Okay, so there's this 13-year-old girl Rosa in my community and she drives me nuts! I know this is horrible, but she always comes over and never leaves and goes through all my shit and demands to use my computer, camera, or phone, even though I told her she can't and they're for work only. And then she brings her little brother. Anyway, I finally put my foot down the other day and told her she had to leave because I was working, and it wasn't time for play. It took me awhile to get that message across to her. Had to repeat myself three times, but it finally worked. And I did have work to be done. Mission accomplished. I just can't let her be in my house all the time or I'll go insane.
Anyway, this other young girl came in today, Silvia, she's 16. Today was the first time we met and she seemed much more tolerable than the other girl. She was giving me advise on how to fix up my house and volunteered to help me organize some things. I was working on my VRF this morning, but she was just hanging out checking out the place. I didn't really mind and she left after awhile because I was busy, something Rosa would never do. Here's the thing though, I think she stole money from me, Silvia that is. I went to the bank this morning to get some money for rent and the capital this weekend and now half of that money is missing. I came home from Santa Rosa with it and then she came over. She was trying on my bags and I wasn't really paying attention because I was on my computer. It sounds horrible, but it seems to be the only thing that could've happened. I'm not a hundred percent sure on this and don't know what to do except be cautious around her. She's supposed to come by tomorrow afternoon to help me organize some books, but now I have to be really careful because I don't trust her, which really makes me worry about other people in my community. This sucks, but that's reality I guesss.
(I do have one girl that I trust who lives next door, her name is Jenny and she is also 16. I got to know her first and she's awesome. Just thought I'd give her some credit for being cool).
On the bright side, I though I'd share some insight about my tattoo experience here. As all of you know I have the AIDS ribbon tattooed on my inner forearm. Well, before I came to this country I was told I needed to cover up my tattoo because it wasn't culturally appropriate and it had gang afiliations. Don't get me wrong, I was willing to do this if need be, but I don't think it was necessary. During training, when I lived in San Vicente with my family there I tried covering it up with bandages and bandanas, telling them different lies about it to "protect" myself. Yeah, well one day I gave in. I was really nervous, but finally told them I had a tattoo. I trusted them and I didn't want to have this secret anymore. They were a little shocked at first, but afterword them seemed fine with it. I think the shock came from the fact that I had been lying and I kinda felt like shit for it. Stupid Peace Corps telling me I had to. Wrong.
Anyway, I decided that when I came to my community here I would just let it be, out in the open. I mean, I couldn't possibly keep it a secret for two years when it's in such an exposed spot. Turns out, it was worth the risk. People are actually interested and intrigued by it. They're always a little suprised that this little white girl has the big bad tattoo, but it's really done a lot for me in the community, believe it or not. It gives me the opportunity to explain what it is and why it's important to me; that Americans have tattoos to signify important things in their lives (hopefully more commonly than not...I left out all the dumb reasons people get them). I get people talking about AIDS and I tell them about my travels to South Africa (very exciting news these days with the World Cup in progress --people here are fanatics). It's actually been a really positive experience. Take that Peace Corps. Although I do often have to explain that I don't have AIDS, but they get the picture. This is supposed to be a cultural exchang anyway, right? Well, it is and I've had a lot of good conversations because of my tattoo.
One last thing, a little comic relief. I was sitting in my house the other day with Jordan and Erica and this old guy came to the door. I've talked to him once before, seemed a little crazy, but harmless. Anyway he came up to the house and started telling us he had pain in his testicles and proceeded to grab himself and rub his body. Yikes. Then he asked us if we could call Barack Obama to get him some money for medicine. Jesus. We had to explain that we cannot get in comtact with Obama and that he should probably go to the clinic, but he was sure Barack could help and the clinic was useless. In so many words, looks like I need to work on some mental health issues here as well. I don't mean to make light of this, but this guy is just fine, just likes to stir up trouble now and then. I'm not too worried, but this is my reality. A little humor never hurt anyone.
That said, until next time.
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