Yay, Finally Another Post!
Originally Written December 15, 2009
Dear Readers,
The month of November was busy with travel since it was Thanksgiving as well as our midservice point, which meant we all had to go get medical check ups in Lima. And now more travel is coming up, since I’ll be heading home for Christmas to see my family and friends for a couple of weeks. This will mark the longest I’ve ever been outside of the United States: fifteen months at one hit. Previously, this record was held by my 11-month exchange trip in Mexico. After a year of being in site, I’ve finally settled down about in my adjustment. This past week at site my spirits have been high, despite a few days of no electricity, illness, and a latrine project that is quite behind the schedule I had envisioned for it. I imagine that I feel more at rest because, for one thing I’m looking forward to being home, and eating pizza, and drinking awesome beer, drooling over all of my books and dictionaries and grammars I couldn’t bring with me, and taking baths, and of course seeing my family and friends and my dog. But the other reason I’m at peace right now is because I’ve finally gotten used to the pace of life here, and the fact that people do things on their own time. For example, I asked Teofilo to help me pour the cement for my latrine, which he agreed to, although it took him about four days to get around to it. It’s something you just have to take and roll with.
Other than work related materials, I’ve been considering learning Dutch so that I can go visit Suriname after my service is over. From what I’ve been able to read about Suriname, it’s a polyglot country with several different official languages. I’ve been staying up researching several different language profiles from Wikipedia articles I’ve copied into my computer.
I’ve also been watching lots of movies that I’ve never seen but have meant to for a long time. Movies like “Face/Off”, “Broken Arrow”, and “Phenomenon”. I don’t know why the first ones I watched all happened to be John Travolta movies since I’ve never really been a fan of him, but after my unintentional Travolta binge, I’ve concluded that I may have under-appreciated him.
Backtracking a little, Thanksgiving vacation in Ica included riding a dune buggy to the middle of some sand dunes to go sand boarding down them. I’ve barely skied, and have never snow-boarded, so barely had a clue what I was doing and ended up riding down on my stomach instead, which helped me get more speed. Interestingly, even when you are on your stomach you can still lose your balance and get flung down the face of a sand dune. Even today, eighteen days after the wipeout, when I lift my right arm I can still feel where I rolled over it several times, where I was left with sand in my eyes, ears, mouth and nose, stunned from the crash and due to the fact I didn’t break anything, not even Lim-Ed sunglasses, which flew off but somehow were lying next to me unharmed in the sand.
I met a lot of the new WatSan volunteers who seem like a cool bunch. One of them drank a mite much and prodded me all evening to say something offensive.
Med-Checks also went well. Especially so since Dr. Jorge told me I was in excellent health. A couple of friends and I went to a sports bar where they showed American football, and even I felt a little homesick from sports, something I usually try to avoid.
There is one thing I’ve thought about recently, and this is probably the only bit of philosophy I’ll write this evening, but after the comforts of Lima (and its expenses) and the rougher-edged living at site, I want to comment about the idea of materialism. Personally, I find that when I have a lot of things, I feel cluttered even in my soul. But I think there is nothing wrong with comforts in life. It’s a fact that most people probably don’t need a huge house or a fancy car or an iPhone or even hot water. But I guess if it helps improve the quality of your life, there isn’t anything wrong with it. Little things have helped here: a blanket to through on the ground to simulate carpet, a hot water boiler for tea and hot chocolate, and even really week cell phone service to make me feel a little less isolated. I don’t think I person needs to live a Spartan existence to grow or find enlightenment or whatever the goal is. I think too much “stuff” isn’t necessarily healthy, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being comfortable either.
On the other hand, there isn’t anything wrong to see what you can go without, either. Both are helpful when used prudently.
Alright, that’s about all I have for tonight. The next time I write, I’ll probably be on another continent. Have a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!
Till then!
Tristan
Dear Readers,
The month of November was busy with travel since it was Thanksgiving as well as our midservice point, which meant we all had to go get medical check ups in Lima. And now more travel is coming up, since I’ll be heading home for Christmas to see my family and friends for a couple of weeks. This will mark the longest I’ve ever been outside of the United States: fifteen months at one hit. Previously, this record was held by my 11-month exchange trip in Mexico. After a year of being in site, I’ve finally settled down about in my adjustment. This past week at site my spirits have been high, despite a few days of no electricity, illness, and a latrine project that is quite behind the schedule I had envisioned for it. I imagine that I feel more at rest because, for one thing I’m looking forward to being home, and eating pizza, and drinking awesome beer, drooling over all of my books and dictionaries and grammars I couldn’t bring with me, and taking baths, and of course seeing my family and friends and my dog. But the other reason I’m at peace right now is because I’ve finally gotten used to the pace of life here, and the fact that people do things on their own time. For example, I asked Teofilo to help me pour the cement for my latrine, which he agreed to, although it took him about four days to get around to it. It’s something you just have to take and roll with.
Other than work related materials, I’ve been considering learning Dutch so that I can go visit Suriname after my service is over. From what I’ve been able to read about Suriname, it’s a polyglot country with several different official languages. I’ve been staying up researching several different language profiles from Wikipedia articles I’ve copied into my computer.
I’ve also been watching lots of movies that I’ve never seen but have meant to for a long time. Movies like “Face/Off”, “Broken Arrow”, and “Phenomenon”. I don’t know why the first ones I watched all happened to be John Travolta movies since I’ve never really been a fan of him, but after my unintentional Travolta binge, I’ve concluded that I may have under-appreciated him.
Backtracking a little, Thanksgiving vacation in Ica included riding a dune buggy to the middle of some sand dunes to go sand boarding down them. I’ve barely skied, and have never snow-boarded, so barely had a clue what I was doing and ended up riding down on my stomach instead, which helped me get more speed. Interestingly, even when you are on your stomach you can still lose your balance and get flung down the face of a sand dune. Even today, eighteen days after the wipeout, when I lift my right arm I can still feel where I rolled over it several times, where I was left with sand in my eyes, ears, mouth and nose, stunned from the crash and due to the fact I didn’t break anything, not even Lim-Ed sunglasses, which flew off but somehow were lying next to me unharmed in the sand.
I met a lot of the new WatSan volunteers who seem like a cool bunch. One of them drank a mite much and prodded me all evening to say something offensive.
Med-Checks also went well. Especially so since Dr. Jorge told me I was in excellent health. A couple of friends and I went to a sports bar where they showed American football, and even I felt a little homesick from sports, something I usually try to avoid.
There is one thing I’ve thought about recently, and this is probably the only bit of philosophy I’ll write this evening, but after the comforts of Lima (and its expenses) and the rougher-edged living at site, I want to comment about the idea of materialism. Personally, I find that when I have a lot of things, I feel cluttered even in my soul. But I think there is nothing wrong with comforts in life. It’s a fact that most people probably don’t need a huge house or a fancy car or an iPhone or even hot water. But I guess if it helps improve the quality of your life, there isn’t anything wrong with it. Little things have helped here: a blanket to through on the ground to simulate carpet, a hot water boiler for tea and hot chocolate, and even really week cell phone service to make me feel a little less isolated. I don’t think I person needs to live a Spartan existence to grow or find enlightenment or whatever the goal is. I think too much “stuff” isn’t necessarily healthy, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being comfortable either.
On the other hand, there isn’t anything wrong to see what you can go without, either. Both are helpful when used prudently.
Alright, that’s about all I have for tonight. The next time I write, I’ll probably be on another continent. Have a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!
Till then!
Tristan
posted by Tristan | 8:26 AM
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