I found I’ve recently become:

A pack rat

So, due to limited funds and no place to put trash (everyone burns there trash in piles in the back yard—garbage cans don’t exist), I’ve started hoarding any storage container. This includes plastic shopping bags, large 2 liter plastic coke bottles, and plastic storage containers (such as the type baby wipes come in). These storage containers will come in handy in 2 weeks when I move to my final destination and need receptacles to store food and daily necessities (yup, my house will be filled with used plastics).

Unbeknownst to developed countries, you can make ANYTHING out of discarded materials.

Cool examples:
- plastic coke 2 liter = faucet under which to wash hands, dishes
- plastic coke 18 oz bottle = cutlery storage
- big tin sauce cans = watering can (poke holes in bottom), possible shower head (still working on the mechanics)
- baby wipe container = napkin holder

Next time I use the internet I intend to look up “cool things to do with trash” to get some good ideas.

Furthermore, I am saving the environment by recycling and am improving my health by not burning plastics and releasing carcinogens! Mom and Dad--I promise I wash all containers thoroughly.


Other Updates:
• Apparently, only single people survive Peace Corps. We had 2 more trainees leave this week, both who had serious relationships back home (original 51 is now 44?).
• Last night there was a political rally at my host family’s house! My mother is running for town secretary/councilwoman for the upcoming election. What my host mother told me would be a “meeting” turned out to be a large political event with over 100 people in attendance (which is comical because it was outside our 3 room cement house). There was a DJ and 6 other political representatives also present (to campaign and support). This was the most exciting event in Las Tablas in the past month. Of course, 30 minutes into the political speeches it started to pour, so 100 people crammed into our kitchen/living/dining room area to drink soda (grape, red and orange are the flavors of choice). It was insane. Everyone finally left amidst the rain and mud, squeezing 20 people onto truck beds, (oh, the electricity also went out), and I crawled into bed at 8:30, read a good book by headlamp, and went to bed hearing the rain (yes, resonating on the tin roof). We woke in the morning to a yard that looked like the aftermath of Woodstock = mud, trash and trampled things.
It was truly a night to remember.
• Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize?! What?! I heard this second hand from a spanish teacher and then confirmed it on the Friday night Spanish news. I’m pretty out of the loop when it comes to current events. I’m writing Obama a letter straightaway, telling him that his “call to action” better fund an expansion of the Peace Corps.