Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Questions answered on Iracambi, newsletter and more.

As I mentioned when I posted the entry about the newsletter I would be answering some questions that my aunt Sarah had after reading the newsletter. Some of these questions come from the newsletter and others from her feeling "out of touch" with my experience and figured it would be good to share with you all at the same time:)

Q; "Are you riding a horse?"

A: Unfortunately laziness and lack of time has not made this possible yet. Not that I don't know how to ride a horse it is the whole getting it ready part that is foreign to me, plus hearing my colleagues complain of the slowness of the horse available to us and smell that one has after riding her I have not been truly inspired to date.

Q: "Who is Tigger?" (from the newsletter).

A: Tigger is one of the two boxers owned by Robin and Binka, Iracambi's founders and directors, and we have been told he was quite a killer of cats, birds, etc. in the past but more recently was blinded and thus is more tame. He also has quite a hard head as he seems to run in to a lot of things but has an uncanny knack even only after being blind for a year and a half of finding his way around and knowing where people are.

Q: Have you managed without insect repellent? Are you just putting up with getting bitten? Are there other biting insects besides mosquitoes? (She asked this as I refused to buy or bring any repellent. I did this for two reasons, I can't stand wearing/smelling the stuff and no repellent is clearly better for the environment).

A: Short answer, I have managed. That said the mosquitoes aren't so bad, compared to Mozambique, parts of Oregon and other places I have visited or lived in but the real problem comes with the "no seeums". These annoying little bugs are so small that they are often not visible and they don't an annoying buzz like mosquitoes so often their presence goes unnoticed until a bite is felt or small area of the skin turns red at which point they have usually moved on. They are particularly annoying around my house from about 10 am to 4 pm each day and have now started following me to other places around here such as the classroom and main dormitory.

Q: What's been the best part of being there?

A: Being away from all the "modern conveniences" that are often more inconvenient, unhealthy and wasteful than we realize. I see cars once or twice a day at most and a motorcycle four or five times a week. We don't have a microwave and do just fine, our blender is broken but Brian has been making some amazing hand squeezed juice and aside from my laptop, the internet and my iPod I have very little need or use for electrical appliance. It is great to just sit around talking, go for a hike, enjoy a sunset or watch the stars. Speaking of stars, they are absolutely amazing here as is the moon and the night sky will truly be one of the biggest things I will miss when I leave here.

Q: What's been the hardest part of being there?

A: Lack of vegetarian options such as tofu, soy, various vegetables and fruits, and other vegetarian foods/alternative. That said we are blessed with quite a selection considering that most people around the world survive on beans and rice daily (a staple for us here too) and we can always use our own money to augment the food that comes from the nearby communities and is mostly organic/natural and the food that is purchased in Rosario da Limeira. Also, in these situations one is just forced to be more creative and try things they wouldn't normally have tried and quiet often we find that our untested meals turn out really well.

That is all for now but I would love to answer more questions that any of you might happen to have. I could of course have just done this for Sarah and sent her and email but it seemed more appropriate to share a little more about my time here with all of you! Thanks, Sarah:)

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