a nice long weekend

A nice long weekend

Friday came and I went to San Salvador! All the girls in my group decided to get together and have a girls night! It was great.

We all met up at the Princess – a nice hotel – and relaxed pool side, then jacuzzi side. It was a great time to catch up with what was going on in everyone’s life. I am now back in the loop…at least for now. I’ll probably be out of the loop by the end of the week – but that’s ok.

We treated ourselves to a nice dinner and then just hung out in the room. That’s right…12 of us shared one room. I slept on the floor.

The next day – Saturday – I did some shopping. I didn’t mean to, but I found this cute little shirt and since it was only $5, I went for it. I only hope Maryann doesn’t steal it when she comes to visit. I might hide it. I also looked at some birds…if you didn’t know, I’m looking for a cute pair of birds to have as pets – I’m not a cat person and dogs are just too much work down here. I went to the pet shop, but they wanted $150 for a pair!! I was like – I think not.

Later that day, I traveled out to Apaneca with a few other volunteers to go on a full moon hike. That’s right, at about 8 or 9pm, about 19 of us climbed up about an hour to a nice spot on the side of the mountain under the full moon. It was really quite beautiful. There came this one point where we were all standing on some sort of small wall in a line. It was quite picturesque to see a group standing in a line in the moonlight. I’ll have to hunt down someone who has that pic.

Any who, when we got up there we set up two tents and started a fire. We even had smoores! There was a little party with bluegrass music playing and bottles of wine all around. A good time was had by all. Though, I must say…it was cold. I slept outside and was freezing even though I had on two layers of pants, 2 shirts, a fleece, socks and shoes, and a fleece sleep bag thingy. At some point in the night I woke up really cold and then Erin offered to let me snuggle with her…I said yes.

So, needless to say….I didn’t sleep either Friday night nor Saturday night. But that’s ok.

Sunday was a long day just because I was so tired. On our way back from Apaneca, we stopped in at Guayua. It was a touristy town that has a food festival every Sunday along with a nice size market. We chowed down on Mexican food and had a look around town. Angi bought a puppy…a German Shepard puppy. The father of this puppy was like a small pony. But, she fell in love and took that puppy back with her. I looked around for birds, but only found types that I didn’t like. I talked with the woman and I was able to talk down here price by over $10 – but I still didn’t want them. Though, I am proud of my bargaining skills – go me!

After all that, I was thrilled to get my but back to my site. I think I was asleep by 8:30pm and very happy to be so.

Illegal Immigration

The other face of illegal immigration….


One of my close friends had her son leave for los Estados Unidos about 2 weeks ago as an illegal immigrant. He was going to help support his mom and send his younger sister through high school.

He was caught in Los Angeles and is now sitting in prison. If they don’t find a good lawyer, he’ll be there for six months instead of two before being exported.

It was just so heartbreaking to see. The family is so distraught and doesn’t know what to do. The daughter is worried about the mom’s health and what the family will do. They could wind up paying $1000 for a lawyer or more. Money they really don’t have.

It’s so frustrating to see both sides of the argument. I just hope he comes home as soon and as safely as possible.

AIDS

AIDS

On the weekend of the 17-18th, another volunteer (Andrea if you were wondering) held an AIDS camp. I think about 15 different volunteers brought three kids each to learn about AIDS and then spread the knowledge through their school through presentations.

The weekend itself wasn’t bad. My three kids came from the local school. I asked the director to recommend three students for the job. Douglas, the director, was great cause not only did he find me three kids but then convinced their parents to let them come. Something I probably wouldn’t of been able to do.

The camp consisted of different people giving presentations, a lot of ice breakers, a small play and conversations. Andrea wisely brought in doctors and health promoters. Especially fun was to see the kids reaction to the condom demonstration. As a side note: I asked Douglas if we should ask the parents if it is ok that the kids see a condom demonstration…he said it was better not to and not to worry. I was, ok.

