One Hundred Years of Solitude

Some sad news was reported this week, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is no longer writing due to dementia. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude during my Peace Corps service and I feel in love with Garcia Marquez and magical realism.

Magical realism blends magical elements with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of thought. What I love about this type of writing is that it makes me feel like a little kid again. I get to imagine these magical things in the context of real life. I love that every person I talk to about the book has a different vision of how all of these things happen and how they look.

One Hundred Years of Solitude follows several generations of the Buendías family, founders of the fictional Latin America town of Macondo. The book follows the family as the town changes and grows. For years, the town was isolated from outsiders, except for gypsies who peddle “technologies” such as ice and telescopes. It then gains fame as the birthplace of the rebel leader during a civil war. The next generation faces the invasion of American banana plantation owners. And the final generation, because of the exposure to the outside world, eventually finds themselves alienated and doomed to a solitary ending.

García Márquez covers almost a century in the book. He describes are the major turning points in the lives of the Buendías: births, deaths, marriages, love affairs. Some of the Buendía men are wild and sexually rapacious, frequenting brothels and taking lovers. Others are quiet and solitary, preferring to shut themselves up in their rooms. The women, too, range from the outrageously outgoing, like Meme, to the prim and proper Fernanda del Carpio.

A sense of the family’s destiny for greatness remains alive in its tenacious matriarch, Ursula Iguarán, and she works to keep the family together despite its differences. But for the Buendía family, as for the entire village of Macondo, the forces of modernity are devastating.

Although I loved this book, I know plenty of people who hated this book. It is definitely a style of writing that you either love or hate. I fell in love with magical realism right away but for others it is an acquired taste. If you don’t like this book, don’t give up, try a book by Isabella Allende before you really decide if you love it or hate it.

Baseball, Scrabble, Wedding

My little brother is getting married next year. I absolutely love his fiancé, but I feel a bit sorry for her. One, she is going to be stuck with my brother for the rest of her life and trust me I have been stuck with him for 25 years, it is tough. Two, I am a fairly nosy and pushy person so I have been bombarding her with emails containing bridesmaids dresses, engagement photos, and ideas for their outdoor reception.

As I have said before I allowed myself to join Pinterest this summer. I am beyond obsessed and unfortunately for Taylor, I bombard her inbox with more emails than is probably appropriate. Here are some of my favorites…

Brandon loves baseball, especially the Cincinnati Reds. We grew up going to games, watching Neon Deon, Barry Larkin and Chris Sabo. I saw these engagement photos and I thought they would be perfect for them.

Every time I go home I end up spending one evening playing Scrabble with my brother, Taylor and my Mom. We are not a competitive family, ok that's a lie, we are a highly competitive family so these Scrabble games are intense. I also thought this was a super cute idea for the Scrabble lovers.

Although I may be nosy and pushy I am most of all excited and happy for my little brother and Taylor.

Can’t wait to celebrate 08.31.13!

Aid vs. Development

Most people use aid and development interchangeable or at least I did, until now. This summer has been filled with “you learn something every day” type of days. Recently I have been scouring the blogosphere for advice on getting development jobs. The first thing that most blogs state is to know what you want to do, aid or development. This is good advice seeing that I didn’t know they were different type of jobs.

Now let me explain the difference. Aid refers to humanitarian aid, short-term assistance for a specific problems, war, natural disaster, etc. Development on the other hand, is the long-term sustainable programs and projects aimed at poor or marginalized populations.

I know that I want to work in development. I like the idea of being part of a project that has long term effects and benefits. Even though I am very ADD when it comes to work I think I like the idea of being involved in a project long enough to be able to see what works and what doesn't.

So, now you know what type of work people are referring to when they ask you to donate to aid projects or development projects.

Happy Birthday America

This is my third 4^th of July in five years that I have spent it out of the US of A. For a number of reasons it always makes me homesick. The first reason is that I never celebrate on the actual 4^th of July. Celebrations typically take place the weekend before or after. Second, I always have to work. Third, I don’t normally get to eat hamburgers, potato salad, or other great BBQ eats!

For the all the reasons spending the 4^th of July out of the US sucks, there is an aspect that makes it really fun, the patriotic feeling of being American in a foreign country. Don’t ask me why, but for some reason I feel more patriotic than I do when I am in the States. I typically try to avoid telling people I am American because of our stereotypes abroad but today I feel a pride that I typically don’t feel. Today, July 4^th, I am proud to be an American.

