Christmas and Beyond!

So, Christmas wasn't that bad down here. I got up in the morning (always a good start) and checked out a carrera de cintas. I was even a godmother, which means I brought a little present and gave it to one of the riders who succeeded in getting the stick through the loop. I decided to bring a gift at the last possible moment...meaning that Iris had to whip something up for me. It turned out that the guy who won was a boy and he grabbed the present and ran. I think I scared him a little bit.

After that I headed back to my place and started cooking up some desserts. I started off with easy bake brownies (thank you Maryann) and continued on to double chocolate chunk cookies (thank you Grandma). I then just went and chilled over at Iris's place. She was cooking up some chicken and rice and such. We kinda ate quickly and not quite as a group. But that's ok. It was still nice.


I then...being the good little Ehlen I am....went to Christmas Mass. Of course the family calls during the middle of the homily. So I ran out to say hi and tell them to call back. That mass went on forever. I skipped out after it ended but before everyone went up to kiss the baby Jesus. That's when I started calling the fam. It was difficult because the lines were so saturated with people trying to call that I could only talk to them for a few minutes.


Then came the presents...it was sweet. Everyone wanted to know what was in those big packages I received. (in case you don't know, my incredible parents and amazing siblings sent me huge packages). Yes...everyone was jealous. Unfortunatly, the italian bread crumbs mom sent me (which I asked for...I love those things!) exploded over everything. So, everything has an italian bread crumb smell...which I enjoy. I did manage to save the majority of the crumbs by tapping the box to one side and pouring them out. They're still good!


After all the present fun, we went to Nina Chens house (mother of Don Justo) to hang with some family. They made this dessert of jello and flan. I enjoy the jello, not the flan. There was a little boy there (grandson of Don Justo) there, he kept crying over something. And the sister of Don Justo took a belt and hit him to make him be quite. I found it quite disturbing. And there was another guy (I forget his name, but he is part of the family and was just visiting from the US), he turned to me and said in english, 'that's not something your use to, right?'. He didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable so that's why he spoke in english...but he was right.


After that we just went over and hanged with Sonia. It was just a chill evening. Well...as long as you could ignore the fireworks. I crashed at around 12:30ish.

Christmas Day wasn't spent doing very much. I finished up packing for Belgium and cleaned my house out. I brought everything inside except the fridge. In the afternoon, I went with Iris and fam to the beach. It was so nice. It was actually a resort where there was a small water park with slide and then then ocean. Yes...I swam everywhere. The shocking part was that the ocean water was the warmest water I've been in in this country...that is including most showers!

I then watched my last Fea Mas Bella of the year and went to bed....that brings us to Europa!!

One more entry for the year

Alright, I figured I would write one more entry before the holidays.

This week went incredibly slow...incredibly. Probably cause I´ve been counting the days...but that is besides the point.

Yesterday we had our office party. I´m not sure what type of meat i ate, they weren´t sure either. Then they figured it out and told me, but I still have no idea what I ate, but it was good. All the employees got different gift baskets donated from buisness the alcaldia works with. I was excited to get a new guacal (kinda like a big plastic bowl that you use for everything down here) and some free food. I´m all about the free food. Otherwise, everyone just kinda chilled and chatted. After the giveaways, a bunch of people made a break for it. I stayed. It´s fun seeing the office crew get a little hammered and then start to dance. I got back home around 5:30ish.

That brings me to today. I´m packing up everything. Iris helped me wrap your gift Aunt Ann....unfortuanly the word gaudy hasn´t entered into their vocabulary. Man is it ugly. I´m hoping they force me to open it in costums.

Otherwise, for your information, I´ll be spending Christmas Eve at Iris´s house opening preseants, drinking and eating (but not turkey...she sold the Christmas turkey). I´ll then spend Christmas Day at the beach...it´s tradition down here. Get some last minute color before shipping out.

Well...Love you all and have a wonderful Christmas!

Love

Your favorite Peace Corps Volunteer

I did it all by myself!

Hmm….where should I begin? Let’s go with Sunday. We had our second tourism event, but it was a little bit of a bust. Only one bus showed up from Sonsonate, but another bus, one from San Salvador randomly showed up…it was kinda weird. Anyhow, I volunteered along with Jessica (another muchacha in the town) to escort our visitors to the waterfalls. Unfortunately, the buses could only take us about half way. A – because they can’t make it underneath one of the water pipes and B – there is no where for them to turn around once they get there. The road is just to narrow. So, we hiked it for about a half hour to get there. I got stuck talking to a nice guy who found out I don´t like it when people use my name as a catcall. So, first I had to listen to how it was a compliment and then about how I needed to develop patience. That went over well. Though, a quick side note. Not all catcalls or staring annoys me. At the last birthday party I went to, I was sitting in one chair and a boy in a few over. His parents told him to move down and when I smiled at him this huge grin came across his face. The other funny time was when I was walking to work and some guy was eating breakfast. I said ´buen provecho´ (kinda means enjoy) and he responded with a surprised look to see me there and then mamasota (hottie). Like, that was all that could come to his mind at the sight of me. hehehe

After all the fun of the waterfalls, I went to the soccer tournament. Two fights almost broke out, but that was because they were during the later part of the day…..after everyone has been drinking. But overall, it was a nice day.

