The event that prompted such a response actually happened two days ago. I didn’t really want to write about it, I mainly wanted to get past it and move on. Two days ago, I was asked by my supervisor to gather some information from our community leaders for a grant that could greatly benefit us in building the preschool Maria Jesus members greatly desire. One of my partners and I made sure to go talk to him early in the day. We learned from past experiences that if we hope to accomplish anything with Don Roy, we should ask very early. So we went to his house early that Sunday (my partner and I agreed that while working him, I should probably be the main one conversing with him; again we learned this from past experiences). This conversation started with me describing/explaining the Bevil grant and how it could greatly benefit the community. I then explained that the information we were there to collect had to be gathered ASAP due to the competiveness of the grant. Still, even with all of these explanations, it still was so difficult to get him to focus and work with me. After an hour of me and Estrella continuously trying to get to the point, we agreed that he would talk to a man (Don Manuel) about a job and that a joven (Arlen) would gather a concrete list of people willing to help with the construction of the school. I gave him a deadline of 5 pm (which really meant 8 or 9 pm) by when we needed the information. He agreed to meet us at 3 pm at his house to collect all the info. By this point, I was frustrated because we literally had to repeat the same explanations over and over. Not only that, but he was getting frustrated with me and giving me attitude because of the immediacy I was pushing for. This frustrated me because the info Estrella and I were there for was a grant, a grant that was not for our benefit, but for the community, his community, a community he’s responsible for. That’s what really upset me. But anyway, the story goes on. Later, Estrella and I returned a little past 3 pm to his house. When we got there, his wife told us he was at his grandma’s house, visiting; he’s be back at 4 pm she said. Estrella and I decided to go talk to one of our other youth members about an educational meeting we were planning, instead of just waiting for him there (time management!) When we returned at 4 pm, he still wasn’t there; we waited until 5 pm and then it started raining, hard. Estrella and I joked (half-heartedly) that the weather was displaying our frustrations/emotions. After the rain stopped, I told Don Roy’s son to please tell Toy to come by my host mom’s house when we got back. Later that night, his son came by and told me his dad was home. I asked him if he could tell him to drop by, but the kid didn’t go (he was watching WWE, which my host-dad on the TV). After 5 minutes of waiting for him to go, I put on my boots and headed to Roy’s. I should’ve known he wouldn’t be there, but I was thinking positively I guess. Surprise, surprise, he wasn’t there; his wife said he had left to visit a friend. This was my breaking point. I literally just started laughing to myself, attempting to make myself feel better and make the situation seem light-hearted. I just didn’t know what else I could’ve done. So I just returned to my host family’s house, updated my partner and proceeded to play cards with my family. We did our part, now we could just wait for Roy to do his. To make the situation even funnier, the next morning (at like 6 or 7 am) Roy told my host-mom to tell me that Don Manuel was going to go into the city (Matagalpa) to price materials. I’m not sure why he couldn’t have told me and my partner this the day before like we agreed on. Maybe he was trying to show me who’s the boss and that he does things on his own time, but I just realized that I can’t let my emotions towards him get to me so much that they don’ t allow me to do my work here in Maria Jesus. At the 7/19/11
The event that prompted such a response actually happened two days ago. I didn’t really want to write about it, I mainly wanted to get past it and move on. Two days ago, I was asked by my supervisor to gather some information from our community leaders for a grant that could greatly benefit us in building the preschool Maria Jesus members greatly desire. One of my partners and I made sure to go talk to him early in the day. We learned from past experiences that if we hope to accomplish anything with Don Roy, we should ask very early. So we went to his house early that Sunday (my partner and I agreed that while working him, I should probably be the main one conversing with him; again we learned this from past experiences). This conversation started with me describing/explaining the Bevil grant and how it could greatly benefit the community. I then explained that the information we were there to collect had to be gathered ASAP due to the competiveness of the grant. Still, even with all of these explanations, it still was so difficult to get him to focus and work with me. After an hour of me and Estrella continuously trying to get to the point, we agreed that he would talk to a man (Don Manuel) about a job and that a joven (Arlen) would gather a concrete list of people willing to help with the construction of the school. I gave him a deadline of 5 pm (which really meant 8 or 9 pm) by when we needed the information. He