Maybe this year will be better than the last.

So now it's 2011 and I'm still looking for work. I wonder if I screwed myself over by changing my mind about what I wanted to do because of my PC experience. I must have applied for over 70 jobs by now, but nothing's getting picked up.

I want to go into research. So I'm applying for research assistant positions of various sorts, mostly with think tanks and non-profits.

(There are a lot of "foundations" here in Marfa, inspired by the Judd Foundation and the Chinati Foundation. Others include the Pizza Foundation and the Foundation for Non-Prophets.)

When I was in college, I expected to apply for grad school and get a Master of Social Work as soon as I got out of the Peace Corps. Then I realized that it drains me too much to do that kind of work, and what I really enjoy is working with facts & numbers and figuring out how to improve things based on evaluations and sitting quietly and being right.

So with my degree in Sociology I decided to continue research in social science areas. I have several interests in it, including labor force, sexuality & gender issues, public health, education, and poverty reduction. My strongest interest is still in mental health. But the thing is, other than my senior thesis paper (45 pages long plus appendix and works cited) and the Barrier Analysis Volunteerism project I worked on in the Peace Corps (collaborated and initiated the 9ish page report), I don't have any works in the area.

Perhaps I can work on a project independently, though without affiliation to any institutions or even any decently sized public libraries around, it will be a challenge.

But I need to start working. Soon. Otherwise I'll have to renew my Texas drivers license with Marfa as my permanent residence.

Wow I suck at updating

So I'm nearly at the end of my Christmas break, and I'll return to school next week. During the break I've gotten a lot of things done, especially in the kitchen.

Berney and I put presents under my tree, although we haven't received any of the other packages sent from family and such.

I've been staying in my apartment most of the break, goofing around but also getting some things done that advance some of the goals I listed in the last post. Unfortunately my mom won't be able to visit, so I need to come up with something else for that bit.

Though it's been nice to have lots of free time and have friends over and visit friends during the week, I'm (as usual) looking forward to getting back into a work schedule.

New Blog!

I'm making a new side blog for drawing. I want to do at least one drawing a week, but I usually need inspiration.

Head over to Drawing Things Out, tell me what to draw, and I'll draw it!

Labor Day, yet another day off

If I remember correctly, the decision reached by the Trade Union Federation (including the Teachers Union) and the government is that workers will get a 3.5% salary increase soon, and by April of next year they expect the other 4%. That's taken care of, and we don't have to worry about any more unnecessary school closings...

...Except that this North American Flu thing has everyone scared, and people are so reactionary (here and throughout the world) that I won't be surprised if they start closing schools without full evidence of a confirmed case. Especially next week and the week after, because today is the beginning of Saint Lucia Jazz Fest, which is on of the big tourist draws for the country. We'll have world famous musicians, including one from (*gasp, run for the face mask*) Mexico. I have a feeling that group won't get the crowd it deserves.

Sometimes there are things I encounter here that impress me, other times they remind me of the hassles of daily life here. I am impressed that the news media has since Tuesday been consistently called the H1N1 virus "North American Flu," as encouraged by WHO. I'm not impressed that we've banned the import of pork from North America (remember, it's spread by human-to-human contact, not from eating pork!). I am glad that the teachers at the VF Primary School yesterday had some very good and insightful questions about how to deal with it.

Tuesday I went by the bank, expecting to wait an hour in line to transfer some money to my US account to pay for my plane ticket home (I'll be in Austin August 5-19th!), but I got there a little after 2:30 and apparently the bank closes at 2pm. What? Why would they close so early? And of course there's no hours posted on the outside, so I don't know if that's just on Tuesdays, or everyday, or when I'll next be able to go to the bank. Most offices and stores close at 4 or 4:30, so I guess this is one of the reasons why people leave work at random times and don't come back for an hour or so.

Finally, today I woke up at 6:30, like most mornings, saw that the sky was a nice bright blue. Excellent, I thought. Perfect day to do the laundry. Then I turned on my sink, and only a trickle of water came out. I'm not sure why, but my water supply is on our tank now, rather than regular water service. Not a great day to use the washing machine. If I don't get the right combination tomorrow I'll probably hand wash a few things, but what I've been needing to wash are my pants, clothes that need more vigorous work to get clean than blouses. I may go another week with unwashed slacks and jeans, but what's another week after a month and a half?

nothing doing

I've been meaning to post a few times already, but somehow haven't gotten around to it. That means this will be an extra long post. Subtitled for clarity!

Shadowing and the Beach
On Thursday I went to Laborie to shadow Eric, a volunteer who's been here a year already. He works at the Boys' School, so it was helpful to hear from him advice about getting projects started. He said that if I have a really good idea, I should keep trying for it, even if I meet resistance from people who don't want to change the way things are already done.

