How old are YOU?

That is the question on the lips of every child here below the age of seven. You see, I'm not big with sharing personal information here, mostly because the community sport is gossip; anything I say, the community knows within the next 24 hours. So when the kiddies ask me how old I am, I reply "cien." One Hundred. Then they cock their heads at me, look at their friends, and giggle. Usually they say "wow, you're really old. And you don't have any kids? You should have more wrinkles." To which I respond "well, you know, Americans are different. I also don't have a belly button." And then they giggle some more. Crazy americans. Except that a week ago, I had an extremely perceptive girl tell me "you are NOT cien." And I said, okay, how old do you think I am? After a few pensive moments, she replied "noventa." Ninety. So I looked at her sheepishly and replied "you're right. I'm 90," and she smiled, knowing she had gotten the truth at last.

I am beginning to see the end of the school year, and have already made plans for the summer (plan an engineering/science club, write grants for latrines, school supplies, and books, help declare some children- get them birth certificates- and tutor some more students). I'm very excited for the change of environment, but nobody can tell me exactly when the school year ends and the break begins. I've heard that I have 2 months off, and I've heard that I just have July off. Not even the principle knows, because apparently the Secretary of Education hasn't said when classes will end yet. Just so you all get a feel for the way things work here.

I'm going to tell a story. Once, there was a man who was elected king of his country. He had lots of knights, who were in charge of provinces. These knights were chosen by their communities. Most people chose these knights because they handed out beers to their peasants, or promised to donate a stove to one person, a pot to another if they chose them (because, you know, all knights know who vote for them). So the peasants were appeased because every once in a while, a lucky soul would receive a handout (encouraging the culture of "give me, give me, because you have and I don't" which was both pervasive and destructive). The knights were intelligent, as was the king, knowing that their peasants would revolt if they knew what was really going on. So they purposely created an educational system designed to teach their peasants to love the knights and the founding kings of the country, and to not delve too deeply or think critically about anything. This was easy to do, because the king elected to spend only a tiny amount of his national budget on schools for the peasants. He was not worried, because the children of his family and his friends' families could afford to pay for schools that taught skills like how to think, schools that were modeled after a kingdom located not too far away, the most powerful kingdom in the world.

I hope you liked the story. Also, elections are this Sunday. It should be exciting. Can't wait to see what changes here. We have to stay in our sites (nay, in our houses) because, evidently, people get drunk and violent.

I had an adventure recently. After having a pancake party in my house for several of my students, they asked if we could hike a nearby hill. Since my usual Saturday student (an adult learning to read) had cancelled, I replied that we could if their parents said yes. So while we walked around my campo asking parents for permission from the parents, children in my little community of houses heard the news and gathered; by the time we left to hike the loma, I had a team of 25 children with me. This was no ordinary hill hike; we ended up crossing streams, sliding down muddy hills, throwing cow patties at each other, eating mangos, ducking under and crossing over lots of barbed wire, getting VERY muddy, and having a great time. And not one child fought (which is a miracle). Every time I see one of them, they ask when we're going again, and about 50 other children have asked if they can come next time. Oh boy oh boy!

Thank you for reading. It is now the season of mangos, so while you're paying three dollars for one, think of me, eating up to 5 of these juicy fruits daily for the bargain price of nothing. YUMMM!

-alicia :-D