Third world computers

Never in my life have I felt so computer illiterate. Mind you, I can use the thing, but for the life of me I have no clue how to use the shift key, nor do I know how to ask if it is broken. every time I need to use a capital I have to turn on and off cap locks. To get to the underscore, I have to cut and paste. I know this is my fault, but, I hope i figure it out soon.

I love this place. It is that simple. Like when I was in Spain, I know I am making every mistake and offending everyone I can, but there is a much stronger group orientation here, and no one wants to tell me I am being a jerk. I am learning a lot from my host family and the classes that we have started, but it is not enough. They did not tell me until the second day I should speak formally, even with people my own age, and they did not tell me until the third I can´t throw things to people. My host brother is 11 years old and wanted to know what a hackey sack was, so I went and got one, and tossed it to him... I just thought he was not expecting it. I had no idea this was a severe insult. Apparently, here, we only throw things to dogs. I mean that's cool, I just wish I had known. I respect my host brother. He´s cool. Everything here is formal. It is part of the group dynamic that exists, and that's cool, its just a really hard adjustment since the Spanish I learned is really quite vulgar. I learned from drunk Spaniards, and after that, drunk Mexicans, all with loose tongues. Now I have to learn how to be polite in communication. It sounds silly, but really it´s tough.

My host family is very accepting. I have 2 brothers, 17 and 11, but I have all sorts of cousins who stop by all the time. I eat the best food of any volunteer here because we were placed with the cook at the training center. She cooks us the same thing all the admins eat, so lunch is a real honor. All the other volunteers have to eat food from a thermos, I get a fresh hot meal. On the weekend she has her own restaurant. We haven´t been yet, but its going to be awesome.

We have our own room, and our own inside bathroom, though not everyone is so lucky. We have an eltroducha which is supposed to keep the water in our shower hot, but really it just keeps it from being painfully cold. Wanna know what it is like? turn on your shower, and don´t turn it on as cold as it will go. That is what it is like. Without it, I think it would turn on a lovely snow mix.

The training center is rough, but it is getting easier. I understand most of the Spanish, but since this is a very group culture, and I don´t know anyone yet, it feels very impersonal. I need to start talking to the trainers, but I don´t know what about.

Anyways, I´ll fill you all in more as time goes by. I can see things going well, and I think I will get what I came for