Saturday, November 18, 2006
Una maestra de ingles (an english teacher)
I am a terrible teacher. Terrible. They sit there and stare at me. I hate being stared at. Alright, that was the first class, the second class was better. On Monday (the first class) I started with the alphabet and didn’t really know where to go from there. After you go through the alphabet twice with words, sounds and all….what do you do? I went through some phrases and then the class was over….it was a little short. Wednesday’s class was better, but still short. I’m using Wed classes to review Monday’s class. I made up a quiz consisting of matching the letter to the sound, small translations and answering simple questions….I then split them into three groups and made it a competition! It was awesome. I brought chocolate as the grand prize. They all had a good time. But I really have to try to extend the class time…maybe that will happen naturally as the material gets harder. I think for next week’s numbers we’ll play bingo.
Nada Mucho
Not too much to report this week. Over the weekend I checked out a pupusa festival since it was the national día de las pupusas. A pupusa, in case you are wondering, is a corn tortilla stuffed with beans (refried variety), cheese, pork or a combo of the aforementioned. They are usually served with a tomato salsa and cortijo (not sure if that is the proper spelling). Cortijo is kinda like coleslaw, but not really.
Anyway, it was up at Rachael’s site…so we hung out. She gave me brownies! She so good. And then we went to a correo de cintas. I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but if you’ve forgotten, it is when they string a line across a dirt road and put a piece a fabric with a loop at the end on the line. Guys then charge at the line on horseback with a small stick (kinda like a chopstick) and attempt to catch the loop with the stick. It’s actually impressive to see when they catch it. Otherwise, it’s just guys playing around on horseback.
I also went to a training with Olivia about environmental stuff. She is the environmental person within the Alcaldia, it’s a new position. I got up at 4:30am to go to this training….when did we leave? 6:30 am. I won’t go into it, just know that was a little frustrating. The training itself was tiring. I was able to follow most of what the presenter was saying, but I didn’t catch the jokes…and there were a lot of jokes. He used slang and double meanings for words that I don’t know in the first place. But, it was at the Holiday Inn and the food was well worth it. We had a three course lunch that consisted of a wonderful salad (laugh away Jenny), a nice beef main course and a dessert. The dessert wasn’t all that fabulous. But the snack at 3 was divine!
On a sadder note, this past weekend my refrigerator decided it no longer wanted to work. I miss it terribly, but am thankful that it is under a three year warranty. YEY! The only problem is I don’t know when they are going to get out here to fix it. Errrr….
Anyway, it was up at Rachael’s site…so we hung out. She gave me brownies! She so good. And then we went to a correo de cintas. I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but if you’ve forgotten, it is when they string a line across a dirt road and put a piece a fabric with a loop at the end on the line. Guys then charge at the line on horseback with a small stick (kinda like a chopstick) and attempt to catch the loop with the stick. It’s actually impressive to see when they catch it. Otherwise, it’s just guys playing around on horseback.
I also went to a training with Olivia about environmental stuff. She is the environmental person within the Alcaldia, it’s a new position. I got up at 4:30am to go to this training….when did we leave? 6:30 am. I won’t go into it, just know that was a little frustrating. The training itself was tiring. I was able to follow most of what the presenter was saying, but I didn’t catch the jokes…and there were a lot of jokes. He used slang and double meanings for words that I don’t know in the first place. But, it was at the Holiday Inn and the food was well worth it. We had a three course lunch that consisted of a wonderful salad (laugh away Jenny), a nice beef main course and a dessert. The dessert wasn’t all that fabulous. But the snack at 3 was divine!
On a sadder note, this past weekend my refrigerator decided it no longer wanted to work. I miss it terribly, but am thankful that it is under a three year warranty. YEY! The only problem is I don’t know when they are going to get out here to fix it. Errrr….
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
General Stuff
Ant bites hurt. They´re not like mosquitos. Mosquitos bite and then run, ants just hold on and wait for you to kill them. And their bit just plain hurts.
I have a colony of ants I allow to live because we have an informal agreement (informal because they obviously don´t know about it and are kept in check by me) that they stay on one side of the pila and can eat what they find in the trash and in the pila....nothing else. So, when a second colony showed up, they were killed off because they dis-obeyed the aforementioned rules of the game.
On a different note, I am completely addicted to La Fea Mas Bella or Ugly Betty for you folks up in the good ol´ US of A. It´s kinda sad how addicted I really am, I have to watch it every night and if my ususal place isn´t avaible, I hunt down another.
