who wants to go pumpkin picking with me?

This is not a job that you just show up for expecting things to happen. Everyday, I go to my municipality because chiefly thats where my community partners reside. This strategy has had various levels of success, but no breakthroughs. I found out today that my primary project's, the artisan weavers, community partner plans to resign from her roll as president at a meeting on Wednesday, and new elections will be held. This was news to me, and I'm not too happy about it chiefly because I just spent the majority of the last two months getting to know her so as to work on improving the organization that she heads up. I've decided however, that I'm going to start some other projects as well. This is because there's a socially acceptable limit to how much time I can spend with anyone's wife, and to spend more than 2 or 3 hours a day on my primary project here is invitation for the rumors to start flying. It's this sort of cultural upper bound that I am getting used to. I will get more accomplished if I do not fight that system and work with the time I do have, shifting other time to secondary projects. Secondary projects are harder because the community solicited me from Peace Corps for this one purpose of helping their female artisans to find a market. They did not, however, give me a full mandate to begin all sorts of other work. Finding out the goals that the Peruvians have for themselves, instead of imposing my own system of beliefs, is the hardest part. I don't want to start committees or the like and waste my time on projects that aren't wanted in the first place. Nevertheless, I'm in negotiations with the director of the schools here over where I can take a group of students to paint a giant map of the world. Peace Corps, for this task, has provided me with detailed instructions, and its something to do. I'm also about to begin working with the English teacher. The English curriculum here is mandated by the Peruvian federal government. The English teacher therefore does not actually speak English. We will work on this. Separately, I've been asked so many times by so many people to start English classes. I'm not that excited about teaching English (as opposed to teaching English to the English teacher) as I do not think it to be a sustainable project; you can't learn English in a classroom for an hour a week even for 2 years. There is also a music department, though I have the same reservations about teaching music as I do teaching English, that I plan to get involved with as soon as I get the right set of permissions. I have a good amount of experience teaching music in English, maybe that will rub off onto both teaching music in Spanish, and English in Spanish. I know that if I put all my heart and effort into a planning a group noone will come and I'll be broken hearted. I keep telling the Peruvians, set up the class, tell me the time, and I will come and teach. They always tell me they will and they never do the organization. But its only been 8 weeks, Ill give it some time. Also Ive offered to start giving accounting classes to the few store owners here. Some of these shopkeepers are amazing, keep wonderful books of self taught and common sense accounting, and others when asked how much they make say "mas o menos" and in reality have no idea. If it wasn't for competition, I'd pair up those who knew with those who didn't and see where it goes. I might anyway.
My family came home finally, but there's still no internet in my house. Ill live. I was reading this volunteers blog from Tanzania the other day and she's got it way worse than me. Aside from basics: I have a toilet to sit on, a shower to shower in, and a billiards table that I never play, I don't have to hand out condoms and deal with AIDS. Sure I'm no place from nowhere, but it's quicker to walk home from Peru than it is to swim home from Tanzania. If I had had more choice in the matter at all I'd feel bad about it. But I continue to believe in luck.
If countries had a class system, its probably safe to put Peru in the lower middle class. They vote for populists and not intellectuals.
21 year olds with kids and wives...People without shoes...Not being able to walk anywhere without being offered/demanded to drink a beer with every male I pass...The weekend scene...
the Peace Corps as my communist government: food for thought, I have limited free speech, no free press, work for pennies on the dollar for the government because I believe that it is for the cause of common good, have my choice of only two doctors should i become ill, and am told where and with whom to live. next they might be telling me to support the workers revolution...
i leave you with thatmateo