March 23, 2012
There is this word in Spanish, pasear, that I don’t think
has a direct translation in English. It is the action of walking around and
stopping at people’s houses and generally passing the time talking, eating or
just hanging out. One can spend whole days pasear-ing, and as PC volunteers—‘one’
must. For the first three months, it is my job just to pasear to all the houses
in Loma Bonita. I am not suppose to work on any projects in the first three
months; it is my job to get to know the community and the people, so I can do
an environmental and community analysis to determine what projects the
community needs and would be willing to work on.
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| Me, oh-so happy to pasear! |
Pasear-ing is not my favorite activity, especially not all
day, everyday for three months. Walking around in a town I don’t know,
strolling up to houses I don’t know, talking to people I don’t know in a
language I don’t know—can be kind of awkward, but I’ve been told there isn’t a
word for ‘awkward’ in Spanish (good for me). It isn’t really that bad. Since
Loma Bonita is quite spread out, I am getting a lot of exercise.
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This is Loma Bonita. I know it doens't look like much
other than a highway, but there are houses! |
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The school. Two classrooms and a dinning room. One
of the teachers lives in a little house on campus. |
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| Loma Bonita's baseball field, now grown over with rice. |
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| Catholic Church |
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| This is my host family's house. |
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