Settling Back In

I gotta say, things feel like they are moving pretty slowly. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t gotten back into the swing of things. Or maybe it’s that the large chunk of the artisan projects is finished, so I’m not running around as much. All well – just means I’ve been reading a little more.

On Monday I went out to Caulote (a canton of my municipality) to check out a school that had been damaged by the fierce winds that had ripped through town. We didn’t have a key to get into the school, but easily found a spot where the fence was lifted sufficiently. Somehow a gordita joke was told….I wasn’t pleased. Afterward, we took the truck and checked out the new road that was being built. It’s a dirt road and hasn’t been leveled out very well. Thus, we got stuck at the bottom of a hill and couldn’t get the truck out. Two guys finally came along and stood in the back of the truck to give it the extra weight it needed. Before the guys came, they driver way eying Heidy and I to stand in the back. I won’t comment further.

There is also an English/Lebanese artist visiting my community, I believe in search of inspiration. I won’t talk too much about her since she’s not my type of person, but I’m hopeful she can teach my artisans a thing or two before she leaves.

I’ve also introduced Rummicube to my Salvo friends and they are utterly addicted. I mean scary sort of addicted. Last night I was challenged by Iris’s husband to a few games – thankfully, I kicked his little ass to the curb. Bwa ha ha ha.

Otherwise, there isn’t too much going on. For now, I’ll aprovechar (take advantage of) the free time and start studying for the Foreign Service exam. (Thanks for the book PJ!)

Back down to the Guzman

It was a long flight down to El Salvador next to the crying baby in the middle seat – not that I’m complaining. The mother was nice; I just wasn’t in any mood to be sitting there. Thankfully, though, I was able to sleep most of the way.

I got down there, swung through customs and then grabbed my luggage (the last off the stupid carrousel) on my way to the taxi stand. I love the shuttle - $3 instead of $20…badass. After all that fun, I finally found my way to the hostel. I’m glad I got there early, ‘cause by night time it was packed. Anyway, at this point I was feeling introverted ‘cause I had just spent the last two weeks with people but I still had to be nice. Though, I really didn’t go out when they did. Oops.

So, soon enough is was Thursday and time to head back to the Santo. Don Justo was confused and instead of my ride getting there at 9am, he got there close to 11:30ish. All good. I should note at this time that the new town driver is a nice guy and not too bad of a driver – way less scary then the previous one.

Anyway, we were driving along when he told me that it had been incredibly windy the last few days and thus there was no power in the pueblo. Damn. Sure enough, the closer we got to the town, the more downed trees and lines we saw.

I finally got home, opened the door and saw the incredible amount of dust that had piled everywhere. You seen, the windy season here happens during the dry season – thus an incredible amount of dust and dirt gets whipped around and deposited in my house. I cannot go into how gross it was. I decided not to dwell on it – instead I dropped my luggage off and ran over to say hi to Iris, Sonia and the rest of the gang. Yup – I was even fed lunch!

I stayed with each for a little while before heading back to the house to start the cleaning. Iris said I should wait for the wind to die down – but I told her I just couldn’t live with it that filthy. It was just a light straightening up – taking the stuff I had brought inside back outside, changing my sheets (covered in dust) and that’s about it.

I believe that night I just hung out with Iris at her house and stole some more food for dinner. I also gave out Christmas presents. They loved them all.

A side note: The power outage did not affect the cantina or the drunkards that visit it. There were about 8 drunkards all huddled around a candle the last time I checked.

The next day I really went to work and scrubbed down the house. I’ll probably have to do it again this week to finish up what dust settled after the cleaning. So gross. Anyway, to mop the place I throw rags over a broom type thing. I had finished with one rag and brought it over to the sink to clean it out. Apparently – while I wasn’t looking – a scorpion snuck into the rag. I took one look at him, then looked over at a large rock at my feet…well…you can put 2 + 2 together.

Completely off track for the moment:

As I’m writing this blog entry, I’m also watching the guys of the office take down the Christmas lights. Apparently, they weren’t sure whether the wires were live or not – so they just lightly touched they’re screwdriver to them. I love it down here.

Back to coming back.

That night we all just chilled at Sonia’s house – it was too scary to be alone. Let me tell ya – a black out with that strong of wind when you’re alone is scary as hell. I also knew that if I chilled at Sonia’s house long enough, she would offer me dinner…and she did. It was good. We then played cards to 8:30ish when I went home. Ricardo, her son, was nice enough to walk me home.

Saturday is when I taught Mayra Rummikub. I’ve failed to note that Mayra is recovering from surgery. While I was away, her appendix exploded and she was rushed into emergency surgery. Thankfully, she survived, but I believe it was close for a while. Anyway, she is now addicted to the game and hunts me down to play for hours at a time. I’m teaching others as well so that she can pick on them too.

During the afternoon, some kids were parading around the town with the adults dancing if you paid a small contribution. Iris and I did and saw the little kids do their normal dance routine. I think I have it memorized at this point.

That night was similar to the previous night – only this time someone came during dinner to ask if the mayor was around….something about needing a coffin for someone who had just passed away. This isn’t uncommon- I know of Don Justo paying for the coffins of others. Sometimes the families just can’t afford it themselves and as Mayor he takes the responsibility on himself.

