Leaving Early

On January 20th, we were told that we had to leave Peace Corps early. We were supposed to leave mid-September, but now we are being forced out April 30th. Peace Corps has recently decided that Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are very dangerous countries and their tactics regarding work and volunteering need to be changed. So, no new volunteers are coming to El Salvador, the group that was supposed to leave in March is leaving 6 weeks early, and we are leaving about 6 months early. It was very upsetting because I haven't not been in my new site for that long and I'm really enjoying it. I have possibilities of doing some great things, but my time has been shortened, so now it won't be possible.

This time is also very hard for Peace Corps staff because they don't know what the future holds for them in regards to the continuation of Peace Corps in El Salvador. The Honduran volunteers were pulled out almost immediately because it was deemed too dangerous. We are lucky and have been able to stay while they implement changes, but the staff and everyone else, is so unsure of what the future holds.

Well, we recently found out that the office is being moved out of San Salvador, which will be hard for many staff members, and Peace Corps will only be working in the northern part of the country. That means that no one will be coming to my beautiful, wonderful site. Its a shame because the people are so great there and there are so many possibilities. Everyone is sad about it - but hopefully in the future, El Salvador will be more stable and have volunteers in more areas.

Backtracking to Christmas

So, its been forever since I've written, so I'll start back in December. I went home for Christmas - which was great! I loved being home in the cold and snow and BAKING! It was great to see my family as well.

So, I got off the plane and we went to the Hot Springs! Oh, it was so lovely. I must say if I don't live in the west when I'm older, I'm going to truly miss the hot springs. We went home and had a delicious dinner of Lasagna - one of my favs! Thanks mom! And then I spent a lot of time trying to get ready for Christmas and seeing people. We had a get together where I saw a bunch of friends and a little family - and it was so nice to see everyone. They were all so supportive and interested - which was not what I was expecting because life here can be so hard to explain and relate to! It was great. Then, we spent about 5 days up at the cabin for New Years! There wasn't much snow, but we had great fun playing hockey on the pond and ping pong in the barn. Lastly, I went to Denver with my sister. I saw a lot of family and a few friends, which again was great. I did go to the mall and was appalled by what people where. Here, when people go to buy in town, they wear a nice skirt and shirt or men wear slacks and a nice shirt. In the states people looked like they had just rolled out of bed - I was quite offended by it - I guess that's one thing I will miss here!

But overall, America was great. Having running hot and cold water, indoor showers that don't electrocute you, seeing family and friends, and traveling in private transportation were all quite the luxuries! However, I will miss people's formalities here, being invited to whoever's house whenever, and the delicious fruit!

The Coffee Harvest

I hope you all up north are enjoying your morning harvest - we here are working hard to pick it for you! So, the coffee cherries have just turned red - aka - ripe. So, they are being hand-picked and drying. Consequently, the air smells like a mix of baby poop and vomit - so I really hope you enjoy your morning cup of joe now! But the coffee plants are very pretty with their dark green shinny leaves and bright red cherries. They will be drying from now until next spring, and then they will process it and sell it to Starbucks (they say Starbucks is their best buyer - who knows if that's true). So, people in my community are going to pick coffee - they leave at 5 am and return at about 4 pm. The are paid about $1.25 per 25 pounds and people can make over $10 a day, so that's A LOT of coffee to pick. Now, people have much more money than about 6 months ago, and they will be getting more if they have sugar fields - the harvest is next to come!

Surviving the Storm

So, its been about 10 days since the rains have stopped and everything is almost back to normal. We were told by Peace Corps to stay in our sites and not leave for 9 days (standfast). This is the first step of our Emergence Action Plan. They decided because of the huge amounts of rain that it was unsafe to travel because bridges were being washed out, and many times, the trasnportation stopped due to too much water in the roads. So, for nine days, I didnt do much. I read, I watched TV shows, and slept. It was quite relaxing, but I started to run out of food and clothing, so I was grateful when it stopped. Also, it is difficult to not be able to leave your house. I did leave some, but I couldnt do a lot of work becuase it was raining too hard and school was cancelled for 7 days, so my abilities were limited.

