Merry Christmas

For Christmas this year I accepted my boss's invite to an open house type party on the 25th not because I really wanted to celebrate Christmas, but because I wanted to see all my Peace Corps buddies and so that I didn't have to be lame and lonely. The side effect of that decision was that there was no transport to/from my site on the 25th, so I had to leave and go somewhere for the 24th, which can be a little crazy here.
The decision I made was to ride my bike to my friend Sam's house in Candelaria which is about 15Km or about 10 miles. It wasn't too rough a ride, but it was windy, and with my luck the wind was blowing right in my face and slowing me down to a crawl. But I made it after a little work and got to Candelaria. I was a bit on the hungry side after that long ride and the small lunch I had to avoid a stomach ache. I had completely forgotten that dinner on the 24th is often eaten very late at night. What I was also pleasantly unaware of until getting to Sam's is that his family intended to take me to mass with them. We went a bit early, which directly contradicts everything that I have come to expect of timeliness in El Salvador. So Sam and I went over to hang out with Sarah, the former volunteer there who was visiting her old host family, and to kill the time. To my utter surprise Sarah immediately introduced me as jewish, which flung her host father into a tirade about why my "race" insists on inculcating hate in their children and murdering arabs. I just sort of smiled and waited it out. Then I went to church and played the nice catholic boy attending mass. Then they got communion all ready and my stomach decided to remind me just how hungry I was. It was screeming at me "you go get that wafer, you suck it up and get me that wafer!" Never in my life have I wanted to receive communion more than I did on Christmas Eve.
Then the morning of the 25th we hopped a ride with Sarah back to San Sal and got ready for the party at Bryan's.

Always Surprising

After five years living in a fraternity house and more than a year and a half in The Saviour I thought I had seen just about every random thing that I could see. On the 22nd I saw something that brought the two together like never before. I was invited along with some of the young people in my community to go to a pool/restaurant (think tiny water park). The first surprise, which in all honesty shouldn't have surprised me, was that a church group showed up and set up a portable mass in the middle of water park. Only here would anyone think to combine pools and mass. I felt a little guilty because I was there with my buddies and we were drinking a bit, though trying to be a bit inconspicuous. Nothing says El Salvador to me like a nice jewish boy having a beer in the middle of mass.
Then in the middle of all the madness I spied someone in a shirt that looked a little familiar. On closer inspection it said "Semper Pi". I realized rather quickly that it was an Alpha Epsilon Pi shirt that was a knock off of a US Marines shirt. I had seen that shirt before at a convention so the rest of it I could recite from memory, "The Few, The Proud, The Circumcised". I decided then and there that he had no idea what he was wearing and it was my duty to inform him. Luckily I knew the word in spanish for circumcision and was capable of fully explaining it to him. He seemed incredulous at best upon being informed that he was wearing a shirt advertising someone had sliced him up a bit. Then he one upped my by changing into an AEPi Stands With Israel shirt. Yes that is correct, the very same shirt that was sold at convention and given to all the brothers that went on birthright. I had to explain that shirt too. I had to explain that almost all my friends from college had that exact same shirt. Then the incredulous Salvadoran started asking me all about what Alpha Epsilon Pi was, which led to me explaining fraternities a bit, and realizing that the relatively simple act of explaining a circumcision led to a full scale discussion about fraternities to a Salvadoran who had never heard of either before in his life. I was in a bit over my head and I gracefully bowed out when one of my friends called to me.
The rest of the day was spent in the pool or on the water slides with my buddies and their kids. I never thought playing in a kiddy pool with a 2 year old could be so much fun, but I learn new things every day here in El Salvador.

Fiestas!

Ok so I have mentioned to a few people that my town has been in the midst of Fiestas Patronales, or the yearly patron saint festivals. The time of year depends on who the patron saint of the town is, but by some happy coincidence my new town and my old town have the same saint and therefore the same dates for fiestas.

My current town, El Porvenir, has a larger and more full schedule for the fiestas than my old town though. It all started a little while back with the election of the queen for the fiestas. I was invited to sit at the table of honor, not really knowing what to expect, but not really wanting to turn down an invite either. So I showed up on time, which was foolish because lets be honest, its El Salvador. Well to my surprise it turned out to be a full scale beauty pageant. I was a little shocked to see how young the girls looked, and really shocked when they started announcing their ages, chest sizes, waist sizes and weights. I mean I didn't need to know that the sort of cute one was 14 and only weighed 98 pounds. That was what got me, there was no second thought of parading a bunch of underage girls in front of 100s of ogling men. Needless to say things weren't all of that calibre.

