Missing

I am definitely overdue for a blog post as it is now October!  I am also motivated by an urge to connect to the outside world, i.e. friends and family back home, although I'm pretty sure no one but my mom reads this blog!  I guess this feeling was probably brought on by missing out on a lot lately, by which I mean goings on at home and missing certain people.  I missed a family reunion last weekend in honor of my uncle's 70th birthday, and this weekend, coincidentally, I am missing my 5th college reunion.  5 years isn't exactly a big-deal reunion, but it does remind me that it has been exactly that long since I've seen most of those people...whoa.  And that I will miss out on seeing the dear friends I know will be there.  It has also been a month full of despedidas of several of the volunteers here in Morazán, specifically the ones who had most welcomed me as I was an oddball newcomer who didn't have a training group cohort. A shout out to all of the people I alluded to in this paragraph if you happen to read this: "I love you and miss you!!!  We will be together again someday!!!"

I think this "missing" is being compounded right now by being sick.  I have a cold and just this morning lost hearing in my left ear (hopefully related to the cold).  It is odd to have gripe when it is sunny and 90 degrees outside, although at night it has been raining more and last night I was even almost chilly before I went to bed.  Hmm, it just occurred to me that maybe I should leave my sick-cave and let the sun "bake" the sickness out.  Does that work?

I was intending to use this down-time to really make good progress on my grad school research, instead I have been dawdling on Pinterest and yesterday discovered fashion blogs.  Like I had no idea that there were people who took pictures of themselves wearing different outfits from their closets from different angles on a daily basis, and then wrote about them.  Even some people I know have these blogs, and people actually follow them.  Speaking of missing, it just goes to show that there is a lot of strange phenomenon that I miss out on living abroad.  And that although sometimes I feel bored, there are people who are more bored.  I do, however, like some of the DIY sewing portions, because actually making and designing your clothes, not just wearing them, requires some real skill and creativity.  I recently used for the first time the treadle sewing machine I have in my room that belongs to the owner of my house.  It actually works great and was easy to get the hang of, I think the machines I used in the DR were maybe especially hard to use due to rust, dust, and the prevalence of improvised replacement parts (treadle belts made of IV tubes come to mind as one example).  So... I haven't done it yet, but I plan to make something!  I found a pattern online for a very simple skirt that is basically two squares and elastic, so I will probably start there. 

I also recently went to a seamstress for the first time, inspired by by co-volunteer's ravings about his amazing tailored clothes every time we have meetings in the capital.  He is right that getting something exactly made to fit is extremely cheap in this country and is an excellent option, especially for people who don't often fit into normal sizes.  I personally was more motivated by the fact that I don't really like most of the clothes here, laundry is a pain, and I need nice clothes for work.  So I drew a design for a work-type blouse, got some fabric, and went to the seamstress.  If it turns out, I think it will be a breakthrough: designing your own clothes and then getting someone else to make them affordably is like the best of both worlds.

Don't worry, I have also been doing work these days, even during my sickness.  Our project is coming along.  This week we had an epic two-day meeting in the capital and managed to get a lot done.  Among the recent progress has been the selection of the schools that are going to participate in the pilot program next year, the finalization of the content and agenda for the symposium we are hosting at the end of October for the leaders of the pilot schools, and a final work plan for the rest of the year that we will present to our new boss of bosses at the ministry who just took over from our old boss who got moved around to somewhere else within the top-dog hierarchy.  I am looking forward to moving out of the planning stage and actually interacting with the people who will "make" this program next year.  I think it is all about to get more fun.

I think I will go now since I have been writing for a while, and have probably sufficiently updated everyone on recent happenings.  Since I am still relatively new to this blog thing, I sometimes wonder, should blog entries have plots?  Should they tell a story?  Should they have a moral or profound point?  If yes, I think I have failed, at least in this most recent entry.  I also wonder, who am I writing for?  Since I don't really have a following, I guess the answer is me.  Just as well, that will keep my writing authentic, but maybe incomprehensible to the rest of the world...  Well, that's it for now.  Stay tuned for more!