Salvy wedding
Better than beans
christmas feast
Monday, December 27, 2010
Salvadoran Christmas
It didn’t start off well. I woke up to a small stick of dynamite exploding outside my door. I burst out of my room, all excited to be able to say “Feliz Navidad” instead of the usual boring “buenas diaz”. I was disappointed to not be met with the same gusto. Everyone barely seemed aware it was Christmas, even after talking it up for weeks. Breakfast was beans and tortillas. So was lunch. No rice or eggs (yes they do excite me when served). After a couple of calls back to the states, I was about to chalk this one up to another terrible Christmas in a foreign county. However, this one had nothing on my Christmas two years ago in some god-forsaken village in northern Burkina Faso. Then I was in a hot, dirty desert town, sick, alone, no French, no one knew it was Christmas because they’re Muslim, and I spent the night in a sleeping bag at a bus station. There really is no going down from that low.
This Christmas surprised me though. My host brothers suggested we play chess, which is always a good time, watching them squirm in their seats with anxiety as they lose pieces is hilarious. I also figured out a way to install a pull-up bar, so now I do my favorite exercise from back home. Eventually people started gathering at our house, a border-line festive atmosphere developed. Dinner was a specially roasted chicken, which was actually very tasty. It was also used to make chicken and vegetable sandwiches which were passed around and enjoyed by all. I should note that this day was punctuated by ear-splitting fireworks that people set off all the time everywhere, with no effects except for being LOUD. All I want for Christmas is to keep my eardrum intact.
Most of the men find Christmas as an excuse to get rip-roaring drunk on very cheap liquor and beer. This motivates them to engage me in nonsensical and never ending conversation. Usually I have to escape to my room, but it being Christmas I decided to stick it out and celebrate with everyone. Hours of repetitive, stupid conversations ensued, the entertainment of the evening was watching the Gringo talk to the drunks about the 3.5 words of English they know. Actually this resulted in some shared deep belly laugh about what comes out of these guys mouths, so felt like I was bonding with people and had a pretty good time.
That was all on the 24th, which is when Christmas is celebrated here, so today was more uneventful. I did attend my first Salvadoran Wedding, which was kind of fun. The groom was a friend of mine who is only 19, and its still bizarre when people younger than me get married. The church had a no walls, a dirt floor and blown out speakers, but the ceremony took place like any other, just with a couple hours of hymn singing beforehand.
It didn’t start off well. I woke up to a small stick of dynamite exploding outside my door. I burst out of my room, all excited to be able to say “Feliz Navidad” instead of the usual boring “buenas diaz”. I was disappointed to not be met with the same gusto. Everyone barely seemed aware it was Christmas, even after talking it up for weeks. Breakfast was beans and tortillas. So was lunch. No rice or eggs (yes they do excite me when served). After a couple of calls back to the states, I was about to chalk this one up to another terrible Christmas in a foreign county. However, this one had nothing on my Christmas two years ago in some god-forsaken village in northern Burkina Faso. Then I was in a hot, dirty desert town, sick, alone, no French, no one knew it was Christmas because they’re Muslim, and I spent the night in a sleeping bag at a bus station. There really is no going down from that low.
This Christmas surprised me though. My host brothers suggested we play chess, which is always a good time, watching them squirm in their seats with anxiety as they lose pieces is hilarious. I also figured out a way to install a pull-up bar, so now I do my favorite exercise from back home. Eventually people started gathering at our house, a border-line festive atmosphere developed. Dinner was a specially roasted chicken, which was actually very tasty. It was also used to make chicken and vegetable sandwiches which were passed around and enjoyed by all. I should note that this day was punctuated by ear-splitting fireworks that people set off all the time everywhere, with no effects except for being LOUD. All I want for Christmas is to keep my eardrum intact.
Most of the men find Christmas as an excuse to get rip-roaring drunk on very cheap liquor and beer. This motivates them to engage me in nonsensical and never ending conversation. Usually I have to escape to my room, but it being Christmas I decided to stick it out and celebrate with everyone. Hours of repetitive, stupid conversations ensued, the entertainment of the evening was watching the Gringo talk to the drunks about the 3.5 words of English they know. Actually this resulted in some shared deep belly laugh about what comes out of these guys mouths, so felt like I was bonding with people and had a pretty good time.
That was all on the 24th, which is when Christmas is celebrated here, so today was more uneventful. I did attend my first Salvadoran Wedding, which was kind of fun. The groom was a friend of mine who is only 19, and its still bizarre when people younger than me get married. The church had a no walls, a dirt floor and blown out speakers, but the ceremony took place like any other, just with a couple hours of hymn singing beforehand.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Christmas is coming right up, it will be interesting to see what actually happens here. Some people say gifts are given, but I’m not sure. Everyone tells me that there will be more fireworks than normal (great) and asks me if I will drink beer with them. Although drinking here in my site has a certain appeal and may help me bond with my host brothers, word of it would inevitably get out and may cause some of the more conservative people in the community to think less of me and therefore lower my effectiveness as a volunteer. The big day here is Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day, I’m not really sure why. I may stay here for New Years Eve or I may leave to party with other volunteers.
I’m excited to say I’m coming back for a nine day visit to visit my mom and sister back in Arcata. Although part of me wants to be the bad ass traveler that doesn’t come home for two years, I am looking forward to some family time and all the comforts of home. I also think it will give me a chance to step back and look at the big picture of what I am doing and give me some perspective. When I stayed in Ghana for ten months without coming home I started going a little loco by the end, so maybe this will take some of the pressure off. I will be back the Jan 18th thru the 27th, if anyone is around during that time in Humboldt, hit me up!
I got to do two really fun things this past weekend, the first was releasing baby sea turtles into the ocean at a beach call Barra de Santiago. Me and 4 friends stayed in a hotel on the beach and got to “help” (actually watch) as about 80 one day old sea turtles were placed on the beach to scurry their way to the water. A local NGO collects the eggs that the sea turtles lay on the beach and hatches them since leaving them on the beach makes them vulnerable to predators (including hungry humans). After they hatch, it is important to place the turtles on the beach so they somehow can get a sense enough of it to come back to the same spot to lay their eggs. It was really special event to be present for.
The other fun thing was the Peace Corps Volunteers played a series a soccer games against the JIKA team. JIKA is the Japanese equivalent of the Peace Corps, with Volunteers serving for two years in various sites in the country and doing development work. There are only about 40 or so of them, but rumor has it they are much better funded. Our men’s teams lost a close 1-2 game, but our women crushed in 10-0 blowout. Afterword we got to meet them over snacks and drinks and find out which of them worked near our sites. Most of them spoke good Spanish, so we were able to communicate, albeit in neither of our native tongues. That was definitely something new.
On the work front, I’ve started selling the cooking stoves that use less wood and produce less smoke. I made up some flyers and scheduled for the company to come out to demonstrate how the stoves work. I’ve been going door to door telling people about the stoves and the demonstration. A lot of people seem interested, so I end up taking a lot of orders. This is a little intimidating since for every order I take I have to find $22 in a timely manner to subsidize cost. It will be time to try my hand at grant writing.
I’m excited to say I’m coming back for a nine day visit to visit my mom and sister back in Arcata. Although part of me wants to be the bad ass traveler that doesn’t come home for two years, I am looking forward to some family time and all the comforts of home. I also think it will give me a chance to step back and look at the big picture of what I am doing and give me some perspective. When I stayed in Ghana for ten months without coming home I started going a little loco by the end, so maybe this will take some of the pressure off. I will be back the Jan 18th thru the 27th, if anyone is around during that time in Humboldt, hit me up!
I got to do two really fun things this past weekend, the first was releasing baby sea turtles into the ocean at a beach call Barra de Santiago. Me and 4 friends stayed in a hotel on the beach and got to “help” (actually watch) as about 80 one day old sea turtles were placed on the beach to scurry their way to the water. A local NGO collects the eggs that the sea turtles lay on the beach and hatches them since leaving them on the beach makes them vulnerable to predators (including hungry humans). After they hatch, it is important to place the turtles on the beach so they somehow can get a sense enough of it to come back to the same spot to lay their eggs. It was really special event to be present for.
The other fun thing was the Peace Corps Volunteers played a series a soccer games against the JIKA team. JIKA is the Japanese equivalent of the Peace Corps, with Volunteers serving for two years in various sites in the country and doing development work. There are only about 40 or so of them, but rumor has it they are much better funded. Our men’s teams lost a close 1-2 game, but our women crushed in 10-0 blowout. Afterword we got to meet them over snacks and drinks and find out which of them worked near our sites. Most of them spoke good Spanish, so we were able to communicate, albeit in neither of our native tongues. That was definitely something new.
