Our Gero Research group met at Café Rainbow this morning to continue going over our notes. I won’t bore you with the details, but rather tell you that it’s tedious and sort of boring. We read, then ask questions, then read again. We end up with an endless supply of questions, and no real answers because we’re observers of this culture and can only make general theories about what goes on here and why. We don’t entirely know the whole story for sure though- hence all the questions.
After lunch, we met with the Gero Practice group to ask them some of our many questions and then they presented us with follow up questions. This is what qualitative research is like. We try to get to the bottom of things and just when we think we’re there, we realize we have so much further to dig!
My new housemate Sharon and I decided that we would celebrate our house dad, Nacho’s, birthday tonight since it is tomorrow and some of the other students will be away. During lunch, we asked Nacho what his favorite cake is, and he said tiramisu. So after our meeting this afternoon (Sharon is in the Gero Practice group), we went on a mad search for tiramisu in Antigua. After checking a few reposterias, we found a tray of Nacho’s favorite dessert at a cute place near the park called Café Condessa. It came in a Pyrex baking dish which we had to leave a deposit for and promise to return, but it was well worth it.
Dinner time is 7pm and we arrived in time for our Chile Rellenos but Nacho was nowhere to be found. His wife suspected he was out celebrating, but he walked in the door 25 min late with a fresh pineapple and crema de coco (coconut cream) to make us fresh pina coladas! Here is was his birthday and he was so concerned about having a cute girly drink for us. They were the best pina coladas I’ve ever had! Afterward we sang happy birthday to Nacho (who is 65), and his friend came over to drink some more. I went to bed, but I heard them celebrating until well into the morning.