Most of the activities are small parades for the various queens and such. Some are parades with kids in masks like above. Others are just people doing dances and enjoying hearing themselves on microphones.

My favorite event was a BMX bike show where people were doing flips and such. I mean these were amateur Salvadorans that they brought in. Not all of them did flips, lots just did basic jumps or took their hands off the handles. They guy pictured got major air and did a flip over another guy. I almost lost it when I noticed he was close to hitting the flags and then almost clipped the guy below him as he came down. You can see he is coming in a bit low. After that there was a skateboarding event, all part of extreme sports day. I didn't really enjoy the skateboarding as much, but I did get out of the sun for it, which was nice. Plus there was good music for the skateboarding.

One of the days was Tropical Invasion, which just meant lots of live bands, none of which were even slightly tropical. I enjoyed the first one which was a ska band of sorts. Last night there was a rock band in the park which I listened to for a while until I could hear my ears ringing from the volume and then left. They were good, but I don't understand the Salvo obsession with volume.

I bought a bike and today I am off on my bike to have a meeting about improved stoves then hand out permission slips to kids who I am taking to the camp later this month. Fun stuff.

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Last year I hung out with Stephen and Barbara and we cooked chili at Stephen's house. This year I did manage to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It is sort of a Peace Corps norm here to organize groups of Volunteers to stay with Embassy families and eat and drink and be merry. However this year there were more Volunteers than the Embassy could provide families, so Barbara and I went and stayed with another American couple who work for a Christian NGO called Samaritan's Purse. We had a good time and most importantly lots of good food. Unfortunately they had work early the following morning, so we got dropped off at the Peace Corps office a little before 7.

Since there was a game yesterday in San Miguel, I decided to relax on the 23rd in the capital and spend the evening with Kelsey to celebrate her birthday. During the day, with lots of time on my hands and most volunteers still crashing from turkey overload and the shock of staying in a nice house, I decided to go to the Anthropology Museum. I liked it. It was a little on the small side from an American or European stand point. I know that archeology was a relatively recent movement here and isn't so well followed right now, so I was prepared for a relative dearth of artifacts. Still the museum had some good stuff and information that the residents here just don't know. I was aware of a sign that said there was an archaeological site in Cara Sucia while I was living there, but the people brushed it off telling me it was nothing and that nothing ever came from it. Not true apparently, Cara Sucia was one of the earliest known cultural centers here and pre-dates the classical period with the Pipil Indians, keeping active until shortly before the colonial period. So there were some pleasant shocks, but I think they need to spend more time and energy on the cultural and historical background in the museum and cut back on the religion display (which is mostly modern christian) and the artisan display (also mostly modern) because they don't really give anything that you can't find everywhere here.

Kelsey's birthday was relaxed. We hit up Tony Roma's in typical American style and had burgers, desserts and some drinks. Mostly she wanted to just relax and hang out, so that is what we did.

Then yesterday I went to San Miguel for the monthly soccer game. Man oh man was it a scorcher. I think I very nearly got heat stroke and Ryan, another volunteer, I think did. I say I think I nearly got heat stroke because luckily we had substitutes and I could get off the field, drink some water and hang in the shade for 5 minutes or more. There was a pretty intense play where I (playing midfield) ran from a deep defensive position to push an offensive drive, but our lack of footwork caused a turnover and I had to turn an sprint back down the field. I chased my man down, got a defensive stop and cleared the ball. As soon as I could I called for a sub and got off. I managed to get all the way off the field, heave a little and then vomited a bit in the trash can. It was epic according to one of the Volunteers. So I relaxed a bit and had some water and cooled off before jumping back in to finish up the game.

After the game we hurried off to San Miguel for Carnaval, a once yearly festival that takes over the city and has music at nearly every street corner, a parade, dancing in the streets and just an all over the city good time. Erin, who organized the game, also organized a hotel in San Miguel so we were safe to go out and have a good time. I didn't stay out too late or drink too much since I didn't want to wind up severely dehydrated or worse. It was a good time, but I don't think I would do it again even if I were going to be here. Several Volunteers had attempted pickpockets. We were all prepared and didn't carry any phones, cameras, wallets or such like that so no harm no foul. Big huge festivals just aren't my scene. But I chalk it all up to getting a cultural experience and seeing more of the country.