Then there is Iris. Iris and I are hanging out every day and it is my go to spot for when I´m bored or lonely. She´s awesome. We talk, dance, and occasionally cook with disasterious results (I failed to buy the proper flour for the pizza crust.....). I think I´ll be spending Christmas Eve with her. We´re going to cook and chill...hopefully without disasterious results.
Speaking of Christmas...the town hall is all decorated. I was kinda sad when they started, but then I got up and started to help....it made me feel better. It´s kinda wierd to think of Christmas in 80 degree + weather. But, I´ll manage. We originally put ribbon around some of the desks of people... when I walked in this morning they were taking it down. I thought the grinch and come to town and told them to take it down...but a girl was just taking it home to iron it. It is really wrinkly or maybe that is just an excuse and they didn´t like the design.....only time will tell.
Alright...that about all for now. Later!
I have a colony of ants I allow to live because we have an informal agreement (informal because they obviously don´t know about it and are kept in check by me) that they stay on one side of the pila and can eat what they find in the trash and in the pila....nothing else. So, when a second colony showed up, they were killed off because they dis-obeyed the aforementioned rules of the game.
On a different note, I am completely addicted to La Fea Mas Bella or Ugly Betty for you folks up in the good ol´ US of A. It´s kinda sad how addicted I really am, I have to watch it every night and if my ususal place isn´t avaible, I hunt down another.
Then there is Iris. Iris and I are hanging out every day and it is my go to spot for when I´m bored or lonely. She´s awesome. We talk, dance, and occasionally cook with disasterious results (I failed to buy the proper flour for the pizza crust.....). I think I´ll be spending Christmas Eve with her. We´re going to cook and chill...hopefully without disasterious results.
Speaking of Christmas...the town hall is all decorated. I was kinda sad when they started, but then I got up and started to help....it made me feel better. It´s kinda wierd to think of Christmas in 80 degree + weather. But, I´ll manage. We originally put ribbon around some of the desks of people... when I walked in this morning they were taking it down. I thought the grinch and come to town and told them to take it down...but a girl was just taking it home to iron it. It is really wrinkly or maybe that is just an excuse and they didn´t like the design.....only time will tell.
Alright...that about all for now. Later!
Shakira
That’s right, I went to see Shakira in El Salvador on November 6th and it was awesome!
My fun started on Sunday when I got my ass on a bus and went to the capitol. Of course I chatted with Rachael the entire way since she was going with me. We hopped off the bus and went for the office…or at least I did, Rachael never made it past Shaws (Shaws is a restaurant/café hang out with free wireless internet), probably because she brought her laptop with her. After a quick run to the office to drop off books and use the internet, I was back at Shaws for lunch. They had a nice chicken pot pie. The crust was more doughy then flaky…but I can handle it. Then it was then time to go to the pool! The Sheraton Presidente allows Peace Corps volunteers to use the gym, lockers and pool. So, I lied down and bathed by a beautiful big pool. It was wonderful. We also got to see the doors to the room where Shakira was staying! Wow, that sounds a little pathetic...but it was cool at the time.
It was then off to the Estancia for dinner and relaxing. The Estancia is a hostel down here that all volunteers used…and it was packed. It was almost full Sunday night, but for Monday night there was no room. I mean even the couches were reserved. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Sunday night was just spent eating pizza, watching a movie (paradise now. It's about a suicide bomber…it was actually quite interesting, I recommend it), and just chatting.
Monday…what a beautiful day. I got up lazily and had my normal in capitol breakfast of a doughnut and a V8 fruit splash (I like to think of it as a balanced meal). I spend the day mostly with Christina (another new muni). We started off with the aforementioned breakfast, then moved onto shopping (I found a yoga matt! And she got her gaudy gold earrings) and then finally back to that beautiful pool. What can I say, it was sweet to just bask on one of the cushioned beach chairs (the type you can lie down on – I forget their name…I’m losing English vocabulary as I gain Spanish vocab).
After all that we headed back to the Estancia to get ready for el concierto de Shakira! I swear I have never seen so many volunteers in one spot. Some of us headed out at around 6 to go wait in line. Thank God I picked up some dinner along the way. That line did not move and I think it was because of all the people cutting in. Not that I can criticize cause we allowed quite a few volunteers to cut in line. We finally got in a little after 8:30. The opening act was a dj who just spun techno the entire time. It wasn’t bad, but a little weak. Shakira finally made it to the stage at around 9:20ish? She was great and mixed up her new stuff with her old stuff. The way she dances made all the girls jealous and the boys crazy. My two favourite songs she saved for last as an on chore. People don’t scream here as they should for on chores…though occasionally a bunch started in with ´otra!´ which means another in this instance. Still, she did come out and it was great. After the concert a bunch of us met up at Wendy´s (we somehow got separated into groups once we entered the stadium…imagine that). I love midnight frosties. Then it was time for bed…I have an early bed time here.
