Growing pains

Hanging out with 16 and 17-year old kids is very interesting. (I'm in charge of 6 of them and I visit them once a week.) When I was at my first prom, they were 10 years old. Some of them have no memory of 9/11 and most of them don't understand any of my cultural references. Despite the generation gap they've been very pleasant to visit and supervise and often have me laughing to the point of tears.

Now that we've been here for awhile the growing pains are over. Everyone is feeling comfortable with their host-families and I've seen them hold some successful educational activities and build brick stoves in several houses. AMIGOS has treated me well this summer and I'm already thinking of spending next year in Nicaragua.

On a side note, I read THE ROAD this week. That book is so scary--I had to sleep with the light on in one of my communities. Cormac McCarthy is nuts and my imagination way too easily influenced. It doesn't help that a large portion of my day is spent walking on desolate roads in the middle of nowhere alone--I check every horse-drawn carriage that passes me for cannibal people trying to survive the apocalypse.

This weekend it's raining and the only items on my agenda are to watch Anthony Bourdain on youtube and finish some paperwork. Today is DIA DE AMISTAD, or the "day of friendship". It's a bigger deal than you'd think. Happy friendship day from a bunch of people wearing polos that say "FRIENDS". Cheers