bumps

Last Saturday was my first shot on the pottery wheel. We were suppose to meet at 8:30am, but he was nice enough to call me at 5:40am to change the time to 1pm. So, we met at 1pm and started the fun. I learned the basics of raising and lowering the clay in a column form. I then moved on and made one ugly plate. I seem to have a problem keeping the pieces base connected to the rest – so I’m often left with a ring shaped thing. Overall it was fun, the only thing was that it left me with a blister on my foot – the wheel was foot powered.

Sunday marked the beginning of the soccer tournament. I was the godmother for Ricardo’s team. This basically entails me gifting them a soccer ball and taking a pic. Unfortuantly, their game started later then it should have and I couldn’t stay for the full thing, though I heard they won.

Why couldn’t I stay? Monday was when I started my COS (close of service) medical. It’s kinda a full check-up Peace Corps does before you leave. Your last chance to bring up concerns and have things checked out. It was starting early on Monday, so I went into the capitol late Sunday so as to not have to be unfriendly at 5am in the morning.

I am pleased to announce I have only one cavity…I’ll go get that filled next week.

But that’s not what took up the most time, but took up the most time is a bump on the bottom of my right foot. Now, I’ve had it for over a year, but I decided that this was last call so I should mention it. First, the nurse checked it out, said she didn’t know what it was and made an appointment for the dermatologist for the following day. I went to him, he poked at it (and yes, it is a sensitive little thing) and declared that he had no idea what it was. So, he sent me to get a sonogram of it. I went into the sonogram office and they checked it out. I think the assistant was a little confused as to where it was a first cause she said I had to take off my pants – I declined and just rolled them up. Then the person who works the machine came in and did her magic. It turns out it’s a bump within a bump – they could tell me nothing more. From there, I was referred to a podiatrist (bones and muscle guy). He was really sorry that he could tell me nothing but to refer me back to the dermatologist. No, I didn’t go back to the dermatologist – my file has been sent to Washington and maybe they can figure it out. I’ll keep you updated.

My only complaints with COS medical deal with transport. You have to see a lot of doctors and none are near to the others. So, you wind up walking…a lot and using overly expensive buses (the fee went up to $.35 for a few days before the government stepped in to subsidize). The hotel the PC uses is nice, but is in the middle of nowhere – not close to food so you wind up ordering in and that’s even more expensive.

I was finally able to leave Friday. First, went to centro (giant market in center of San Salvador) to do some cesta (nice plastic bag – see jenny’s) shopping. That place is huge! It’s also a little scary, so I got in and out quick. After a quick lunch with another volunteer, I was on the bus back to my pueblito. It felt soo good to sleep in my own bed and watch my soap operas (not all volunteers like soap operas so I don’t always get a chance to watch them when I’m away from my pueblito).

Unfortunately, while I was a way a number of bats decided to call my place home. So, I spent a while Saturday cleaning up bat shit and the little pieces of fruit they leave behind. That night, I kept the lights on for as long as I could with the hope of scaring them away. Usually, if I can catch them one with the lights they leave me alone for a while. If they don’t, I’ll throw some fresh garlic up on the top of the walls… I hear it discourages them from coming in.

Sunday was the soccer tournament. My team won its second game in a row! It was a fun hanging out at the field, but it was brutally hot as well. I hid under some shade for most of the time. Usually such heat means rains on its way, and it didn’t fail this time. I was relaxin at my house around 7:30pm when I felt the breeze pick up. I then lit some candles ‘cause I knew the power wasn’t going to survive the night…and it didn’t. It cut out about 3 minutes after I had finished my routine of brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. I have such good timing.

Now it’s Monday the 23rd and I’m in the town hall. I have a birthday celebration this afternoon to attend and from there more books. I’ll let you know how it goes.

stone men

Friday, after posting my leisurely update, I made some quick plans to go visit the Joe and Nat in Santa Anna.