Tuesday was a long day of travelling. I had my breakfast…hmm…doughnuts, and went to the office. I dropped off forms and headed to shaws. It turns out Shaws has english muffins….an essential ingredient in english muffin pizzas. I then hopped on the bus and got my butt home for a meeting and softball….both of which got rained out. All well!
My fun started on Sunday when I got my ass on a bus and went to the capitol. Of course I chatted with Rachael the entire way since she was going with me. We hopped off the bus and went for the office…or at least I did, Rachael never made it past Shaws (Shaws is a restaurant/café hang out with free wireless internet), probably because she brought her laptop with her. After a quick run to the office to drop off books and use the internet, I was back at Shaws for lunch. They had a nice chicken pot pie. The crust was more doughy then flaky…but I can handle it. Then it was then time to go to the pool! The Sheraton Presidente allows Peace Corps volunteers to use the gym, lockers and pool. So, I lied down and bathed by a beautiful big pool. It was wonderful. We also got to see the doors to the room where Shakira was staying! Wow, that sounds a little pathetic...but it was cool at the time.
It was then off to the Estancia for dinner and relaxing. The Estancia is a hostel down here that all volunteers used…and it was packed. It was almost full Sunday night, but for Monday night there was no room. I mean even the couches were reserved. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Sunday night was just spent eating pizza, watching a movie (paradise now. It's about a suicide bomber…it was actually quite interesting, I recommend it), and just chatting.
Monday…what a beautiful day. I got up lazily and had my normal in capitol breakfast of a doughnut and a V8 fruit splash (I like to think of it as a balanced meal). I spend the day mostly with Christina (another new muni). We started off with the aforementioned breakfast, then moved onto shopping (I found a yoga matt! And she got her gaudy gold earrings) and then finally back to that beautiful pool. What can I say, it was sweet to just bask on one of the cushioned beach chairs (the type you can lie down on – I forget their name…I’m losing English vocabulary as I gain Spanish vocab).
After all that we headed back to the Estancia to get ready for el concierto de Shakira! I swear I have never seen so many volunteers in one spot. Some of us headed out at around 6 to go wait in line. Thank God I picked up some dinner along the way. That line did not move and I think it was because of all the people cutting in. Not that I can criticize cause we allowed quite a few volunteers to cut in line. We finally got in a little after 8:30. The opening act was a dj who just spun techno the entire time. It wasn’t bad, but a little weak. Shakira finally made it to the stage at around 9:20ish? She was great and mixed up her new stuff with her old stuff. The way she dances made all the girls jealous and the boys crazy. My two favourite songs she saved for last as an on chore. People don’t scream here as they should for on chores…though occasionally a bunch started in with ´otra!´ which means another in this instance. Still, she did come out and it was great. After the concert a bunch of us met up at Wendy´s (we somehow got separated into groups once we entered the stadium…imagine that). I love midnight frosties. Then it was time for bed…I have an early bed time here.
Tuesday was a long day of travelling. I had my breakfast…hmm…doughnuts, and went to the office. I dropped off forms and headed to shaws. It turns out Shaws has english muffins….an essential ingredient in english muffin pizzas. I then hopped on the bus and got my butt home for a meeting and softball….both of which got rained out. All well!
Halloween
It was off to celebrate Halloween this past weekend in San Vicente…home of the trainees (even though no trainee attended). I got going Saturday morning after a quick visit to Rachael’s site…she seemed to need a visit. Some garbage project in need of more help. I was initially supposed to stay and help with a garbage pickup, but she could tell I really didn’t want to be there, so she let me go. Yey!