Right now I am passing through San Salvador on my way back home to Santa Ana. I've been away from home for a few days and I want to get back to my dog and my new bike. Plus I need to get working on my part of the youth camp we are putting on in December. I am excited about that since it will be at Lago Coatepeque, a beautiful crater lake not too far from where we all live.

Getting Along

Since Juayua not much has been happening. Life has slowed down a bit in my new site and things are starting to run like they always do. Missed meetings, no transport, people not showing up on time... all the things that drive Peace Corps volunteers nuts about working in El Salvador.


I've been driving myself nuts checking on my dog constantly and worrying about leaving her for more than a few hours. Basically I'm afraid she'll chew off her little splint. Its just coban and its tough to keep a dog from chewing it off. I tried hot sauce and aloe, which worked a bit. Now I just have to deal with the funky smell of her splint every time she comes limping around.


I got away for a day to get up to a soccer at another volunteer's site in Metapan, Santa Ana. It was gorgeous, one of the most gorgeous places I have seen in this whole country. We had the privilege of playing in the shadow of a waterfall. How often do you get to play on a field on a mountain with a waterfall in the background and goats on the field? Seriously, and not only was it gorgeous, but we won for once. They didn't put in a whole new team in the second half like usual. All in all a great game and a great night spent hanging out afterwards. We stayed in two cabins overlooking the valley below. We cooked an improvised dinner of chicken fajitas, chorizo and burgers which were all amazing.

I have almost finished my municipal promotion database which I planned to have implemented by January 1st. This should give me plenty of time to troubleshoot and fix it up so other volunteers can get it installed in their municipalities too. Then I will have a great reason to go around visiting volunteers and installing databases in various places around the country. I'm actually rather excited about it.

In January I think a few of us are going to put together a thinking outside the box camp. That basically means we will take a few kids from each of out communities to a site out on a lake and give some presentations about creative thinking and problem solving. Thrown in will be some fun ice breakers and soccer games and whatnot. Should be fun.

Unexpected

Life is moving at a rapid pace for me now. Last week was a good week in general. I got a lot accomplished comparatively and there were some pleasant surprises along the way.
I'll start by talking about work. I met 3 girls, two that have previously received scholarships and are trying to renew them and one whose family is so poor that she sought me out to try to get a scholarship so she could go to tenth grade. I helped all three of them fill out their forms and made a mad dash to San Sal to turn in the two that were due yesterday, October 15th. Since I hadn't really been working on anything of that type until now it is both fulfilling and depressing to see that school is so affordable and yet families still can't rummage enough to send their kids. I'm desperately hoping that all three of these girls get their scholarships. Two are just trying to get through high school and the third is looking to get to a university, which is dreaming bigger than 90% of everyone I have met in this country. I'm crossing my fingers.
For pleasant surprises, I got a few amazing phone calls almost back to back on friday. First, to my surprise, Rebecca called me from France. It knocked me for a loop. I had talked to her not that long ago while she spent her brief stint in the US between France and Japan, but I didn't expect a call from so far. Needless to say it was like a breath of fresh air speaking to a friend from home that isn't part of my family. Then just afterwards Fabio, my host dad from training, called who I haven't seen in months. It was just nice to hear from him and it lifted my spirits even more. So by mid-day Friday I was on a bit of a high. I had a great meeting with an NGO who works on environmental concerns in my Municipio, I spoke to Rebecca, and then Fabio called.
Then the weekend came and life continued to be good. Mirna, the woman that runs the comedor that I eat in, offered me one of her tanks of propane so I don't have to cough up the extra $32 to replace the tank I left behind in my hasty move. Plus she made me the best pan relleno I have had since I was living near San Vicente. So you know, a pan relleno is like french bread stuffed with vegetables, chicken, cheese and other goodness cooked in chicken broth. That doesn't really do it justice, but it was amazing. I also purchased two artisan made tables that I should take possession of next week.
Right now I am in Juayua, a beautiful mountain community that is cool and just generally nice to be in. I am here for a regional meeting of volunteers and taking advantage of some free WiFi. Unfortunately blessings come with curses, and I decided to bring Kaya, who proceeded to either break a toe, or almost break a toe upon meeting so many cool new people. So tomorrow I will take her for a second opinion to a Vet I trust in Santa Ana. Quite frankly I think its broken, but the vet said no and gave her a cortisone shot. She is limping pretty bad though and it isn't looking any better. So much for trying to take care of her, it just isn't possible with a puppy in this country. Cross your fingers for her.

