hn13.

life is good. but where to start, in order to give a true image of what is going on around here. first of all, I'm working. which is awesome. and not training, or integrating (sorry PAM directors), but actually working. Yesterday i spent the day painting signs for the different coffee farms of the cooperative. Each farm is required to have signage posted which displays the rules and regulations that pertain to a certified Rainforest Alliance producer. Today, i built part of a latrine, fixed a broken water pipe, and did further research on the signs, regarding phrasing of the rules. Its amazing that this is part of the process of certification, but its almost impossible to find an exact list of the rules. What else. Well, first of all, my family is the shit. In fact, they remind me a lot of my russian family, at least the gershenson side. My host dad, or whatever, is very similar to my grandpa eugene, who sadly is no longer with us. His manerisms, humor, and general personality is like a mirror image. His borther-in-law, my uncle, is like my uncle volodya, especially when we play cards. And my host brothers, well theyre a lot like my cousins. A mixture, but still. Sometimes its creepy, how alike they are. If we were speaking russian and not spanish, i would feel like I was back in Moscow. Regardless, the family is awesome. We spend lots of time talking, sometimes about politics, farming, and anything really. They are super intelligent, and always thinkin outside the box. We play UNO a lot, which I never thought would be as exciting and awesome as it is. We spend about 2 hours a day playing, and no one ever gets tired of it. They've been playing non-stop for over a year now, and hopefully they'll play for at least two more. On a different note, yesterday I rode a horse, alone, for the first time in my life. It was sweet. Granted, it was only around the property of the cooperative, but still. At first when i got on, it tried to throw me off, but the owner took its reigns, and i whispered in its ear, and after that point i became its new best friend. We're supposed to go riding again on sunday, but I dont know if that will happen for now. Regardless, he's ready to lend me the horse whenever, so, I guess ill be riding. Sweet, no? As far as integration goes, I've met a large portion of the cooperative farmers, about 25 or so, and although i dont remember all of their names, im workin on it.

p.s. new photos are up peoples!