On the work front, I’ve started selling the cooking stoves that use less wood and produce less smoke. I made up some flyers and scheduled for the company to come out to demonstrate how the stoves work. I’ve been going door to door telling people about the stoves and the demonstration. A lot of people seem interested, so I end up taking a lot of orders. This is a little intimidating since for every order I take I have to find $22 in a timely manner to subsidize cost. It will be time to try my hand at grant writing.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
12/13/10
Today I went with 4 of my host brothers (there are five, plus one girl) to harvest coffee. The harvest season is from the end of November until the end of February and there are miles of coffee fields in every direction, so a lot of families work the harvest to make money. Everyone thought it was hilarious that I was going to do this, especially when I went into town to buy the large basket you need. We left the house at 5:30 this morning (it was dark and freezing still) and walked for an hour straight down the mountain until we meet with the other workers. We were divided into teams and assigned locations to work. I definitely got some funny looks being the whitest and tallest guy around. Coffee harvest involves tying a large basket to the front of your waist and just ripping beans of off the trees. There are trees every three feet or so and most are loaded with bright red or yellow beans. Sounds easy, but the catch is the trees are on steep slopes with loose dirt and sticks which you have to maneuver around on while not spilling your giant basket. I stumbled twice and spilled beans, losing about twenty minutes worth of work. I also got “stung” by some kind of caterpillar with venomous spikes. That one caught me by surprise. Overall, the work is fairly easy, just standing there plucking beans, trying not to fall down the hill. The kicker is however much you harvest you have to put in a giant sack and carry up the mountain. I made a trip with about 50 pounds and felt like I was going to pass out, plus girls younger than me were passing me with twice the weight. Salvadorans officially kick my ass in all forms of physical labor. After lugging that sack I didn’t pick with as much vigor, knowing I had to carry whatever I harvested. We picked for about six hours, with my total coming to about 70 pounds. This was also hilarious, since a minimum of 100 pounds is required to not be ridiculed. The hardest part of the day was the 2-hour walk back up the mountain, which nearly finished me.
Giant basket: $2.00
Harness: $.75
Total day’s pay earned from 70 pounds of beans harvested: $2.75
Breaking even and retiring from coffee picking: Priceless.
Makes minimum wage look pretty good huh? The pay is one dollar for every 25 pounds harvested. A really long, good day for an experienced picker might earn $8. What a different world.
Today I went with 4 of my host brothers (there are five, plus one girl) to harvest coffee. The harvest season is from the end of November until the end of February and there are miles of coffee fields in every direction, so a lot of families work the harvest to make money. Everyone thought it was hilarious that I was going to do this, especially when I went into town to buy the large basket you need. We left the house at 5:30 this morning (it was dark and freezing still) and walked for an hour straight down the mountain until we meet with the other workers. We were divided into teams and assigned locations to work. I definitely got some funny looks being the whitest and tallest guy around. Coffee harvest involves tying a large basket to the front of your waist and just ripping beans of off the trees. There are trees every three feet or so and most are loaded with bright red or yellow beans. Sounds easy, but the catch is the trees are on steep slopes with loose dirt and sticks which you have to maneuver around on while not spilling your giant basket. I stumbled twice and spilled beans, losing about twenty minutes worth of work. I also got “stung” by some kind of caterpillar with venomous spikes. That one caught me by surprise. Overall, the work is fairly easy, just standing there plucking beans, trying not to fall down the hill. The kicker is however much you harvest you have to put in a giant sack and carry up the mountain. I made a trip with about 50 pounds and felt like I was going to pass out, plus girls younger than me were passing me with twice the weight. Salvadorans officially kick my ass in all forms of physical labor. After lugging that sack I didn’t pick with as much vigor, knowing I had to carry whatever I harvested. We picked for about six hours, with my total coming to about 70 pounds. This was also hilarious, since a minimum of 100 pounds is required to not be ridiculed. The hardest part of the day was the 2-hour walk back up the mountain, which nearly finished me.
Giant basket: $2.00
Harness: $.75
Total day’s pay earned from 70 pounds of beans harvested: $2.75
Breaking even and retiring from coffee picking: Priceless.
Makes minimum wage look pretty good huh? The pay is one dollar for every 25 pounds harvested. A really long, good day for an experienced picker might earn $8. What a different world.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
12/7/10
Firework season is here. The stores stared selling them from little one cent poppers to one dollar dynamite sticks. These should not be legal. All they do is explode, no sparks or colors or shooting. They are sold to kids of all ages who just put them everywhere and light them. Sometimes when I’m sitting in my room what sounds like a sonic boom will occur right outside, making me jump about six feet high. It’s the kind of explosion that where you can feel the sound waves, it hits you in a blast.
Work is slow here (non-existent). School is out until late January and I don’t feel like I really know the people, languages, and needs of the community well enough to undertake any major projects that involve co-operation. So now I’m just studying and practicing Spanish, meeting and hanging out with people and generally making myself a presence in peoples lives.
Yesterday I was walking by a house when I heard the familiar shout “Don Nacho!!!” I stopped to see who it was (someone I had met but forgot his name) and ended up helping him install a gate to his yard. This time was filled with the usual casual conversation, which I want to share with you so you get a feeling for how my conversations go.
Dude: (something completely indecipherable) phone for five dollars?
Me: What?
Dude: sell the phone for five dollars
Me: What phone?
Dude: FIVE dollars. To sell.
Me: My phone? Or whose?
Dude: Five dollars. The phone.
Me: What phone?
Dude: Oh OK. (turns back to his work)
Me: WTF happened?
While this is happening I am creating and weighing various possibilities as to what he might be saying. Does he want to buy my phone? Is he selling me a phone? Is he asking how much mine cost? Am I expected to now sell my phone?
This is a typical failed conversation. Most are better than this, but when these utter disasters of communication occur I am left completely baffled and have to wonder whose fault it was, if anyone’s. I thought that my Spanish is good enough to have this kind of basic dialogue, but the local dialect is full of letters and whole words left unpronounced, as well as slang that does not exist in any dictionary.
After that he invited me to have lunch with him, and I mentioned that I was going to go to town to get a haircut. He said that he cuts lots of peoples hair and I must let him do mine, because “I will make you so handsome that you will be the champion of a mountain of young girls. It will be a very cold two years in your bed if you don’t find a girlfriend.” Indeed an offer I could not refuse. Haircuts here are infamously terrible, I have seen some infamous mullets, bowl cuts, and ridiculous gel-jobs. I now am the proud owner of some kind of bowl cut gone wrong, with the back and sides really short and an area on top three times as long. I’m to ashamed to post a picture, so just use your imagination. The good news is there is no one here to laugh, everyone else thinks its standard issue. I won’t be leaving to see other volunteers much in the near future, so I can give my hair some time to heal.
There have been some hilarious attempts to set me up with local women. People seem confused when I point out such minor flaws as “she has three kids” “she’s pregnant” or “she’s 15”. They just give me a look like “so what?”
More later….
Firework season is here. The stores stared selling them from little one cent poppers to one dollar dynamite sticks. These should not be legal. All they do is explode, no sparks or colors or shooting. They are sold to kids of all ages who just put them everywhere and light them. Sometimes when I’m sitting in my room what sounds like a sonic boom will occur right outside, making me jump about six feet high. It’s the kind of explosion that where you can feel the sound waves, it hits you in a blast.
Work is slow here (non-existent). School is out until late January and I don’t feel like I really know the people, languages, and needs of the community well enough to undertake any major projects that involve co-operation. So now I’m just studying and practicing Spanish, meeting and hanging out with people and generally making myself a presence in peoples lives.
Yesterday I was walking by a house when I heard the familiar shout “Don Nacho!!!” I stopped to see who it was (someone I had met but forgot his name) and ended up helping him install a gate to his yard. This time was filled with the usual casual conversation, which I want to share with you so you get a feeling for how my conversations go.
Dude: (something completely indecipherable) phone for five dollars?
Me: What?
Dude: sell the phone for five dollars
Me: What phone?
Dude: FIVE dollars. To sell.
Me: My phone? Or whose?
Dude: Five dollars. The phone.
Me: What phone?
Dude: Oh OK. (turns back to his work)
Me: WTF happened?
While this is happening I am creating and weighing various possibilities as to what he might be saying. Does he want to buy my phone? Is he selling me a phone? Is he asking how much mine cost? Am I expected to now sell my phone?
This is a typical failed conversation. Most are better than this, but when these utter disasters of communication occur I am left completely baffled and have to wonder whose fault it was, if anyone’s. I thought that my Spanish is good enough to have this kind of basic dialogue, but the local dialect is full of letters and whole words left unpronounced, as well as slang that does not exist in any dictionary.
After that he invited me to have lunch with him, and I mentioned that I was going to go to town to get a haircut. He said that he cuts lots of peoples hair and I must let him do mine, because “I will make you so handsome that you will be the champion of a mountain of young girls. It will be a very cold two years in your bed if you don’t find a girlfriend.” Indeed an offer I could not refuse. Haircuts here are infamously terrible, I have seen some infamous mullets, bowl cuts, and ridiculous gel-jobs. I now am the proud owner of some kind of bowl cut gone wrong, with the back and sides really short and an area on top three times as long. I’m to ashamed to post a picture, so just use your imagination. The good news is there is no one here to laugh, everyone else thinks its standard issue. I won’t be leaving to see other volunteers much in the near future, so I can give my hair some time to heal.
There have been some hilarious attempts to set me up with local women. People seem confused when I point out such minor flaws as “she has three kids” “she’s pregnant” or “she’s 15”. They just give me a look like “so what?”
More later….
Monday, November 22, 2010
I can hardly believe this worked. This is a little house tour for everyone to see where I am at. The street in the begining is the center of town, and that is the school in the background. Then we go into my room, then the store, then the kitchen, then the game room, complete with pinball machines, well sort of. Sorry for the writing in the middle, thats what you get for not paying for software. Now who wants to come visit?
Nov 20
Alright, I’m still here and still alive. I just got done with our second round of training, which lasted two weeks. The first two weeks took place in the town where my first two months of training happened. We learned more technical details about projects for us to do, such as organizing community politics, teaching English and about the environment, starting women’s groups and environmental groups, and doing world map murals. The second week was spent at the national agricultural university where we stayed in the dorms and learned about various agricultural techniques like grafting, composting, worms, soil nutrient balance, and crop rotation. All of this was difficult to learn and pay attention since it was in Spanish, but I still learned a lot. Most of it was not applicable to my site since they only grow coffee here, but it can be used for small scale gardens, of which only a few exist here.
