Puppy Problems
Twelve days ago was Nayely's eleventh birthday. With nine kids, birthdays largely go uncelebrated in this household, but I wanted to do something for my little host sister. What with going to Nuevo Cuscatlan for the fiestas patronales and some business (spaying the dog and dropping off the request for sewing classes) and drama with the puppy which will be explained later in this post, I managed to completely fail at celebrating for her until today. Today we made a birthday cake - a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and strawberries to decorate the top. I don't actually like cake, but this was glorious. Edwin, Nayely and I made the cake, and I could tell they were proud of their hard work (and thrilled that we had extra frosting).
Speaking of parties, I'm throwing myself a mini pity party. I miss being home. I really miss having wifi and watching TV shows and not having bugs and flies EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME and structured time and snow. My computer tells me it feels like 109ºF right now. I really miss snow. It's weird to miss the US because all of the other times I traveled it was with a vague sense of regret that I returned home. Now that I've been here eight months, I realize that I actually do miss home when I'm at site. This is the longest I have been away from Colorado, and after coming back to site after a few days with my old host family, I miss my real family and my Nuevo Cuscatlán family. Site is "home," but it's not home. Here I feel restless. It's partly because, although I don't mind living without many of the comforts of the US, I do positively prefer them. Especially having my own kitchen and a huge variety of food. I think part of the reason I felt so good in Chile was because I always had something in the oven and wifi to search for recipes. Even without an oven, it's amazing what a few minutes (or hours) drooling over recipes on Smitten Kitchen can do. That's only possible, however, with good internet. Also, my external hard drive is randomly deleting folders and I have no idea how to stop it. Grrr. Ok, pity party over.
I have been feeling like a bad PCV for the past few weeks. I know I have things to attend to and projects to plan and classes to prepare, but have I even looked at any of them? No. I spent a while with my old host family, ate good food, celebrated and relaxed. I canceled scheduled meetings and have yet to follow up on the stove or latrine projects. I haven't exercised in forever. I intensively researched grad school options even though it will be ages until the end of my service, and even so I need to take the GRE first...and maybe study (doing things in order doesn't seem to be my strong suit). I planned and bought tickets for my June vacation.
Despite not actually working at all for my community recently, I've seen three major wins in the whole community organization and economic development program I'm working on here - 1) I finished my quarterly report early (product of not leaving the house for a week); 2) My ADESCO turned in a signed request to the mayor (this is a MAJOR accomplishment for the ADESCO that has zero project experience) and 3) I got a response back about the sewing classes with positive steps our group needs to take in order to qualify for the workshop, which I will present at the next meeting on Sunday.
I admit, I did feel better when I talked to another PCV and he assured me that in their neck of the woods they hadn't left the house all weekend either and were only out at that moment to celebrate a birthday. Happy Birthday Maria!
The non-productivity is a direct result of my puppy and her recent surgery. I thought I was being a responsible pet owner by taking her in to be spayed, but that delusion was quickly shattered a few days later. She looked like she was healing exceptionally well, all the medicine was on track and she was full of energy and even joined me on short trips into town, but I was dumb enough to leave her to her own devices last Friday evening. The next thing I knew she raced in crying, tail between her legs, insides definitely not inside her body. She had ripped out her stitches and lots more besides.
It being El Salvador and nighttime, we had no recourse but to wait until morning to pray that someone could lend a car to get her to the vet. I spent the next fifteen hours on the floor next to her pressing a ripped t-shirt on her stomach in an attempt to stop the interminable outpouring of blood, listening to her soft whines and terrified that she would die. It was a long night, to say the least.
The police came to the rescue in the morning, carrying her fifty pound bulk a solid ten minutes to their truck and escorting me to the vet and back home again. One of the officers even offered me his pit bull puppy. If I can't take care of one dog, I am sure as hell not going to take an eight-week-old puppy as well. She came back stitched up and drugged up, and thankfully not dead. Now she's eating again and seems to be happy, but those dissolvable stitches seem to have dissolved too fast for my liking. I don't know what is holding everything in there other than the makeshift bandage I put on to keep her from licking the stitches, but at this point I'm crossing my fingers and keeping her in sight and resting for as long as possible.
In this whole stressful process of putting my dog in mortal peril and trying desperately to save her, I also somehow picked up an admirer. That cop who was so keen to give me his puppy? Totally wants private English classes and there is no way he actually wants to learn English. Oh brother. We may actually take the puppy, so he's at arm's length for now until I crush his hopes and dreams by telling him that under no circumstances do I want a Salvadoran boyfriend. Not even a cop, not even if he has a car, not even if he has the cutest puppy in the world. No thanks.
On the upside, spending the last few days at home has dramatically increased my book count. I finished two series - Nancy Farmer's The Sea of Trolls set in Anglo-Saxon England mixing mythology and fiction in a fantastic adventure trilogy, and Barry Lyga's I Hunt Killers and Game, murder mysteries solved by the son of a serial killer. I tend to stick to fantasy for pleasure reads, but since I met Barry Lyga last summer I figured I owed it to him to read his books. I thoroughly enjoyed them, despite the gristly subject matter. I'm back on fantasy now, though, with The Fellowship of the Ring. It's not a new book for me, but if I ever make it to the third book I may finally finish the series. My friends were obsessed with the books and I never admitted that I never read past halfway through The Two Towers through sheer inability to appreciate the immense detail and side stories. If there is one thing those books are not, it is fast-paced. I'm absolutely enjoying re-reading the first one now, though, so there's hope that I may finish them all.
