The World Map Project

So, for some reason the internet is painfully slow at the bureau. I am typing this in notepad while I wait it for it to pick back up again.

World map project is a popular project started a few years back by a PCV in another country. She got the idea to paint the world map in her community and it picked up from there. I am really happy that I helped CLM out on this project because I learned a lot. I think she might be happy that I was there, too (especially since I provided all the brushes that we used for doing detail work - i.e. almost all of the painting). I am really glad that I brought my paint brush set, but I think they are pretty much ruined for the acrylics that I want to use (since we used a latex-based paint). CLM was lucky because they had already painted the blue square in the 3e classroom and there were examples in all of the other classrooms. Even parts of Antarctica and South America were traced. We spent most of the first few days cleaning the wall, redrawing the grid lines and then (re)drawing the countries. After we realized that the brushes that CLM had were too big, I went home and came back a few days later to do the painting. We actually only took one day to do the painting thanks to a couple of students. We finished all the countries in the morning and then redid the ocean blue and touched up the countries in the afternoon. I think it looks pretty darn good, even though I free-handed the flag and the compass. CLM is going to go back and label the countries at some point.

I am hoping to do the same thing in my village and CLM is even going to hook me up with some of the paint that she has left over. The director and I have discussed a little bit about the positives and negatives of different locations in the village. While in the classrooms would be the easiest place to do this (and also the easiest location to maintain), it is probably the least accessible location to the community. I have some ideas of where else might be good, but the problem is if it is an outdoor mural, natural deterioration with time, and hence the need to maintain the mural.

I posted the pictures in my gallery: http://picasaweb.google.com/pictureandrea/WorldMapProject.

I can't figure out how to SSH into the new UGCS. Is the address still to.ugcs.caltech.edu? And if I am using a MindTerm facility (like the one at http://www.netspace.org/ssh/) will it work? I vaguely remember that there was a MindTerm applet on the UGCS website, but that no longer seems to be there. Help? I want to make some basic text changes, update the FAQ and links page, and also fix some links due to the UGCS migration (because obviously the quickie cgi scripts (especially for the art page) I have no longer work thanks to the change in folder names).

OK, here is the selfish part of my blog. I feel slightly guilty asking for it, but I am exercising my right (or addiction) to preservatives as an American. I can get Laughing Cow cheese and Starkist (in water) and corned beef and Oats in the big city (that's actually pretty darn good, even if I'm isolated I can get these things) amongst other canned goods. I still feel pretty solid muscle wise at least in the legs though. AKA, things I wish I could eat:

• Slim Jims
  
• Beef, pork or chicken(canned or dried, it's all good)
  
• Seasoning/sauce packets for cooking stuff (e.g. Easy Mac, Knor Lipton PastaSides, gravy and other assorted items)
  
• Summer sausage
  
• Easy Cheese (yes, canned cheese is amazing) or parmesan cheese
  
• Hot Sauce and condiments from fast food joints in general (I like Del Scorcho from Del Taco and of course Cholula)
  
• Dried cuttlefish
  
• Refried beans or at least a good refried beans and tortilla recipe
  
• Nuts that are not peanuts
  
• Kashi Tiny Little Chewies
  
• Dried fruit
  
• Chocolate (preferably individually wrapped or even M&Ms)
  
• Instant mashed potatoes!!!
  
• I hear bear creek soup is good
  
• Maple syrup (though I probably shouldn't be rotting my teeth anymore
  
• A shampoo bar or two (mom)
  
• The recipe for monster cookies
  
• Instructions on different stiches.
  

I am seeing the dentist tomorrow because my teeth have started looking like I am smoker (no, don't worry I have not picked up the habit). I bought a mirror on Saturday and saw myself for the first time in about a month. It was kind of scary. I am getting skinny as you can see in the pictures, but don't worry, I am still in the healthy BMI range.

Big Post with Photos

So, this was my first day living in village (officially my third day in village if you count the two I spent there during site visit). No, that is not a giant bottle of liquor, it is kerosene for my kerosene lamps. Fortunately, the day I arrived was marche day, so I was able to get that giant basin and assorted buckets for bathing.

The following are some pictures of my house. When I first moved in, they hadn't yet completed my terrace or private courtyard.
I live in a celebratarium which is like a bachelor's pad (quite literally). The houses are connected sort of townhouse style. When I left village, they were in the process of finally cementing over the other latrines and showers and also some gaps in the outer courtyard walls (as you can see in the first picture).



You can also see my transition from living off of the floor to having furniture!!! :)
These buckets are what I use for bathing and also to get reseau (network coverage). In this manner, I can get five bars of coverage from my Telmob number and supposedly Celtel works in my house now (it just got there Saturday), but since I haven't had enough units, I haven't been able to test it. My alternate solutions for coverage are to go out to the telecentre (a cell phone carefully balanced that everyone in village without a cell phone makes calls from) or to bike the approximately 3-5 k to my school and stand halfway between the tree and the latrine and hope real hard, or to bike towards the big city (where internet and the cell towers are to be found).