Next week I have been invited to have Thanksgiving dinner with a family that works for the U.S. embassy. It is a tradition for these families to have volunteers over to celebrate. After that, in the middle of December, we have been invited to play against JIKA in the national stadium. JIKA is the Japanese equivalent of the Peace Corps. They also stay for two years as volunteers, but there are only 30 of them and word has it they get much more money for projects. Events like this are really nice get always and it really helps to have things to look forward to.
School ended here for the long break, and it starts back up in late January. Then I will be trying to form an environmental club and start teaching more. Until then, the coffee harvest just started, so everyone is helping with that, including lots of labor from out of town. I’ve heard that this is a dangerous time, since people actually make a lit bit of money the number of robberies increases, so I’ll have to be extra careful. I am told that for harvesting 25 pounds people are paid between $.80-$1.25 and in the best conditions a person can harvest 200 pounds in a day, but usually less. This is some really hard work with really low pay, but is better than no work at all.
11/21-
The men’s soccer team that I have been playing soccer with won our first game today, after about 5 weeks of ties. I let by an easy goal again, partly because the ball is always taking crazy bounces on our crappy field. It wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as last time, and I made up for it with some crucial saves later. Our offence came through with four points in the second half, for a 4-1 crushing.
Here are my project ideas as of now:
1. Stove project- I want to sell cooking stoves in the community that produce less smoke and use less wood. Some have already been sold, but I think there is opportunity to sell more. They cost $42 but people can only afford around $20, so I’m looking for some money to subsidize. I may be hitting up friends and family for donation if I can’t pull it off myself, so keep your checkbook handy.
2. Getting a trash pickup service- Apparently there was one for a time, but no one would bring their trash to the street. Now people just throw their trash in local rivers and ditches. It may be as easy as talking to the mayor and doing an education campaign to get the trash to the street, but it could also prove very frustrating.
3. World Map Mural- This is a popular PCV project that usually is done in the school. It helps kids learn about Geography (many can’t even find El Salvador on a map) and makes the school look nicer. It should be easy and fun, but I have to wait until school is back in session.
4. Environmental club- this would involve recruiting kids in 4-6 grade to do cleaning campaigns, make a garden, compost, watch movies, go on trips to parks and natural areas, and receive lectures on environmental topics. The hardest part will be drumming up sufficient interest and motivation.
5. Women’s Group- I think there is potential for a group of women to organize and do various fun and money making activities. This would build community cooperation as well as empower women and teach business skills, and would be a good setting to discuss women’s issues and the problems with the male dominated culture here. I am admittedly intimidated to start this one, usually female volunteers do it and I don’t know how well they would respond to me starting it (or their husbands for that matter)
6. Giving Environmental lectures in the school-fairly easy and straight forward, I have received a book of lectures and a calendar of when to do them. I will probably do one or two a week. Time to tap my inner professor.
7. Coaching the youth soccer team- the team was already formed when I got here, I just ref while they scrimmage. Hopefully I can find some funding to take them on some trips to play other teams. I have some trouble keeping the little bastards in line sometimes, but overall its fun and easy.
8. Economic development- my site has a good number of tourists coming every weekend to hang out by the lagoon. Now we sell them some food and drinks, but I think we could expand to souvenirs, jewelry, more snacks, and maybe even rent canoes or kayaks. This is kind of a massive project that I’m not sure will work, so I probably won’t start for some time until I get a better sense of things.
These are my main ideas. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and go catatonic thinking of all the things I need to do. The main problem now is that I don’t really understand the community enough to start, and I still only understand about 50% of what people say. Only time will tell what actually ends up happening. Let me know your questions or comments, I welcome advise and suggestions.
Alright, I’m still here and still alive. I just got done with our second round of training, which lasted two weeks. The first two weeks took place in the town where my first two months of training happened. We learned more technical details about projects for us to do, such as organizing community politics, teaching English and about the environment, starting women’s groups and environmental groups, and doing world map murals. The second week was spent at the national agricultural university where we stayed in the dorms and learned about various agricultural techniques like grafting, composting, worms, soil nutrient balance, and crop rotation. All of this was difficult to learn and pay attention since it was in Spanish, but I still learned a lot. Most of it was not applicable to my site since they only grow coffee here, but it can be used for small scale gardens, of which only a few exist here.
Next week I have been invited to have Thanksgiving dinner with a family that works for the U.S. embassy. It is a tradition for these families to have volunteers over to celebrate. After that, in the middle of December, we have been invited to play against JIKA in the national stadium. JIKA is the Japanese equivalent of the Peace Corps. They also stay for two years as volunteers, but there are only 30 of them and word has it they get much more money for projects. Events like this are really nice get always and it really helps to have things to look forward to.
School ended here for the long break, and it starts back up in late January. Then I will be trying to form an environmental club and start teaching more. Until then, the coffee harvest just started, so everyone is helping with that, including lots of labor from out of town. I’ve heard that this is a dangerous time, since people actually make a lit bit of money the number of robberies increases, so I’ll have to be extra careful. I am told that for harvesting 25 pounds people are paid between $.80-$1.25 and in the best conditions a person can harvest 200 pounds in a day, but usually less. This is some really hard work with really low pay, but is better than no work at all.
11/21-
The men’s soccer team that I have been playing soccer with won our first game today, after about 5 weeks of ties. I let by an easy goal again, partly because the ball is always taking crazy bounces on our crappy field. It wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as last time, and I made up for it with some crucial saves later. Our offence came through with four points in the second half, for a 4-1 crushing.
Here are my project ideas as of now:
1. Stove project- I want to sell cooking stoves in the community that produce less smoke and use less wood. Some have already been sold, but I think there is opportunity to sell more. They cost $42 but people can only afford around $20, so I’m looking for some money to subsidize. I may be hitting up friends and family for donation if I can’t pull it off myself, so keep your checkbook handy.
2. Getting a trash pickup service- Apparently there was one for a time, but no one would bring their trash to the street. Now people just throw their trash in local rivers and ditches. It may be as easy as talking to the mayor and doing an education campaign to get the trash to the street, but it could also prove very frustrating.
3. World Map Mural- This is a popular PCV project that usually is done in the school. It helps kids learn about Geography (many can’t even find El Salvador on a map) and makes the school look nicer. It should be easy and fun, but I have to wait until school is back in session.
4. Environmental club- this would involve recruiting kids in 4-6 grade to do cleaning campaigns, make a garden, compost, watch movies, go on trips to parks and natural areas, and receive lectures on environmental topics. The hardest part will be drumming up sufficient interest and motivation.
5. Women’s Group- I think there is potential for a group of women to organize and do various fun and money making activities. This would build community cooperation as well as empower women and teach business skills, and would be a good setting to discuss women’s issues and the problems with the male dominated culture here. I am admittedly intimidated to start this one, usually female volunteers do it and I don’t know how well they would respond to me starting it (or their husbands for that matter)
6. Giving Environmental lectures in the school-fairly easy and straight forward, I have received a book of lectures and a calendar of when to do them. I will probably do one or two a week. Time to tap my inner professor.
7. Coaching the youth soccer team- the team was already formed when I got here, I just ref while they scrimmage. Hopefully I can find some funding to take them on some trips to play other teams. I have some trouble keeping the little bastards in line sometimes, but overall its fun and easy.
8. Economic development- my site has a good number of tourists coming every weekend to hang out by the lagoon. Now we sell them some food and drinks, but I think we could expand to souvenirs, jewelry, more snacks, and maybe even rent canoes or kayaks. This is kind of a massive project that I’m not sure will work, so I probably won’t start for some time until I get a better sense of things.
These are my main ideas. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and go catatonic thinking of all the things I need to do. The main problem now is that I don’t really understand the community enough to start, and I still only understand about 50% of what people say. Only time will tell what actually ends up happening. Let me know your questions or comments, I welcome advise and suggestions.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
10/25/10
My town meeting happened on Friday, I had invited everyone in the community to come to the school and hear me talk about my job and to introduce myself. The director of the Environmental Education Peace Corps program came to support me and to say a few words the people would actually understand. About 80-100 people showed up, which packed the classroom we were in and lots of people had to try to listen from outside. I had written a speech and made posters saying my ideas for possible projects. I was pretty nervous, but everything went pretty well. Two women in the front row sat down and promptly started breastfeeding their babies which was a little distracting. At the end of everyone’s speeches the meeting transformed into a general town meeting. I was not aware this would happen, I was told to sit down and listened to someone call out the names and ages of all the infants in town. People would respond with “Si” so maybe it was checking if they were still alive.
I’ve been playing soccer almost constantly here, which I really like since it is an easy way to make friends without talking and is pretty fun. I play in the street in front of my house with neighborhood kids, ages 6-20, with goals being two rocks on either end of the street. This is some rough and tumble playing, as small space, pavement, rocks, sand, gutters, and barb wire fences make it feel like winning is more about survival than goals. We also play in a campground by the lagoon, which requires navigating trees, rocks, bushes, picnic tables, roots and fences, while trying to maintain control of the ball. A few of the kids have some funny nicknames, one kids is called “lodo” which means mud and my favorite “pachuga” which means chicken breast. I started calling one guy “godzilla” since he is tall and wide and plays like a freight train. Everyone thinks this name is hilarious and is definitely better than his old name of “gordo” which means fat. Everyone here calls me Nacho or Nachito or sometimes my personal favorite “Don Nacho” Every time I hear that one I have to stop and ponder the chain of events that lead to my name being Don Nacho and I just have to appreciate the absurdity of life.