The only thing that really came up was that there was a lot of down time. That left some of the kids restless, which leads to some foolishness…but nothing to bad. I think it was just mostly kids playing in the itty bitty pool. Then there were the cell phones….who really needs to get a phone call at 4 am?!

Anyhow, it ended right after lunch on Sunday and we headed back. Only, lunch didn’t settle with me well. So, the bus (which we chartered) had to pull over to let me run to store and ask to use the bathroom. It wasn’t too shady of a latrine. But, I think it was a composting latrine since there were to seats in there. I’ll explain a composting latrine another time. Anyway, what I didn’t realize was that my dear friend Abby decided to document the entire thing. She has picture of me running to the bathroom, buy alka seltzer and so on and so forth. How wonderful….

Back to AIDS…

Now I’m at the stage of planning the charlas (charlas = presentations) with the kids. They’ve decided they want to do them solo. So, we’ll form a charla and then everyone will give it to their individual grades. They wind up having to do 2 charlas each. I told them I would be present at all the charlas to lend support and make sure they didn’t forget anything. We’ll be doing this in March.

Finally…I’m doing something!!

Stoves

So, this past Wednesday I went off to visit Bonnie (another volunteer) and learn the art of stove construction. Special fuel-efficient stoves that burn about 60-70% less wood and cook things faster then regular stoves, to be precise. Kind of important in a country facing massive deforestation.

A lot of people down here use a wood fire to cook things down here, only it is kinda like a bbq design, just a lot of wood below cooking a pot on top. This new stove insulates the burning wood and forces the flames up through a certain spot so all the heat is focused on the pot. Though, I have to admit it is heavier then their regular stoves.

I’m hoping to construct a few in March. I’ll distribute them to different members of the community: the school and two street vendors. This way the rest of the community can see the stoves in action and the women using them can talk about them. If genuine interest in the stoves is shown, I can do a small oven construction project. Sonia already said she would be my helper.

The actual construction took a while, mostly cause there were so many of us constructing and only one saw. But, overall it was fun. I got to play with molasses, sand, dirt, ash and pumice stones. One girl felt mentioned it felt like she was in a co-op. We all were just sitting around constructing fuel-efficient stoves while listening to music…not a bad job, huh.

I figure I’ll build one for myself and use it as a bbq…is that wrong?

Translating...and translating...and translating

So, I headed out to Santa Rosa de Lima on Sunday (the 4th) to translate for the eye campaign happening out there. That was the reason I left the western conference early. Santa Rosa is on the other side of the country and I didn’t want to do the entire trip on one day.

So, I got out there Sunday afternoon. I got to meet up with a lot of the volunteers/doctors that evening. The campaign was held at the church…since it was the only spot that could hold that many people. We had about 4,000 come through that week. It was organized by a church in the United States, but had people from a variety of faiths. Sunday night was the opening ceremonies. People sang, danced and thanked the doctors for coming. I did enjoy the dances, cause they were actually dancing. Many times down here, it’s just girls jumping in a line and swishing their skirts. There was also a dinner that I snuck into. I pretty much stole food all week long….but more on that later.

The hotel…I’m gonna bitch about the hotel even though I didn’t have to pay for it. It wasn’t really a nice one. In fact, it was bad. They were doing construction when I was there, sometimes at night, so if I wanted water…lets say to wash my hands or flush the toilet…I had to ask them to turn it on. And when I looked at the toilet bowl water there was an oil slick on top from the machinery they were using…so, chances are there was oil in the water I used for showers. I never really did feel clean. There were ants and the bed was nothing I wish to sleep on again….but I survived and managed only to become a little bit cranky. (maybe more then a little bit). Alright, I was just in a bad mood by the end of the week…but I’m an introvert and I never got any alone time. It was driving me nuts. But anyway…on to the campaign!

