I finished my Examen de Ingles this morning and copied it to a jump drive while finishing my coffee (I make coffee in a pot, so it's 'cowboy coffee,' but I add 1/3 of the cup whole milk, which I buy from my neighbors for $.25/20 oz.). I gave the students a take-home version of their test to study, and today is the due date. I wanted to give them a chance to ask questions before their test on Wednesday. However, I never heard the typical foolery as the kids walked by my house to the school this morning, and I never heard the moto del profe (the hum of his motorcycle is our schoolbell). Apparently, school was cancelled today.
I live in a farming community, and now that we're in the rainy season, every male in my community milks the cows, eats breakfast, and then leaves the house around 7:30 with a machete, a hoe and a pick to go weed their coffee plantations or dig canals to direct the draining water. This is relevant because it means for me, that my morning plans have been cancelled, and everyone's working for the day, so I have until 3:00 PM before I can do much of anything in my community.
Some have asked how to report on how life changes with the recent coming of electricity to this small community. Life for most people has not changed drastically, but rather, it is only slowly changing. Life for me has changed drastically, because I was once used to having electricity. I come home, and even though I only have a 25 kbps internet connection through a USB modem, I immediately check facebook, hotmail, gmail, and the BBC World News. I can now pass hours organizing photos, music and old files on my computer, without worrying about battery life. I leave my cell phone on all night, just because it's easier than having to turn it on again the next morning. I read later into the night because I'm not so worried about my eyesight being ruined. And I constantly brainstorm ways in which I'll be able to get my refrigerator up the mountain (Xiah, a retired Peace Corps Volunteer, left me a knee-high refrigerator when she left).
For other people life's begun to change too, they listen to music more often now, and aren't worried about using their cell phones for playing games or listening to music, because the batteries are rechargeable. People who have TV's have gatherings to watch the newest illegally copied DVD that they bought from town, but most still can't justify sitting for more than 1 hour, and often excuse themselves during the climax of a movie. I have had one instance where someone invited me into their house, and when we ran out of things to say, instead of sitting in silence like we used to, they turned on the TV to watch telenovelas.
But mostly, we still sit around in the afternoons on the patio talking and peeling blades of grass in the awkward silences. Candle sales are surely down, as are battery sales since nobody uses flashlights anymore. In fact, most houses are lit without flashlights all through the night since, as of now, the meters have not been installed, so there is no financial motive to turn out the lights.
Electricity is certainly one of the necessary services in the modern world, but since the people here have gone for so long without it, their initial use, for the most part, is very practical. They use it for: phones, lights, hair clippers, music, and an occasional TV show.
Electricity is certainly one of the necessary services in the modern world, but since the people here have gone for so long without it, their initial use, for the most part, is very practical. They use it for: phones, lights, hair clippers, music, and an occasional TV show.