Sunday around 4am the power came back on – how do I know? I had accidentally left my lights on and thus got a nice wake up call. Though, I won’t complain too much…I love electricity. I finally got to go food shopping, since I refused to go until there was power.

That night was the annual cross dressing event on the Epiphany. What?! It’s when about 20 – 30 guys of the community get dressed up as women and monsters and go around the community dancing for $.50/song. I have no idea why they do it on the Epiphany. It’s fun to watch for a little while, but I can’t follow it for the entire parade.

That brings me to Monday and my first day back at work. I just checked in on projects and worked at updating info. So far, so good.

I also found out that the gossip on the street was how ‘gordita’ I got while in the US. For those that don’t know gordita = little fat. Nice.

December Vacation!

I believe I left off talking about driving up on the 23rd and finishing the drive on the 24th.

I should note that this will only be a short review of events – since the majority of people who read this blog were also the people present at the events.

I should also note that it was quite hectic – I think I only stayed in one place for more then a night twice….so things may get confusing.

Since Maryann was unable to get home for Christmas, we decided to celebrate with the Wenglers! We enjoyed scrumptious fair (I definitely ate to must during the entire vacation) and some good time with the fam.

We headed out mid-day on the 25th for the Ehlen’s place. Again – fabulous food and good times with the fam. I also saw my puppy there – she didn’t recognize me! It was kinda depressing. I think after a few days she figured it out. It was here that I set-up base camp – that is, I left all my stuff there and only took what I needed with me. Thank you Aunt Liz!

Again, the next day we were off to Grandma’s! Here we spent two nights. It was also here that I saw all my littler cousins – none of which were little anymore. Quite depressing. They all tried to say I was now the shortest of them all – I corrected them and said Maryann was the shortest and dared them to mock her. :o)

It was also where I ran into more chickens. Apparently my uncle now has chickens. I promptly told him I did not fly over 5 hours and drive 2 more to see more chickens.

The next day was spent shopping with the parents – my last day of pillaging. I picked up some last minute food items, a fan for the laptop (I didn’t want this one to fry like the last one) and some other smaller things.

That night (I believe this is the night of the 27th) I got a Swedish massage. Thank You Aunt Joanne! The masseuse tried as hard as he could, and he did an awesome job, but he just couldn’t get all the knots out….they’re pretty vicious. After that, I went back to Grandma’s for dinner…I really did eat way to much during the vacation.

Friday we headed back down to Aunt Liz’s where my parents dropped me off (after lunch of course) and they started their trip to SC. I chilled in the house and chit chatted with Tory and Obie. I also pillaged some movies from Obie. Yey.

Saturday I went into the city and met up with friends! Tory and I met up first and stood in the discount ticket line for no apparent reason. Got off the line, got a small snack. Enter Mena, Chris and Shawn. We again went on the line, bought tickets for Avenue Q and then hit up a diner. It turned out to be a great day. Tory stayed with us up until the show, then she went to go visit other friends. Avenue Q is a great show and I hightly recommend it. Afterward, we hit up Juniors and divided a 6” cheesecake between us. It was soooo good. We then decided we would hit up dinner in Chinatown, and since we were so full and it was early, we would walk there. That’s right – from Broadway to Chinatown. My feet were hurting in the end, but it was well worth the food. It was after dinner that we went our separate ways. It was a great day and thanks to those who made it in!

That night I went back to Aunt Liz’s where David and Jenny swung by to pick me up. They came by around 12ish? Maybe a little later? Anyway, I got to their house and crashed.

Sunday was just us messing around the house, doing some shopping (no – I don’t believe I got anything) and …eating! We went to the Cheesecake Factory where the waiter thought he was funny by handing me the check at the end – if only he knew what I do for a living. It was just nice to hang out with the two of them. I also took advantage of two things A - took a nice long hot bath, I miss those and B – had David figure out a way to delete most of the repeat songs I had on my hard drive….there were a lot.

New Year’s Eve David had to work – so Jenny and I cooked all day long. Yes, I helped. I tasted everything. That evening was a small get together (Jenny’s bro, a couple and another friend). It was nice and quite. Though, at around 10ish we realized that there wasn’t enough beer. They all started talking about how more was needed – and then they brought it to my attention that I was the only one who hadn’t started drinking yet. Yup – I drove after a year and a half of not doing so….it was fun.

I guess that brings me to the first of the year. We all went out to Toast – a wonderful little breakfast place. I enjoyed my last waffle before heading back to David & Jenny’s. There, we popped open the Champaign (which we forgot to do last night) before packing up.

Then it was back to Aunt Liz’s for a final dinner and packing. I also managed to wash all my clothing – sweet. I had to borrow a duffle bag….apparently I bought just a little too much…hehehe. Jenny helped me squeeze it all in…tightly.

Then it was just a waiting game for my flight. I spent my final house watching all those show’s on tv I just don’t get to see – I won’t name them, they’re really bad. Jessie gave me my ride to the airport and my final hug. My flight left at 3:20am.