Roach wars and painting

So, the apartment I'm staying in is infested with cockroaches. Blah. It's been a battle since day one. I've had to keep my suitcases closed at all times and all food goes in the fridge, even cereal and cookies. I sleep with my earbuds in my ears so they won't crawl in them, even if I'm not listening to my Ipod. I've gone through two and a half cans of bug spray. But finally last night, Alisa, a volunteer who came to Iquique four years ago and never left, told me of this "special powder." She and her boyfriend gave me a small bag and an old toothbrush and told me to sort of flick the toothbrush so a cloud of powder lands on the back of the roach. Don't kill the roach, they told me, but let the roach then take it back to their friends. So imagine if you will, me, armed with a toothbrush and a bag of white powder, with a determined look on my face, ready to hunt. Before last night, I didn't want to see them. Oh but now, I wanted them all to come out. This battle has reached a new level since one of them came into bed with me a couple nights ago. So I "powdered" a bunch of them last night. And went to sleep peacefully. This morning I woke up thinking I'd see maybe one or two, but not one single cockroach was in sight! Amazing. Now this evening I've seen a couple and they've been "powdered" already, but in general, there is a great decline in the population of cockroaches in this apartment. Hmmm...I hope my new apartment doesn't have any.

Speaking of new apartment, I hopefully will be going to look at one on Friday. If not this one, there are a few other possibilities.

Today, I painted at Second Methodist Church. That's where I went to church on Sunday and where the CEREIMI project is held. Nina and I painted and Jack, Walt and the Pastor worked on welding and other things. I like this dry heat WAY better than the humidity I'm accustomed to. In fact I'm rather enjoying the weather. But painting IN the sun, was exhausting. I was very good (*ahem* MOM) and kept sunblock on and only got a little pink on my face.

Oh, I don't think I've told y'all much details about what I'm going to be doing. Before I came, I had been given descriptions of three possibilities, but now I have a definite which is doing programming for the CEREIMI project. The kids go to the project after school and have lunch. I will be coordinating the activities they do after lunch and how many volunteers will be needed, etc. Probably arts and crafts type stuff, as space is limited. I'm waiting for the person who has the key to the closet where the supplies are, to return from vacation. A bunch of stuff has been donated and I'll go through it and see what I can come up with. The kids here are not in school b/c it's their summer. So the project doesn't start back up until March, and then it goes until December. I'm excited but very nervous too.

My Spanish is getting a little better. I'm afraid I'm going to lose my Portuguese though. I had my first class yesterday and I have my second class tomorrow.

That's all for now folks. I'll write more soon.