Now the weather is beautiful. It is cool and even cold sometimes at night and the days are sunny and warm, even hot. Things are drying out and I can wash my clothes again! I must say that I am really glad I was living with a family during this time because I could talk to people without leaving my house, and they have a TV, so I could see what was going on in other parts of the country. Now that it is almost the dry season, the crops are ready to harvest and there will be more soccer games!

New Site!

So, I'm in my new site and loving it! I've been in my new site in Santa Ana for a little over two weeks, and I'm so much happier, relaxed, and enjoying my time so much more. People are so friendly and wanting to show me how to do things. They want to work with me, not me for them, and they want to show me around the area. They offer to show me around the city of Santa Ana, but also to the river; they offer to do house visits with me, and how to dance; they show me how to make tamales, and ask if I can teach them to make pizza. Its such a wonderful change - I almost can't believe it. I also realize that it wasn't me that was failing, which is wonderful.

So, I have a few projects I'm working on and a few I'm finishing up from another volunteer. I am working on a trash campaign and helping part of the community get water. I am finishing up a solar electric project, continuing working on a road/bridge project with Engineers without Borders, continuing fuel efficient stoves, and supporting the kindergarten teacher. I am hoping to do some work with health in regards to dental and eye campaigns and a little with HIV/AIDS. Lastly, I think I might restart the women's soccer team and have a youth group that does service activities in the community. But, since I"m still new and trying to get to know some people, I'm still not sure when any of this will materialize, but I'm very hopeful that I will be more successful!

Corn, Corn, Corn!

The rains have come and it's harvest time! Everyone is gathering all the corn they planted, so there is corn overload! This means that people are making everything from corn. Besides the usually corn tortillas and semi-regular corn tamales, or chicken tamales with corn on the outside, I have now eaten about 20 corn on the cob in a week, a bowl of atol, which this time was a thick corn drink that is okay, but in small quantities, fried corn pancakes, grilled corn pancakes wrapped in banana leaves, more corn tamales (which I helped make!), corn in soup, and any other way they think of using corn - very inventive! I mush say though, that sometimes my system can't digest that much corn, and I have no idea how they do!

For now, life is good and rich, but come February it will be a little harder without the harvest and extra corn. Prices will go up and people might stop eating some meals because their staple can't grow and they can't afford to buy it. A change we don't usually see in America.

Modes of Transport ...

So, a few months ago, I moved houses. My new house didn't have a pila (a cement tub that has two plat surfaces on either side to wash dishes, clothes, whatever you can think of), so I went to a neighboring town and ordered one from the pila man. He gave me the cost and then I asked does this include transportation or do I need to find transportation - what's the deal exactly? Anyway he said it would be ready in about 5 days and transportation would be $10. I thought that was maybe a little high, but its a huge cement object that four strong men have a hard time lifting a 1/4 of a cm. off the ground.

So, five days later, I'm on my way home from the school with a couple friends, and someone says my name. I turn around, and I see the man who makes pilas with my pila ... pulling it by OXEN! Well, needless to say, I was a little surprised that this costs $10 - but at least I got my pila!

Side note: Oxen is not an unusual transport option here, so that isn't what surprised me - it was the fact that my pila cost an extra $10 because of oxen.

Parental Visit!