During the week, el jefe (the boss) came out for a site visit. He was just making sure the house I had chosen was safe and met Peace Corps standards, which it does encase you were wondering. It was really sweet since I got a free lunch out of the deal! $2 I can use for something else. I did offer him some magic bars…but he has some policy against robbing volunteers of food. What a nice guy.

Now, for what I did all by myself….or at least some of it. There is a program call the World Computer Exchange. Basically, companies in the US donate their old computers to this organization. The WCE then cleans them up and ´sells´ them to organizations like ours. The truth is we pay about $70 – the cost of shipping. So, with the help of my counterpart, I organized a meeting with the directors of the schools. Three showed up this past Wednesday and I presented and explained the program all by myself. Score! They all seemed interested and we’re going to meet up in January to fill out the application.

Then on Friday, I had a little arts and crafts time with the kids at the Casa de Cultura (culture house). Myra (Sonia´s daughter) helped me out big time. We made this clay like substance from salt and flour that hardens when left out. So, the kids formed it into whatever shapes they wanted, decorated with markers and then I laced some thread through so they can hang them when they are dry. It was fun and they were asking when the next time we could do it was. I’m not sure, but I’m not opposed. Hell, the entire thing cost me less then $3!

The rest of the weekend was spent getting diagnosed with two stomach ailments...errr... and watching the soccer tournament. The Mayor´s team lost, it was a shocking blow. Alright time to go......6 days till Belgium!

In Service Training

So, after about 3 months in your site, the Peace Corps training facility holds a little get together for the group. This is called in service training. I got to have some more spanish classes...i think this is the first time in my life that I actually looked foward to having spanish class...and more technical training.

I arrived on Tuesday and stayed with my host family on Tuesday and Wednesday night. I don't know what it is, but whenever I step into that community my stomach rumbles. No, i'm not sick....but I think my stomach just has a bad association. It wasn't bad since I was only really there at night after my training sessions. Again my host bro was like...gonna stay for 15 days right? And I was like, I can't even stand staying in the same house as my family for 15 days let alone you guys. But, it was nice to see them and I did get plenty of ice cream. That stuff is good. I did bring them a big piece of pottery meant to hold water. It keeps it cooler then the plastic containers. No, I will not be bringing one of those for christmas so you can all give a sigh of relief. And they treated me very well as always and gave me a Christmas presant as I was heading out. I think they were surprised by how much spanish I was speaking. That was fun.

Thursday I spent in San Vicente in the hotel with the other volunteers. It was just a nice night of chatting and eating the local food. I don't know why I'm so adventurious when eating some of this stuff cause it clearly can and does get me sick, but it can be sooo good. There are these things called pannes (again..misspelled) that are bread...kinda like little loaves, cut open with coleslaw (a form of), chicken, veggies, mayo, some kind of sauce...just good stuff.

The actually training sessions were pretty helpful. As mentioned above, spanish class was a welcomed advantage. My english class students thought it was funny I was going to spanish class. Otherwise, they talked about soliciting funds for projects and the amount of work that is incorporated in that. Others talked about mental health and the stages we go through. I think I'm out of the 'ohh shit' stage and heading into the 'bummed but hopeful' stage. It's really technical. I also got my flu shot...that stuff hurts.

After all that fun, I took a lazy Friday morning and got into San Salvador (the capitol) around lunch time. I then did dress shopping for Aunt Ann's wedding. The best part was that I dragged my friend Carl around with me to do it. The poor guy. If the dress part wasn't bad enough, he also had to hang for me shopping for heels. But, the dress is hot and so are the heels. Now if only I could find the right accessory........

Now, I'm just hanging in the Peace Corps office. I was gonna go tan by the pool, but of course today is the only cloudy day of the week. So, I'll probably just had back to my site early and continue counting the days till family! (18)

I didn´t crash this one

During the week I got to run over to Yuayua for a night to meet up with some other volunteers and Bryan Dwyer (the boss). It is really beautiful up there. Nice, clean and cool (weather wise). It is more of a tourist destination. And the pupusas were phenomenal. I think I’ll take people there if they visit me. It apparently has a food festival in the park every Sunday where you can get a plate full of delicious sea food for $5-6. Anyhow, we just met up to have a small meeting and catch up with everyone. It was nice to hear that others were having the same difficulties as I was. It was also nice that the boss uncorked several bottles of wine. Though, during the middle of the meeting Sonia called me to harass me and to ask me where I was for La Fea (my soap opera…which I am completely hooked on…it’s sooo good right now). It was actually quite funny.