I also play with the men’s team in very organized matches at a nearby soccer field that is in pretty good shape. These games are more serious and include registered players, a ref, uniforms, and a tournament schedule. The last two weeks I had played for one half and managed to neither make a any good plays nor make a fool of myself, which was my primary goal. This week they put me as goalkeeper, a scary position since everyone puts their faith in you. I was honored that they trust me that much, and decided not to mention that I hadn’t played on a soccer team since I was ten. All was going well in the goal until, in a moment of terrible judgment I let a high kick that I thought was out over the goal pass, which somehow curved precisely into the goal. I turned around to look and wanted to die. This put the other team in the lead, my team hadn’t lost all season, there wasn’t much time left, and I had just experienced a goalie’s worst nightmare, letting an easy one through. Amidst plenty of catcalls from the sidelines I tried not to think about what an ass of myself I had just made. All eyes were on my in these games anyway since I’m the only white/tall/foreign/non-spanish speaking guy out there. As the game continued all I could think about was my teams shattered trust, my loss of street cred, and the next flight back to the states (just kidding, kind of). These games don’t see high scores, but I was praying for us to score a goal or even for them to score another, since then the loss wouldn’t be caused by my mistake alone. With about a minute left my guys managed to put one in, and I’ve never been happier for a goal in my life. So we ended up tying instead of losing, which saved me from what may have been early retirement from El Salvador soccer league. We see what happens next week.
Finally, once a week I coach the youth soccer team, which just involves being the ref while they scrimmage. The kids range from ages 7 to 15, so I admire the tenacity of the little ones. Being a referee turned out to be harder than imagined, since no matter what call you make half of the players will be mad. I’m starting to get the hang of it, and hopefully next year I can organize for us to travel to away games.
Other than that, I don’t have a lot to do right now, since in a week I will leave for two weeks for the second part of my training, which last for two weeks. There we learn more about specific projects that we can do. I’m trying to come up with a project that could be a business for the people here, since most people said that lack of jobs is the biggest problem here. Aside from opening a new Nike factory, it is tough since no one has much money to buy anything. There is a decent flow of tourists though, so maybe we could sell them more food, arts and crafts, or souvenirs such as postcards or posters or something like that.
My town meeting happened on Friday, I had invited everyone in the community to come to the school and hear me talk about my job and to introduce myself. The director of the Environmental Education Peace Corps program came to support me and to say a few words the people would actually understand. About 80-100 people showed up, which packed the classroom we were in and lots of people had to try to listen from outside. I had written a speech and made posters saying my ideas for possible projects. I was pretty nervous, but everything went pretty well. Two women in the front row sat down and promptly started breastfeeding their babies which was a little distracting. At the end of everyone’s speeches the meeting transformed into a general town meeting. I was not aware this would happen, I was told to sit down and listened to someone call out the names and ages of all the infants in town. People would respond with “Si” so maybe it was checking if they were still alive.
I’ve been playing soccer almost constantly here, which I really like since it is an easy way to make friends without talking and is pretty fun. I play in the street in front of my house with neighborhood kids, ages 6-20, with goals being two rocks on either end of the street. This is some rough and tumble playing, as small space, pavement, rocks, sand, gutters, and barb wire fences make it feel like winning is more about survival than goals. We also play in a campground by the lagoon, which requires navigating trees, rocks, bushes, picnic tables, roots and fences, while trying to maintain control of the ball. A few of the kids have some funny nicknames, one kids is called “lodo” which means mud and my favorite “pachuga” which means chicken breast. I started calling one guy “godzilla” since he is tall and wide and plays like a freight train. Everyone thinks this name is hilarious and is definitely better than his old name of “gordo” which means fat. Everyone here calls me Nacho or Nachito or sometimes my personal favorite “Don Nacho” Every time I hear that one I have to stop and ponder the chain of events that lead to my name being Don Nacho and I just have to appreciate the absurdity of life.
I also play with the men’s team in very organized matches at a nearby soccer field that is in pretty good shape. These games are more serious and include registered players, a ref, uniforms, and a tournament schedule. The last two weeks I had played for one half and managed to neither make a any good plays nor make a fool of myself, which was my primary goal. This week they put me as goalkeeper, a scary position since everyone puts their faith in you. I was honored that they trust me that much, and decided not to mention that I hadn’t played on a soccer team since I was ten. All was going well in the goal until, in a moment of terrible judgment I let a high kick that I thought was out over the goal pass, which somehow curved precisely into the goal. I turned around to look and wanted to die. This put the other team in the lead, my team hadn’t lost all season, there wasn’t much time left, and I had just experienced a goalie’s worst nightmare, letting an easy one through. Amidst plenty of catcalls from the sidelines I tried not to think about what an ass of myself I had just made. All eyes were on my in these games anyway since I’m the only white/tall/foreign/non-spanish speaking guy out there. As the game continued all I could think about was my teams shattered trust, my loss of street cred, and the next flight back to the states (just kidding, kind of). These games don’t see high scores, but I was praying for us to score a goal or even for them to score another, since then the loss wouldn’t be caused by my mistake alone. With about a minute left my guys managed to put one in, and I’ve never been happier for a goal in my life. So we ended up tying instead of losing, which saved me from what may have been early retirement from El Salvador soccer league. We see what happens next week.
Finally, once a week I coach the youth soccer team, which just involves being the ref while they scrimmage. The kids range from ages 7 to 15, so I admire the tenacity of the little ones. Being a referee turned out to be harder than imagined, since no matter what call you make half of the players will be mad. I’m starting to get the hang of it, and hopefully next year I can organize for us to travel to away games.
Other than that, I don’t have a lot to do right now, since in a week I will leave for two weeks for the second part of my training, which last for two weeks. There we learn more about specific projects that we can do. I’m trying to come up with a project that could be a business for the people here, since most people said that lack of jobs is the biggest problem here. Aside from opening a new Nike factory, it is tough since no one has much money to buy anything. There is a decent flow of tourists though, so maybe we could sell them more food, arts and crafts, or souvenirs such as postcards or posters or something like that.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
The First Month
10/7/10
I have been here three weeks, but it feels like a lot longer. My days are filled with reading, studying Spanish, visiting houses and playing soccer with the kids in the street. I have gotten more used to not accomplishing very much, since my real goals are to meet people and gain their trust and improve my Spanish. I have visited 50 houses now, and I have noticed that people seem more and more friendly. This may because they have heard of my visits and are expecting my and generally know who I am and why I am here. Most people are hard pressed to think of any problems in the community when I ask them, even though I can see many problems from my perspective, they don’t seem too worried about them. The main problems I see are the terrible road conditions, lack of a health clinic, and lack of a garbage pickup service.
I plan to talk to the mayor about getting the garbage pick-up service going again. It ran before but stopped since people would not bring their garbage to the street, but would just throw it down the mountain like they usually do. I am going to start coaching the kids soccer team next week, we will see how that goes since I still can’t understand most of what they say.
I travel to the other side of the country (nine hours by a series of busses) to meet up with other volunteers for a night of American fun and to play on the Peace Corps soccer team the next day. It turned out to be really fun; it was good to know that I can compete with the adults here. They have much more skill and better footwork, but I can just bowl people over, so it evens out.
8/11/10
We had a regional meeting the on Friday which is where the 20 or so volunteers in this department and the neighboring one get together to share what we hae been up to and try to collaborate and share resources. (The departments in El Salvador are like states, there are 13 or so). I got to meet a bunch of volunteers who have been here anywhere from 6 months to nearly 3 years, and who have sites close by. It was also nice to catch up with the three girls I was in training with who are now in my region. I am finding out that there are a lot of NGOs that provide money and resources if you apply and qualify for them. For example, one NGO will come to your site for a multiday workshop that teaches vocational skills to kids such as sewing or woodworking for free. The catch is you have to have an organized group that is willing to learn. (easier said than done.) There are a lot of opportunities for grants from the states too, but often they require a lot of paperwork and are competitive.
I feel like I am beginning to bond more with my host family and to a lesser degree the community as a whole. I played in a soccer match yesterday that was very official with jerseys and teams from different towns. I didn’t do anything spectacular, but didn’t embarrass myself either, so that’s a win in my book. Everyone is getting more used to me being around, and I am feeling more comfortable here too, so things are looking up in the cultural adaptation department.
Also, I will coach the kids soccer team for the first time on Wednesday, we’ll see if I can lead a group of rambunctious kids with broken Spanish
The volunteer that I am replacing left today, after our 3.5 week overlap period where I tried to extract as much information and advice out of him as possible. He’s heading back to Massachusetts to eventually attend medical school. I’m on my own now, no more English speaking and no more easy explanations of things about the community. It was really nice to have someone around to share my feelings with and just talk things over with. Although I had just known him for three weeks, I felt kind of sad when he left; we had become best friends by cultural default. We had a nice goodbye dinner for him and everyone said a few words about the good work he did and the friendships he built. Their sincere gratitude was so heartfelt that it strengthen my resolve to do my best here to improve their lives in whatever ways I can.
I have been here three weeks, but it feels like a lot longer. My days are filled with reading, studying Spanish, visiting houses and playing soccer with the kids in the street. I have gotten more used to not accomplishing very much, since my real goals are to meet people and gain their trust and improve my Spanish. I have visited 50 houses now, and I have noticed that people seem more and more friendly. This may because they have heard of my visits and are expecting my and generally know who I am and why I am here. Most people are hard pressed to think of any problems in the community when I ask them, even though I can see many problems from my perspective, they don’t seem too worried about them. The main problems I see are the terrible road conditions, lack of a health clinic, and lack of a garbage pickup service.
