My First Internet Cafe

Everything considered, it was a nice break to head out to school today and get some classroom preparation done, and then move to the next best thing since sliced bread: the internet.  I had about half an hour to plop a few posts on the blog here, and then this quick message. My host family is tremendous and at times I feel like a king when I walk around. I know that won't last long.

There is now a cellular phone on my person, but calls to the states can get a bit pricey to and fro, so I have been limited on who or when I can call up people. Needless to say, there are certain things that one can get access to while still removed from the modern society.

My best description of the towns that we find ourselves in (the larger group of 70 has been split up several different ways now) is that they make do with what they have. In terms of buildings and technology, they adjust to what is present. In terms of fun and humor, they lack none of what I had in the states. Maybe they even have more, I don't know.

Yet for all of that, here are a few things I can live without. A bathroom that has a roof. My shower and urinary moments are inside a four foot tall concrete enclosure. The outhouse is as nice as can be expected. The food, that is just awesome and plentiful. I could not ask for more and quite frankly I had to ask for less food for meals since I would return the family more then half the plate. Culturally the guest must eat by themselves as a sign of respect for the guest, so I have been eating my food on a table one foot or so high and a chair just slightly shorter. It is different, but that is exactly what I signed up for.

I won't reveal names of the family on the blog, but the town is close to New Tafo. Soon we will be practicing our teaching and then in July our education group goes on VisionQuest so we get to run about the country and have some fun finding other volunteers.

Good times so far, and plenty more to come. Provided I find these cafes close to where I work.