After about 4 ½ hours of bussing fun, I finally arrived in San Vicente and promptly checked into the wrong hotel. Apparently I never got the memo about the switch. After I found out about the switch I was able to get my money back and move to the proper hotel. It was then time to eat! San Vicente just happened to be having a food festival in the park. So, I met up with two other volunteers that had arrived and chowed down on some local cuisine. I must say, the goat roasting away was disturbing…it still had it's head and eyes. Ewww. But, the food was great (It's kinda funny how I know crave some local food, like the tortillas…but I’m not quite doing the whole beans thing yet.) and we chilled with a Salvadorian friend, he is the owner of the bar where we had the party. After that it was off to walk around town and find an internet place with Stephanie. All of them were closed…but we only found this out after walking in the rain for about ½ an hour. We then walked to the bar in the rain (why not, we were already soaked) in order to help set up for the party. Nobody was at the bar yet to let us in…so we stood there until some nice Salvadorans let us wait in their house…away from the rain. They even gave us towels to dry off with and clean our glasses. Once the other volunteers and the bar owner came, we just talked and carved watermelons! They came out awesome and it was mad fun to do. I might carve one for Halloween. Then it was to the hotel…finally…to get ready for the party. Since I had been carrying my backpack with me during the day, it to was soaked along with pretty much all my stuff. But my costume wasn’t to badly damaged and so I got ready.
After getting ready, we headed back to the bar, finished up the preparations and then went back to the park to hunt down some dinner. I have to remember that down here things with names from taco bell aren’t what is cooked at taco bell. But, again I was please with what I found. We also picked up some snacks and liquor at the local supermarket. The owner of the bar didn’t really have liquor stocked, mostly just beer, so he said we could bring our own. Which was cool of him. Then the party started.
Everyone just started showing up at the bar, though in the end there weren’t too many of us. I was a schoolgirl this Halloween and even got my outfit from a real schoolgirl. Others were a butterfly, a tick, a punker, a muumuu (think homer simpson), black eyed peas (literally, girls with black eyes and P´s taped to their shirts) and just random things. Two of the guys shaved their heads into Mohawks. But, some of the ladies forgot their costumes on the bus and so we had some normally dressed people as well. It was great to see everyone and we just hung around and talked for most of the night. I enjoyed seeing everyone, getting out of my site and speaking English. During the party there were some down points. The first being that the person who was suppose to buy my Shakira ticket either did and gave it away or never bought it…so now I have to hunt one down. The second thing being that along with the volunteers were a bunch of unknown Salvadorans. That sounds so wrong, but it is only because we know the owner and were cool with the owner´s friends, but others showed up that neither us nor the owner knew…so, by the end of the night my little money thing went missing along with the $30 inside of it. I was a little peeved. But, another girl had her digital camera stolen…so I guess I was lucky. I was mostly mad at myself for letting my bag out of my site. But, friends took pity on me and bought me a few beers.
So, after the party we headed back to the hotel at around 1:30ish or earlier. Now, my Irish/German blood lines are wasted on me because no matter how little I drink I always feel ill afterward. So, at about 4am my stomach decided it was time for me to wake up and spend the rest of the night awake. That made me pretty miserable for Sunday’s trip back to my site. Which I had to do in semi wet jeans. I had only brought one pair of jeans and they got soaked the day before in the rain and didn’t have time to fully dry over night. The bright side was I got some reading done.
I did make a quick stop into the main office on my trip back to my site. I was a good little citizen and mailed my absentee ballot from the office on Sunday. The office can send these things via the embassy and their mail is quicker then regular mail…so I’m hopeful it will arrive on time. Though, I must say it looked like hell after spending the weekend in my backpack, but I think it’ll still count.
After about 4 ½ hours of bussing fun, I finally arrived in San Vicente and promptly checked into the wrong hotel. Apparently I never got the memo about the switch. After I found out about the switch I was able to get my money back and move to the proper hotel. It was then time to eat! San Vicente just happened to be having a food festival in the park. So, I met up with two other volunteers that had arrived and chowed down on some local cuisine. I must say, the goat roasting away was disturbing…it still had it's head and eyes. Ewww. But, the food was great (It's kinda funny how I know crave some local food, like the tortillas…but I’m not quite doing the whole beans thing yet.) and we chilled with a Salvadorian friend, he is the owner of the bar where we had the party. After that it was off to walk around town and find an internet place with Stephanie. All of them were closed…but we only found this out after walking in the rain for about ½ an hour. We then walked to the bar in the rain (why not, we were already soaked) in order to help set up for the party. Nobody was at the bar yet to let us in…so we stood there until some nice Salvadorans let us wait in their house…away from the rain. They even gave us towels to dry off with and clean our glasses. Once the other volunteers and the bar owner came, we just talked and carved watermelons! They came out awesome and it was mad fun to do. I might carve one for Halloween. Then it was to the hotel…finally…to get ready for the party. Since I had been carrying my backpack with me during the day, it to was soaked along with pretty much all my stuff. But my costume wasn’t to badly damaged and so I got ready.