I plan to talk to the mayor about getting the garbage pick-up service going again. It ran before but stopped since people would not bring their garbage to the street, but would just throw it down the mountain like they usually do. I am going to start coaching the kids soccer team next week, we will see how that goes since I still can’t understand most of what they say.
I travel to the other side of the country (nine hours by a series of busses) to meet up with other volunteers for a night of American fun and to play on the Peace Corps soccer team the next day. It turned out to be really fun; it was good to know that I can compete with the adults here. They have much more skill and better footwork, but I can just bowl people over, so it evens out.
8/11/10
We had a regional meeting the on Friday which is where the 20 or so volunteers in this department and the neighboring one get together to share what we hae been up to and try to collaborate and share resources. (The departments in El Salvador are like states, there are 13 or so). I got to meet a bunch of volunteers who have been here anywhere from 6 months to nearly 3 years, and who have sites close by. It was also nice to catch up with the three girls I was in training with who are now in my region. I am finding out that there are a lot of NGOs that provide money and resources if you apply and qualify for them. For example, one NGO will come to your site for a multiday workshop that teaches vocational skills to kids such as sewing or woodworking for free. The catch is you have to have an organized group that is willing to learn. (easier said than done.) There are a lot of opportunities for grants from the states too, but often they require a lot of paperwork and are competitive.
I feel like I am beginning to bond more with my host family and to a lesser degree the community as a whole. I played in a soccer match yesterday that was very official with jerseys and teams from different towns. I didn’t do anything spectacular, but didn’t embarrass myself either, so that’s a win in my book. Everyone is getting more used to me being around, and I am feeling more comfortable here too, so things are looking up in the cultural adaptation department.
Also, I will coach the kids soccer team for the first time on Wednesday, we’ll see if I can lead a group of rambunctious kids with broken Spanish
The volunteer that I am replacing left today, after our 3.5 week overlap period where I tried to extract as much information and advice out of him as possible. He’s heading back to Massachusetts to eventually attend medical school. I’m on my own now, no more English speaking and no more easy explanations of things about the community. It was really nice to have someone around to share my feelings with and just talk things over with. Although I had just known him for three weeks, I felt kind of sad when he left; we had become best friends by cultural default. We had a nice goodbye dinner for him and everyone said a few words about the good work he did and the friendships he built. Their sincere gratitude was so heartfelt that it strengthen my resolve to do my best here to improve their lives in whatever ways I can.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
I Have Arrived!
I have arrived! I came in the back of a pick-up and when I stepped down a heard about 60 kids yelling “Nacho”! The school had made welcome signs and was waiting to meet me. I nervously said a few words in broken Spanish and then started to move into my house across the street. I am living with a family in a basic but nice house. I have my own small room, next to their small store that sells a few basic things and candy. The family is a guy and his wife who are about 45 and their 6 or so kids, ages 9-22. They are really nice, but I still don’t understand a lot of what they say. The water runs every other day for a couple house to fill their water basin. They have a flush toilet (gotta love it) and showers are done in the small room with a drain which also contains the toilet. I dip a bowl in a basin and pour freezing water over myself to bathe. Their cook over an open fire in their kitchen and we eat a lot of beans rice and tortillas.
The community is small, maybe one eighty houses scattered throughout the mountains. We are about 3 miles up a mountain from the nearest town. The most common crop is coffee, which the people export. There are also a number of vacation homes that people from the capital own and occasionally visit, which creates a sharp economic divide with the locals. There are several volcanic craters, some about 300 feet deep and half a mile across, some with lakes in them. There was a series of small earthquakes last night, I was baffled and a little scared since my room is probably not very earthquake proof. Luckily, they weren’t very strong.
The climate here is really nice; it reminds me of northern California. There are forests to shade the coffee plants and fog/rain rolls in periodically throughout the day. It is one of the few places in the country that is at high enough altitude to never get very hot. The people get their water by taking water from one of the crater lakes and chlorinating it.
The volunteer that I am replacing is here until Oct 11 so he has been introducing me to people and places in the community. He teaches science and environmental studies at the school, mostly by doing small hands-on experiments. He has also been doing a revolving loan program, started a small recycling program, and coaches a youth soccer team. I will probably be taking over these projects, but now I am still getting settled in. Today I am heading into town to print out a brochure about myself, the Peace Corps, and my role here. I am then going to visit all the houses I can and pass out my brochure to try to get to know everyone and invite them to a community meeting I am holding next month to present my ideas and talk about the communities ideas.
9/25
So I’m one week in, and things are going well. Its rains here everyday, sometimes multiple times. I have been visiting houses and passing out my brochure and asking people about their family and what they think the problems in the community are. The answer to the questions about problems have ranged from “everything is a problem” “to there are no problems”. Other people mention lack of jobs, lack of trash pickup, and poverty in general. I’m hoping to work on the second one, the other two are some pretty big problems to try to solve. People are very welcoming, I am treated with interest and respect since I am a new and important person here. I just walk up to people’s houses and start asking a bunch of questions, and people are usually interested and open with their lives.
I’ve been observing the volunteer I am replacing teach classes and do science demonstrations for the kids. Its going to be tough to keep class moving with my level of Spanish, but I’ve got lots of time to practice. I’ve been trying to shake my American sense of having to be accomplishing things all the time. My main job now is mostly just to live here to gain trust and familiarity with the community.
I usually either read or study Spanish in my free time. I also try to just hang around people and find an excuse to talk to people both to practice and to build relationships. I’ve also been playing soccer with some of the kids in the street. Soccer is the universal language.
The other day, I went to work at the coffee farm with two guys my age who I live with. I thought we were going to work but ended up just hiking around the mountains for 4-5 hours, which was fun but exhausting. We went by an enormous volcanic crater, about 300 feet deep and half mile across, with very steep walls. However, there was a cornfield at the bottom, apparently there is a steep tiny trail down the side and someone goes down there and farms it. Most of the land here is coffee farm, which is shade grown so they have planted forests to shade the crop, so some mountainsides have checkerboard patterns from these planted trees. Other parts sre to steep to farm and are native growth jungle. Which is dominated by hanging vines that give the hillsides a rainforest appearance.
The community is small, maybe one eighty houses scattered throughout the mountains. We are about 3 miles up a mountain from the nearest town. The most common crop is coffee, which the people export. There are also a number of vacation homes that people from the capital own and occasionally visit, which creates a sharp economic divide with the locals. There are several volcanic craters, some about 300 feet deep and half a mile across, some with lakes in them. There was a series of small earthquakes last night, I was baffled and a little scared since my room is probably not very earthquake proof. Luckily, they weren’t very strong.
The climate here is really nice; it reminds me of northern California. There are forests to shade the coffee plants and fog/rain rolls in periodically throughout the day. It is one of the few places in the country that is at high enough altitude to never get very hot. The people get their water by taking water from one of the crater lakes and chlorinating it.
The volunteer that I am replacing is here until Oct 11 so he has been introducing me to people and places in the community. He teaches science and environmental studies at the school, mostly by doing small hands-on experiments. He has also been doing a revolving loan program, started a small recycling program, and coaches a youth soccer team. I will probably be taking over these projects, but now I am still getting settled in. Today I am heading into town to print out a brochure about myself, the Peace Corps, and my role here. I am then going to visit all the houses I can and pass out my brochure to try to get to know everyone and invite them to a community meeting I am holding next month to present my ideas and talk about the communities ideas.
9/25
So I’m one week in, and things are going well. Its rains here everyday, sometimes multiple times. I have been visiting houses and passing out my brochure and asking people about their family and what they think the problems in the community are. The answer to the questions about problems have ranged from “everything is a problem” “to there are no problems”. Other people mention lack of jobs, lack of trash pickup, and poverty in general. I’m hoping to work on the second one, the other two are some pretty big problems to try to solve. People are very welcoming, I am treated with interest and respect since I am a new and important person here. I just walk up to people’s houses and start asking a bunch of questions, and people are usually interested and open with their lives.
I’ve been observing the volunteer I am replacing teach classes and do science demonstrations for the kids. Its going to be tough to keep class moving with my level of Spanish, but I’ve got lots of time to practice. I’ve been trying to shake my American sense of having to be accomplishing things all the time. My main job now is mostly just to live here to gain trust and familiarity with the community.
I usually either read or study Spanish in my free time. I also try to just hang around people and find an excuse to talk to people both to practice and to build relationships. I’ve also been playing soccer with some of the kids in the street. Soccer is the universal language.