So, my sister and parents left yesterday morning after an 18 day trip in El Salvador. It was great! It was wonderful to see them and spend time with them as well as to be able to get to see more of El Salvador. Our favorite places where Parque El Impossible, Suchitoto, and Playa El Cuco - and in my opinion, my site!
Parque El Impossible was amazing. Its a protected rain forest and a guide takes you on one of four hikes around it. We choose to go to a waterfall that was beautiful and pretty warm, so great for swimming. The guide was very knowledgeable and more than patient to answer our MANY questions.
On the way to Suchitoto, we went to Joya de Ceren, which is like Pompeii of Central America. We were all expecting to be sort of disappointed because of what the guide book said (much of it hasn't been uncovered in order to figure out a way to preserve it), but it was really interesting and our guide spoke great English. We landed in Suchitoto, and stayed at Las Puertas on the town square - great location - and a very nice hotel with pretty good food. We found a little jewerly store there with jewerly from 4 different jewelers - so there was some working with recycled materials, another with silver, another with different stones and found objects, and the last one I don't quite remember, but it was a great store and I found some great earrings! We also went on a boat tour to Isla de los Pajaros, which was pretty cool to see all the different birds, but especially to hear them.
Playa El Cuco is a surfers hang-out, especially this time of year, but luckily when we were there, there weren't many waves, so we had a great time playing in the waves and taking a walk on the beach. The beach is a beautiful one as well. Very nice and sandy, but also there are cliffs about 100 feet behind the beach at low tide. Very beautiful, and we found wild bee hives!
I enjoyed taking my parents to my site to show them where and how I live. We stayed in my house, which I think was a little taxing on them, but we visited women who make jewerly, the women who harvest honey (and they gave us coconuts - YUM!), and went to a friend's house and they learned (sort of) how to make pupusas (the national dish)! We also went to the beach at my site, and they decided it is the nicest beach in El Salvador!
But - unfortunately they are gone, so now it's back to the grindstone ...

Attack of the Mosquitos!

So, I forgot how back the mosquitoes are in the rainy season. Since the rains have just recently come to my site, there has been an extreme hatching! It's especially worse near my pila (where I have my water, so I wash my clothes, dishes, and everything but go to the bathroom and shower). They especially like my ankles, so I have started poisoning myself - don't worry totally legal - with OFF! But, I do have a headache from it, so I try to use it little as possible. Also, there is a something they put in the water here (in standing water) called abate, but the clinic doesn't have it, so people have to wash their pilas every other day. However, this is hard work, so most don't do this. So, there are TONS! It's like Rand at the forth of July, but hotter and wetter, so I can't wear long sleeves and pants. Also, they attack me when I'm bathing! They're relentless! I just am hoping I don't get dengue...

Aromatherapy of the Campo

As we all know, living in the campo can waft some interesting and wretched smells to our nose. Frequently, I find myself face to face with a poorly maintained latrine, the awful odor of a dead animal, mildew or mold during the raining season, an older person’s decaying teeth, and a host of awful aromas.

However, recently, I have abruptly smelled deliciousness (at least in my opinion). These new scents have become my new aromatherapy (as compared to my old American aromatherapy – candles and the like).

The first smell, I was riding my bike to the neighboring canton and as I was passing a second home, or more like a second palace, I smelled something sweet and delicious. I screeched to a halt to find the scrumptious fragrance.

I couldn’t see anything since the palace was surrounded by a 10’ wall, but it brought back such strong memories of childhood, I knew I could figure out what it was. It reminded me of being in Arizona, specifically near a museum about traveling west in Phoenix.

Aha! Orange blossom. It was the most wonderful smell I had experienced in months. It was wonderful, and every time I pass, I slow down and breathe deeply to soak it all in.

The second smell is not a favorite of everyone’s, but I love it. Down the calle principal of my community, a remasa house was having a bloc wall being built around it. (I saw the house was having a wall being built around it because the owners are in the State so, hired help was building the wall.)

Since everything is build by hand in my community (even though they have the cement mixer sitting right next to them, they choose to mix by hand) they were cutting the blocs to make the wall curved.

The mix of the stone and the metal instantaneously smelled like someone was trying to start a fire with no matches. It immediately transported me to my days working on trail crew.

As some of you know, trail crew is one of my favorite experiences, and I have many stories. But, we frequently had to smash rock with a sledge hammer to make smaller rock for fill or try to break a bigger rock in half to create a stair.

Anyway, it makes the exact same smell, and I was directly transported to the mountains of Colorado. I could see the majestic mountains and big blue skies. I could even smell the fresh mountain air.

Much to my displeasure (only because of the smell), they have since finished the wall, but whenever I passed the house, I once again, slowed way down to be transported from sea level to 10,000’.

The last smell, one I thought I would never miss, I smell only very occasionally. As mentioned above, there are some second homes/palaces in my community. They are like American homes, or embassy homes, which is a stark contrast to every other house here. Usually, they are fenced in and no one can really see, but they all have an abundance of grass.

