Well needed update (a long one)

So, it's been a while since i last blogged. I apologize. It's been a crazy two weeks, well not so much crazy, just a little more eventful than usual.

*Before you begin, for clarification, all italicized wording are thoughts not said aloud, just me, in my head, going bonkers over the following events:

The last week of February i hit the long awaited point of my first feelings of frustrations with my job as a Peace Corps volunteer. I had pumped myself up to write a "Plan de Trabajo (work plan)" with my artisan group so we could get the ball rolling on our main goal of finding a new client. So, i sat down and met with my companeras de trabajo (work partners) and initiated forming our plans for the year.

I started out by explaining what a great opportunity we have during the month of march b/c they weren't busy filling any orders and so we should take advantage of the down time to plan what we want to do next. I go on to give them some of my ideas, my goals for them, and little examples of how we can meet those goals.

My (tentative) goals:
-create a catalog
-create sizing standards
-find a cotton vender in BO
-contact important people that will help us find more clients/work (my main goal that i wanted them to think of, too.)

I then ask them what they think.

Here were their goals:
-continue learning to type (good, i thought, more to come, i'm sure)
-pause for thinking...
- and that's it!


Are you kidding me?! I'm trying to plan for the YEAR!

Calmly, i respond:
"Y como sobre el resto del ano?"
(and what about the rest of the year?)

My ladies:
"ya, sabes que karen, ahora es un descanso, vamos a esperar hasta abril cuando nosotros tenemos el pedido."
(well, you know karen, right now we're in a break (from knitting), let's wait till april when we have our order (to think about planning ahead)

***the meeting continues with me sitting there awkwardly trying to figure out what the hell to say next while they chat in a language where i understand absolutely nothing.

****i was soooo incredibly frustrated:
Okay, so you want to wait till you're super busy with an order to start planning for the year. Right, you're going to have soooo MUCH time then to sit down with me and really think about my ideas and come up with your own ideas about making this catalog, making necessary phone calls, and getting that one step closer to obtaining a new client!!!!! Yep!!! ALL the time in the world while you're knitting furiously almost six to eight hours a day to help get things started!

*****I don't respond, i just say that's fine, just let me know next month what you want to do.

UGH!!!! The day after, i left to visit my volunteer friends in a neighboring town (about 20 min away) and hung out with them for the entire day. I complained, felt relieved, complained some more, felt slightly less frustrated then came home. The following day i woke up still frustrated. So, i spent all day in the internet cafe, avoiding my workplace (which happens to be where i live), and then went to visit my friends again. Finally, after two days, i felt better.

It's amazing how helpless i felt at that moment when they told me their plans and goals for the month of march. So they wanted to learn to type the rest of the month, no prob! Just sit on the pc and play that typing game that i installed for you and then don't use those skills you learned to type your emails or while you're using the pc whenever you're not playing that game! I wanted to scream, "What do you want me to do for you? Didn't we agree from the VERY beginning that our goal was to find you a new client?!!! Why aren't you more willing to take the initial step in reaching that goal?!!"

I can't just go and make this catalog w/out them, that wouldn't be sustainable at all! What happens when i leave and they need to make a price adjustment in the catalog?! Or they want to change a photo, or the sizes?!! Would they even know how to open the document in the pc? Yes, typing is essential to using the pc, but they don't need to know how to type to use the telephone! I just need that slight hint of interest that they want to get a new client and i'll be more willing to help them out, that's all i need, a hint of interest from them. So far, nothing.

I've left it alone since then and have found other projects to work on. Thursdays I work at a restaurant in town as a server in la cantina (bar area) for a family that i've adopted as my host family. Saturday afternoons I'm teaching their daughter how to use microsoft word to help her with her studies. Saturday mornings i'm teaching a teacher how to speak English.
And Tuesdays, i'm taking classes to learn Quechua, so i can understand my ladies whenever they talk during meetings or other social gatherings.

I've thought about how i'll handle my next spat with frustration; i'll guess we'll see!