Story Time:

1. When I bike more than 30k in a day, it rains. It is unexplainable, but it happens more often than not. My dear nearest neighbor CLM has suggested that it is just an effect of the rainy season, but I have managed to convince some of the kids in my village otherwise. On the second day in village, CLM and I biked to the city to scope it out. I ordered a bench and the fancy table you see covered in green tarp and heard rumors about internet and also found a decent supermarche (where I can buy tuna IN WATER (!!! extremely rare outside of the capital) amongst other things). The bike ride is about 15k and takes me anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour depending on how tired I am and the condition of the road, though they claim it is only 11k (but that's only if you go from signpost to signpost and there is a lot of farmland and brousse before you reach the ville). It is rather hilly and pretty, I don't have any pictures of it yet, but that will hopefully come later. Someone showed me a "shortcut" back to village. I don't really know if it is any shorter, I will have to time it next time to find out. Anyway, on that day, on the way back it started pouring, and the roads stop being roads and turn into rivers. Needless to say, I was about as pleased as a drenched cat. The first time I biked to CLMs village, I meant to come back the same day. I got about halfway back through a downpour before the road became completely washed out.
   
2. The door handle incident was hilarious. I closed my door at night because I wasn't used to the sounds in village yet, besides the fact that my neighbors haven't come back from vacay yet and its just awfully lonely in that huge courtyard that I can't lockdown. I didn't even lock the door when I realized something was wrong as I was closing the door. It turns out the catch had snapped off and was stuck in the door. After struggling with the door handle a bit, it fell off. Here I was, locked effectively in my house at about 8 PM. I started yelling and yelling and finally my neighbors heard me. Luckily for me, I had actually gone around and faired some voisinage (chatted up the neighbors) and introduced myself to people who live around me (very important culturally here to saluate and talk to people). They found my landlord who busted open a hole in the wall to push out the latch from the catch. He fixed the wall the next day, but I no longer have a handle catch, and I am fine with that.
   
3. I have biked with chairs, giant basins, giant bidons of water and other fun objects attached to my bike. I am getting pretty good at tying things on there and not having them fall off.
   
4. The basketball court is right by the internet cafe in the big city. For those who are curious, the service is provided by www.africaden.net. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, I realized that the baskets were on the ground, but at the very least the court is there! :)
   
5. I happened to walk outside one day and catch this beautiful sight, a double rainbow going right over my house. I took a bunch of pictures and some day when I have enough patience I might photoshop it all together into a panoramic view.
   
6. On the night I got my table and wicker chairs, I also got a mouse. It took me a while to figure out that it was a mouse trying to get out and not some stranger trying to get in (like a toad two nights ago). I spent a good deal of time chasing it around the house until it finally left. I have also killed many crickets, flies and weird creepy crawlies in my house. I leave the lizards alone since at least they eat the creepy crawlies.
   
   
7. World Map Project and huge Wishlist of what I really miss eating (and can be feasibly sent to me)... lot to say about that, will blog about it tomorrow. If not, you can find it at CLM's blog soonish.
   

Sorry this post isn't more coherent or organized. Maybe tomorrow's will be slightly better. :)

Found Internet!

Extremely short blog right now since I only paid for an hour of internet! Yes, there is internet within a 15 km bike ride from my village. It is of course on top of a giant gravel hill, with a greater than 45 degree incline. Anyway, I will blog more on Monday or Tuesday with all of my adventures. My network coverage is hit or miss right now for either number since I am biking in between my village and my nearest neighbor's (a short 30 km ride that takes about an hour and 15 minutes when the road isn't covered with mud from the rain) as we work on her secondary project. We just finished the drawing of the countries yesterday with the help of some lycee students. I am going back on Sunday to help with the painting (since I actually own brushes small enough to paint countries like Swaziland and Djibouti). I am learning a lot from helping her out and am hoping to do the same sort of project with students at my CEG and Ecole Primaire (there are no such murals at all), will post pictures later and also a link to her blog. Other fun tidbits that I will elaborate on later... it always rains in the place I just arrived at if it is greater than or equal to 25 km away or if it is the first time I am there ruining my plans to bike back on the same day (or my clothes); I got locked inside my house because the door handle broke and fell off; I have biked with lots of large objects tied to the back of my bicycle; there is a basketball court by the internet café; I saw a double rainbow over my house; I had an incident with a mouse in addition to your standard creepy crawlies; and some days I just enjoy reading by kerosene lamp light. Mom, I promise to be in network coverage on Monday/Tuesday, call me then.