Monday, February 25, 2008

Nothing much

I’m really getting bad at keeping this thing updated, I’ll work on it.

But then again, not too much has happened.

I can’t quite remember what happened last week – thus probably nothing much at all. Though, I do remember it raining. This is strange since we’re supposed to be in the dry season.

Otherwise, I went and interpreted for a medical brigade this past Monday. My first work of the day came when another group down from the US came to see what this group was doing. The pastor from the Salvadoran church wanted to speak and thus I stepped in. What freaked me out was when they video tapped me – now I’m paranoid that they’re going to see that video with another Spanish speaker and that Spanish speaker is going to tell them that I’m a big fat liar. All well.

I also don’t think I’ll ever interpret for dentists. I worked with the eye guy for most of the day, but at the end of the day the other interpreter was taking a break, so I wandered over to the dentists. They were on their last patient – a little boy. Now this little boy had a tooth infection that was starting to impact his overall health, so they had to pull the tooth. But little boys don’t understand that, so he was screaming. There were about 4 or 5 people holding him down while the doc yanked the tooth. I know the boy had received enough novocain, in the words of one of the dentists, to choke a horse, but he was just so scared. It was a little heart wrenching.

I got back to my site on Tuesday for a meeting that never took place. If I had known, I would’ve stayed and interpreted another day. Instead, Sonia managed to drag me and a few others out of the house to go play softball. I don’t like softball. But I guess that doesn’t matter.

The rest of the week flew by and the weekend wasn’t bad. I ran a few errands in Sonso on Saturday and had lunch with two other volunteers. Sunday I found my way to the beach.

It was a beautiful day at the beach. Not to hot and with a few hammocks free. Though, we decided to take Tigra – Iris’s dog. I got stuck holding her in the back of the pick-up. My clothes are still soaking in detergent and hopefully they’ll be salvageable.

Late posting this one

I believe I just hid in my house for most of that weekend – sleeping and recovering from illness. Though, I did manage to clean my house on Saturday morning, which lead me to pass out for most of Saturday afternoon. I didn’t sleep the entire thing away, I managed to head over to Iris’s to play ‘uno’. Yup, it is still an obsession.

I won’t claim to much happening last week. I did manage to sell the bags of cement, at a loss. It couldn’t be helped, the bags had hardened (not completely) because someone placed ice near them during a party. What luck!

I also learned last week and confirmed this week that one of my artisans wasn’t going to hold up to the contract she signed. She decided to use the materials to build a new kiln instead of building the chimney. I was and still am pretty disappointed and am waiting for the gossip on the street to start. I’m not looking forward to explaining to the 8 other artisans why they complied and she’s not. I also gained insight as to why – I believe she is under the impression that more bricks were given to other artisans and thus she shouldn’t have to buy more. I explained that the other artisans bought their additional bricks, but apparently, they do not believe me. All well, you win some and then you lose some.

Otherwise, on Sunday I headed out with Sonia, her boyfriend and a crew to BBQ at the waterfall. It was a nice day – the food was good and the water cool. Now I’m sitting paranoid that I accidentally drank water while swimming….I’m hoping nothing starts swimming in my stomach.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Birthday y mas!

It’s been a little hectic – sorry, forgive the tardiness.

I’ll start with before my birthday. I spend Wednesday night over at Sonia’s house. Why? Sonia went to spend the night at her boyfriend’s house and Mayra didn’t want to be alone in the house or sleep over at Iris’s place. So, enter the gringa. That night I figured out why Mayra doesn’t like to sleep alone…she is mad paranoid.

Thursday I went to the project inauguration for the construction of 6 new classrooms at the local school. I was shocked and I do mean shocked when everything was actually ready on time. Of course, nobody showed till a half hour later and then we had to wait another hour for the governor of Sonsonate to show up…no so shocking.

Afterward Don Justo pulled me aside and told me that he wanted me to go to a dance the following night – the governor had personally asked the mayor to bring me…I told him there was no shot in hell of that happening. You may be asking why, but remember – the following night was my birthday and I wasn’t going to spend it alone at a dance with Don Justo. There is also the fact that I don’t like being treated like the pet of Don Justo – if you’d like me to go to a dance, ask me.

Anyway, now lets skip to my b-day! It was actually a slow, nice day. I slept late, made myself pancakes and finished up a book. I played with the internet, made cupcakes (or at least some cupcakes….that batter is soo good), and then spent the rest of the time with Iris. Yup – they all chipped in together and made me a dinner…panes rellenos (chicken sandwich esk… but much better). I even got presents – a bag (actually, I got two of these, in exactly the same colors), stuffed animals and those little $1 ceramic things you find in the dollar store. I love them all.

And yes, everyone remembered to call….Sonia at 6am. That woman is evil sometimes.

Saturday I packed up and took my show on the road. I headed into the capital to sun bath next to the pool (the Sheraton allows volunteers and embassy staff to use the pool and gym for free whenever…love them), did some shopping and then headed out to dinner to Bennie Hanna’s with friends. That’s right…we have one of those down here. It actually all went by pretty quick.

Sunday is when my luck started to slide. I had organized a meeting with volunteers up in Juayua to take advantage of a food festival that goes on there. Well…I was the only one who showed. I wouldn’t have minded so much except for the fact that that is extra buses for me. By the time I got home, I just crashed.

Monday I went back into the San Salvador. Why? On Tuesday we were leaving for the Municipal Development In Service Training (muni ist) and a ride was being offered, but the ride was to leave at 8am. So, instead of leaving my site at 5 or so am, I went in on Monday. It turned out for the best since that’s when I went to the doc and got diagnosed with blastosis (something that lives in your stomach).

I started taking the medicine that night and it’s strong stuff – so by Tuesday morning I had nausea…just what you want when heading into a 4 hour car ride.

We finally arrived and I hung on all afternoon long. But, I started having increasing joint pain. That’s when I knew I had a UTI. So, that night was when the fever hit and my knees really hurt.

I slept half of wed away.

Thursday is when I said goodbye to my Boss. I spent most of that morning crying. He’s moving to Belize with Peace Corps….maybe I’ll follow him.

Thursday afternoon was spent in the car with the nausea again. I won’t speak of Thursday night…though we did watch the debate.

Friday was when I was diagnosed with the UTI, along with amebas and a bacterial infection. I am currently heavily drugged and feeling much better. Thanks.