Also, I have found a large interest in learning chess. After teaching one kid, word spread, and now every night is spent with 3-7 kids in my room listening to music and playing chess.
Town meeting
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.
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