Saturday morning we met up in the Sonsonate terminal to head up to Apaneca. Why there? There are these ‘men’ carved in to stone. Let me describe them better – there are three bolders who have distinct faces and arms carved into them from the Mayan period. Apparently the site was a religious area for the Mayans. One of the men, the largest, is in two pieces. Theories about this include the Spanish blowing it in two in search of treasure (thinking the Mayans would store it in a giant rock). The site is small and is located on a hacienda. Only two of the men are in their original positions – the third one is located within the owner’s house….for conservation purposes? Anyway, the stone men were cool.

From there we backtracked to Juayua for the food festival. That place makes good food. I also took the opportunity to do some shopping up there – they have a really cute market. It was here that we also met up with two volunteers who were also enjoying the food. Just some small chitchatting before we all separated again.

Now, at this point in time I’ll tell you that Joe and Nat asked me to pick up two pottery lamps for them. I said I would bring them over the weekend – the only problem was that they are heavy as hell. I did feel bad making Joe carry them everywhere. So, while we were in Juayua I offered to watch the stuff while they checked out the Black Christ in the church there. You know the moment they left, a bolo (drunkard) came over and just sat down next to me. Thankfully, they returned quickly and we were off.

From there it was a race to get back in time for the last pick-up to their site….otherwise we’d have to walk over an hour up hill. Thankfully, we made it – Joe even went food shopping. One of the reasons I love to visit them is cause of how good the food is. Joe is a fantastic chef. We enjoyed chicken fried steak one night and a soup buffet the next night. I highly recommend hiking out there, if for nothing else, for the food.

I can’t say we did two much while I was there – besides cook/eat a lot/ see if we’re smarter then 5th graders, but it was nice. Nat and I also headed up the volcano in a bus to see how far it went…it didn’t go that far.

Monday we went on a pottery hunt. There is a guy that makes Mayan painted pottery who was not at his shop when we went on Monday. That was about 2.5 travel hours wasted. From there, I hoped on a bus for Sonso and my community. I had just enough time to go grab food and buy a soccer ball (I’m the madrina for a soccer team…more on that in the next installment).

Tuesday came around and I hired the muchacha to come and wash. I was just being lazy – I really didn’t want to wash a blanket. And thankfully, there was sunshine the following morning. This is how the rainy season normally works – hot and sunshine in the morning with clouds and rain in the afternoon. You just have to remember to bring your clothes in or the entire process gets messed up.

The rest of the week was tranquil – for the best since starting tomorrow, things are going to be very busy for a week.

Then everything gets moldy....

Last Friday (that would be the 30th of May) it started to rain and has done so, off and on, for about a week now. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem….but down here it can be for a number of reasons. The number one reason – mold. It just appears everywhere – tablecloth, stove, clothes…everywhere. The mugginess also prevents clothes that you wash from drying. I’m not sure how much clothing I have left before things start to get tricky.

Other then that, things continue to speed up.

On Monday (June 2nd) I went to San Rafael Cedros near San Vicente. Why? To say good-bye to my old host family from training. Things over there have changed a whole lot. The 17 year old is 6 months pregnant and will be having a shot gun wedding within a week. I asked the mother why she didn’t tell me earlier – she responded that they only told her about the pregnancy two weeks ago. I think the mother was in a little bit of denial here ‘cause that girl was definitely heavier then the last time I saw her. The son is out of school and looking for a job – he decided not to go to college. And the eldest daughter now has a boyfriend.

It was good seeing them. I took them out to dinner as a final way of saying thanks and good-bye. The next morning I gave them final hugs and good wishes and was off.

After saying good bye, I headed off to my Spanish interview. PC interviews you at the beginning and end of your service to grade you level of Spanish. The interview lasts about an hour. I believe I got the level I thought I was, but I’ll wait for the official paperwork before announcing.

On my way back to the capital, I stopped by San Sebastian. The town is known for its woven fabrics. They make bed covers on old fashioned looms. I decided to pick myself up one since I wouldn’t be on that side of the country again.