agreed to meet us at 3 pm at his house to collect all the info. By this point, I was frustrated because we literally had to repeat the same explanations over and over. Not only that, but he was getting frustrated with me and giving me attitude because of the immediacy I was pushing for. This frustrated me because the info Estrella and I were there for was a grant, a grant that was not for our benefit, but for the community, his community, a community he’s responsible for. That’s what really upset me. But anyway, the story goes on. Later, Estrella and I returned a little past 3 pm to his house. When we got there, his wife told us he was at his grandma’s house, visiting; he’s be back at 4 pm she said. Estrella and I decided to go talk to one of our other youth members about an educational meeting we were planning, instead of just waiting for him there (time management!) When we returned at 4 pm, he still wasn’t there; we waited until 5 pm and then it started raining, hard. Estrella and I joked (half-heartedly) that the weather was displaying our frustrations/emotions. After the rain stopped, I told Don Roy’s son to please tell Toy to come by my host mom’s house when we got back. Later that night, his son came by and told me his dad was home. I asked him if he could tell him to drop by, but the kid didn’t go (he was watching WWE, which my host-dad on the TV). After 5 minutes of waiting for him to go, I put on my boots and headed to Roy’s. I should’ve known he wouldn’t be there, but I was thinking positively I guess. Surprise, surprise, he wasn’t there; his wife said he had left to visit a friend. This was my breaking point. I literally just started laughing to myself, attempting to make myself feel better and make the situation seem light-hearted. I just didn’t know what else I could’ve done. So I just returned to my host family’s house, updated my partner and proceeded to play cards with my family. We did our part, now we could just wait for Roy to do his. To make the situation even funnier, the next morning (at like 6 or 7 am) Roy told my host-mom to tell me that Don Manuel was going to go into the city (Matagalpa) to price materials. I’m not sure why he couldn’t have told me and my partner this the day before like we agreed on. Maybe he was trying to show me who’s the boss and that he does things on his own time, but I just realized that I can’t let my emotions towards him get to me so much that they don’ t allow me to do my work here in Maria Jesus. At the 7/19/11
The event that prompted such a response actually happened two days ago. I didn’t really want to write about it, I mainly wanted to get past it and move on. Two days ago, I was asked by my supervisor to gather some information from our community leaders for a grant that could greatly benefit us in building the preschool Maria Jesus members greatly desire. One of my partners and I made sure to go talk to him early in the day. We learned from past experiences that if we hope to accomplish anything with Don Roy, we should ask very early. So we went to his house early that Sunday (my partner and I agreed that while working him, I should probably be the main one conversing with him; again we learned this from past experiences). This conversation started with me describing/explaining the Bevil grant and how it could greatly benefit the community. I then explained that the information we were there to collect had to be gathered ASAP due to the competiveness of the grant. Still, even with all of these explanations, it still was so difficult to get him to focus and work with me. After an hour of me and Estrella continuously trying to get to the point, we agreed that he would talk to a man (Don Manuel) about a job and that a joven (Arlen) would gather a concrete list of people willing to help with the construction of the school. I gave him a deadline of 5 pm (which really meant 8 or 9 pm) by when we needed the information. He agreed to meet us at 3 pm at his house to collect all the info. By this point, I was frustrated because we literally had to repeat the same explanations over and over. Not only that, but he was getting frustrated with me and giving me attitude because of the immediacy I was pushing for. This frustrated me because the info Estrella and I were there for was a grant, a grant that was not for our benefit, but for the community, his community, a community he’s responsible for. That’s what really upset me. But anyway, the story goes on. Later, Estrella and I returned a little past 3 pm to his house. When we got there, his wife told us he was at his grandma’s house, visiting; he’s be back at 4 pm she said. Estrella and I decided to go talk to one of our other youth members about an educational meeting we were planning, instead of just waiting for him there (time management!) When we returned at 4 pm, he still wasn’t there; we waited until 5 pm and then it started raining, hard. Estrella and I joked (half-heartedly) that the weather was displaying our frustrations/emotions. After the rain stopped, I told Don Roy’s son to please tell Toy to come by my host mom’s house when we got back. Later that night, his son came by and told me his dad was home. I asked him if he could tell him to drop by, but the kid didn’t go (he was watching WWE, which my host-dad on the TV). After 5 minutes of waiting for him to go, I put on my boots and