Ok, So I'm Settled I guess

Well after a little time I am what should be called settled in and getting work under way. I say should be called settled in, because as usual I am a bit slow about getting things purchased and getting my house completely set up. I still don't have a table, a place to put my cooking range or a propane tank since the move. I am experiencing the same laziness of a year ago, where it takes a bus ride to a city to purchase anything, and arguing about delivery or paying a pickup in order to get said things back to my house. So for now, no stuff, and that means I either do my work on the floor, or laying in my hammock. It also means an almost dead stop to my creative impulses a la photoshop since that for sure requires some work surface and free time at home. For now the plan is to contract someone local to hand make me a table and a little cooking stand.

However work has already taken an upswing and gone for a bit of the same. Yesterday I went and met the two girls in my town who receive scholarship money and made plans to fill out their forms for next year. Today I was supposed to go with my counterpart to a canton to help a school group form and environmental committee, but somehow when I got there, they left without saying a word to me, even after I confirmed that I would go yesterday. So ups and downs as I expected, but overall positive. I have done some work on the database I was working on before and plan to get it up and running on my counterpart's computer by the start of the year. Sometime this week the NGO that helped with a tree project and a stove project with the last volunteer is returning for a meeting, so I hope to crash it and get in on the ground floor of any work that can be done in my municipality.

I have also reaffirmed my love for hammocks in the past two weeks. In fact Kaya has sort of adapted to pushing me in her own annoying way. When I lay in my hammock for extended periods of time and start ignore her, she runs into me from below, sometimes causing me to resume swinging, other times stopping my swinging altogether. But she wants human contact and I suppose ramming speed is the best way to get it when I'm nose deep in a book and swinging away.

In other news I am thinking of getting a bike which would ease my transport problems around my area and get in a little exercise at the same time. Some time soon I will go check out bike and used bike prices. Just hope I am not my usual lazy self and wind up putting it off until it is no longer worth it.

Fresh Year, Fresh Start

In what I feel is a somewhat appropriate turn of events in my life, immediately following Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, two holidays that stress making a fresh start, I have picked up and moved to a new town in El Salvador. Most everything in my life is all upside down right now. My house is similar in size to my last one, but not as nice. I finally have water 24 hours a day, but there is no light in the bathroom and I don't think I can drink it this time around. I'm paying more for my house, but the backyard is shared and I don't really have a place to let my dog run around except on my poorly fenced in porch. In addition I don't have a backyard where she can do her stuff, so that means at least a short walk every time I come home and her constantly hanging out at the door for one reason or another. The people are friendly enough, but I am dealing with a bit of the opportunistic trying to take advantage of the new "gringo" in town.

So far though I am happy I pulled the trigger and got myself to a new town. I have been given a chance to start over that most volunteers never get and I am hoping to take full advantage of it. I am hoping to identify all those things that I did which contributed to the failures in my previous site and do whatever I can to prevent them. Already I am happy to be living so close to my counterparts. Last night I had a pleasant talk with the new mayor while walking home, something that never would have happened before because the mayor didn't live in town and furthermore, he seemed rather indifferent to me from the first day. The school has a good amount of computers, so I had a meeting to check them out this morning and see what sort of state they are in and what programs are on them. I hope to get a few more good learning programs on them and possibly shake up how they are teaching computer use a bit. In addition I would love to get internet in there.

Meanwhile I am exploring Santa Ana, the closest city, for the first time today accompanied by a few of my Volunteer friends.

I would love to write everything on my mind with regards to the time of the year and the move, but I don't know that people want to read a post loaded down with theology or that I have the cash to pay for the time that would require at the internet cafe. Suffice to say it feels good and I wanted to share.

I missed it before, but L'Shana Tova. And for today, I hope everyone has an easy fast. I'll be staying with my Peace Corps country director for Yom Kippur and attending the Temple in San Salvador.