At the school, I helped some kids read and complete verbal worksheets. Eric does remedial reading, and I felt right at home. After lunch a bunch of boys came in for their chess tournaments. I checked in on games to make sure kids were playing the rules, and to give constructive suggestions to those who needed it (as in, "Where can you put that one so that he can't get to it?") Then I played a game against a boy who had finished early. It was like being at Sue's again!

The boys had a sort of half day, so at 1 we started heading back to Vieux Fort to go to Sandy Beach with some other volunteers.We hung out, swam around a bit (the water was warm and the day was beautiful), and bought a couple coconuts from a guy walking around selling coconuts. As you can see, Jess didn't really like hers (the rest of us had to finish it) but Nina did!

Boring Saturday
I haven't really done a lot to speak of this weekend, which is especially sad since it's a three day weekend. I spent a lot of time researching for a water safety thing Kelli and I will present tomorrow. But it's OK because I got to draw sea creatures, and learn more about them! :)

Saturday night Randy and I went over to Fay's house for a movie night. I met some people around my age, but since it was a movie night there wasn't much talking. We watched a "preview" that Fay filmed herself (it was hilariously ridiculous) and Mind Hunters. The movie wasn't great, but to its credit I was surprised by the ending. I guess I haven't been watching enough mysteries (movies or TV shows) lately; I've lost that edge. That ended up being the only thing we watched, since Fay had another party to go to. She kicked us out at 10:30. I was up until 11:30 or maybe even midnight reading. Wow. I slept in until 7:30 the next morning. Yes, you read that right.

Walking
Yesterday I went with Manman, Eugenia (her sister), and Theo (a friend) to visit a relative who is sick. We walked from Campus A up the road in Moulez-a-chique to the house, then walked from there all the way home. I have no idea how far it was, but it took about 1 hour 20 minutes to get back. It was a good walk. It was nice and cool, BUT that was because it was dark! There's a stretch of the Vieux Fort - Laborie highway (that we were walking along) outside of town that is absolutely not lit at all. We could barely see where we were stepping, unless a car was passing us. Other than not being able to see, it was a nice walk.

Thanksgiving
Today I have the day off, since it is Thanksgiving. Nothing really special about this day, everyone celebrates in their own little way. We didn't go out at all or anything, though some people go to the beach or have cookouts or things like that. But Manman did make cocoa tea with dumplings (absolutely delicious, but I will postpone putting up the recipe until I can make it on my own, and it'll be personalized) for breakfast (edit: and dinner!), and saltfish and breadfruit for lunch. Delicious!

Tomorrow or sometime soon I will post Things That Sting And Bite And Stuff. Look forward to MelaneyArtz!

no pics, kinda boring

But that's pretty much how the past couple of days have gone.

Of note:

1. The rain continued on and off, often very hard. Halfway through yesterday the water was turned off, so this morning I took my first bucket bath.

2. Also because of the rain, yesterday's fieldtrip to Mamiku Gardens was cancelled. So that turned into two days off in a row, meaning a four-day weekend. If I had projects to work on, it might be different, but I've done a lot of lazing around the house.

3. To get me out of the house, I went with Manman to the preschool yesterday for the folk dance class she holds for primary school kids every week. I learned a few dances, and caught on to about a third of a song sung in Kwéyòl.

4. I hung out with fwe mwen and his friend Fay last night. Nothing exciting or expensive, just watching youtube videos of Dane Cook and a walk down to the grocery store for some drinks (I finally tried a Malta, which tastes like an oatmeal raisin cookie soaked in prune juice). So, pretty much what we do in Austin. No Whole Foods or Central Market, though.

5. This morning we went to the market, as on all Saturday mornings, followed by a meeting that started an hour late and turned out to be a different group with some of the same members, followed by a meeting that was supposed to have been first. Three and a half hours I sat in the little Town Hall. The first two hours were very boring for me, since I didn't have any interest at all in the group, but the second meeting I even contributed to, and volunteered to help serve drinks at the BBQ fundraiser next weekend.

6. New foods. I had "farin and pear" for the first time for lunch. Farin is the flour-like ground cassava root/fruit/whatever it is, and pear is what they call avocado here. Add a little oil, a pinch of salt, and you have an avocado-y paste that you eat with fish. I had potfish with it, pieces of little fishes that are very tasty.
Manman also baked cake yesterday, a delicious cinnamon coffee cake. I unfortunately didn't have time for tea this morning to go with it before we left for the market.
With dinner I'll have some cassava, and I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it the same thing that the farin is made from, but rolled out flat and fried. I'm interested to see how it is.
After the meeting we were treated to drinks because of the length of the meeting, and there was only one Malta left at the little snack stand nearby, so Manman and I had LLB: Lime, Lemon & Bitters, a bottled drink that isn't as sweet as Sprite and similar sodas, but is in fact tastier. The bitters give it just a little more depth, but it's still a nice sweet refreshing drink.

I'm thinking it might be time for dinner. Or maybe crunches.