I spent the majority of the time translating for the same section, near vision. It consisted of five people: Ann, Annie, Carrie, Jason and Roger. They were all nice people and I enjoyed working with them. People would come from having their distance vision checked and then to us. They would check their near vision with a small number chart. For those who couldn’t read, there was a chart with symbols…like stars or hearts. After us, we would either send them to the doctor, send them to have their eyes refracted, get glasses or just release them. For those who didn’t need glasses, we would give them a small knit towel to use to wash and comfort their eyes and sometimes sunglasses or a hat. I think I said the same thing at least 2-300 times a day. It was tiring by the end of the week.

Other sections included: doctors to examine older and diseased eyes, refraction, glasses, fake eyes, consultation and surgery. Surgery was only done on pteregiums or cataracts. In either case, it had to be serious case to receive an operation because there was only a limited number of spots available.

It was interesting and heartbreaking at the same time to see peoples eyes. Some had nubes (pteregiums) and we couldn’t do anything for them unless they were threatening their vision. Your eyes are skin and have stem cells. Nubes form when the sun damages the stem cells on your eyes so that they can no longer prevent the skin from growing over your eyes. From what I can tell…its painful. But only those that had serious cases could receive surgery to remove them.

Other cases included young people who were blinded by accidents, such as a soccer ball to the face, and nothing could be done for them. I also got to see scars from previous eye surgeries. That included the stitch marks on an eye that had received a corneal transplant. Lets just say that if you received an eye surgery within El Salvador in previous years…chances were you were not going to see with that eye again. Many got infected afterward and now are just cloudy.

Many of the people were vary gracias and patient…but not all. Some of the other volunteers were saying that with other eye campaigns, the crowd had be more pleasant. They seemed to think that since this campaign was so large, that the people thought that they could act as they please without there really being a consequence or being embarrassed. I had Salvos fight with me when the testers stated they didn’t need glasses. It went something like this:

‘I need glasses’
‘no you don’t’
‘but my eyes burn’
‘glasses can’t help with that’
‘but I need glasses’
‘no, you don’t’

There were also a lot trying to cut lines, or ask for free medicine. It got tiring at times. Mostly cause they always got mad at me, not the person that told them they didn’t need glasses, but the person who was translating. It’s not my fault!

Another interesting thing to watch was the cultural conflict between the American group and the Salvos. One of the women in my group asked me to ask the Salvo volunteers to direct traffic a certain way. I asked, sometimes they did it, other times they didn’t. She asked me to ask again…I told her to drop it. It’s a cultural thing and you can’t change it is basically what I said. She let it go.

I also had fun with the fact that they couldn’t speak Spanish. One Salvo asked Jason what state he was from. The girl had never heard of Idaho, so I proceeded to tell her it was an ugly state that only had potatoes. Jason learned to recognize when I was telling people that…so he started to interrupt when I got started. It was fun. But, I also tried to help protect them from questions…like when people asked me to ask them how much money they earn. I would tell the questioner that that wasn’t a question I was prepared to ask and that it was personal. By the end I was also speaking Spanish to the English speakers and vice versa. I usually caught it early.

At the end of the week, I was ready to go. I had had a good time with my group, but my little pueblo was calling. Literally, Iris was calling wondering when I was getting back. Friday evening, I said good-bye to my little group of gringos. They were so appreciative and even gave me a couple of bucks for the road. Then on Saturday, I headed home. I left around 7am and got in around 3 something.

Sunday was spent cleaning the house. Though, I caved and had a muchacha come over and wash my clothes. There were a lot of clothes and I just don’t have the strength nor the patience. Besides, she gets them a lot cleaner then I do.

Western Conference

The western conference is when all the volunteers in the western part of the country get together. It was actually pretty short. We met on Friday around lunch and were done the next day around lunch. It was held at a beautiful lake, Coatepeque?

The bus trip out there wasn’t bad, especially since we just kept meeting up with more volunteers during the trip. At the bus terminal, Rachael and I met up with all the people from the Cara Sucia (dirty face) area. Later on, we picked up a few more.

The whole thing was basically a meeting where volunteers could share what they were up to. This way, if I want to do a project, I can see who would have information and experience with that type of project. It was definitely helpful and we’ll see what I can put together from it.

