MCM

Not too much to write about for today. I went to Spanish class as usual and received a free gym membership to Pure, a gym and spa (mostly spa - there didn’t seem to be much gym equipment). We persuaded Barney to take us on a tour to Pure during the second half of class, and it seemed pretty impressive. Lots of buddha statues, gringo couples lounging around. You can get an hour massage for about 25 dollars here...I think I might go for something the last week we’re here. A manicure, pedicure, hour massage, and facial is around 40$. You should come here, Mama!

During our lessons in the afternoon, we went over the micro consignment model, which it turns out, is very cleverly designed in my opinion and DOES address a real need. I’m not sure how “sustainable” the model really can be, because it strikes me as a conscientious effort to address a need that rational businesspeople would never take up, for good reason. If I have time (which I probably won’t), I’ll give an explanation of micro consignment, one that is much shorter than the one Tim gave us. Just google “MCM” or “microconsignment model” and you should get to our home page. 

However clever the model is, we took about two hours to go over it. I understand that the model needs to be very clearly explained to all of us and each of its features explicitly defined, no matter how commonsensical MCM might be. Two hours was overkill in my opinion, and many of the people in the group have seemed to resent the threeish hours of class we have every afternoon with Tim. True, a lot of the information is intuitive, and true, we’ll probably only really learn once we go out into the field and learn these things ourselves and see the impact with our very own eyes. I do believe, however, that there is merit in clearly laying out every step of the process, even the process of building up a group of entrepreneurs, because there are a host of unforeseen complications that accompany any step as easy as publicizing an event. When you’re working with communities two hours away, with no car or means of individual transportation and with women who have usually only been housewives in the past, things can get hairy. 

I got to know Marisol, my housemate, a little bit better last night. We went out with a few of her friends in the program she is doing. While she is from Quebec and primarily speaks French, the rest of the people in her program are from the University of Wisconsin. They were very easy to get along with; we headed out to a cafe/bar very close to where I live; one of the guys in our group is in love with the owner of the cafe, Lucy, and his very apparent shyness is hilarious. Lucy meanwhile, speaks great English and is sassy as can be. I was pretty impressed by some of the work the people were doing. One guy in particular, Andrew, is working here for eight weeks with a zapatero named Alejandro and four “bums,” as he describes them. Together with a grad student, he’s trying to consult them and to provide the necessary guidance to start their own show business. While Alejandro got great praise for his acumen and shoe-making skill, his buddies are vagos who recently ended up in the hospital after getting stabbed by beer bottles in a fight...so we’ll see how successful the business venture ends up. 

Other exciting news is that I got my first papaya last night! I tried one here, and it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. The luscious red chunks just melt in your mouth...I literally ran out of the house to go to the supermarket to buy one after Maria Jose gave me a piece to try. Marisol came with me, and one the way back was majorly hit on by a pretty brassy Nicaraguan lady. I found the whole thing hilarious. 

Putting the papaya back in the fridge...which turned out to be a mistake, because  it apparently slows down the ripening process.

Goodnight!