first 5, abrazos, y un cuarto limpio.

10 Enero 2011

today was a great day!  much better than the day before.  yesterday, i spent the day the day in and out of the bathroom - once again with a stomach ache.

but, this morning, i woke up early and felt 100% better!  so good, in fact, that i decided to go for a run, after my “first 5 minutes” ( --- see, speare??? im keeping up with it!).  the roads were wet from all of the rain the day before, but not so wet that i had to worry about falling.  the normally dry mountains surrounding my town are getting greener - and the beauty set the pace for the rest of my day.

after my run, it was time to say goodbye to my host niece, sandra.  her and my host nephew, anderson, were headed to Lima for vacation during the rainy season.  almost everyone leaves town during this time.  its going to be very quiet here in Catache for the next couple of months.

then, i made my usual breakfast - oatmeal.  this time i had honey to add - thanks to my christmas gift from mark :)

over breakfast, i mentally planned out my day: go to the municipalidad, meet the new mayor, discuss why im here and the upcoming community bank training in Trujillo.

the meeting went soooooo well!  i walked into the municipalidad and introduced myself to the new secretary.  she hung on every word i had to say - and asked me to wait so that she could make copies of my community bank information.  while i was waiting, a back door opened - and out walked the new mayor!  “come into my office - sit down - how good to meet you!”  he was all smiles!  in his office, i went through my routine introduction - “im ashley sansotta, from the US, working with cuerpo de paz in the small business development program, living here in Catache for the next 2 years, yada yada yada…”  i think that he was more excited than i was when i found out i was excepted into the peace corps!  i went into explaining the upcoming training in Trujillo for community banks, and that i needed to find someone come with me to the event.  he assured me that he would find someone from the municipality - he had 2 people in mind that would be perfect - and he would narrow in down to one person by tomorrow morning.

success!

before i left, he gave me a big hug and told me that i had a new friend here in Catache - him!  im meeting with him again tomorrow to discuss more details with him and the person im going to be bringing.

THEN - i stopped by my internet place to print out some more forms, and - guess what?!?!?  we have internet!!!!!!!!!  the internet has been down in my town for over 2 months now - but now its back on!!!  yay!

after my lunch of egg salad and crackers, the rain started back up.  my host mom called me downstairs, and she gave me a new dresser!  i switched out my old one for this wonderful, new, much larger dresser - tons of room for all of my books, clothes, and nick-nacks!  and i spend about an hour cleaning and reorganizing my room.

later this afternoon im going to check my email - here in Catache - for the first time in a LONG time.

yeah, today has been a great day.