They also had some interesting speakers on the second day. One was a gentlemen from the embassy. He was talking about the economy of El Salvador. It’s been a while since I’ve heard terms such as ‘vertical integration’ and ‘GDP’…It’s comforting that I still know what they mean. He was definitely an economist…all for free trade agreements. He got into a little bit of an argument with a volunteer because the volunteer was championing the damage to the every day Salvadorian and he was championing the overall effect. Overall, it was very interesting to hear. The economy is growing, though remittances (money sent home from abroad) make up approximately 18% of the GDP. Unfortunately, that money is being used just for consumerism. It’s not being funneled toward projects that could actually help El Salvador further itself…like roads, schools and water projects. Though there is a movement starting it that direction. It’ll take time.

The next speaker was our security officer…we had less stuff happen in 2006 then 2005. Stuff meaning robberies, thefts and things of that nature. Go us!

Finally, a few NGO’s came out to speak. I didn’t actually get to stay and watch them. I instead took a free ride into the capitol. What can I say…it was just easier.

The truth is, on Sunday I left for Santa Rosa and that is a long trip. So, I decided to break it up by spending one night in the capitol and then completing the trip on Sunday. That night at the hostel was actually quite interesting. I got to talk with people from Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, England and a few other places. It was great. Most were just stopping by El Salvador for a few days.

My Birthday!

24! It’s a nice number.

Where to begin…let’s start with the morning. I got up, made myself some pancakes and treated myself to a hot bucket bath. I love hot bucket baths (I’m serious).

From there, it was off to the office. I got there and got all the congrats. They usually said congrats and not happy birthday. It was kinda weird, but cool. I spent the day just chillin. Heidy treated me to lunch…hmmm…free lunch.

In the afternoon I got another surprise. I was sitting on my desk, cause I prefer sitting on my desk then in the chair, when Luis Ernesto came up and was like, “Don Justo wants to see you...something about the Peace Corps”. So, I went down and heard more noise coming from his office. When I walked in, everyone was there and they all stood up and started singing happy birthday! They even bought me a cake! Hmmm…cake. It was really nice.

So, then I was suppose to go play softball, but the teacher I had been waiting for all day never came. That made it to late to go play softball. I hear there were 14 women! That’s huge. I think Rosie rounded up that many to play for me, so…I kinda feel bad that I didn’t make it over there. But, such is life.

I pretty much spent the afternoon chillin at Iris’s place. Till around 6ish when we headed over to Sonia’s place. They blind folded me and led me to her backyard. Which was funny cause they had obviously never led someone who was blindfolded. They forgot to mention steps, hammocks and other obstacles. But, I made it. And when they un-blindfolded me, there were a bunch a friends shouting happy birthday! Another surprise! It was great. They had turkey, rice and some sort of vegetable thing. Then cake, ice cream and the cookies I made. It was great…really great.

That night I had my first Salvadorian sleepover. Heidy lives out in the cantons, and by the time the party ended, it was dark. It’s not always the safest thing to travel down here when it is dark. So, she stayed with me. It was a little weird, but it worked out.

I also opened my package from Mom and Dad after La Fea (my soap opera). I love the Far Side. I got the little calendar that you rip off everyday…I know sit at my desk and giggle. My co-workers ask me what it means…but Gary Larson just can’t be translated and retain the same effect. I’m also pretty sure it’s not their sense of humor. I shouldn’t say that, it can be the sense of humor of some, but not as a whole. I also got more sheets…I love sheets (for the bed). You can’t get nice sheets down here without them costing the world. And yes, in case you were wondering, I pay someone to wash my sheets. I just don’t have the arm muscle, nor the skill to do it. Plus, it only costs a buck.

I continued my fun throughout the weekend. On Friday, I headed out to the capitol. I used the excuse of handing in the computer applications. Side note: I have two schools participating in the program for a total of 15 computers. I was disappointed that one school that stated that it would participate never showed up with the application. All well.

