Two Weeks In

12:06 PM, 18 January 2011

I can't believe that I have blog entries feeding for the next five hours.  That's what happens when I get so far behind and stuff happens.  Have I mentioned that the wifi doesn't work here if the phone is being used.  I don't think it's a connection thing (like with modems) inasmuch as when the phone is being used it bumps with router's signal.  My blog entries have lots of details, and I remember weird things.  I remember once in college when I blogged about being out of a certain kind of Pop-Tart (I would love Pop-Tarts tomorrow) someone sort of brought it up/made fun of it in passing a few days later.  I wasn't hurt and laughed about it.

But the details are part of what makes my journaling/blogging to the moment; life happens in details.  We might choose to present it in terms of patterns or themes, but it happens in details and minutes and colors and tastes and flavors, and I share those with you.  Yesterday I was supposed to get a phone call, but it was postponed until today.  If it hadn't been I would not be here right now.  I'd either be at or on the way to a tourist attraction near here, which I think is some waterfalls.  Stefanie and I are going to walk the 10k there and 10k back sometime this week.  Maybe tomorrow or Friday.  I'm hesitant to do it on a day when we'll run the next day, but it might be okay.

This morning I got up early.  By that I mean I left my room early.  We had breakfast and went for our run.  We shaved a few more seconds off our time.  Yesterday we didn't quite make it to the turnaround point that we like but we made a point to today, and we still got back a little sooner.  After our shower we said morning prayer, showered, and then shucked corn.  At my parents' farm in Abbeville there's always something else to do.  Here there's always more corn to shuck.  We reached a stopping point and I've been blogging my little fingers since.

We're two weeks in and I'm glad to be here.  I'm not really homesick and I'm over my food wall.  Stefanie says that I'm a juice-ist because more often than not I opt for bottled water.  The drinks here have particulate in them or are really thick and sludge-like and I don't like them.  She's more adventurous than I am.  I feel like we don't do nearly as much work as I expected to, but apparently Dori and Pedro are quite pleased with our work ethic.  This isn't a spring break mission trip with the Wesley where you work from "can to can't" (can see to can't see).  There's lots of breathing time, resting time and reading time.  And there's working, and it requires intrinsic motivation and being willing to work and either asking to do something, or to get better results (washing dishes and shucking corn) just doing it.

We're two weeks in and have a week and a half left.  I'm sure I'm being changed, and I'm sure I won't know it until I get back.  I'm thinking about coming back next January.  We'll see what happens between now and then.  I'm caught up now and it's time for me to go wait for my phone call.  Buen'dia!