That brings me to Friday and Saturday….both days I spent the majority of my time in my house. Why? My refrigerator. I got a new one!! I went Saturday to the store and sat there till they said the repair guy was coming and he would give me a lift back to my house and take a look at the fridge. He looked at it and was like…want a new one? I said yes. Though, they were a little shady about it. The guys came with the new one but transferred all my shelving and brackets from inside the old fridge to the new fridge and put all the new stuff in my old fridge. I think they are going to repair it and sell it as new. I think I also figured out why my old fridge died. The socket it was plugged into no longer works. I think when the socket died it took the fridge with it in a blaze of glory.

The tournament went smoothly on Sunday. Not much to report in that area, but Sunday night I went to a quince añera.

This was my second quince añera…but this one I was actually invited to. I think they thought that I was gonna crash it anyway so they might as well give me an invitation. Either way, it was nice to get my own little invitation with my name on it. I got her earrings. My box was by far the smallest, but size doesn’t matter…right? I went and ate (love free food) and hung around. During the few minutes the music died, Jenny, David, PJ and Dana gave me a call. (I hope I spelled Dana’s name right). It was really quite miraculous they called when they did. Though after a while I had to hang up since the music was on and in full blast. Of course, two second after I hung up they turned down the music. Figures.

So, that’s about all for now. I’m counting down the days till Aunt Ann’s wedding and seeing family.

From turkey to cows

So, Thanksgiving rolled around and I made my way to Stephen’s site for the festivities. It turned out to be just him, Carl and I celebrating there. We enjoyed chilli with pan frances (white bread) and our drink of choice. I went with wine, Stephen with liquor and Carl with beer. We skipped the whole turkey thing. It turned out to be a quite night, I crashed early…wine does that to me. I shouldn’t say it was too quite, Stephen’s site was starting their patron saint festivities…..they start at 4am with a town wake up call. They blare loud music and walk through the streets announcing the day’s schedule.

After waking up late on Friday, we made our way to a Peace Corps soccer game in Jayaque (that is totally misspelled), Nathan’s site. Only, we got there so late that after an hour and a half, I had to hop back on the bus to get back to my pueblo before the last bus left and it got too dark. Still, it was nice to see other volunteers and talk for at least a little bit. That night I crashed. It fact the power went out and I didn’t know it till the next day when somebody told me.

Saturday I slept late…it was sweet. When I eventually did get up, I managed to clean about half my house. And it was in need of it. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this, but we switched seasons down here. It happened on Monday? They call this summer…even though it’s cooler now….I call it the windy season. (side note: the wind down here is called norte or north since it comes down from the north) The wind started and stayed for three days…it was impressive. I thought the roof was gonna come off my house or at least my patio. Stephen called it the rapture…a tree was snapped in half in his backyard and his turtles have gone missing. Anyhow this relates to cleaning my house in the following – the wind gets so strong that it shakes the house and all the dust that has accumulated on the ceiling/roof comes falling down in chunks and coats everything. It is really quite disgusting. So, one has to clean everything. In the afternoon I went with Lito (husband of Iris) to Iris’s parent’s house. She was already there; she had left earlier…before I was willing to get out of bed. It was a nice afternoon in the countryside. We visited two of her old friends who had just recently had babies. Had lunch (I apparently eat shrimp now) and just relaxed. I also hopped on a horse for two seconds…they were a nice two seconds. That night we went to a vela (when someone dies, the family hosts visitors that night and offers coffee and tamales…a local food. People come to show their respect and many stay till all hours of the morning) of a local whom had just passed away. Actually, there was a rumor that he passed away last week and then it was corrected. So, when they told me he passed away I asked if they were sure, they were. Iris and I just went to drop off some flowers, Sonia stayed till 1 or 2am.