Check out the photos I just uploaded of Engineers without Borders that came to my area and stayed at my house. Just click the Webshots gallery link on the right. -->

Night By Candlelight

So I am sure we have all been caught in power outtages before, they happen right? Well I got caught in a pretty long one, from just before 6 p.m. to around 11.

First and foremost I want to stress that cooking by candlelight is not an easy task. I had started to cook just before the sun was going down, chopping vegetables and whatnot. As it got dark I moved on to carrots, right then it started to rain fairly hard. Just as I was peeling the carrot with my rediculously sharp American knife, the power went out. So for the record, attempting to peel a carrot without any light and with a very small, very sharp knife is most likely a very bad idea. I was simply too lazy to go get my candle, expecting the power to come back on any minute. I mean usually the power goes out for 5 minutes max. Well I was wrong and I had to give up the good fight against the carrot and give in to the candle and my head lamp. Some boiling pasta and a simmering sauce later I realized that my head lamp needed new batteries and I most likely could not get them in the pouring rain and pitch black outside, if a tienda were even open.

So I sat back to enjoy my sorta cajun, sorta seafood pasta by the meager light of a candle and I sat thinking about what I would do for the night. There really ins't much to do with the power out, as you can guess, so I settled for just eating my pasta in the by candlelight, wondering why that passes for romantic.

Once the reality actually set in that the power wasn't coming back on any time soon, I busted out my lame little headlamp and decided to read until the batteries gave out, which lasted about until 9 p.m. By then the only things left in my house with power were my iPod and my computer, so I settled in my hammock and put on some tunes, reflecting on exactly why many Salvadorans get up so early. Not that I never thought of it before, but it became painfully clear that they get up early not to work early, but because they go to bed so early. After six it is pitch black, and lots of Salvadorans either don't have electricity, or never got accustomed to using it to stay up late. It is only the young kids and the drunkards that are ever out past 8 or 9 in my town anyway, that is why I am almost always back in my house by then.

So feeling well adjusted, but not exactly exhausted, I leaned over and blew out the candle a little earlier than I had planned. It was a relaxing evening, interupted only by the blast of the lights I forgot to turn off waking me up.

Now I am desperately awaiting any sort of contact from an Engineers Without Borders chapter because I need to arrange them housing and food, but I lost the dates and I know it is coming up. Additionally, I have no idea if I will be able to be around during those days or not because of the High Holidays and other administrative concerns. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they told me the 17th, I don't know why that date sticks out in my head, but it does. Also the 12th sticks out, but I am hoping it is only because it is both Rosh Hashana and Rebecca's birthday.

P.S. I put up some new stuff at DeviantArt

Opening Day

Every now and again we all get the chance to take part in a "cultural experience". I'm not talking about the Cultural Experience stuff like Fiestas that everyone recognizes as part of the culture and something to take part in, I'm talking about the everyday sort of stuff that nobody would ever know is different or special until you stop and explain it to them.

Not to long ago in Cara Sucia a new supermarket opened and I had the opportunity to be there for it's grand opening. Things were a bit crazy. I mean Car Sucia always has street vendors, but they were crowded outside the Despensa Familiar with unusual concentration and selling fewer products than usual. It was rather noisy, but I couldn't really see what was going on because of the crowd and all the vendors. I sort of pushed my way through and into the parking lot. It was then that I noticed that there two DJ's in the parking lot, along with a moon bounce and several little stands to sign people up for cell phones and whatnot. I forged on ahead and moved inside. Indoors I found another DJ in hte bag check area, where I gave over my bag in exchange for a locker key and a hand basket. I made my way through the free Salva Cola gauntlet and finally I was inside and ready to shop.

I first made my way to the bread, hoping to snag my whole wheat bread at a better price than usual. That wasn´'t happening, my way was blocked by a crowd of youngsters hoping to get a hold of some balloon animals that the Bimbo (bread company) reps were making. So I decided to move on and found my way to soups, where for all the hub-bub they only had one variety. Ok, so that was excuseable, salvadorans pretty much only eat one variety anyway. Over to the snacks now, I picked out a few I liked. I couldn't just add them to my basket though, the friendly woman had to put a labeled bag on each individual snack item to emphasize the fact that I had chosen Diana brand snack products. Finally after similar experiences in each and every aisle I decided it was time to bail. I paid, recovered my bag and got out.