As I was passing one of these walled palaces, I first heard a noise I thought I had mistaken – a lawn mower! Seconds later, I smelled fresh cut grass.

Now, as a teen, one of my chores was cutting the grass, which I hated. I despised it not because it was a chore, but because my father would inspect every inch of yard to make sure I had followed his directions and every blade was cut evenly.

Also, we have a pretty big hard, so with a hand mower, it took two hours or more to mow the lawn depending upon the length of the grass.

Well, I remember getting in numerous arguments with my father about how I had cut the grass I couldn’t get it more even because part or it was wet or under bushes or something. I remember telling him numerous times that if he was going to be that particular, he can cut it. (Although I did get paid, so I did want the money).

Well, here it was a terrific reminder of home and people starting yard work in the spring to ready their yards for their summer barbeques. It smelled so delectable I wanted to go jump in the cuttings – but I refrained, I thought maybe people would think that a little odd.

So, while my current aromatherapy maybe a little unconventional, I love it. It brings something of America here and if I’m feeling a little stressed this new aromatherapy brings the stress level a bit and reminds me of a few more enjoyable things about being in El Salvador.

Finally Cooling Off a Little

Wow – it has been SOOOO hot here recently! The rains came two days ago, which cooled things off a tiny bit, or at least more at night – a great relief. I didn’t realize how much hotter it is in my site than other places. I spent almost a week out of my site for training. We were in the mountains and the capital, and I was cold there. When I got back to my site, I was instantly sweating just sitting. It was like that for about a week, and while it is still extremely hot, the evenings and nights cool off a little more even if there is no rain. Also, the clouds block the glaring sun, which makes it seem much cooler here, so that’s also a plus. I can also tell how hot it is by how much my cat sleeps. Now, she’s up playing until about 9 in the morning and gets up at about 4 in the afternoon. Before, she was asleep at 7:30 or 8 and got up at 5:30 or 6. I’m much happier it’s cooling off, but I’m scared of a lot of rain because that means that there will be lots of mud and I think the replacement bridge has already been washed out, so that means it is now an hour to my pueblo as opposed to half an hour. We’ll just pray that we get rain sporadically instead of tons in only a few days!

Feelin' the Heat

Everyone said that March and April are the hottest months here. Yea, March was hot, but it wasn't unbearable, so I thought people were exaggerating April as well. WRONG! April is SOOOO hot. I feel like my skin is melting off when I'm in the sun, and no one leaves their house between the hours of 12 and about 4 except for the kids going to school. The thing that makes it really hot, is that it doesn't cool off at night. I would go to bed sweating and would wake-up sweating. I drink gallons of water, but hardly ever go to the bathroom because I'm sweating so much. I am glad that I do have essentially unlimited access to water so that I can shower whenever, but the heat is unrelenting. I feel like I've gone from one extreme to another. I lived in Spokane in biting cold and now am living here in melting heat. I thought I loved the heat, but now I realize why Colorado is so perfect. It has cold months, but not to cold, and hot months, but generally not too hot, and if so, only a few days. Also, there are days (mostly in the spring in fall) that are perfect - not too hot and not too cold. However - the rains have started! It rained the past two nights and hence everything has cooled off enormously. It's much more pleasant and there is much less dust. I just hope the floods are too severe ...

Pictures!

Here are a few pictures of my experiences here. I hope you enjoy!

Skinny Cows

So, when I first arrived, I was surprised at how fat the cows were. I’m mean, they’re no American cows, but they’re not the cows I typically think of when I think of developing nations. I was surprised, they looked healthy and happy. I couldn’t see their hips or ribs – which I thought was amazing. Now, I realized it was because it was winter – which means it was raining and there was plenty of grass. Now, it’s summer and DRY. Its brown everywhere there isn’t artificial watering. Another volunteer had told me stories of this – but I hadn’t believed it – I thought it was just stories. Anyway, so now the cows are stereotypically skinny and not appealing to eat. I can see their rib and hips very distinctly. They move more slowly, and generally look miserable. Maybe because its unbearably hot, but I also think it has something to do with the fact that they are eating brown (dead) grass and dirt. It is amazing to see the difference between these two seasons and how I can’t wait for the rainy season! (I thought I’d never say that).