That takes us to Sunday and the soccer tournament. If I accidentally switch from soccer to futbol, please forgive me…it’s just what it is called down here. I got up and went down to the field at 7:30am, the appointed meeting time…so naturally I didn’t meet up with anyone till 8ish….Heidy came down. She and I then walked up with to the Alcaldia to grab stuff for the tournament and ask for other stuff to be brought down. Louise Ernesto arrived and got the sound system. After all this it was 8:30am by the time we got back to the field. The first thing I noticed when we got back was not the people…but the heard of cattle that had come and was now grazing in the middle of the field. I laughed and cursed myself for not bringing my camera. It took about an half an hour to set up the sound system and get everyone ready. During this time both Heidy and I received numerous cat calls…which was a little bit surprising considering the hour and the fact that we were there with Louise Ernesto. The teams present took an oath and then I got the honour of the first kick….kinda like throwing out the first pitch…and I did score. I’m awesome! It was a nice morning of mariachi music, soccer and a nice breeze…with the occasional cow running through the middle of the field. The game was stopped when all the cows ran through the field to get to the other field…guess the grass was greener. He he he. The tournament lasted all day and will continue for the next couple of Sundays. During the middle of it, it was decided that I should go with Don Justo (mayor) to Sonsonate. I was really confused and didn’t really want to go…since usually trips with Don Justo end with me coming home later then I wanted to and/or drinking too much beer. But, finally they got me to go. Once I got in the car Don Justo explained to me why I was sent. Apparently, he promised everyone that he would be back by 1:30pm to watch his team…but nobody believed him. So, they told him to take me because if I was with him he would have to come back. Not quite in my job description, but I got a free lunch out of the deal at Pollo Campero (kinda like KFC)…who am I to complain. That evening I finished cleaning up and went to bed early….I’m still tired.

And, alas, still no luck with getting my fridge fixed. I’ll have to go bitch and complain as best as I can again this week.

And then the President came…..

Over the weekend I managed to find my way to my third jaripeo or rodeo if you will. I think it was by the same company that did the one in San Rafael Cedros. It was actually quite nice….a little warm, but nice. We arrived a little late (we being Don Justo, Sonia and assorted others whom I do not know) (we were late because we went to pick up all the aforementioned others), so we had to sit in the sun the entire time. Yup, I’m a little red. But, on the bright side I got treated to everything...such as food, beer and the rodeo itself. I didn’t actually want beer because of the sun, but once someone knows that you actually drink it, it is impossible to get them to stop buying it for you. I know, it doesn’t sound like a problem…but the beer down here is weak. Sonia also didn’t want to drink, but got suckered into it as well. Thank God she came, or else I wouldn’t have known anyone. Originally Heidy was suppose to come, but she couldn’t make it out. It was all good until the end…as happens so often in life. A guy by the name of Carlos and I had been talking for most of the rodeo and he gave Sonia and I a lift back to the pueblo (Don Justo was going to Sonsonate to hang out more and we weren’t in the mood). During the entire ride back he asked me if he could help me to get to know the country during the weekends. He could take me to the beach, mountains…a hotel….his house. He’s a professional and I’m a professional so obviously everything would be ok. Right….Sonia helped me out at the end by saying that I lived with her and I managed to not give him my cell phone number.

Anyhow, that brings us to Monday and the President (of El Salvador), Tony Saca. The federal government here is instituting a new program call Red Solidaria. It’s a program located in the poorest municipalities of the country (which my municipality is part of) and they give money to poor families based on the number of children they have. In return for the money, the kids must go to school, receive all their vaccinations, and go to the doctors when needed. For example, if they miss school for health reasons they must provide a note from a doctor verifying this. So, in order to initial the program in my municipality…the President came! It was really quite cool. The town was cleaned up and painted (unfortunately, mostly in the colours of ARENA...the political party. They even painted the library their colours!) They helicoptered him to the cancha (soccer field), which was just cleaned, and the drove him over to our little pueblo. PJ, you will be please to know he was driven in a Toyota Land Cruiser. I took a pic. They did all the usual pomp and circumstance…the band played beautifully…..and everyone went through their perspective speeches. During all this, people lined up to receive their first payment. I helped hand out sandwiches and juice. Within an hour the whole shebang was over. It was cool to see….through I am disappointed I didn’t get to take a picture of him up close or with him……but there is always photo shop!! The nice part was after it all, the Alcaldia closed for the day. Nothing like an afternoon nap.

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….

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!

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!

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.

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.

…and bring the mariachi band

So, after returning from San Rafael Cedros on Saturday, we had a tourism event in town on Sunday. It wasn’t quite what I expected….

The event was planned to start at about 10am, so of course nobody started getting ready till about 9:30 – 9:45ish. There was plenty of people selling food, but only one artesian was there selling at a table. I’m not sure if others didn’t want to come or just weren’t invited. There was also one woman selling shots; her table was busy the entire time. The youth group was selling soda, but never really got to sell much. It weather wasn’t warm enough and people were to too busy with the aforementioned beverage lady.

About three buses came full of people, right on time. (That actually surprised me, things here don’t normally occur on time or anywhere near any sort of time) The Mayor greeted everyone and then the Mariachi band started playing. During this time is when people started to look around, buy food and such.

