CR Update April 2008

Hi everybody:

I start my job in NYC on April 28th—the same place as last year—this time on the evening shift from 3p to midnight. In NY, which is constantly in motion this is fine and it means I have at least 5 hours of free time in the morning. I will stay with Muzich, my Turkish friend who has the jewelry store in Greenwich Village, at least initially. Joe will be coming out in mid-August and we are coming back to CR together on Sept 1st. We will likely visit Rochester, Boston, and NY and hope we will be able to see all our families and friends. I will see my family in CT next week.

My woman’s group is progressing, however slowly. The Harmony Hotel has agreed to buy us books. Since we have no staff yet, all work is done in people’s free time. When I am in NY, I will contact Planned Parenthood since I think they support efforts like ours. Our first grant application will likely be to the Global Alliance for Women since we meet most of their criteria.

We have had on again off again alternator problems with our car for the past few months. The dirt roads here are very hard on vehicles. The roads are scheduled to be paved next year and for us this will likely mean more people coming to the pub. I made mojitas last week--I finally figured out where to get mint. I used the recipe my friend Anne and I discovered in CA and it was a big hit—I sold 8 my first night but it took me so long to make them that Joe had to pour the beers. We have a new bartender starting next week.

There is a cowboy undercurrent to the culture here. Last week at the pub, several of our American surfer patrons got drunk and on their way out tried to steal a case of Stella. The bottom fell out of the case and they left a mess in the parking lot. We figured out who they were and I had planned to go to their work site to speak with them. However one of our regulars said: “You don’t have to deal with this—consider me your Black Sheep Security—I love this kind of stuff.” He went down to the Tropicana, our after hours disco bar in the town, began to rough up the wrong guy, got thrown out, and waited outside for the guys. In the meantime our bartender went in to tell the guys that they were being stalked. They managed to get home without a confrontation and the next day they came by, apologized, paid for the beer and cleaned up the mess.

Joe took a road trip last week with our friend Gunter to get the alternator fixed. Our gardener told me Joe looked very happy when he left and he thought it was because Joe was getting off the mountain and driving around like a tourist. Joe never leaves here so if you do visit, make sure Joe gets off the mountain but when you are on the mountain it is hard to leave—I am missing it already.

My next post will be from NYC—it is great I can get interesting temporary jobs and make some good money. Please stay in touch. Hope all are well. Love Helena and Joe