Materialism

I've been in the capital for the last couple of days taking care of some routine medical stuff and have been hit with materialism. I definitely am a budgeter (is that a word??) and try to save money and use it well. I don't leave my site with frequency like many of my fellow volunteers to go to the capital or the beach to go drinking. I do occasional trips to other parts of the country, but keep it to a minimum. I am a vegetarian, eat pretty healthy, and have a veggie garden so my food expenses aren't super high (though nuts here cost me an arm and a leg!). And I'm in my town's local savings group and try to put away $60 a month. (Just for reference, my monthly budget is $320.) When I go to the capital I make food at home and eat off of leftovers so I don't pay the outrageous prices in the capital. But I have noticed that it is so easy to be materialistic when material is presented.

I like my computer and my camera and I have an .mp3 player and plenty of clothes, though I've never considered myself truly materialistic. However, being in the capital around new clothes, new gadgets, and extravagant items makes me want, want, want. I even almost went to the movies last night even though I can buy movies here for a dollar and the hotel where I am staying has cable and I ended up watching a movie anyway. It is interesting to notice that when it is accessible and available it is of interest. Out in the campo, where I don't have a lot of things around to buy, I don't have the craving or the necessity to buy. Thankfully, my lack of cash kept me strapped and didn't allow me to buy unnecessary items. Plus, I had to make sure to save enough money to get to the airport to pick up my sister and her boyfriend! (They are bringing me some of those missed materials from the States too...that helps cut my costs.)

In other news, I'm trying to stay busy. My youth group finished two murals a couple of weeks ago and they look great and the youth are proud of their work. We are now working on making flowers out of plastic bottles to sell to locals to put on graves of loved ones for the Day of the Dead. I'll be teaching them how to make them coming up this week.

Mural 1, Environmental: "Protecting the environment together is saving everyone's lives."

Mural 2, Non-Violence: "United for a country without violence." (More youth worked on the murals but they were all too shy to appear in the photo. We had about 20 total volunteers.)