After about a half an hour or so, the buses loaded up to take the people to the waterfalls. Now, to get to the waterfalls you have to use a road that actually goes beneath a river. Not far beneath it, only a few inches, but still. And usually there is a pedestrian bridge. But, at that point in time, the pedestrian bridge (the actually metal part that sits on top of the cement blocks) was being repaired and thus laid on the road. This blocked the road so that the buses couldn’t pass. So, the buses and everyone on them, had to turn around (or back up as it were…the road is small so the buses had to back up a ways to find another road to turn on to). By then it started to rain, so the buses just took the people to the next destination.

But, since the mariachi band was paid to play for two hours, they just continued to play in the park when there was about five people there…it was great. By this time my Mayor had invited me to join him and a few others for lunch. I figured, what the hell! I could go for a free lunch out. When will I realize that things are never going to be the way I picture them to be.

Since the mariachi band still had time left to kill on the contract and had some spare time in the afternoon, the Mayor invited them to join us for lunch. So, we (Heidi, Mayor man, three other guys and I) pilled into a few pick-ups, bought some lunch and beers and made our way out to a canton to some guys house. (I was later to learn that the guy we visited is the ex-husband of Sonia…..he left her for a younger woman. Ass) The mariachi band faithfully followed and serenaded us for at least an hour or two while all the guys proceeded to drink to their hearts content. I didn’t drink to much since A-I was with 6 middle aged men and B- I’m on medication and try not to mix drugs. I usually shifted between going inside and watching the soccer game (Go Real Madrid!) and sitting outside to listen to the mariachis sing. I also just sat there and wondered how I ever get myself into these things.

By about 5:30pm they were all very happy and I was tired. They were talking about politics and other stuff that I didn’t fully understand and couldn’t really comment on. (I try not to talk about local politics as much as possible so nobody can claim I’m on their side) Eventually, when it was getting dark, they decided to go to Sonsonate to continue the party. Heidi and I bailed with the promise to join them some other time.

I then just went and watched Spirit with Iris….I do enjoy a good Disney movie every once and a while.

Las Festivales Patronales de San Rafael Cedros

On Thursday (that’s the 19th of October), I went and visited my old host family in San Rafael Cedros for a few days during their Patron Saint Festivals. This entailed a total of four buses (each way), a day and a half with the fam, and me suppressing my fidgeting…but I did it, and all by myself!

The bus from Sonsonate to San Salvador was a little harsh. My stomach wasn’t feeling well and decided to let me know it….it’s amazing how long you can hold it when the only other option is getting off somewhere unknown by you in El Salvador. It's not like getting on the next bus is always the easiest thing and you never know the local conditions.

After all that fun, I finally landed in San Rafael at about 2pm. Yes, everyone was sooo excited to see me and that was a nice feeling. They fed me ice cream right away and asked what I had been up to for the last two months. My host mom and I then went off to the rodeo…which ended up starting late, so we checked out the local high schools science fair. I swear, they had one of the coolest science fairs cause they could get away with doing stuff that would never be acceptable in the good ol´ US of A. For instance, some students…in order to demonstrate a tornado…lit some paper on fire and them put it into a box that somehow formed a tornado that you could see through the font of the box (front was made of see through plastic). I didn’t see how precisely it worked since I was fixated on the fact that they were burning stuff. Other displays included stuff about English…so of course when all the students in English class saw me they had to practice their English. It was fun and I tried to speak slowly for the students. Though, I think my favourite was the display on alcohol….mostly because I believe they were brewing moonshine right there. It smelt like alcohol and my host mom even downed some. Coolest science fair ever!

Next we watched the parade of horses go by. They originally accompanied the Queen of the Barrio Con-something or other on her parade around the town, but were now on their way to the rodeo. So we followed them over and settled in to watch the fun. It was a good rodeo except for the fact that everything took so long. They started at around 6pm, which is sorta late around here. And it was around 10 -15 minutes between every 6 sec bull ride. But, at least the bulls were actually bulls this time and not just one’s pulled from local barns. The best part of it was in the middle of the program when the mariachi singers came out with some of the horses. Unbeknownst to me, there are actual riders who train show horses here. These horses were doing the different moves like extending their front legs as they trotted or trotting in place. Their best trick was doing the whole Zorro move. That’s right…they went full upright on their hind legs. It was pretty damn cool.