The other day, I went to work at the coffee farm with two guys my age who I live with. I thought we were going to work but ended up just hiking around the mountains for 4-5 hours, which was fun but exhausting. We went by an enormous volcanic crater, about 300 feet deep and half mile across, with very steep walls. However, there was a cornfield at the bottom, apparently there is a steep tiny trail down the side and someone goes down there and farms it. Most of the land here is coffee farm, which is shade grown so they have planted forests to shade the crop, so some mountainsides have checkerboard patterns from these planted trees. Other parts sre to steep to farm and are native growth jungle. Which is dominated by hanging vines that give the hillsides a rainforest appearance.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
almost done with training
It’s finally here! The swearing in is tomorrow and the next day we all travel to our sites. I found out that my site is in one of the most beautiful and coldest regions of the country (I got really lucky with this one). There is a tourist town nearby with paintballing and go-carts. Not what you expect in rural El Salvador, but surprises have become the norm. I will be replacing a volunteer who will go back to the States in the middle of October, so there will be a month overlap so he can show me around and help me set up. I have heard that he works with intensively with the local school teaching environmental education and also coaches a youth soccer team, which I am eager to take over. It’s a little sad to leave my family here since it feels like we were just becoming close and I was part of the family, however I will return in two months for our second round of training that lasts two weeks. I will be living with a host family in my new site too, hopefully everything will work out well. I can’t say much now, but I’m sure next week I will have a lot more to tell everyone.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Una Semana mas
One more week of training left, I’m ready to stop talking about it and get down to the business of volunteering. We had our final Spanish class yesterday, and I feel like I have made a lot of progress. I am able to write out pretty much what I want to say, but using things in a conversation in a timely manner is a different story altogether. I have my second Spanish interviews today, which will tell me how much I have improved. The PC encourages everyone to make it to Intermediate, but if I don’t it just means I will have to come back for a couple of extra class days in two months. Once training is over we are sent to our sites and are on our own for towo months until there is a second training phase that lasts for two weeks. Our focus in the first two to six months is to meet as many people and build “confianza” which means build relationships and trust so later the people will want to work with you on projects.
As an Environmental Education volunteer I have heard that our group has one of the most structured programs, in that we are given a book of environmental lesson and should give then over time to the local school we are assigned to. This is a base for our work, and then we are free to work on anything else that our community wants or that we want to do. I don’t have many plans yet, except maybe a gardening and composting project, as everyone seems to do these and are fairly easy and effective.
I don’t know if I have described my daily life so I will here;
6:00 Get up (never thought this would happen)
6:00-7 Get ready, shower from a bucket, have breakfast made for me, get dressed)
7-8 Work on homework or projects or read in English (my guilty pleasure)
8-12 Spanish class with three other trainees and our teacher in an extra room in my house
12-1 Lunch with Spanish teacher
1-4 More class
4-7 Work on projects, investigate community in areas like healthcare, water, holidays, school system, flora and fauna, beliefs ect. Sometimes play soccer or Frisbee with the kids
7-730 Eat dinner
7:30 -9 Work on homework or projects, read, listen to music
9 – go to bed (earliest since I was about 8 years old, but I’m exhausted by then)
As an Environmental Education volunteer I have heard that our group has one of the most structured programs, in that we are given a book of environmental lesson and should give then over time to the local school we are assigned to. This is a base for our work, and then we are free to work on anything else that our community wants or that we want to do. I don’t have many plans yet, except maybe a gardening and composting project, as everyone seems to do these and are fairly easy and effective.
I don’t know if I have described my daily life so I will here;
6:00 Get up (never thought this would happen)
6:00-7 Get ready, shower from a bucket, have breakfast made for me, get dressed)
7-8 Work on homework or projects or read in English (my guilty pleasure)
8-12 Spanish class with three other trainees and our teacher in an extra room in my house
12-1 Lunch with Spanish teacher
1-4 More class
4-7 Work on projects, investigate community in areas like healthcare, water, holidays, school system, flora and fauna, beliefs ect. Sometimes play soccer or Frisbee with the kids
7-730 Eat dinner
7:30 -9 Work on homework or projects, read, listen to music
9 – go to bed (earliest since I was about 8 years old, but I’m exhausted by then)
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Training here is winding down gracias a Dios. We have our swearing in a week from Thursday where we actually become PC Volunteers instead of trainees. I’m really looking forward to being in my site and getting to know people. They have been keeping us incredible busy here with classes, projects and other activities. Once we are in our sites we get to completely set our own schedule and do whatever we want whenever we want. I find out which town my site this Thursday, which is probably the biggest thing that I have ever left to chance in my entire life since I will be spending two entire years. They have been emphasizing to us the importance of building relationship our first few months in our sites. This involves meeting everyone, participating in local activities and building trust. I am really excited to do this since I my only responsibility is to hang out with everyone. Sounds like the worlds best job to me.
Life here has been good, I have given up trying to learn Spanish quickly and have resigned myself to a more “slow and steady wins the race” approach, which has relieved some of the stress I was feeling. I can get my basic point across usually but still get very lost in most conversations. My go-to Spanish words are bastante which means plenty or enough (I have heard this when I asked how many kids someone has), quisas which means maybe and va a llover which means it is going to rain, which is almost always the case here and can serve as a great conversation in itself.
We had a free weekend for the first time last weekend and most of us pooled money to rent an enormous house on the beach complete with hammocks, a pool, patio-bar, and general awesome tourist amenities. We finally got to drink a bit and hang out and speak English and get to know each other better. The house was right on a beautiful beach and was basically a slice of paradise to relax in. It was a very much needed vacation.
We have been meeting with a group of kids for the last few weeks trying to get them to do a community project of some sort, and they decided to do a community clean-up today. However, none of them actually showed up this morning. The other gringos seemed a bit surprised, but I knew that the last thing kids probably want to do on Saturday is clean up trash in the mud. We’re going to try again Monday morning.
Even though my malaria medicine gives me strange dreams, its usually stranger when I wake up and remember what I’m doing and where I am.
Life here has been good, I have given up trying to learn Spanish quickly and have resigned myself to a more “slow and steady wins the race” approach, which has relieved some of the stress I was feeling. I can get my basic point across usually but still get very lost in most conversations. My go-to Spanish words are bastante which means plenty or enough (I have heard this when I asked how many kids someone has), quisas which means maybe and va a llover which means it is going to rain, which is almost always the case here and can serve as a great conversation in itself.
We had a free weekend for the first time last weekend and most of us pooled money to rent an enormous house on the beach complete with hammocks, a pool, patio-bar, and general awesome tourist amenities. We finally got to drink a bit and hang out and speak English and get to know each other better. The house was right on a beautiful beach and was basically a slice of paradise to relax in. It was a very much needed vacation.
We have been meeting with a group of kids for the last few weeks trying to get them to do a community project of some sort, and they decided to do a community clean-up today. However, none of them actually showed up this morning. The other gringos seemed a bit surprised, but I knew that the last thing kids probably want to do on Saturday is clean up trash in the mud. We’re going to try again Monday morning.
Even though my malaria medicine gives me strange dreams, its usually stranger when I wake up and remember what I’m doing and where I am.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
birthday and immersion trip
So my 22nd birthday came and went, and ended up being pretty nice despite being significantly more sober than my last one due to the no drinking during training policy here. The other volunteers surprised me with a cake and a card they had all signed, which really made me feel appreciated and surrounded by good network of friends. When I got home my family also had a cake form my, and proceeded to sing “feliz cumpleanos” and other spanish songs. It was a really nice gesture and I feel closer to them now.
I have just returned from a PC event called “immersion days” where I went to visit a volunteer in his site that he had been in for one year. His site was a tiny village of less than 300 way out in the mountains of the west. It was an hour and a half hike from the nearest town, and the roads were so bad it is almost impossible to drive to. The village had no running water or electricity, but had a school and a church. I stayed with the volunteer and his host family for three days way out in sticks. They grow lots of corn, beans and rice, which is about all they eat. Our host volunteer was a bit sick of the lack of food variety. The highlight was visiting two absolutely gorgeous waterfalls. One had a narrow swimming hole at the bottom, which was deep enough to jump off of the surrounding rocks into. The other was over 200 feet tall and absolutely astounding. The surrounding protected area highlighted the natural beauty of tropical areas and reminded me of why I am here and definitely boosted my morale.
Hope all is well in the States.
Much love.
PS. I mis-typed my phone number before, its actually- 011 503 7516 3289
I have just returned from a PC event called “immersion days” where I went to visit a volunteer in his site that he had been in for one year. His site was a tiny village of less than 300 way out in the mountains of the west. It was an hour and a half hike from the nearest town, and the roads were so bad it is almost impossible to drive to. The village had no running water or electricity, but had a school and a church. I stayed with the volunteer and his host family for three days way out in sticks. They grow lots of corn, beans and rice, which is about all they eat. Our host volunteer was a bit sick of the lack of food variety. The highlight was visiting two absolutely gorgeous waterfalls. One had a narrow swimming hole at the bottom, which was deep enough to jump off of the surrounding rocks into. The other was over 200 feet tall and absolutely astounding. The surrounding protected area highlighted the natural beauty of tropical areas and reminded me of why I am here and definitely boosted my morale.
Hope all is well in the States.
Much love.
PS. I mis-typed my phone number before, its actually- 011 503 7516 3289
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Aug 13
Well, I’ve been slacking on the blog writing, there no denying it. This is partly due to the fact that the Peace Corps keeps us really busy, and the little free time I have is spent sleeping or reading. I’ve been reading a lot since it my only escape from speaking Spanish, which I can only do for so many hours a day. I’ve finished Obama’s Audacity of Hope which was really a good read and made me more proud and enthusiastic than ever about being an American. Although we get cynical and focus on problems a lot, I really believe it is one of the best places to live and we should keep trying to fix the problems and not give up. I also read Living Poor which was written about a PC volunteer’s experience in the late 60’s in Ecuador. That book sure made it feel easy here, the people in the book we so poor that a pair of shoes, a complete diet and a night sleeping in a bed were luxuries. Hard to complain after reading that, but I do anyway.