headed to Roy’s. I should’ve known he wouldn’t be there, but I was thinking positively I guess. Surprise, surprise, he wasn’t there; his wife said he had left to visit a friend. This was my breaking point. I literally just started laughing to myself, attempting to make myself feel better and make the situation seem light-hearted. I just didn’t know what else I could’ve done. So I just returned to my host family’s house, updated my partner and proceeded to play cards with my family. We did our part, now we could just wait for Roy to do his. To make the situation even funnier, the next morning (at like 6 or 7 am) Roy told my host-mom to tell me that Don Manuel was going to go into the city (Matagalpa) to price materials. I’m not sure why he couldn’t have told me and my partner this the day before like we agreed on. Maybe he was trying to show me who’s the boss and that he does things on his own time, but I just realized that I can’t let my emotions towards him get to me so much that they don’ t allow me to do my work here in Maria Jesus. 7/19/11
The event that prompted such a response actually happened two days ago. I didn’t really want to write about it, I mainly wanted to get past it and move on. Two days ago, I was asked by my supervisor to gather some information from our community leaders for a grant that could greatly benefit us in building the preschool Maria Jesus members greatly desire. One of my partners and I made sure to go talk to him early in the day. We learned from past experiences that if we hope to accomplish anything with the town leader, we should ask very early. So we went to his house early that Sunday (my partner and I agreed that while working him, I should probably be the main one conversing with him; again we learned this from past experiences). This conversation started with me describing/explaining the Bevil grant and how it could greatly benefit the community. I then explained that the information we were there to collect had to be gathered ASAP due to the competiveness of the grant. Still, even with all of these explanations, it still was so difficult to get him to focus and work with me. After an hour of me and Estrella continuously trying to get to the point, we agreed that he would talk to a man (Don Manuel) about a job and that a joven (Arlen) would gather a concrete list of people willing to help with the construction of the school. I gave him a deadline of 5 pm (which really meant 8 or 9 pm) by when we needed the information. He agreed to meet us at 3 pm at his house to collect all the info. By this point, I was frustrated because we literally had to repeat the same explanations over and over. Not only that, but he was getting frustrated with me and giving me attitude because of the immediacy I was pushing for. This frustrated me because the info Estrella and I were there for was a grant, a grant that was not for our benefit, but for the community, his community, a community he’s responsible for. That’s what really upset me. But anyway, the story goes on. Later, Estrella and I returned a little past 3 pm to his house. When we got there, his wife told us he was at his grandma’s house, visiting; he’s be back at 4 pm she said. Estrella and I decided to go talk to one of our other youth members about an educational meeting we were planning, instead of just waiting for him there (time management!) When we returned at 4 pm, he still wasn’t there; we waited until 5 pm and then it started raining, hard. Estrella and I joked (half-heartedly) that the weather was displaying our frustrations/emotions. After the rain stopped, I told the town leader’s son to please tell him to come by my host mom’s house when we got back. Later that night, his son came by and told me his dad was home. I asked him if he could tell him to drop by, but the kid didn’t go (he was watching WWE, which my host-dad on the TV). After 5 minutes of waiting for him to go, I put on my boots and headed to the town leader’s house. I should’ve known he wouldn’t be there, but I was thinking positively I guess. Surprise, surprise, he wasn’t there; his wife said he had left to visit a friend. This was my breaking point. I literally just started laughing to myself, attempting to make myself feel better and make the situation seem light-hearted. I just didn’t know what else I could’ve done. So I just returned to my host family’s house, updated my partner and proceeded to play cards with my family. We did our part, now we could just wait for the town leader to do his. To make the situation even funnier, the next morning (at like 6 or 7 am) the town leader told my host-mom to tell me that Don Manuel was going to go into the city (Matagalpa) to price materials. I’m not sure why he couldn’t have told me and my partner this the day before like we agreed on. Maybe he was trying to show me who’s the boss and that he does things on his own time, but I just realized that I can’t let my emotions towards him get to me so much that they don’ t allow me to do my work here in Maria Jesus. At the end of all this, I was proud of myself for doing what I could and letting the rest take its course. As long as I know I’m putting 100% of my energy into this, then I feel accomplished. I think this event won’t change my relationship with the town leader, it will only change my reactions to his questionable/unreasonable actions.