Often times it is also an opportunity for cultural exchange. My good friend who is German is totally surprised by how seriously Americans take Independence Day. She said that Germans typically don’t do anything and then followed up by saying, “maybe out history has something to do with that.” In Guatemala, many of my friends and colleagues thought Americans didn’t do enough to celebrate our independence. I guess it just depends on who you ask whether we do our independence day justice.

So as much as it sucks spending the 4^th of July out of the US, I have to say it is always interesting and different!

Simple Idea, Amazing Results

I started this blog as a way to keep my mom updated on what I was doing, but I have realized I don’t really have that much to talk about. Since my life is fairly boring I have decided in addition to posting updates, I am also going to post about random thoughts and things that catch my eye.

Pinterest has taken over my life. I am addicted! I never allowed myself to join during school because I had heard how addicting it could become. Now that I have some time on my hands I have really started to discover how amazing this site truly is.

I am always at a lost at what to do with things I collect while traveling. I always have grand ideas for the stuff I buy but things never quite turnout the way they do in my head. But today I stumbled upon an awesome idea for how to display your travels without a bunch of random stuff displayed. 

I love how simple this is. It makes a statement without being showy and I love how it brings lots of different colors to the room. It is an awesome way to constantly remind yourself of the amazing places you’ve been and the amazing places you have yet to go.

This idea definitely has a place in my future home. 

You brought what?!

I have some strong opinions about development. Some are, I believe, well founded and can be backed up with evidence; others are based on my experiences and I can’t really back them up with facts. I learned quickly that people who work in development have some very strong opinions and are not very easily swayed to believe something different. I am guilty of this as well but this summer has made me think, if I am unwilling to change my attitude and opinions why should people in developing countries change their attitudes and opinions.

The biggest thing I learned during my Peace Corps service is people are the same everywhere. We might practice different religions, consume different diets or have different views of the world, but we all react the same way when told what to do. I know that when my parents told me I had to do something I almost always put up a fight (even when I knew they were right). My point is why do we, development professionals, believe we know best.

Year after year NGOs develop and carry out projects and programs in the poorest regions of the world. Although I know most are truly trying to make a difference, and many do, I often wonder how many of these NGOs are started because someone in the village asked for help, or because someone decided those villagers needed X.

I know from my own mistakes you cannot tell someone what they need; you have to wait for them to tell you. The waiting game is the hardest part. Something that is so apparent to you may in fact not be the most pressing issue for a family or community. You have to learn to listen and be patient.

In Guatemala, I learned that a little bit of “wasted” time turns into life-changing projects. Case-in-point, while working with the coffee cooperative I became close with two women who sat on the Board of Directors. I decided that I wanted to start a women’s group in each of their communities. I asked and asked until I was blue in the face if I could come out and teach a class. Each time the answer was, “No, we don’t have time.”

One day I brought banana bread to a cooperative meeting. Afterwards the women were begging me to teach them how to make it. I have to admit I was pissed off. All of a sudden the women had time to meet with me. After a few days of sulking I gave in and scheduled a “cooking” class in each of the communities.

This was the best thing that could have happened to my service. You see, the women weren’t interested in business classes, but they were definitely interested in baking and gossiping. I spent the next several months teaching the women how to bake banana break, zucchini bread, corn bread, chocolate cake, spice cake, and doughnuts, while they taught me about life. They taught me what I already knew, women want anything that will make their life easier.

Smoke alleviating stoves. It wasn’t what I would have said was the most pressing need in the communities but it was something the women thought would make their life easier. The stoves, designed by Peace Corps, used 50% less wood then open fires meaning less time spent collecting wood, the stovetop allowed for cooking more than one thing at a time which meant less time preparing meals and it was healthier. After months and months of hard work and a few bumps, the stoves were finished.  I still had some time left in my service so we started having meeting just to gossip, which I steered towards topics such as savings, sex and education.

When I went back nine months after my service, a couple of the women told me they had opened savings accounts at the bank in town. One woman had even saved enough to buy a cow and was now selling fresh milk. Although I never really got a chance to teach a business class, some how the stoves opened their minds to my ideas, my broken Spanish and me.

My point is, if I had not learned to listen to what they wanted I would never have had the chance to truly make a difference in a few women’s lives. I know that I learned my lesson but when will others learn theirs.