After all that, we went and grabbed dinner (pizza! Bad pizza, but still pizza!). We met up with Rosie and Marleny. This was great; cause out of everyone I missed Rosie the most. We then checked out the next parade with the Queen of the Barrio. They really celebrate their queens here. Before her was a band, fireworks and baton twirlers. And she was crowned by the Mayor in front of Town Hall. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this, but it is my goal to be crowned queen of something down here. It shouldn’t be to hard, they have queens down here for everything. I’m talking queen of the barrio (sorry, barrio is neighbourhood), queen of the police, queen of the casa de cultura, queen of festivals, queen of ….well, you get the point. Any who, we watched her crowning and then went and got changed for the dance. I didn’t get changed because nobody told me there was going to be a dance. So, while I waited for everyone else to get ready, my host mother tried to get me to put on some of her make-up and use lotion and all that jazz. I politely declined. I hate it when she tries to do that, though I know it's part of the culture to always look nice. The dance itself wasn’t to bad…just a little empty. That might be due to the fact that the dj felt the desire to speak during the music every two seconds…I was about ready to kill him. My first dance partner was a guy that accompanied a friend of Rosie. He was drunk and can’t say I enjoyed his company. But eventually he ran off and I danced with a guy I knew from my time during training. He was cool. He use to call me gordita (little fat girl), apparently I’ve lost enough weight to lose the title as well. We left the party around 1:30am. This was fine by me since by this time I was tired.

So, of course, since my stomach doesn’t care when I’m tired, it decided to wake me up at around 4:30am…how nice. During this visit I shared a room with the host mom, so she knew I was getting up. I told her later in the morning it was due to all the greasy food I had the day before and not that I was sick. I then told her I was going to San Vicente to visit a friend there. That was a lie, I went and got diagnosed with another stomach aliment. It was funny, because they gave me pills and for the rest of my time with the host fam I took them secretly so they wouldn’t feel bad that I was sick again. Somehow popping pills secretly was amusing all in itself. I almost didn’t take them because I want my stomach to start building its own defences, but then two things persuaded me to take them. The first being the long bus rides back to my village and the second being that I’ve continued to lose weight. Not that that is a bad thing, but I think it's because my stomach has been trying to fight off infections for two months and isn’t absorbing all the nutrients it should. So, I decided to help it out a little by killing everything in it.

After the morning chillin in San Vicente, it was back to the house. I had a lovely chicken soup for lunch and finally figured out what the yellow balls in the soup were….chicken eggs that hadn’t been hatched yet. And no, I never did or will eat one. I have to draw the line somewhere and that seems like a good place to start. The rest of the day went by pretty lazily. I took a nap in the hammock, read my book, checked out the parade for the queen and king of kindergarten, did some shopping, went to mass and chilled with the host family. I was also nice enough to accompany to little kids (friends of the family) on a ride that went all upside down and everything after the little boy asked to go on. The little girl almost cried during it, so I tried to keep my arm round her…little bit difficult when being flung hither and yon…but I tried. Mostly, we just walked around the festival and checked everything out. That night I slept quite well.

Finally it was Saturday morning and making my escape was a little bit of hell. During all my time so far they repeatedly asked me to stay till Wed or to come back on Monday for the dance. I tried to explain that I had an event on Sunday and thus could not stay and Monday was a work day. Yes, Peace Corps is work and I can’t just run away for a week at a time to go check out festivals. They weren’t pleased with the answer, but they accepted it. I stayed till 10am and then said it was time. They gave me a few presents for my home and a bunch of food to take with me. It was nice of them. Alfonso accompanied me to the bus stop and told me how sad his mother is when I leave. That she cried the last time and all. I felt bad but also a little mad, but more on that later. I then hopped on a bus and made my way home. Have you ever been on a bus so cramped that you knew if it crashed you wouldn’t move an inch? Just wondering. I got back a little later then I wanted but still had time to check in with Iris and get ready for Sunday.

Now back to the host mom…I think I’ve figured out what makes me not want to visit them, it’s the host mom. I always think she is judging me and what I do. If I say I enjoy living on my own and having my own space, she gives me a look of disapproval or of not believing that anyone could be happy living in such a manner. Or that after telling her on Thursday that I hadn’t been to mass in a while, we magically found ourselves at a mass on Friday. She always has some look she is giving me or laughing at something I’m saying or doing. I know she doesn’t mean it that way, but it's annoying. And it's nice that she misses me when I leave, but I only lived there for 10 weeks. It's just weird and uncomfortable sometimes. But such is life and I’m sure I’ll wind up visiting them again in the future.

Why i don´t write about my week...

I don’t do anything during the week, and I’m pretty serious about that. I do small things, like write people, sit in on meetings, draw calendars, watch soap operas and play softball (when it's not raining). I wanna do more, but I’m just not there yet.