My First Big Success (well at least in my mind)

I have been in El Salvador now for about eight months, six of which I’ve been in my site. The work I’m doing or have done is far is this – started an English club for 7th-9th graders, taught art classes to 3rd -5th graders, continued work with a women’s group harvesting honey, learned how to make jewelry from another women’s group, assisted Engineers without Borders with starting a project to build latrines, attempted (but failed) to write a grant to fix the computer lab, attempted (but failed, but still in progress) a world map, made some friends, and most recently completed a camp to train people to teach about HIV/AIDS prevention – which I consider “My First Big Success.” But, regarding the previous stuff, in the United States – that would be a pathetically small amount of things to accomplish, or not accomplish as the case may be with some of the things. However, here, I’m one busy volunteer, which is hard for me to believe sometimes.
But, on to my great success – I was really nervous about this camp. I was scared that people wouldn’t learn, that I couldn’t be able to teach the lessons I was supposed to teach, my counterpart my not show up, my kids wouldn’t be able to do the practicum at the end, and everyone would be too overwhelmed by all the information. However – it was GREAT!!! Before, I was dreading it – not feeling prepared – but the time I returned I was possibly the happiest I’ve been here! It was a great feeling. I feel like I started something and finished it – which is amazing and that people learned a lot from it. Also, my counterpart showed up and did a fantastic job with her presentations, my kids (although I wasn’t sure of this until the middle of it) did a great job with the practicum, and are excited about teaching it to the other students! It was excellent and has inspired to do more regarding HIV/AIDS prevention, STD prevention and lessons on how the reproduction system works in the body (I learned that most kids don’t get that education here, so sometimes the HIV stuff doesn’t make sense until you explain the organs). Anyway, I’ve talked with the health promoter and we are going to work together to do this in the school and I’m so excited!

A Day in the Life Part 3

Usually, the man is the earliest riser. Depending on his job, usually he has a little farm and some cows, or is a mason. Either way, they are up earlier to start work earlier and have a longer lunch. If you have cows, you have to milk them before the milk truck comes to pick up the milk. In the morning, generally the men tend to their fields – watering them, scaring away the birds, harvesting whatever they are growing, and replanting. If it is a mason, they are constructing usually a house from about 7 until 11:30 and then in the afternoon again at about 2 until 5. In regards to their responsibility to the house – they don’t have many. If something needs fixing, that’s about it, but usually the wife helps. When they come home, they generally relax in the hammock, eat, or watch TV. They don’t interact with their kids usually or help with homework (actually no one really does this). It’s very much segregated into what the men can do and what they can’t do. Same goes for the women – they don’t work in the fields nor do they do construction, but they are expected to serve their husbands literally and have a much more subservient attitude. Maybe this is no surprise …

Day the in Life - Part 2

This blog is about my daily (or weekly routine)...

So, I generally wake-up between 5:30 and 6. That's when the roosters start to crow, the bus passes along with other traffic. I feed my cat and excersize - usually in my house to some music and it varies daily. Next - I bucket bathe and make my breakfast of tea and crackers. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go to the school to teach English in the morning. In the afternoon, I usually have a meeting with some one or I am preparing for English class or something else. On Wednesday morning, I try to go to the jewerly women's cooperative and visit with them. On Wednesday afternoon I sometimes have meetings or am trying to catch up from Tuesday. On Fridays I do laundry in the morning, eat lunch at a friend's house, and have a meeting in the afternoon, with the women working with the bees. When I get back, I have to do laundry again (its a three step process of 2 days). On Saturday, I finish doing my laundry and it hangs to dry. Depending on the week, I have meetings this day as well or I go visit friends, or I have Peace Corps meetings. On Sunday, I try to clean really well and get organized. Mondays are my shopping days or med days, so I'm usually getting ready for that. Anyway, as you can see, I'm not in my hosue much, which is a bummer because I want so more hammock time!