Otherwise, I just kinda hung around with all the other volunteers. I went and saw a movie and then had Pizza Hut for dinner…high living.

Saturday. I caught a ride and headed up to the soccer match in Morizan. I love rides. It was with Allison…she is a PC employee/volunteer. A little tough to explain, but just trust me that she’s all-good. Once there, I actually played soccer. Which would explain why I’m in pain now…but that is beside the point. We lost, but only by 3 goals. Which is huge since half the team was like me…inexperienced. The boys only lost by 1. You could tell the Salvos were getting mad that they weren’t winning by a stronger margin. It was kinda funny. After the fun of the games, we went back to a nice little hotel. The shower was warm, the food good and the beer cold. It was a nice way to end the evening. I slept like a rock.

Sunday was spent traveling. It’s about 7 hours to get from Perkin back to my little pueblito. And that about ends my birthday adventure.
All’s that’s left is to wait for some packages….I love packages

I thought it was a good idea....

So, I thought it was a great idea to get speakers for my little office area. Heidy and I have been chillin sin musica for a few months now …so I thought it was about time. I bought a pair of $6 speakers and brought them to the office. I should of made sure she had a plentiful source of music first. I love ‘dust in the wind’, but how many times can I honestly listen to it in one day. She’s worse then Louise Ernesto (another guy who works in the office). But, at least it’s not Celine Dion’s ‘My heart will go on’, then I would snap.

My plan is to…when no one is watching…to load itunes on to her computer and then all my music…bwa ha ha ha ha!!! This insanity must end!

In other news…I’m starting work on my garden. So far… I’ve cleaned it out. No small task when one is scared of big bugs…but I did it! I also had the help of Myra. My next step is to get tomato crates and soil. The dirt in my back yard isn’t good for growing stuff…so I’m gonna go steal dirt from Don Justo (the mayor). Then it’s off to the agroservicio to buy some seeds. (Just went to the agroservicio and they gave them to me for free cause they found out I was a PCV! YEY) Maybe I’ll even go pick up some worms from the PC office. I figure I’ll grow the stuff in the boxes and lay down stuff between the boxes to help prevent bug infestations. Apparently, down here they are a lot more common…they don’t have the winter to kill off the little guys. I’m also waiting for the papayas to ripen in my backyard. Yup, I have a papaya tree. My friends can’t wait to steal them…and I’m ok with that. I can’t say I’m a huge papaya person.

Then there is softball, Iris has come back to the team! I think it is because Nina Chella (mother-in-law of Iris and owner of the pharmacy Iris is running) is telling Iris that she will not be coming back from the United States. Yes, she is there with a visa…not illegally. And I don’t think Iris likes the idea of spending the rest of her life in a little store...so…she’s coming back out to join the rest of the world.

Then there’s the environment. Olivia has decided to start work on the environment, since it is her job, and I’m going to help. We’re starting off with a survey of the urban area. Asking people what they do with their trash, how they cook, and things such at that.

My little computer thing is slowly moving along. Actually, while typing some of this, I am waiting for some of the teachers to come to fill out the application. I hope they decide to participate. Otherwise, it was just nice to get some face-to-face time with them and let them know whom I was and that I am here.

Alright..that’s all for now. Oh wait…5 DAYS TILL MY B-DAY!! Go me!

a little busy?!

Monday = crepe party… and man was it a huge success. I was a little bad and only invited people I actually talk to and not everyone in the alcaldia. What can I say, I just didn’t have enough for everyone and my house isn’t that big. Pretty much everyone who was invited, showed up. I had the crepes and chocolate from Belgium and I brought ice cream, whip cream, sugar, and strawberry jam (couldn’t find real strawberries in the store). I served coffee and everything. Surprisingly, they all loved the crepes. I say this because they usually don’t like any of the food I bring/make. In fact, Melina told me she was surprised she like the food, I told her I was too. The chocolate was an amazing success…I had to fight to keep some for myself. It was nice to have everyone over and having a good time, even if I couldn’t understand everything they were saying. They seemed to laugh a lot. I laughed every once and a while.