I went to a local waterpark last week with some a couple of families from my town. We piled about 10 people into the bed of a pickup and drove for about an hour and a half, with about one hour being in a large circle that I never figured out the purpose of. It starting raining really hard too, and it turns out that raindrops kind of hurt at 60MPH, but it was really fun anyway. The water park was fairly large, with two major pools, a slide, waterfalls, a zipline and other features. The pools were un-chlorinated and filled with small fish that like to nibble at legs. The water was probably really dirty since so many people were in it, but I’ve haven’t gotten sick yet.
I also bought a large machete at the market the other day, complete with frilly sheath. The people in my town thought it was pretty funny, but I know I will need it at some point. I haven’t found anybody to sharpen it yet, since apparently the first time you should use a sharpening machine and not just a file. Should be good to hack at some foliage and give me some credito de la calle (street credit).
Today we went to the American Embassy, which was a strange place after walking around the dilapidated caipital. We had to go through security complete with xray machine, which then lead to a huge courtyard. We filed into the very formal and posh ambassadors’’ house, which decorated how I imagine the white house is. We talked for a while with the head honcho (there is no ambassador right now, they are in the process of appointing one) and had lunch. It was fully catered by butlers on gold-plated dishes. It was probably the fanciest place I have ever been, and was a culture shock after roughing out in the country for a month.
I finally got a cell phone, my number is (001)503 7516-3289, the best time to call is 5-9 my time, which is an hour ahead of California time. I would love to hear from anyone who wants to talk!
Well, I’ve been slacking on the blog writing, there no denying it. This is partly due to the fact that the Peace Corps keeps us really busy, and the little free time I have is spent sleeping or reading. I’ve been reading a lot since it my only escape from speaking Spanish, which I can only do for so many hours a day. I’ve finished Obama’s Audacity of Hope which was really a good read and made me more proud and enthusiastic than ever about being an American. Although we get cynical and focus on problems a lot, I really believe it is one of the best places to live and we should keep trying to fix the problems and not give up. I also read Living Poor which was written about a PC volunteer’s experience in the late 60’s in Ecuador. That book sure made it feel easy here, the people in the book we so poor that a pair of shoes, a complete diet and a night sleeping in a bed were luxuries. Hard to complain after reading that, but I do anyway.
I went to a local waterpark last week with some a couple of families from my town. We piled about 10 people into the bed of a pickup and drove for about an hour and a half, with about one hour being in a large circle that I never figured out the purpose of. It starting raining really hard too, and it turns out that raindrops kind of hurt at 60MPH, but it was really fun anyway. The water park was fairly large, with two major pools, a slide, waterfalls, a zipline and other features. The pools were un-chlorinated and filled with small fish that like to nibble at legs. The water was probably really dirty since so many people were in it, but I’ve haven’t gotten sick yet.
I also bought a large machete at the market the other day, complete with frilly sheath. The people in my town thought it was pretty funny, but I know I will need it at some point. I haven’t found anybody to sharpen it yet, since apparently the first time you should use a sharpening machine and not just a file. Should be good to hack at some foliage and give me some credito de la calle (street credit).
Today we went to the American Embassy, which was a strange place after walking around the dilapidated caipital. We had to go through security complete with xray machine, which then lead to a huge courtyard. We filed into the very formal and posh ambassadors’’ house, which decorated how I imagine the white house is. We talked for a while with the head honcho (there is no ambassador right now, they are in the process of appointing one) and had lunch. It was fully catered by butlers on gold-plated dishes. It was probably the fanciest place I have ever been, and was a culture shock after roughing out in the country for a month.
I finally got a cell phone, my number is (001)503 7516-3289, the best time to call is 5-9 my time, which is an hour ahead of California time. I would love to hear from anyone who wants to talk!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The days are beginning to pass more quickly here as we fall into routine. Most of are time is occupied either by Spanish class, cultural immersion activities or going into the PC office for a day of lectures. Today we met with our “youth group”. We had early gone to a school and sat in on an English class, and at the end passed out invitations to come to my house at a specified time to participate in PC community activities. The class we visited was 9th grade and the kids were about 15. We passed out 14 invitations and 4 girls ended up showing up, 45 minutes late. We explained to them (in pre-written, badly executed Spanish) who we were and what we had in mind, and then asked them to take us on a tour of their community. We walked down to the local stream, were all of the local greywater drains to. The water was a frothy diluted milk color, and there was trash everywhere. This is all too common, 90% of surface water here is deemed unfit even for animal consumption. When we came back, we asked them for ideas about a project to better their community that we could help them do. They had some good ideas, such as more trash cans in the community and community workshops on environmental principles. We are very constrained on both time and money, however, so we have to set our sights fairly low. We are planning to meet with the girls every week to start getting a definite plan into motion. The project is a little strange since the PC has predetermined all the steps, and it is not really geared toward getting results, it is mostly to serve as a training exercise for us, so we can do actual work when we get into our sites.
We got a really good lecture from Rolando, our Environmental Director the other day. He is a Salvadoran who got a PhD from some school in Mississippi in Agriculture and has been with the PC here for 16 years, since the program reopened after the civil war. He basically highlighted that the environmental movement in the US hasn’t always been what it is today, that it really got started in the sixties, and he basically challenged us to make the same thing happen in El Salvador. That’s a pretty intense mission objective, but also inspiring. However, one can’t help but notice that the Environmental Movement in the US rode on the back of unheard of economic prosperity, and we don’t have that luxury here. However, Costa Rica stands as an excellent example of what can be done, and its close proximity encourages hope El Salvador.
We got a really good lecture from Rolando, our Environmental Director the other day. He is a Salvadoran who got a PhD from some school in Mississippi in Agriculture and has been with the PC here for 16 years, since the program reopened after the civil war. He basically highlighted that the environmental movement in the US hasn’t always been what it is today, that it really got started in the sixties, and he basically challenged us to make the same thing happen in El Salvador. That’s a pretty intense mission objective, but also inspiring. However, one can’t help but notice that the Environmental Movement in the US rode on the back of unheard of economic prosperity, and we don’t have that luxury here. However, Costa Rica stands as an excellent example of what can be done, and its close proximity encourages hope El Salvador.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Tormentas
Rain comes hear just about every afternoon, usually around 4 or 5, sometimes accompanied by intense lightning, which I really enjoy. The word for storms here is tormentas, which is fairly appropriate. I just watched some of the news with my family that was showing a bunch of flooded houses and street in the capital, I think some people were killed too. I am living on a high hill, so I think we’re safe.
I went to catholic church with my family today, which was one of the most pleasant church experience I have had. The service was outdoors, with a long paved area in the middle of a forest, so it wasn’t hot and everyone was in the shade. It only lasted for about an hour and a half, which I was happy about, I heard they can last for four hours here. I mostly was zoning out the whole time since I couldn’t follow what was being said, but it was nice to listen when everyone was singing. The was a whole market and a bunch of food vendors outside the venue, so I got a papusa (beans and rice in a tortilla pancake) lunch with my family.
I am slowly noticing improvements in my Spanish, but the going is slow. Sometimes I am really motivated to learn as much as I can, other times I wish I could just give up. I am really excited to move to my site and start doing projects, but that’s not for another 6 weeks.
Much love to everybody,
-Ignacio
I went to catholic church with my family today, which was one of the most pleasant church experience I have had. The service was outdoors, with a long paved area in the middle of a forest, so it wasn’t hot and everyone was in the shade. It only lasted for about an hour and a half, which I was happy about, I heard they can last for four hours here. I mostly was zoning out the whole time since I couldn’t follow what was being said, but it was nice to listen when everyone was singing. The was a whole market and a bunch of food vendors outside the venue, so I got a papusa (beans and rice in a tortilla pancake) lunch with my family.
I am slowly noticing improvements in my Spanish, but the going is slow. Sometimes I am really motivated to learn as much as I can, other times I wish I could just give up. I am really excited to move to my site and start doing projects, but that’s not for another 6 weeks.
Much love to everybody,
-Ignacio
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Getting the hang of it
Hola a todos. I finally have some time to write. Its been a whirlwind of activity for me here. I have been living with my host family for about eight days now. It was an extremely abrupt change, going from hanging out with 30 Americans and living in hotel to living with a family by myself in the countryside. I quickly realized that my family speaks no English and my Spanish was not very functional. Although I seem to know the names of obscure nouns like tie, umbrella and credit card, I am not good at speaking or understanding speech. I am in a small town (about 100 people and maybe 25 houses, a school, a small store, and a small restaurant) about 20 minutes away from the training center. My Spanish teacher introduced me to my host mom and left, leaving me and my luggage with this Salvadoran family. After “Hola, como esta?” I pretty much exhausted my skills, and the ensuing conversation quickly dissolved into silence and awkwardness. My family consists of a mom, dad, and two kids, a boy who is 5 and a girl who is 9. I am getting along well with the mom and kids, but the dad just barks Spanish at me and gets impatient quickly. The mom is really nice and cooks me three meals a day, which I take at a formal dining table by myself, which was strange at first but I quickly got used to it. The countryside here is beautiful, very green, jungle-like and mountainous, with an occasional volcano throw in for good measure.
I have Spanish lessons every morning with a PC teacher who comes to my house. We meet with the other three volunteers in my town and have class from 8-12, break for lunch, and then either do a community activity or study more Spanish. Our first community activity was to round op some kids in town and get them to show us around town and have them draw a map or the community. That was fun, although the other volunteers are better at Spanish and did most of the talking. We did “A day in the life” on Monday, in which I just hung out with my host mom and observed here daily routine.
