Doble proyectos!

So friday and saturday was our first double project weekend. I think we have another one coming up (which hopefully will turn into a double project overnight!!) I greatly enjoyed going to Occoruoro twice, the main reason being Corey and I worked with one of the greatest families ever, Carmina and her two kids Mariluz y i can't spell the boys name I have to ask Corey. That's one of the many amazing things about relationships. Carmina doesn't remember our names all the time, but she knows what we look like and our personalities. The first stove Corey and I (dream team Wat!) built was for Carmina. She and her family all pitched in, and we talked and laughed and practiced words and she fed us both times. She is just so excited to be receiving all these benefits for her house and her family. She trusts that we know what we are doing, and does everything she can to help us.

Corey and hijo working on the fridge
Corey and fam! With our stove and fridge we made for them
Dream team what!

On Saturday, when we first started working on her refrigeradora ecológical, she felt aweful cause she didn't have barro bonito: basically her mud we used to make the stove was kinda chunky and not smooth, but it was still usable. We kept on reassuring her that the mub was fine and the refrigeradora would be built. About half way throuh out work, with her 7 year old sin helping us the whole time, she said "Las quiero" I Love you girls. Corey and I both didn't know what to say, so we just said "Tambien! Te queremos! Y tu familia!" Then she went on to explain how she was going to miss us and we should come back to visit next year when her whole house is all done and how much she Loved us... It was alot. It's just really amazing that Corey and I and her family are so close, and we (we is actually I, because Corey rocks at castiano) can barely communicate with eachother, and the fact that we haven't spent more that a day with her at a time.

Andy had the joy of experiencing one of my other favorite families. This family was also SO ready and excited to help us build their stove, and Andy and Jennie got to experience them by building the fridge andd talking with the family. Our Occoruro community is building, poco por poco.

I have been super SUPER good about nit comparing this trip to Nicaragua or Trinidad, but after this weekend (after some other evenet unfolded as well) I was just thinking about the difference of people in the city and in the country. Those city dewllers are usually a little more well off, a little faster paced, and a little more "developed" in the sence that the United States is "developed." Those in the country are more chill, poorer, more resoursful, and are that of the "underdeveloped" -ness. However, the personalities of these two groups of people are the really interesting one. Even those families who don't particularly like the fact that a bunch of 20 something year old gringos from the United States are helping them and volunteering in our communities, they respect us. They are hospitable and thankful and nice and really do all they can for us because we are helping them. In the city, those people who are not to keen on a bunch of 20something year old gringos are planning to mug them. In Nicaragua I lived with the people of the country for three whole days, and my eyes were completly opened to a new kind of people in this world, and these people are actually the majority

I had a talk with Señor Juan yesterday (he rents a space from my house here and owns one of the best restaurants ever) He said that no matter where you go, mountains seperate the rich form the poor. He gave an example about Lima, then cusco, then i though about how the apalachian region of the US is some of the poorest, and realized that this theory of Juanito's is actually pretty valid. Isn't that funny, how some of the most majestic landscaping of the world can completely separate two differnt kinds of culture and people?

To leave of this entry, I'm gonna leave you kids with a newsweek study involving United State-sians and the rest of the world. other developed and developing (no underdeveloped) countries were asked to say what words they associated most and didn't associate at all with United Statesians. Ready?

Words associated with USAinas:
Friendly
Energetic
Industrious
Inventive

Words not associated with USAians:
Sexy
Honest
Lazy
Sophisticated

What do you think of that?