Tuesday wasn’t so bad, softball was fun. They all loved the new softball (thanks mom and dad) and it is now promptly filthy. When you play in a pasture, washing your hands afterward is a much…a big must. When we were done warming up, we played a small game against a bunch of boys that were nearby.

Wednesday, I had a wonderful opportunity….even though I had to wake up at 3:40 am to take advantage of it, it was well worth it. I went and visited Sam up at his site. In case you are wondering, he’s located up in a larger pueblo near Santa Anna. He has some engineers visiting from Engineers without Borders. I think the name is self-explanatory, but if not, they are like Doctors without Borders, but they design plans and sometime help construct. So, if your town needs a well, for instance, they come down, survey the land, determine the best spot to find water, to put a water tower and test the water once it is pumped. This group helped pay for the digging of the well, but not the system to pump or deliver the water…they will just design that. Anyway, they needed translators…so off I went. For most of the day, we went door to door doing a survey of the town. We asked things such as; how many people live there, the amount of water you use, what water you are drinking, where do you get your water, and how much would you be willing to pay for water to your house every month…those types of things. Sometimes it took me a few tries to get the message across, but overall, I don’t think I did half bad for my first attempt. Later that night, three of us took turns translating for the engineers during a town meeting. They were, basically, explaining what they were doing, why and what more to expect. I think the most humorous part came at the end. The engineers wanted to express their gratitude for all the community had done for them…such as providing housing and food for them. So, the engineer said, “I want to thank you for everything. It had been a life changing experiencing and your kindness had been overwhelming.” Now, Danielle (who was translating) could say all of that except none of us know the translation of overwhelming….so she when she got to that part she said, “no hay palabras para describirlo” = there aren’t words to describe it. Get it…funny right. Maybe you just had to be there. Anyway, anyone who could speak the two languages started laughing…those who knew only one were silent. Anyhow, after we all grabbed dinner and chilled for a little while. It was nice to talk to the engineers and get their opinions on El Salvador. I crashed hard that night.

Finally, that brings us to Friday (I know I skipped a day, nothing much happened). I had a meeting with the directors of schools about a computer project. It was a little confusing in the beginning because people were also coming from FISDEL for a meeting…so somehow, some of them wound up in my meeting and then people came late…but it all worked out in the end. In fact, it was a great meeting. I ran it by myself and was able to explain everything. Some even seem genuinely interested in participating.

Epiphany

or Dia de los reye magi

They actually celebrate it! But not it a way that you would think. ..is it ever?

I met up with Racheal on Saturday to buy stuff for my crepe party (more on that later) and then we headed back to my site.

In the afternoon, the culture house put on a little show. They had games, like musical chairs, and dances by local children. It was cute and a lot of peole came out to see and participate.

After, Racheal went back to my place and I cooked up some chicken cutlets! (thanks mom, for the breadcrumbs). Heidy even came over. It was a nice dinner, a dinner I had over and over again. Gotta love left overs.

The most interesting part of the celebration was at night. It´s when the guys of the town dress up as women or monsters and dance. Actually, there is a pick-up that plays music. If you pay them a $1, you can see the guys dance for two songs. They danced from like 7:30ish till 1 or 2am. I went to bed before that. At the end of the night, all the guys split up the money. It was a fun evening.

And I´m back

Thursday afternoon my Alcaldia sent a ride for me. How awesome is that! No bus with all that heavy luggage.

So, when I got back everyone was glad to see me. It was really quite nice. They all wanted to see photos and give hugs. Which I welcomed. Iris even made me dinner that night.

She also helped me set out poison for the rats.....I´ve had enough of them. I didn´t hear them last night and I´m hoping they went behind the house to die. Though Sonia said she would come over and dispose of any carcasses I found.

Friday was spent cleaning my house mostly. You know your house is dirty when it takes you about 5 hours to clean a one room place. I had brought everything inside while I was away and it all got covered in dust and spider webs. But, now I´m settled back in.

