoked about that.
I spent a large amount of my time reading in my hammock (which has been a God-send), crocheting, cooking, cleaning the house, painting the walls, visiting neighbors and going on walks. I will be honest, a few nights I was so exhausted that I didn't have the mental ganas to read or crochet, and I either laid in my hammock and stared at the wall or went to bed at a ridiculously early hour.
Christmas I spent with my host family from training, just outside of San Jose. It was comfortable as always and felt great to be surrounded my adopted family for the holiday. I am also traveling with another volunteer and crashing with her for a few days, before we head to the beach for some New Year's camping and hopefully a bonfire.
I am sending love and well wishes to all my friends and family back home. I hope you had wonderful holiday seasons and that the New Year we bring in is one of the best yet!
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
She turned her can't into cans and her dreams into plans
Good morning Internetland. A lot has happen since we last spoke. Its strange how a day can change so dramatically from one minute to the next. Friday started off as a great day. I was interacting with community members, I taught an organizational workshop, I found a youth leader to help me with my summer camps, I helped the church committee clean up the church for the upcoming Novena, all in all things were looking up. At 5pm I returned home to examine the damage the bugs were doing to my legs and spray the smallest amount of Deet possible in hopes of finding a balance between allergic reactions and being eaten alive. I pulled out my computer to double check a few things before heading out the door to soccer practice.
My computer turned on to a white screen with a flashing file folder and question mark in the middle of the screen. My stomach dropped. I know very little about computers, but this appeared to be very bad. The question mark might as well have been a skull and crossbones. I called a few friends and got a few answers. It was bad. I needed to take it into a Mac Store. There were two options, one just simple re-installation, two a new hard drive.
Saturday morning woke up at 4am. Caught the bus at 5:30am. Arrived in San Jose (frantically) at 1:15pm. Found the Mac Store by 1:30pm. I was told that a repair was $40 dollars and a new hard drive was $200. I explained my situation (am a volunteer, live in the campo, my computer is my lifeline, I have no money) and I am sure that I was the epitome of desperation. They said they needed two hours to fix it. My last bus to get back to my side of the country leaves at 3:00pm. I had an hour and a half. They said they would try.
I grabbed a quick lunch and then loitered annoying (and anxiously) in the store. At 2:38pm I was shown my computer, it was working! I asked if all my data was okay. The answer was no, I took a deep breath in, put my hands on my head, mourned my data loss for 10 seconds and then moved on. I asked, "So it was just the installation disc?" The answer, "No, it needed a new harddrive, but I found one. It will only be $50 dollars." Shock. Look at watch, 2:45. "Thank you so much! Can I pay now?" I whiped out my card, packed up the laptop, signed the receipt and bolted out of the store at a dead run. I ran into the first cab I could see and told the cab driver we had 10 minutes to get to the bus station. His response "Impossible."
Long story short I made the bus, with some questionably safe cab driving, 8 blocks of running, and 45 minutes of waiting when I arrived at the bus stop only to find the bus leaves at 3:45pm. My computer is up and running and I have been downloading all of the things that one needs to download (the list is surprisingly copious).
Lessons learned? I can't say I am quite sure of the lesson yet. I know in the past I said that a broken computer would be one of the things that would send me packing. But when the computer broke, I was upset, but after an evening of being upset it seemed so clear. This was a problem, there was a solution. It might mean some hard work, some money, some time, but a solution was out there. It was different when Cricket died, that type of upset seems insolvable. So maybe the lesson is that problems are solvable. Seems pretty straight forward, but when I was sitting in my room with a broken computer, and an unbroken silence, nothing felt solvable. You can't drown in the upset of a problem that is solvable, you just have to wait it out.
Time to start the day. Goodbye for now, sending loves.
My computer turned on to a white screen with a flashing file folder and question mark in the middle of the screen. My stomach dropped. I know very little about computers, but this appeared to be very bad. The question mark might as well have been a skull and crossbones. I called a few friends and got a few answers. It was bad. I needed to take it into a Mac Store. There were two options, one just simple re-installation, two a new hard drive.
Saturday morning woke up at 4am. Caught the bus at 5:30am. Arrived in San Jose (frantically) at 1:15pm. Found the Mac Store by 1:30pm. I was told that a repair was $40 dollars and a new hard drive was $200. I explained my situation (am a volunteer, live in the campo, my computer is my lifeline, I have no money) and I am sure that I was the epitome of desperation. They said they needed two hours to fix it. My last bus to get back to my side of the country leaves at 3:00pm. I had an hour and a half. They said they would try.
I grabbed a quick lunch and then loitered annoying (and anxiously) in the store. At 2:38pm I was shown my computer, it was working! I asked if all my data was okay. The answer was no, I took a deep breath in, put my hands on my head, mourned my data loss for 10 seconds and then moved on. I asked, "So it was just the installation disc?" The answer, "No, it needed a new harddrive, but I found one. It will only be $50 dollars." Shock. Look at watch, 2:45. "Thank you so much! Can I pay now?" I whiped out my card, packed up the laptop, signed the receipt and bolted out of the store at a dead run. I ran into the first cab I could see and told the cab driver we had 10 minutes to get to the bus station. His response "Impossible."
Long story short I made the bus, with some questionably safe cab driving, 8 blocks of running, and 45 minutes of waiting when I arrived at the bus stop only to find the bus leaves at 3:45pm. My computer is up and running and I have been downloading all of the things that one needs to download (the list is surprisingly copious).
