Ranting and Raving.

OK, so as I've mentioned, there is a ton of drama at the comedor within the women's group. It has gotten ridiculous. Tuesday night there was a meeting with the women's group and the neighborhood commission. All of the ladies were complaining about one woman who, of course, wasn't there. They were just plain bitching about her. Petty nonsense. This lady can definitely be a bit crazy at times, but so can a LOT of the other ladies AND she has done a great deal of work on the comedor and with a pharmacy in my neighborhood. Finally, someone asked me what I thought. I had been sitting there silently gawking the entire meeting up to this point. And then I let it go. Paraguay is a very tranquilo, indirect, gossipy culture. I went on a rant about how the problem isn't this one particular lady, but the fact that no one can talk openly and directly to other people in the comedor, that they'd rather gossip than actually try to work together, that they see no problem bitching about or fighting with each other in front of the 60 kids that we serve. I said my biggest frustration was the inability to act like adults and keep the goal (feeding all those kids) in mind. One woman tried to say that I was just saying this because I was on the side of the other woman, completely ignoring my comments. She also said, "You practically have your college degree", and I interrupted, pointing out that I do not "practically" have it--I do. So now this lady is pissed at me. Fine. I think she's a bit crazy and more of the problem than anyone else. But THEN today the first lady who was singled out (and not at this meeting) called me into her pharmacy, began to cry, and asked why I hadn't said anything to defend her. I honestly don't even know how to deal with this situation. Both sides think I'm on the opposite side simply because I refuse to pick sides in their bullshit argument in which both parties are WAY off base. It is driving me insane. In-effing-sane.

Anyway, that is really all I have to report. I've been enjoying my time with kids a great deal this week, doing a bunch of reading projects, playing a lot of Uno, throwing the frisbee around, thinking about getting a puppy, and trying to figure out where to put this library since there is no possible way it'll work out with this women's group or the neighborhood commission in that part of my site. Goodness.