I also went and picked up a package on Friday. It was from my old place of work...Beacon Planning. It was a great surprise. Love the tea!

That brings me to today. Just chillin at the market, buying pirated music and vegetables. I also managed to get love tapped by a police pick-up. I´m fine. They were trying to get past a bus, slowly...but nipped me. Well, mostly my backpack that I wear on the side, but a little of me. I think I´ll take some aspirin.

Alright, time to head off. The next entry will be about the Epiphany...they celebrate it and I hear in a interesting fashion......

Pictures!

You know the drill:

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=40341167930148520/l=237026691/g=11114116/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

enjoy!

Belgium

So, my travels started at about 4am on the 26th of December. That is when the pastor came and gave me a ride to the airport. From El Salvador I went to Miami, where I bought lunch and nearly went into shock at the price. From Miami, I went to Frankfurt in Germany and then to Belgium. In total it was about 20 or more hours traveling...ouch. But it was well worth it because everyone was waiting for me at the airport. It was sweet!

We spent that afternoon exploring Brussels and trying not to fall asleep. It was just such a change. Seeing a country developed and striving. To see a place with such a history. It was so beautiful and so overwhelming. It was just so great to see everyone.

That evening we all just stayed together and ate Chinese. I unpacked a little and unfortunately found out that the majority of the pottery I brought with me had broken. But, thankfully, not the wedding present. That night I took a long, long hot shower and snuggled into a comfortable bed with a comfortable comforter.

The next morning I woke up and had no idea where I was. I didn't mind, but still had no idea where I was. Then Maryann said something, and I thought, 'Maryann's here! how sweet!'. It was weird and quite humorous. My sister was good and brought plenty of clothes. I robbed her of some, heck...right now I'm sitting in her jeans and t-shirt. How great is that! We just spent the day getting ready for the wedding. The four ladies (Tory, Jessie, Maryann and I) were a little overdressed for the occasion...apparently this was a little more informal of a wedding. We didn't care, it was an occasion to dress up. The wedding took place at the town hall? I'm not sure if that was what is was called or not. It was a quick ceremony...I think Aunt Ann spent more time signing papers then the actually ceremony took.

Then it was time for the castle. Who has a reception in a castle...they do and it was awesome! The food was to die for and the dancing lasted till the am hours. Ann and Greta have great friends and coworkers. They didn't give us to much info or dirt on them, but they did have some great stories. During the middle of the night, Greta's family put on a little skit..a song if you will. It was YMCA with new words. I wish I could sing in multiple languages. Overall, it was just great to see Aunt Ann so happy. After, I got to drive her car back to the house. I haven't driven in 7 months so to say it was fun is an understatement. I managed not to crash into anything.

The next day we all packed up and went the the Belgian shore. The adults in one house, kids in another and friends in a third. We all congregated in the parents house for food and fun. It was just three days spent exploring local towns (like Brugge and the beach) and even a display of ice carvings...which was quite spectacular. I also got the rest of my Christmas gifts....i am a spoiled rotten child. It's wonderful.

Before I knew it, it was time to go. It was about 24 hours to get back. We (Mom, Dad, Maryann and I) got up a little earlier then the rest cause my flight was earlier. Getting on that plane was incredibly difficult. Mostly cause I'm not sure of the next time I'll see them... especially Aunt Ann and Greta. The flights were long and security a little tedious at time. The security in Germany isn't messing around. They hand wand and pat down everyone. And it wasn't a cursory pat down...they were checking. I also had my ipod speakers tested for explosives. The guys at customs in the US thought it was bad ass that El Salvador was my country of residence...they also guessed I was Peace Corps. Go figure. I got in a little late, but managed to grab a taxi and get to the hostel. Thankfully, other volunteers were there to hang out with. So, now I'm chilling in San Salvador. My town hall is gonna send a car for me tomorrow...free ride! I bought some chocolate to bring back as gifts along with crepes...we'll see if they like them!

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.