Lessons learned? I can't say I am quite sure of the lesson yet. I know in the past I said that a broken computer would be one of the things that would send me packing. But when the computer broke, I was upset, but after an evening of being upset it seemed so clear. This was a problem, there was a solution. It might mean some hard work, some money, some time, but a solution was out there. It was different when Cricket died, that type of upset seems insolvable. So maybe the lesson is that problems are solvable. Seems pretty straight forward, but when I was sitting in my room with a broken computer, and an unbroken silence, nothing felt solvable. You can't drown in the upset of a problem that is solvable, you just have to wait it out.
Time to start the day. Goodbye for now, sending loves.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending
I arrived back in site after a whirlwind tour in San Jose. A few days in the hospital, a few days celebrating Thanksgiving, a few days visiting my host family from training, a few days helping a friend move, a quick meeting with government official about development and now I am back.
Health wise I am recuperating just fine. Although I don't know how the life without chemicals plan will work in actuality. Last night I found a cockroach the size of my ear in the kitchen and decided that is all that I needed to justify Raiding the house.
I spent Thanksgiving with a family from the US Embassy and 4 other volunteers. The family was an American women who worked at the Embassy, an El Salvadorian man that trains Search & Rescue dogs and their two children - ages 2 and 6. They welcomed us into their home for a spectacular meal and let us stay with them for two nights. We ate wonderful food, used their oven, took hot showers, played with the kids, and watched cable TV. All the comforts of home.
Then Biiftu and I went and spent the weekend with our host training families. It was wonderful to see my host family and spend some time with them. I made them curry lentil soup with garlic bread and a funfetti cake for lunch one day and it was delicious. Both nights the power went out, so we made shadow hand puppets and listened to music from our cellphones. It was perfectly comfortable.
Then I helped Biiftu move into her new home. It is a beautiful white simple wood house. We moved all her stuff into her new house, unpacked and went to town to get the last minute necessities. You will be proud to know that I went to a lumber mill, purchased the correct amount of wood and made a counter for Biiftu's kitchen. That's right, handsaw, hammer, nails, wood = beautiful new counter!
Then I had a meeting with a government official in charge of overseeing the local governments and funding projects for small communities. It was productive to meet with her, but a little disillusioning. Because if my community could fill out the project proposal and present it, the funding is more or less available. When I arrived back in my community, the local government was having a meeting (which hasn't happened in months) and we are hopefully going to have local elections this month.
Now I am home. Cricket passed away while I was out of town, which is heartbreaking. The gossip is that she was eaten by a dog. That is two pets that have died or gone missing in two months when I was out of town. I know that I can't expect my neighbor's to take care of my pets the way that I do, but its heartbreaking to keep losing pets and its heartbreaking not to live with animals. Last night was my first night staying in my house completely completely alone.
My house is a mess. I found mice poop on the shelf where all my clothes live. Which means that I need to wash all my clothes and kill an undetermined quantity of mice. I am hoping that the mice haven't eaten holes in my clothes. I also found a mutant spider grasshopper in the bathroom.
Today there will be lots of cleaning- with minimal chemicals. Wish me luck. I could use some luck - maybe some strength too, if its the appropriate time to ask for things.
Health wise I am recuperating just fine. Although I don't know how the life without chemicals plan will work in actuality. Last night I found a cockroach the size of my ear in the kitchen and decided that is all that I needed to justify Raiding the house.
I spent Thanksgiving with a family from the US Embassy and 4 other volunteers. The family was an American women who worked at the Embassy, an El Salvadorian man that trains Search & Rescue dogs and their two children - ages 2 and 6. They welcomed us into their home for a spectacular meal and let us stay with them for two nights. We ate wonderful food, used their oven, took hot showers, played with the kids, and watched cable TV. All the comforts of home.
Then Biiftu and I went and spent the weekend with our host training families. It was wonderful to see my host family and spend some time with them. I made them curry lentil soup with garlic bread and a funfetti cake for lunch one day and it was delicious. Both nights the power went out, so we made shadow hand puppets and listened to music from our cellphones. It was perfectly comfortable.
Then I helped Biiftu move into her new home. It is a beautiful white simple wood house. We moved all her stuff into her new house, unpacked and went to town to get the last minute necessities. You will be proud to know that I went to a lumber mill, purchased the correct amount of wood and made a counter for Biiftu's kitchen. That's right, handsaw, hammer, nails, wood = beautiful new counter!
Then I had a meeting with a government official in charge of overseeing the local governments and funding projects for small communities. It was productive to meet with her, but a little disillusioning. Because if my community could fill out the project proposal and present it, the funding is more or less available. When I arrived back in my community, the local government was having a meeting (which hasn't happened in months) and we are hopefully going to have local elections this month.
Now I am home. Cricket passed away while I was out of town, which is heartbreaking. The gossip is that she was eaten by a dog. That is two pets that have died or gone missing in two months when I was out of town. I know that I can't expect my neighbor's to take care of my pets the way that I do, but its heartbreaking to keep losing pets and its heartbreaking not to live with animals. Last night was my first night staying in my house completely completely alone.
My house is a mess. I found mice poop on the shelf where all my clothes live. Which means that I need to wash all my clothes and kill an undetermined quantity of mice. I am hoping that the mice haven't eaten holes in my clothes. I also found a mutant spider grasshopper in the bathroom.
Today there will be lots of cleaning- with minimal chemicals. Wish me luck. I could use some luck - maybe some strength too, if its the appropriate time to ask for things.
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