Also, though, this is very atypical for a Salvadoran women my age and I get the statement, you're not here very much are you? And, while I may not be in my house, I am in the community try to accomplish things, which sometimes they don't understand or get because almost no women they know do this. This used to bother me, but now, they see I'm doing things and so they've backed off a little bit, but also, I've become more comfortable in being different. But also, my schedule changes quite a bit, which is also unusual for people in my site. But I'm glad I have a little bit of a schedule!

A Day in the Life part one

This post is a description of what a typical Salvadoran woman does on a daily basis. Some of what she does depends upon how kids she has, how old they are, and what gender they are. I am going to call here Ana.

Ana wakes up between 5:30 and 6 am. She begins the day by washing the dishes from dinner the night before and then starting to make coffee for her kids and husband for breakfast. She either buys bread from the bread delivery man or sends one of her kids to buy sweet bread from a store. At about 7:30 she serves her male children, all younger kids, and husband breakfast and then eats about half an hour later. The teenage daughter are responsible for making their own breakfast. Between the female daughter and the mother, the inside of the house is dusted and swept (or raked if its a dirt floor) and then the outside yard it raked and the trash is put into a pile to burn. At about 10 she sends her daughter to the molino to grind the corn to make tortillas. While her daughter is there, she is usually washing clothes or doing some other kind of cleaning. Her daughter returns with the maza and she makes lunch and tortillas for the family.

The family eats between noon and 1 depending on the schedule. The wife cleans up lunch, closes up the kitchen, and then usually relaxes and watches some TV for an hour or two. Depending on the family, she either cleans more, visits friends, has visitors, or goes to church. She returns and makes dinner (a small meal) usually of beans, cheese, and tortillas for the family. The family usually watches TV until about 9 or 9:30 and then goes to bed.

My schedule varies greatly from this, as well as the male's life, which will the part 2 and part 3 of these blogs!

50th Anniversary Kick-off Event!

As some of you probably already know, this is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps being signed into Executive Order. A very exciting time for all of us past, present, and future volunteers and staff of Peace Corps, and I think for many other Americans as well. So, every post (country) is being encouraged to do something to celebrate. So, in El Salvador, we had the kick-off event this Friday! It was at the American Embassy with the Ambassador. I was invited to go with two women who make jewerly from my community because they are a successful, sustainable, Peace Corps-started project. They had three volunteers work with them in the past and then didn't have any help for three years. Now I'm there, but in reality they teach me more than I have helped them so far. I hope I can do something to help them, but we'll see. At any rate, we went to the embassy to speak about their experience with Peace Corps. I was really nervous that they weren't going to be able to speak in front of a large, important crowd, so I had a back-up speech ready. At any rate - they did great! They brought a few people to tears and a few others close to tears. It was wonderful, and I was so proud of them for speaking in front of that many people and that many important people without ever really speaking in front of a group before.

After everyone spoke, we had light refreshments, which, I think was a little weird for them because it was American food and there weren't any tortillas. However, they ate it and I LOVED it - there was brie cheese! Overall, it was a great night, and I was so happy that my community was invited to go and talk about their experience!

Attempting to Stay Healthy

So, I have recently been in the capital trying to stay healthy and clean. I have seen more doctors and had more doctors' visits here than I have in my entire life I think. It's crazy how differently my body reacts to being in a different place. I do think some of it is because I'm in a dirty place covered in dust this time of year, part of it is because I sweat so much, and some of it might be due to stress. I don't know what it is, but it is frustrating. I have to come in to the capital fairly regularly to seek medical attention, which is a long ways a way and expensive. However, I'm very grateful that Peace Corps pays for my medications! So, I've had some dental problems and I had to have a minor surgery on my toe nail. However, since my site is dusty and there is no guarantee how clean it is, I've had to stay here for a bit. Also, I've had many more chronic health problems, mostly on my skin, which I have never had in the States. It's just so difficult to stay healthy all the time here! However, I get great medical care essentially whenever I need it so that's great! Thanks Peace Corps/American taxpayers!