a job. i haz it.

Alright, what have I been up to? I'm glad you asked. I'm just gonna throw highlights in...sorry for the infrequency, but somebody else is sucking up all my creative and correspondence energy.

Last week, a guy from the other office branch of my counterpart organization was doing some stuff in our office. He saw me working at a computer and came over and introduced himself. What was supposed to be a simple introduction turned into a mini status meeting concerning the projects taking place at the other office. He told me there are 3 aldeas he's working with that don't have power or water, and he's trying to convince them to stop doing damage to the forest in the watershed around their water source. I asked him if he thought the water sources for these aldeas were strong enough to support complete water systems, he said he thought so. I asked if he knew how to accurately measure water flows, he said he did and we talked about procedures a bit to verify we both knew our stuff. Then I asked if he'd be willing to take the flow measurements the next time he went out (the rainy season is about to start, so it's important to take these measurements before the rain picks up and exaggerates the minimum yearly rate...the community needs water year-round, not just during the rainy season when it's plentiful) and he said he could certainly do it and would get back to me with the results.

So yeah, I felt pretty awesome after that exchange. He's only a few years older than me, though, so I wasn't intimidated by age, though I'm sure he's more experienced than me. But yeah, that was the first task I handed out to someone here.

I also got introduced to an engineer working with the municipal Water and Sanitation department here in town, and summarized my training for him. He told me that if I can take care of the topographic studies and pass the data to him, he can use his experience and training to design the conduction lines from the water source to the storage tank, and the distribution networks from the tank to the houses for any communities we decide can support a water system. Between the two of us, we'll be taking care of 75% of the prep work before you can break ground on a water system. Only thing left is securing funding and actually making the supply purchases, and that is much easier to do once you have data and design to include in the funding request. Hiring surveyors and engineers for design work is very expensive, apparently. We'll be doing it for free.

I plan to coordinate with that engineer and with another WatSan volunteer during my first two topographic studies to look over my shoulder and tell me whn I make stupid beginner mistakes, and also to fill in some of the gaps from my training sessions, questions I still have about how exactly you can tell where you want pipes to be laid, ie roadsides versus pastures, gradual slopes versus sheer cliffs. I expect I'll do one topo study in the next two months, before my vacation at the end of July.

Most of my work time has been devoted to translating questions, answers and concerns and emailing and explaining things to Engineers Without Borders in the US, the people of my office, and the junta de agua (water management committee) of the first aldea I'll be working in. And by working, I mean looking over shoulders and asking practical questions and generally getting in the way, perhaps sometimes acting as translator. The volunteer here before me did topo studies and secured funding for at least 3 water systems right before she left, so my priority right now is to work with those communities and make sure the projects are actually finalized.

I think next week I'll be meeting with that first junta de agua again to give them more information. It's actually kind of cool...EWB wants to install a slow sand bio-filter as the main disinfecting and filtering system for the community water supply. One large filter located upsteam from the tank. The filter consists of many layers of fine, medium and coarse sand over layers of fine, medium and coarse gravel. Water comes in from the top, and leaves purified from the bottom. You have to run the system for a couple days so the impurities can collect on top of the sand, and the impurities will form a sort of film that traps microorganisms. Then the sands filter out the other solids. Only required maintenance is a monthly skimming-off of the film so it doesn't get so thick that it severely lowers the flow-rate of the water. The traditional method is to drip concentrated chlorine at a slow rate into the tank itself, which requires closer monitoring. Too much chlorine and it tastes terrible, too little and it isn't potable.

This week was kind of dull. The first two days I was basically waiting for a reply from EWB with nothing else to do, and the meeting with the municipal civil engineer took all of 30 minutes. So I tagged along with my office counterparts on a couple of their non-WatSan projects dealing with microbusinesses run in backyards of a few housewives (chicken eggs) and better small fruit and vegetable farming practices. I was bored. I have no interest or experience regarding chickens, eggs, or business. If I knew I was going to have no WatSan work, I would be willing to learn and help wherever I can, but I know I have work with water systems ahead of me, and I don't want to get invested in things I might not be able to follow through on. For now, I'm going to stick with what I know.

Speaking of which, another side project option is to work with the various school computer labs in the area. Apparently a volunteer before me worked so that various communities here could receive computers donated by Teachers Without Borders (nobody nowadays seems to have any regard for borders...I tell ya, sheesh). But as far as I've heard, all these computer labs have ceased functioning in the last couple years. I gotta play detective to figure out what happened, and what I can do to help. Meaning lots of meetings and interviews. I asked my PC bosses for anything they could give me, and I will talk to two contacts in town when I feel like I have time. Like I said, for the next few months, I just want to finish what the WatSan volunteer before me started.

Fun fact: in the last 7 days, I spent almost as much money at internet cafes to videochat with my girlfriend as I did on food and groceries. Pretty crazy, huh? I started recording my expenses a week ago, so I can start working out a personal budget. What's the protein value in grams of a single chicken egg? Anybody know? Because they only cost 3 lempiras (L) each...while a thin box of Honey Bunches of Oats costs 77L and a mondo size loaf of whole grain bread costs 32L at the supermarkets here. So eggs are the cheapest source of protein available. A box of Kraft Mac and Cheese costs 22L and there are 3 servings inside at 9g of protein per serving. One evening I was so hungry I ate an entire box in one sitting. I'm eating almost no fruit, but I'm taking multivitamins to compensate for the unbalanced diet. Protein and calcium are the weaknesses of the vitamins I'm taking. I drink a ton of water. I'm eating lots of peanut butter sandwiches. I have a feeling I'm spending money on internet at an unsustainable rate, and will need to cut back pretty soon. Something tells me 2 to 6 hours every day is a bit excessive, but I can't make a monthly budget with a single week of recorded expenses, can I?

My sitebuddy and I got invited over to the apartment of the veteran volunteer here twice since I last wrote. First time was for a small lunch party with two other gringos working in the area. It was nice. Second time was just to hang out. Had some smoothies, watched two movies on a laptop (Mr and Mrs Smith, which I happen to like quite a bit, and Four Brothers, which was pretty formulaic but not altogether terrible for an action movie). Spent a good 6 hours over there, then we went out to get some late-night dinner. It's much easier for me chill and relax and chat in English than it is in Spanish.

One last thing I thought was cool. One of the guys in my office has this idea to reduce pollution and create microbusinesses at the same time. There's apparently a problem in aldeas with people dumping their used kitchen grease in the woods or in creeks. Not good. He apparently thinks the grease can be used to make soap. He mixes it with pure chemical potassium, glycerin, lime juice for fragrance, and some coloring...and makes soap. So today he's going around doing little workshops to show people the process. It's a great idea, assuming the soap isn't disgusting and actually cleans stuff. You'd be turning your trash into a commodity. Either you make the soap from it yourself and use it, or sell it to the local soap-maker who can turn around and sell the soap wherever she wants. Generates income and cuts down on pollution. DIY, man. 4lyfe