So good to be home!

So I did eventually end up making it home! Yahoo!

We closed the workshop on Friday afternoon. I do think the workshop itself was quite successful. Of course, there are always a few "duds" in the group, who, at the end of the workshop, you just know they didn't get anything out of it. There were two of them were just completely and utterly clueless still by the end of the workshop. I discussed it with the team that I worked with, and they comforted me by saying that there really wasn't anything I could have done to get through to these two. One of them was completely arrogant and thought he knew absolutely everything there is to know already. I also got the vibe from him that he wasn't going to learn anything from a woman! The other, I think he somehow had other problems - either his English was just really bad, or he had some sort of disability. I know that he wasn't able to see very well. Things like that make me sad, because I know how awful it is to have bad eyes... and out in places like that, there's really nothing that can be done, unless he has the means to travel either to this big city (where prescription glasses are still very hard to come by and expensive) or to the neighboring countries.

Anyway, it was a good closing. I was a bit disappointed at the end, because one of our main contacts within the system up there, came asking us for some "appreciation" for the work that he did to organize the workshop in the town. It was a really difficult and awkward situation, and really very disappointing because we really thought that this guy would appreciate us for coming and doing part of HIS job for him, instead of expecting to be paid by us for doing his job on top of his salary which is by the government.

I will write more, but we're running on the generator now - power is bad here in the city again - so I only have 30 minutes to get the kitchen rat-proofed for the night, have my shower and tumble into bed before I'm plunged into darkness for the night.

It is SO good to be home, though. I went to the market yesterday afternoon with Sean and I was experiencing a bit of culture shock to see so many mounds of fresh fruits and vegetables! I'm going to have to do a bit of cooking this week, I think, to get through all that I bought. I just couldn't help myself, since I was so starved for fresh things. I got avocado, eggplant, tomatoes, bananas, pineapple, green pepper and carrots. Last night I made some guacamole with one of the avocados and it was the most deliciously creamy avocado... mmmmm... positively melted in my mouth.

Right, on that note, time to go and make sure all those delicious veggies are put away, out of reach of any creatures who come out to play tonight...