they never listen, do they?

Well that makes one friend-couple that didn´t listen and decided to set a wedding date for BEFORE I return to the States!!! Hmph. And I was the one who serenaded them from the East Quad courtyard on their first date with Marvin Gaye´s "Let´s Get it On" freshmen year, even though they didn´t actually hear me and Mary Fitz helping them get their funk on. Ah, getting old! But not until May 2007! Congratulations, Megan and Mike!!!

In other news, the political climate in Perú has suddenly started to resemble American elections...yes, folks, that´s right. The political commercials of candidates smiling with the Peruvian flag flapping behind them shaking campesino hands to the tune of triumphant, patriotic music has suddenly found the company of NEGATIVE ADVERTISEMENTS. Lourdes Flores has come out with a new ad, which basically has the message: "You wouldn´t want to walk backwards (dramatic image of Alan García amid protestors during his 1000% hyperinflation days) and you wouldn´t want to go downwards (dramatic image of Ollanta Humala stomping violently on somebody in his military days)...ascend with Lourdes Flores (her smiling and waving in front of the flapping Peruvian flag to the tune of triumphant, patriotic music). And I saw another negative ad for the congressional race. Would I be too paranoid and conspiracy theory-loving if I suggested that Uncle Sam is involving itself in the last week until the Peruvian election? Maybe. However, I wouldn´t be surprised. If Humala wins, this will be another strong force in the Latin American anti-US government leftist trend. Despite the close race, most people are predicting Humala to win. Including the fortune teller on the morning news, although apparently 3 other fortune tellers had predicted Lourdes Flores to win...anyway, this is a fascinating moment, at least for me.

In some personal news, I can now say I can assemble bicycles without help! I didn´t even have an already assembled bike for reference. My Peace Corps-issued Trek bike was boxed up in my room until yesterday, when I finally decided to get some courage and put it together without help, which wasn´t coming. The front wheel was a little tricky because there were tiny parts needed to assemble it that came in a separate box without instructions. And the pictures and instructions in the booklet were terrible. However, I am most proud about being able to assemble the front-wheel brake. That was really confusing and Cactus had told me that the brake was probably a part that I´d want to get help with because it was really hard. After staring at the pictures for a long time and trying to figure out what the random parts and holes and everything was for, I played around, hoping I wouldn´t break anything, and finally got it! So I went on a victory ride yesterday and today. Thanks to this desert plant that scatters nail-like thorns everywhere, I got a hole in my tire on my bike´s maiden voyage and I had to take my bike today to my new friend, José, who fixes tires for 2 nuevos soles (less than $1!!). He ironed on a patch using this big rusty machine. Is that how it´s done in the States? Well, now I know what a bike tire consists of.

Today I also had a very succesful meeting with all the school directors from the District. After introducing myself, I had them list the environmental problems they believed were the most important to confront in their school communities. Then after explaining my plan that was developed with some directors and the Municipality, we had a brainstorming session where they significantly improved the idea. So I guess that´s a green light from them on the whole "social network" idea where representatives from all the different community sectors get together to confront development issues. During the meeting, I patted myself on the back for finally being able to understand 90% of the meeting, after half a year in Perú! Of course, the part I didn´t understand was followed by the non-rhetorical question, "what do you think?" I deftly squirmed out of that situation by turning to the rest of the directors and confidently posed the question, "well, what do the rest of you think?" haha. I can add "can facilitate a meeting and pretend to understand a conversation when I really don´t" to the resumé.