But, my weekends seem to be a little more interesting. I crashed a quince añera this past Saturday. For those who are not aware, instead of a sweet sixteen, they celebrate the 15th birthday. Iris was trying to explain a few of the details to me, but she wound up having to draw it out. Primavera to me means spring, but apparently it also applies to girls participating in the quince añera….hence my great confusion and a drawing. The birthday girl parades to her party and in the hall. Before her walks a little boy and girl of about 4 years of age. Behind her walks 14 girls (primaveras) and 14 boys (their ages vary up to about 18 years of age). They all sit together at a giant table and the party begins. I went with Iris and the family…..we just basically went to have a free dinner. And some left right after having the dinner. I won’t lie…it's pretty much the reason I went. It just got awkward when the birthday girl and her mother were walking around and greeting everyone, thanking them for coming and all, then they stumbled upon me and was like, ´oh, who’s this?´…it was funny. We stayed for a little while after, but left before the cake was served. I was a little sad about that. But not too much, cakes here never taste as good as they look.

Sunday I went and checked out some actual pools with Heidi. We went with her sister, her sister’s boyfriend and another guy. I must admit, I know it's dangerous, but I like riding in the back of pickups. I enjoy the wind and the sky and all that jazz. Any who, the pools were quite large and mostly man made. It seemed like a combo actually. The sides of the pool were made of concrete, but the bottom of it wasn’t. It was also filled with spring water. That means if you stayed still little fish came over and started to nip at your feet or legs. That was a weird sensation and often kept me on the move. It was nice to get out, but a little awkward since I didn’t know the guys and the whole language barrier.

After all that, I went home and treated myself to a nice hot bucket bath. Yes, that means I boiled some water, mixed it with some cold in a giant plastic tub and went for it. It was wonderful. I should do that more often.

Un Fin de Semana

So, after my grumpy Friday* I decided to finish cleaning on Saturday morning and then get ready in the afternoon for a baby shower. Of course, there was no water on Saturday morning, so I settled for reading my book in my hammock, making pancakes and listening to my ipod…it was rough. My pancakes need a little work, but I got time to practice and for 3 minutes I was attacked by mosquitoes that then randomly disappeared.

In the afternoon I took a bucket bath (thankfully I still had enough water in my pila to do so) and got ready for the baby shower. (Oddly enough, they say baby shower down here in English, they don’t translate it.) The baby shower turned out to be more fun then I thought it would be. Half the people didn’t show from the office and Jessica (the pregnant one) found out about it (it was suppose to be a surprise), but it was all good. Heidi and I hung out and drank beers/ate cake with everyone else. I was able to follow a few more conversations and learned even my Mayor is worried about the politics and the potential for violence in certain areas…no, not my area. Also, he wants me to help organize a soccer tournament for the guys in the town. If I do it, it's not political so more people will play. I like that he is thinking that way.

After the party I chilled with Iris at the house. We made cookies and watched a movie. I love cookie dough. Though I went to bed early and crashed. It was nice.

Sunday wasn’t bad either. In the morning I went over to San Pedro and waited for Heidi for an hour. She had bus difficulties. Erica (her sister) came along to and we hiked it to the pool. Now, when they say pool down here they mean naturally formed pool and when they say it's close, they mean that it’s at least a half hour walk through a corn field. It was a little small, but it was cold and nice to sit in. I sat there and drank a coke while eating Doritos……and life was good. Afterward, we hiked it back up the cornfield and into the pueblo. Heidi was looking to buy a wardrobe for her house. I finally got home around 2:20pm, changed quickly and hopped onto the next bus to Sonsonate for food shopping.

Why does it always rain when I don’t have an umbrella with me and have to walk a ways. That sucked, but I finally made it to the super market. I found mac and cheese…which made me happy and picked up things to make lunch from. PJ might not agree with me on this, but sometimes you need more then just peanut butter to get by. Of course, while in the supermarket, some guy stared at me and then tried to start up a conversation by talking about how beautiful my eyes are...so spooky. So, I managed to look busy and he left me alone. YEY! I finished buying everything, entered into a Visa competition (I have to collect stickers now in order to win $10,000…it could happen!) and then trudged back out into the rain and back to the bus stop. Who was there? Scary guy with his two kids. Damn. Of course he struck up a conversation and was asking me where I live and yadda yadda. Why is it just because I’m a Gringa people think I want to talk to them and tell them everything that is going on in my life. Or everything in theirs…or that I want to take them to the US when I return. It's irritating. He didn’t turn out to be that bad of a guy…just weird.

When I finally got home, I took a shower and made myself some mac and cheese. That stuff can really make you feel better. I also kept my front door shut so nobody could stare at me. (There is this little girl that will stare at me for like 10 minutes at a time when the back part of my front door is open…it’s freaky.) I then had my phone call with my parents…always a good thing. And I finished the weekend how I started it…reading a book.

Fotos!

Alright, here is the next batch of photos! More will come when I get to a speedy computer.


http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=973271159386490165/l=210564688/g=11114116/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Enjoy!!

What’s up in the Pueblo

Just a few updates on what’s going on in my neck of the woods.

