Fair, Part II, and Ants

Last night involved another trip to the village fair. We went and ended up meeting a bunch of other new students from Korea, the US and Colombia. It was nice to see some other classmates - the girl from Korea, Jean, is in my class. As far as I know, I only have about ten classmates, which I think is pretty exciting! It will be nice to be in a small class.

The event of the fair last night were the fireworks. We'd heard that they would start around 8:00 but they started at least an hour later, and surprised us greatly when they started. We just happened to be in a great location to watch them. They were going off directly overhead - almost a little too close, and boy were they loud. There were more dancing folklore figures too, and the marching band, so all around, a festive evening.

Today involved a trip to the farmers market and trying to keep the ants out of our apartment. It is probably something I will just have to reconcile, much akin to living with termites in Niger (we had a symbiotic relationship- I left them alone and they left me alone too, and we cohabited peacefully in my hut). I am trying to practice nonviolence towards the ants, but it is hard! I swept and mopped the floor, and will hope that will keep them out for at least a little while.

I also finished my Spanish verb tenses workbook today! I had been working on it for about a year. Now I just need to apply it practically....

Meanwhile, in Central America, the two big news items, other than President Arias' case of swine flu, are the unresolved situation in Honduras and the issue of US military bases in Colombia. With Honduras, it seems that most heads of state are supporting ousted President Zelaya. There are also calls for the US to do more, which is ironic because usually people are angry over the US's over-involvement (and, often rightfully so). It definitely seems like a case where Obama can do no right. I'm sure if he had acted more strongly, people would be criticizing him.

On the Colombia front, there are tense relations in South America over Colombia's agreement to start allowing the US to use Colombian military bases for the "war on drugs." A lot of countries, particularly Venezuela and Ecuador, are upset over this, saying the US could end up starting wars in the region.

Meanwhile, I wonder how much attention either of these situations are getting in the US media. The coup happened before I left, and at the time it was heavily covered in the US. I hadn't heard about the military bases issue, though.

I promise to put some more pictures up soon!

Thanks for reading!