CBT Marches On

My practicum group got thrown a curve yesterday. After two rather successful youth meetings, we crashed and burned pretty hard in our third. To begin with, we had only one youth show up. Next, we were stood up by the radio DJ, Canela, who promised us his time. Finally, we just plain conducted the meeting in a sloppy manner. I sure hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

La Negrita cream of wheat

We’ve reached the end of week five which represents the midpoint of our ten weeks of Peace Corps training. Of the 35 training days in El Seibo, 17 have already gone by meaning CBT is also about halfway through. If you had told me five weeks ago about all the things I’ve done since, I wouldn’t have understood. It’s hard to imagine the position I’ll be in once I’ve finished training and have my placement. Right now I feel something akin to what I felt in college during the second or third term of my senior year.

Criseida makes Pasteles de Hoja

In other news, my host mom had surgery a few days ago and has since come home. In the days that have followed she has received a steady stream of visitors such that, at any given time, there are between four and eight people standing or sitting in the small bedroom where she watches TV and visits, an IV bag hanging from a nail on the wall, supplying her with fluids. All the same she insist on drilling me on whether or not I’m hungry and what exactly Felicia has most recently made me to eat.