In other news, my sister bought her ticket to come see me in June! I suppose that means I should have something to show for my time here so that she is totally impressed by Peace Corps and decides to do it when she graduates. She's a pretty impressive person herself - she was the first name on a long list of honors scholars, recognized as the "superlative first-year student" at her university and landing a scholarship too. I have awesome siblings. Also, I bought my June ticket to the Dominican Republic to see her!
New book count: 33
Book count: 41 (That's about a book a week for 8 months!)
Favorite fantasy book so far: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Good books: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (fantasy), Looking for Alaska by John Green (realistic fiction), Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding (romantic comedy), I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (mystery), The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (memoir of a dog), House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (YA science fiction), The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer (YA fantasy)
Speaking of parties, I'm throwing myself a mini pity party. I miss being home. I really miss having wifi and watching TV shows and not having bugs and flies EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME and structured time and snow. My computer tells me it feels like 109ºF right now. I really miss snow. It's weird to miss the US because all of the other times I traveled it was with a vague sense of regret that I returned home. Now that I've been here eight months, I realize that I actually do miss home when I'm at site. This is the longest I have been away from Colorado, and after coming back to site after a few days with my old host family, I miss my real family and my Nuevo Cuscatlán family. Site is "home," but it's not home. Here I feel restless. It's partly because, although I don't mind living without many of the comforts of the US, I do positively prefer them. Especially having my own kitchen and a huge variety of food. I think part of the reason I felt so good in Chile was because I always had something in the oven and wifi to search for recipes. Even without an oven, it's amazing what a few minutes (or hours) drooling over recipes on Smitten Kitchen can do. That's only possible, however, with good internet. Also, my external hard drive is randomly deleting folders and I have no idea how to stop it. Grrr. Ok, pity party over.
I have been feeling like a bad PCV for the past few weeks. I know I have things to attend to and projects to plan and classes to prepare, but have I even looked at any of them? No. I spent a while with my old host family, ate good food, celebrated and relaxed. I canceled scheduled meetings and have yet to follow up on the stove or latrine projects. I haven't exercised in forever. I intensively researched grad school options even though it will be ages until the end of my service, and even so I need to take the GRE first...and maybe study (doing things in order doesn't seem to be my strong suit). I planned and bought tickets for my June vacation.
Despite not actually working at all for my community recently, I've seen three major wins in the whole community organization and economic development program I'm working on here - 1) I finished my quarterly report early (product of not leaving the house for a week); 2) My ADESCO turned in a signed request to the mayor (this is a MAJOR accomplishment for the ADESCO that has zero project experience) and 3) I got a response back about the sewing classes with positive steps our group needs to take in order to qualify for the workshop, which I will present at the next meeting on Sunday.
I admit, I did feel better when I talked to another PCV and he assured me that in their neck of the woods they hadn't left the house all weekend either and were only out at that moment to celebrate a birthday. Happy Birthday Maria!
The non-productivity is a direct result of my puppy and her recent surgery. I thought I was being a responsible pet owner by taking her in to be spayed, but that delusion was quickly shattered a few days later. She looked like she was healing exceptionally well, all the medicine was on track and she was full of energy and even joined me on short trips into town, but I was dumb enough to leave her to her own devices last Friday evening. The next thing I knew she raced in crying, tail between her legs, insides definitely not inside her body. She had ripped out her stitches and lots more besides.
It being El Salvador and nighttime, we had no recourse but to wait until morning to pray that someone could lend a car to get her to the vet. I spent the next fifteen hours on the floor next to her pressing a ripped t-shirt on her stomach in an attempt to stop the interminable outpouring of blood, listening to her soft whines and terrified that she would die. It was a long night, to say the least.The police came to the rescue in the morning, carrying her fifty pound bulk a solid ten minutes to their truck and escorting me to the vet and back home again. One of the officers even offered me his pit bull puppy. If I can't take care of one dog, I am sure as hell not going to take an eight-week-old puppy as well. She came back stitched up and drugged up, and thankfully not dead. Now she's eating again and seems to be happy, but those dissolvable stitches seem to have dissolved too fast for my liking. I don't know what is holding everything in there other than the makeshift bandage I put on to keep her from licking the stitches, but at this point I'm crossing my fingers and keeping her in sight and resting for as long as possible.
In this whole stressful process of putting my dog in mortal peril and trying desperately to save her, I also somehow picked up an admirer. That cop who was so keen to give me his puppy? Totally wants private English classes and there is no way he actually wants to learn English. Oh brother. We may actually take the puppy, so he's at arm's length for now until I crush his hopes and dreams by telling him that under no circumstances do I want a Salvadoran boyfriend. Not even a cop, not even if he has a car, not even if he has the cutest puppy in the world. No thanks.
In other news, my sister bought her ticket to come see me in June! I suppose that means I should have something to show for my time here so that she is totally impressed by Peace Corps and decides to do it when she graduates. She's a pretty impressive person herself - she was the first name on a long list of honors scholars, recognized as the "superlative first-year student" at her university and landing a scholarship too. I have awesome siblings. Also, I bought my June ticket to the Dominican Republic to see her!
New book count: 33
Book count: 41 (That's about a book a week for 8 months!)
Favorite fantasy book so far: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Good books: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (fantasy), Looking for Alaska by John Green (realistic fiction), Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding (romantic comedy), I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (mystery), The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (memoir of a dog), House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (YA science fiction), The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer (YA fantasy)
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