Once I picked it up, I headed to San Sal. I had some things to do in the office and by the time I was done, I didn’t have any energy to head back to my pueblo…so I stayed in the capital. It can be nice to eat subway while watching Law & Order – what a great show.

I got back to my pueblito on Wednesday and proceeded to iron clothes. Why? See the first paragraph on mold – ironing is one of a few ways to dry out damp clothing. I would hang it up behind the refrigerator – but that just seems like a fire hazard.

And now it’s Friday and I’m just chillin in the town hall.

Finished up some stuff.....

This week a lot stuff got moving and some stuff was even finished!

Earlier this week, you saw how the world map was finished up. I walked past in on Thursday and Friday and it still seemed to be in pretty good shape.

The rest of the week I focused in on fuel efficient stoves and books.

We were originally going to go get the stoves on Tuesday, but that didn’t happen so they arranged it for Thursday….but that didn’t happen either. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem, but for the fact that a bunch of Rotarians were coming on Saturday to help hand them in and take pics. Let me explain that - Rotary International is sponsoring the Stove Team so that the stoves will only cost the people $20 instead of $40. They also allow people to pay $5 for four months…since people don’t usually have $20 laying around down here. Overall, a nice plan that the people like. Anyway, I begged the truck owner to go Friday morning with me and he was nice enough to cave. They got the stoves into the communal house in the community right before it down poured. On Saturday, we (Rotarians, Stove Team people and I) headed over to the community to hand the people their stoves. Unfortunately, we could only hand in about 2/3rds – the rest of the people were at culto (evangelical mass) and wouldn’t be done till 5pm. Nor could we convince them to come out for just an hour.

Other then the whole stove thing, I worked on getting some books organized. Rotary International (Are you noticing a trend? Have you supported your local Rotary initiatives lately?) donated to 13 schools - about 400 books each. These were nice books too – all in Spanish (yes, sometimes people donate books that are only in English) and with varying degrees of difficulty. Now my librarian and I are cataloging them and will soon be numbering them. Actually setting up the library will take a little longer. The school is having classrooms built and once they are built the library will get its own room. Right now it shares it with computers and there really isn’t space to sit and relax.

I also finished up the project with my artisans – I have officially handed in all the paperwork, receipts and photos. The last thing to buy was lamina and I caught the town driver heading into Sonsonate – so I aprovechared the ride and bought the stuff. It was really nice handing everything in….one less thing to worry about.

During all this commotion, I had a former volunteer and her friend stop by to check out the local pottery. Her friend (Cole) is a potter in the US and received a grant to study the different techniques down here. I felt bad that I didn’t really have food for them, I hadn’t expected them to spend the night, but it all worked out.

What else? My boss stopped by for my last site visit on Wednesday. PC comes to visit you in your site three times during your service – beginning, middle, and end. I pushed my site a lot so I’m hopeful of a new volunteer being placed her next May.

Juan Querendon (yes, a soap opera) finished up Friday night – I am happy to report that the people in love got to marry each other, the girl who couldn’t have kids is pregnant and the evil guy died.

I ‘judged’ the Reina Madre Flor de Mayo (Queen Mother, Flower of May) Church contest. Women (usually 40 and above) enter into the contest to see who can get the most votes. Votes cost $.05 each. The money they raise goes to the Church. I was in charge of counting votes and money for two candidates. It wasn’t bad and I even go a free dinner out of the deal.

Finally, I got the prize for the alfombra. We officially came in second place – behind some cheaters that used spray paint instead of actually dying the salt. The prize? A beautiful pitcher and glass set. The problem now is how do I divide that up amongst the team? Maybe I’ll sell it and buy everyone some pizza.

I guess that’s it – except for the three days of rain we’ve gotten. I’ve missed the rain, so it is more then welcome in my book. Everyone feels soo cold…I think it’s fabulous. Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to make some tea.