My family is surprisingly middle class. The dad is a teacher in a driving school (pretty dangerous around here, there are no traffic laws). The house is fairly large and comfortable, except for there is just a tin roof and some of the rooms are open air. My room is pretty basic, just a single bed in a 8X10 concrete room. There is a toilet which usually flushes and a shower (no hot water of course) and a sink in the bathroom. The family has two dogs, three small parrots, and a few chickens. They also have what must be the worlds loudest rooster which lives right outside my room and wakes me up between 4-5 each morning. I’m wondering if I could kill it and hide the body. There are also two hammocks an the front porch, which are great for siestas (even though they aren’t part of the culture here, I take them anyway.
The hardest thing about living here is definitely not knowing enough Spanish. It is very rare for me to understand a complete sentence, but by picking up key words, context, and gestures I can usually get the jist of what people say to me. I pretty much study Spanish all day every day, so hopefully I will get better fast. The words I try to learn often just go in one ear and out the other, and my mouth has problems receiving instructions from my brain in Spanish.
Similar to my time in Africa, I experience dramatic highs and lows. Sometime I have the so much fun here and can’t wait to get some important work done, and other times I get really frustrated with the language and fell like I can’t stand it anymore.
Some of the most fun I have is playing sports with the other volunteers and local kids. The kids are easier to talk to and I don’t have to worry about mistakes or offending anyone. They love soccer here, but we taught them ultimate Frisbee. They picked it up in about five minutes and really like to play.
It is consistently hot and humid, and lately storms have been rolling in every afternoon that dump rain for an hour or two. It is some of the most intense rain and thunder I have experienced, its no wonder erosion, landslides and floods are major problems here.
I am living here for two more months, getting to know the culture and language and receiving training in environmental education. After that, the PC places me in my “site” which I will live in for two years and teach in a school and do various projects. The really nice thing about the PC (called the Cuerpo de Paz here) is they tell you to first get to know your community and basically ask them what changes they would like to see in their community. You then work with people to help them make the change, and ensure that they know how to maintain it after you leave. The main idea in the environmental education program is that you train the teachers how to integrate environmental issues into the curriculum and then teach it themselves. Its supposed to be teaching people to fish rather than giving handouts.
I seem to have more developing world experience and more of a background in environmental studies than most of the other volunteers, but I have the least Spanish experience. Its ironic that the one subject I hated in school and could barely pass has become my primary goal.
Also, I changed my name to Ignacio. Forest was to hard to pronounce.
I have Spanish lessons every morning with a PC teacher who comes to my house. We meet with the other three volunteers in my town and have class from 8-12, break for lunch, and then either do a community activity or study more Spanish. Our first community activity was to round op some kids in town and get them to show us around town and have them draw a map or the community. That was fun, although the other volunteers are better at Spanish and did most of the talking. We did “A day in the life” on Monday, in which I just hung out with my host mom and observed here daily routine.
My family is surprisingly middle class. The dad is a teacher in a driving school (pretty dangerous around here, there are no traffic laws). The house is fairly large and comfortable, except for there is just a tin roof and some of the rooms are open air. My room is pretty basic, just a single bed in a 8X10 concrete room. There is a toilet which usually flushes and a shower (no hot water of course) and a sink in the bathroom. The family has two dogs, three small parrots, and a few chickens. They also have what must be the worlds loudest rooster which lives right outside my room and wakes me up between 4-5 each morning. I’m wondering if I could kill it and hide the body. There are also two hammocks an the front porch, which are great for siestas (even though they aren’t part of the culture here, I take them anyway.
The hardest thing about living here is definitely not knowing enough Spanish. It is very rare for me to understand a complete sentence, but by picking up key words, context, and gestures I can usually get the jist of what people say to me. I pretty much study Spanish all day every day, so hopefully I will get better fast. The words I try to learn often just go in one ear and out the other, and my mouth has problems receiving instructions from my brain in Spanish.
Similar to my time in Africa, I experience dramatic highs and lows. Sometime I have the so much fun here and can’t wait to get some important work done, and other times I get really frustrated with the language and fell like I can’t stand it anymore.
Some of the most fun I have is playing sports with the other volunteers and local kids. The kids are easier to talk to and I don’t have to worry about mistakes or offending anyone. They love soccer here, but we taught them ultimate Frisbee. They picked it up in about five minutes and really like to play.
It is consistently hot and humid, and lately storms have been rolling in every afternoon that dump rain for an hour or two. It is some of the most intense rain and thunder I have experienced, its no wonder erosion, landslides and floods are major problems here.
I am living here for two more months, getting to know the culture and language and receiving training in environmental education. After that, the PC places me in my “site” which I will live in for two years and teach in a school and do various projects. The really nice thing about the PC (called the Cuerpo de Paz here) is they tell you to first get to know your community and basically ask them what changes they would like to see in their community. You then work with people to help them make the change, and ensure that they know how to maintain it after you leave. The main idea in the environmental education program is that you train the teachers how to integrate environmental issues into the curriculum and then teach it themselves. Its supposed to be teaching people to fish rather than giving handouts.
I seem to have more developing world experience and more of a background in environmental studies than most of the other volunteers, but I have the least Spanish experience. Its ironic that the one subject I hated in school and could barely pass has become my primary goal.
Also, I changed my name to Ignacio. Forest was to hard to pronounce.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Out of the Frying Pan
I'm doing well, I'm healthy, and moved in with the host family. Not a lot of computer time, but I will write much more later. Much Love!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
day 2
Today was a full training day. First I had my spanish placement interview, which was definitely a struggle. I was asked open-ended questions for about 20 minutes to place me into an appropriate level of spanish instruction. I will probably start at the bottom, but everyone says it comes fast and I will be fine. Tomorrow we move out of the cush hotel that we are in ( air conditioning and wifi!) and into a host family house. Im excited, I will get a real taste of life here and some real spanish practice. We had papusas (pa POO sas) for dinner, which are a very common. They are beans and cheese in the center of a thick spongy corn tortilla ball smashed flat. They are eaten with salsa, sauerkraut, and pickled cauliflower and carrots, with spiced hot chocolate to drink. They were unbelievably good, the food here seems right up my alley. We also had training today in common health problems that occur as well as how to avoud being the victom of various types of crime. Although El Salvador has the third highest rate of crime among PC countries, it has one of the lowest volunteer drop out rates, which really speaks for the country and the program. Since all I can compare it to is Ghana, thus city seems pretty, clean and well kept to me, while everyone else seems it as a ghetto. Its all relative I guess. My spirits remain high, I feel so blessed to be here.
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Arrival!
Made it here safe and sound. Our flight left at midnight and arrived in the capital city around 6AM. We were treated to beautiful views of volcanoes backlit by a dark red sunrise. Upon landing we waded our way thru immigration and customs and boarded a old school with a psychedelic paint job and drove about 45 minutes to San Vicente, the city that our training takes place in. I was surprised at how much the countryside reminded me of Ghana, with similar roads, cars, houses, and plants. The city is better kept and cleaner than most cities in Ghana. Even though we were all fairly sleep deprived, our training began with a breakfast of ham stuffed crepes, a bean and rice mixture, and some sort of pastry. We then met the PC staff which included about 3 americans and 10 locals. The training today consisted of reviewing the PC goals and expectations, as well as various paperwork and speeches about our role in this country. We just arrived at a local hotel so we can get some sleep, we will stay until we move in with our host families on friday. I am the second youngest in our group of 30, and in the bottom bracket of spanish fluency, but I know that it will improve fast. The Salvadorans seem very friendly and welcoming so far. Tomorrow a have an interview in spanish that will place me in an appropriate level spanish class for our upcoming 10 weeks of training before we are assigned to a specific community site. Im having an amazing time and couldnt be more excited to be here. The possibilities seem limitless.
Please comment, ask questions, ect.
Muchos abrazos y besos a todos.
Please comment, ask questions, ect.
Muchos abrazos y besos a todos.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Finally Leaving
After much preparation, waiting and planning, the time has finally come. I am currently in LA awaiting my 11PM departure to San Salvador (the capital city) I flew down here from Arcata yesterday morning with two suitcases just under the 80 pound weight limit combined and a large backpack. After a nice flight and night at the LAX Radisson courtesy of the Peace Corps, today was our staging event. About 30 volunteers are leaving with me, all in their twenties, with some assigned to environmental education like me and others is the youth development program. Today was filled with goofy ice-breaker and get-to-know-you activities. We also discussed challenges we will face down there as well as some of the reasons we joined the PC and what we hope to accomplish. The volunteers are from all parts of the country and most of them recently graduated college. Some are already fluent in Spanish and some are still beginners like me. Now we have a few hours to buy last minute things and make calls, post on blogs, ect. We arrive in El Salv at 5AM tomorrow. I was happy to find out that they use the same electrical plugs as us, and also use the US dollar, which will simplify things. Its been nice meeting everyone who is in the exact same situation as me, and we all can share our enthusiasm and anxiety. Overall, I am more excited than ever and can't wait to get there.
Much love to everyone.
Much love to everyone.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Graduated!
So I'm done with college and on a road trip with my dad back to Arkansas for 2 weeks to visit family. Thank you to everyone at my graduation, it was great to get everyone's support for my Peace Corps endeavor. I'm using Rosetta Stone and making progress with my study of Spanish. I leave for staging (its like an orientation/group meeting) July 19th, after I fly back to Humboldt July 1st. I'm getting more and more excited, but a little nervous about the language barrier. Hope everyone is doing well, and thanks for reading!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Blog Created!
Welcome to my future PCV blog! I hope everyone is ready for another adventure because I sure am. I caught the traveling bug in Africa and now I'm off to El Salvador. Wait, first I have to graduate...
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