Uneventful Events

Yesterday was the most exciting uneventful day I've had in Ollanta. Why, you may ask?

1. I learned how to wash my laundry by hand like a big girl. My 23 year old host sister had to show me all the different steps (believe me, there's more than you'd think). THREE HOURS later I finally finished my giant load of laundry, and I vowed to never complain about having to do laundry in the states again. Sidenote: I hung my laundry on the roof to dry. 15 minutes later, it started raining. It's been raining just frequent enough that my clothes cannot fully dry. I think somebody just wants me to smell.
   
2. My host mom made RICE PILAF. I am NOT kidding. (For those of you that do not know, my mom's rice pilaf is my favorite food and I always force feed it to my family on the holidays.) She put lunch on the table and I looked at it speculatively, thinking "NOOO, it couldn't be...". I tried a bite and almost cried. I told my host mom that this is my favorite food - she was a little less enthused.
   
3. I got a mirror "installed" in my room (ie nailed to the wall). I think my family finally started feeling sorry for me when they saw my poor excuse for make-up on the weekends.

Today I had an all-day training in community assessment - entirely in Spanish. I got most of it which was pretty awesome, although the information was a little different than what I expected. Lucky me, I get to go back and do the exact same thing tomorrow!

For my home visits, I've been working with Paulino a lot. He's a 52 year old stroke victim that has lost the use of his entire left side. Since I work with him 3 days a week, I thought he deserved a cute little cameo in my blog.

Just 2 peas in a pod, no biggie

This weekend a few of my friends are leaving Ollanta for good, so we're all going to Cusco for a fun night out (and perhaps a visit to the black market). If anybody wants a $10 copy of Photoshop, let me know! :-)