I recently found out that the old mayor screwed over the town by leaving it $300,000 in debt with nothing to show for it. So, my town now pays about $7,000 monthly in repayment. That doesn’t leave them much money for projects, which is why I think my mayor asked me about finding funds when he first met me. I’m hoping they don’t see me as a way to make up the difference. Cause that would be bad.

The women are slowly thinking about the softball team. I can’t tell how serious they want to be about it. Whether they just want it to be social, whether they want to be competitive or they just like the idea of it. The last time we practiced they decided that Iris and I should be captains, but I think another woman will act as an unofficial captain. She already runs the practices and she knows everyone. Practices are interesting because everyone just stands in the outfield talking, sometimes running, avoiding guys playing soccer, and you also get to learn how to dodge cow pies and the cows that made the pies. It’s all good.

I’m going to start teaching English October 16th. It’s kinda of a scary thought, I have the resources but it's still going to be me in front of a bunch of El Salvadorians trying to teach a language when I’m not even good at their language yet. We’ll see how that goes.

Alright, that’s all for now.

Mi Propia Casa

I must say, I always knew at some point in my life I would live on my own, but I didn’t think that it would be in El Salvador. I’ve moved to my own little house not to far from my own place. And I do mean little.

When you walk in there is one room and that’s it. It’s a large enough room that I can set up a bedroom type setting on one side and a desk area on the other and have room to spare. Though, I don’t have a window. I can’t say I like that, but the back of the door opens up so light can come in. It’s hard to explain, but at some point I’ll put up a pic so you get the idea. Then you continue out to the back. I have a small patio where I have already hung up my hammock. On the left I have my refrigerator (expensive little guy) and my stove (Yes, my kitchen is outside…just like camping!). Along the left side wall is the bathroom and shower. The rest of the yard is a little garden that I’ll have to work on at some point. Another nice aspect of the house is that the roof has clay tiles. This keeps it cool during the day…thank God! The only problem worth mentioning is that it doesn’t have good cell phone reception…I’ll just have to wait for the new tower to be built and hope for the best.

Most of my stuff is on lend from my host sister, Iris. I pretty much took whatever wasn’t nailed down. This includes my stove, table, chairs, dresser…..you name it, I stole it. That isn’t to say I didn’t buy my own stuff. I picked up a pretty bad ass toaster oven (what else would I bake cookies in?), a refrigerator ($300 for something that comes to chest height! I’ll sell it in two years to the next unsuspecting volunteer…bwa ha ha ha ha) and all the necessities of setting up a house (desk, dishes, cleaning supplies…etc). I bought a lot of the stuff in the market…that was an adventure. It twists and turns everywhere. If Iris wanted to lose me, she could have in about a second. I got a good deal on some things, but not everything (Mainly dishware, I should have waited and bought it at the super…but I’ll try not to stay bitter for too long). We sent the stuff we bought in the market back with a pickup. It only cost me $.50 and they dropped it off at the old house for us. That was awesome and a little strange. Next we went to the mall. Here I did some food shopping and stuff. When I bought the fridge, my host sister asked if we could hitch a ride back to town with them since they were going to deliver the fridge anyway…they said yes. Which was great, since we threw the rest of my bags into the back of the pickup along with the fridge and my bad ass toaster oven. Saved us time, sweat and money.

I went back and did some more shopping the following two days…it’s just draining. I know how my father feels when he sees money just flying out the front door. And not that I need money...don’t think that. I still have plenty, it’s just wearing spending $400 in a day.

I figure for small stuff I’ll probably use tomato crates...you know…as book shelves and such. Rachael is going to come over and help me get that organized.

It’s weird living on my own. I made my own breakfast for the first time in four months this morning and it felt pretty good. The weird thing is I continue to make warm powder milk with cornflakes…it’s growing on me. Soon I’ll make pancakes with cinnamon or even get a waffle maker. Though, I also found the little mice tracks in my dish soap...ewww. I also have to clean the house out. I have a different definition of clean then others. I’m hoping to keep cucarachas out of the house. But, I’ve also decided that washing my own clothes is overrated, so I’m going to track back to my old place and borrow the washing machine every once and a while. I’ll also head over there to eat and watch tv…it’ll kind of be like I never really left, at least for a while.

The first night was loud…the evangelicals were singing for half the night. I live right by their church. The second night was loud too….but that’s because my neighbor decided to play music at a high level and because there were cats running after mice on the roof. That kinda sucked. But I know I’ll eventually settle down and sleep through it all.

One of the things I’m worried about is being lonely. It’s easy to hide in a house by yourself. I’ll just have to fight my introvert self and get out there. Or bake cookies and have everyone visit me.

Thus ends/begins my house adventure…I´ll keep you update as thing move along.