After getting ready, we headed back to the bar, finished up the preparations and then went back to the park to hunt down some dinner. I have to remember that down here things with names from taco bell aren’t what is cooked at taco bell. But, again I was please with what I found. We also picked up some snacks and liquor at the local supermarket. The owner of the bar didn’t really have liquor stocked, mostly just beer, so he said we could bring our own. Which was cool of him. Then the party started.
Everyone just started showing up at the bar, though in the end there weren’t too many of us. I was a schoolgirl this Halloween and even got my outfit from a real schoolgirl. Others were a butterfly, a tick, a punker, a muumuu (think homer simpson), black eyed peas (literally, girls with black eyes and P´s taped to their shirts) and just random things. Two of the guys shaved their heads into Mohawks. But, some of the ladies forgot their costumes on the bus and so we had some normally dressed people as well. It was great to see everyone and we just hung around and talked for most of the night. I enjoyed seeing everyone, getting out of my site and speaking English. During the party there were some down points. The first being that the person who was suppose to buy my Shakira ticket either did and gave it away or never bought it…so now I have to hunt one down. The second thing being that along with the volunteers were a bunch of unknown Salvadorans. That sounds so wrong, but it is only because we know the owner and were cool with the owner´s friends, but others showed up that neither us nor the owner knew…so, by the end of the night my little money thing went missing along with the $30 inside of it. I was a little peeved. But, another girl had her digital camera stolen…so I guess I was lucky. I was mostly mad at myself for letting my bag out of my site. But, friends took pity on me and bought me a few beers.
So, after the party we headed back to the hotel at around 1:30ish or earlier. Now, my Irish/German blood lines are wasted on me because no matter how little I drink I always feel ill afterward. So, at about 4am my stomach decided it was time for me to wake up and spend the rest of the night awake. That made me pretty miserable for Sunday’s trip back to my site. Which I had to do in semi wet jeans. I had only brought one pair of jeans and they got soaked the day before in the rain and didn’t have time to fully dry over night. The bright side was I got some reading done.
I did make a quick stop into the main office on my trip back to my site. I was a good little citizen and mailed my absentee ballot from the office on Sunday. The office can send these things via the embassy and their mail is quicker then regular mail…so I’m hopeful it will arrive on time. Though, I must say it looked like hell after spending the weekend in my backpack, but I think it’ll still count.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Dia de los Muertos
Or ¨Day of the Dead¨ is a Latin American holiday celebrated on the 1st and 2nd of November. During these days, family members of the deceased go to the cemetary and take care of the graves of their loved ones. They clean and repaint the headstones, sweep the grave (if it is covered in cement or tile) or reform the dirt mound, and then finally decorate it with flowers and candles. The 1st of the month is ususally in remeberance of children and the 2nd for adults.
I went with Iris, Rafael, and other family members up to the cemetary. It was almost festive with people decorating, selling food and drinks. Iris went to decorate the graves of Niña Chella´s parents (I don´t know how to spell her name, but Iris´s mother in law), a sibling of Don Justo and the brother of Rafael (Rafael is her husband, son of Don Justo the Mayor). Apparently he was a twin, but the brother died several days after they were born.
The cemetary itself was very different. There seemed to be graves everywhere (yes, I am aware of what a cemetary is). It was just a little more disorganized and I hated the feeling of stepping on someone´s grave. But, it was also more cared after and you could see the old flowers from previous visits along side fresh flowers.
In all we were only there for about a 1/2 an hour, but it was nice. Iris was surprised that we don´t have an equivilant holiday up in the United States....I think I´ll have to agree with her on this one.
Anywho, that´s all for now.
I went with Iris, Rafael, and other family members up to the cemetary. It was almost festive with people decorating, selling food and drinks. Iris went to decorate the graves of Niña Chella´s parents (I don´t know how to spell her name, but Iris´s mother in law), a sibling of Don Justo and the brother of Rafael (Rafael is her husband, son of Don Justo the Mayor). Apparently he was a twin, but the brother died several days after they were born.
The cemetary itself was very different. There seemed to be graves everywhere (yes, I am aware of what a cemetary is). It was just a little more disorganized and I hated the feeling of stepping on someone´s grave. But, it was also more cared after and you could see the old flowers from previous visits along side fresh flowers.
In all we were only there for about a 1/2 an hour, but it was nice. Iris was surprised that we don´t have an equivilant holiday up in the United States....I think I´ll have to agree with her on this one.
Anywho, that´s all for now.
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