Lightening

Its 9:30 and the thunder is so loud that it is shaking the aluminum roof to deafening levels. Between the lightening and thunder, the weird 1980's Spanish cartoons on the old small television, and the dogs scratching to get in the house and out of the storm, I would say its a strange scene. Abel has continued his domination of anything with sugar. We have to go to the store to get plantains? Candy. I get a birthday cake? He gets some. He doesn't want dinner? Cake instead is apparently alright. They wonder why he is bouncing off the walls and won't sit still to do his homework. He also probably about 20 lbs over weight but really don't think they care about that. There are some healthy looking people here and makes me think that they have a special gene that automaticly turns sugar and white bread into protein and whole grains.

About the lightening. I have my headlamp in my pocket for light and my sandals so I'm not touching the bare concrete floor when it hits the house. I guess you can say I'm paranoid. They just ignore it and casually bring the bird cages in from outside. The sound of the dogs desperately trying to gain access to the inside of the house doesn't help. Dogs are of a different use down here. Not really for companionship at all. Apparently in the jungle they use them for hunting so they don't feed them much and aren't really all that touchy feely with them either. I can understand that. People do that in the states. What I don't understand are the dogs that are left on 3 ft chains all day and are fed the days scraps. None of which are neutered or really cared for. It is easier to just let them be. I've seen some pretty bad wounds on some of the other dogs wondering around and many hobbling around. It's just different down here. We are allowed to have dogs in the Peace Corps, but I'm not sure I want one of these. I guess it would be nice to rescue one but I don't think it would ever be what you call a lap dog.

Its now 10:00 and raining so hard that I can't think. I'm pretty sure the power is going to go out soon and I'm hoping that the geckos have already eaten because pretty soon those bugs are not going to have any light to be drawn to.

I didn't get the Allegra D I was supposed to today but I have been reassured that it will come tomorrow. I hope so. I leave with one other person for Bocas tomorrow where we will be visiting another volunteer that is working in a chocolate co-op. Baddass. Dreams of me waking up in the morning, making breakfast from fresh eggs, riding my trustee steed to the chocolate co-op, and spending my days deciding upon the best label for the newest batch of chocolate bars are filling my head. I could only be so lucky. I could be sent to a city with absolutely nothing and told to get to work. I'm down for the challenge. The next 8 weeks will be hard though. I have a really really hard time paying attention in class and I think that my ADD has actually gotten worse as I get older. I find myself day dreaming about the craziest things all while staring at the lecturers. Pretty much grand delusions of me conquering some impossible task. Not going to happen if I don't pass the tests in the next 8 weeks. Hopefully the Allegra D will work.

I might have said this before, but I'm glad I have the internet. At home if I wasn't on the internet, I was drinking. And I think I was on the internet about half of the time I was in Chico. I can't either here. I had one beer in a shady bar with hookers and passed out patrons in the middle of the day and I almost passed out. I think it was the humidity combined with me drinking the beer so fast as to not be accosted by the hookers or drunk locals. I'm still glad that I can detox from these things for at least the next couple months. I should have better access to internet and beer after training but they are not necessary things at this point in my life. Being on the internet kinda defeats the purpose of being here. Also, I don't really want to see the news or have to worry about what everyone else in world is doing. Not only does it make me home-sick, but I have so much shit to worry about right now, I know that one shitty e-mail could just screw up my day really bad. I don't want to be sitting in class all day thinking about a shitty e-mail I got from some ex girlfriend or something or that my favorite team just got some amazing player and is going to be awesome this year without my support. (All hypothetical of course). I do miss a lot of people and want to here from them though. As long as they are good things that don't make me miss home. So that means they must come visit me next year when I have my own place. I sometimes think about special skills some of the people I know posses so I can have them come visit and put on a mini-clinic for the community I will be in. Could my dad talk about emergency animal evacuation for my community? Probably not. I think they would save their TV sets before their pets. Could my friend Elsye come down and teach about what really makes a good cup of coffee? I think they would kick me out of the community for good. They are really particular about their coffee. My mom could come and show techniques for sowing. That would work. My brother could come down and work the fields with me. Ari could come and put on a futbol clinic. Spencer could..... well I would say that Spencer could show them how to party but many communities have problems with drinking so maybe that is not such a good idea. Spencer could just hang out and detox on my hammock and maybe teach a cooking class.

I know that there are skills that everyone of you can offer so think about it and get your ass down here next year. That is if I don't get hit by lightening, kicked out of training, my foot heals, and I don't come down with something bad. So, better hurry.