In the parking lot I stopped to reflect that the old market was far better: less crowded, more variety, similar prices, and no DJ's, clowns, balloon animals, moon bounces, give aways or other distractions that really just masked the lack of products. De Todo, you will remain my market for as long as it takes.

Local Beer

It has been a tradition for me to get around to new places and try a local Beer when I am there. I just added another beer to that list. I have now had Salvavida in Honduras. It is one of their big national brands and reminds of Coors for the most part. A little bitter, not too dark and smooth enough to drink a few if you want. Nothing great though.

Honduras was pretty, at least Roatan was. It reminded more of the Carribbean than Central America because the island is home mostly to African Americans left there as a result of the slave trade generations ago, and that they speak both english and spanish natively. The beach where I was was gorgeous, soft white sand and crystal clear water that I just couldn't make cloudy by kicking up sand. I only spent a few days, but I would have spent more if I could have. It had jungle tours to try, good snorkeling, better diving, decent hotels, a cool little town at West End and all sorts of Dolphin encounters available. I think there are other places with some ofthe same sort of stuff or better, but I don't know if they have it all. I doubt I'll be back soon, but I do recommend it.

I also had the pleasure of helping to welcome a new group of Volunteers into the country and look forward to working with them. There are a number in my region and it should be interesting to be the "old" Muni group now.

New Photos

More than anything else I just wanted to draw your attention that there are new photos in my webshots gallery.

Done!

It has been a long time coming but the 3 Day Youth Camp that we were planning is finally over and I took a full day and a half to relax and just sit around in my house and feel tired. I am really glad its over, but mostly because I was getting tired of all the planning and moving of dates. It was exhausting, but worth it. I don't know that I'll being doing anything similar again during my service, but it was very rewarding to see the kids enjoying themselves and to see that they were sad to go home and leave their new friends. In spite of still being exhausted I think the camp was a bit of a pick me up because I have had the 1 year blues so to speak. Things just weren't going my way and I have not been super excited about work, but the camp gave me a bit of a recharge with regards to success and my community members.

After all this I have found a bit of new respect for my camp counselors over the years. Being the nominal "adult" in the boys cabin was a bit of a restless experience. The first night they wouldn't be quiet and I gently tried to quiet them down, but I let them have a little fun knowing that they don't get out much and that this was something special. Needless to say I didn't really sleep at all with the noise and the occasional drip from the roof on my leg or neck. The second night I did some fun hammering though because we needed to get up early and I needed my sleep after a second long day. Fun Hammering is one of the least fun activities I have had the misfortune to be a part of. I just don't enjoy telling others that they can't do what they want to do.

I have tons of photos of all the madness/work that was the Camp, but my new found internet situation means I need to pick and choose what I upload and also that I have to remember to bring it on my USB drive to the internet cafe. Today I did not remember.

That Sound

I meant to post this yesterday as part of my post, and thereby make it a little more upbeat and fun, but I needed to go and do other things. Now today I am waiting around in Sonsonate and figured internet is a good use of my cash. Anyway...

So for while there was this animal in my yard that would make the craziest squakish sound, enough to startle me at first then make me laugh as I got used to it. I'd call it something along the lines of a demented toucan in terms of sound. Well this animal mostly made the sound in response to other loud noises at night, especially if I was calling my dog or coughing.

At first I was simply content to do my best demented nocturnal toucan to try to sucket the little guy into making the sound so I could laugh at it while I brushed my teeth. With time amusement turned into curiosity and I started to wonder where it was hiding and what it was. Of course my first thought was that it was a bird because of the sound it was making. Plus time after time the noise came from the tree behind my pila. However, try as I might to target the little bugger with my headlamp, it always managed to stay hidden while blasted me with high volume screeches.

I had all but given up the game and decided that I would just have to live not knowing what or where the mystery sound maker was. Then just a few nights ago while sick and barely dragging myself out to brush my teeth and blow my nose I saw my pila frog sitting at his usual spot and looking rather content. Then Mr. Pila inflated his neck and did his best crazy toucan impression. At first I couldn't believe my eyes or ears. No frog in the history of me has ever made that sound before, certainly not with me right in front of it. Then I began to feel stupid for never having suspected the pila frog as the noise offender. He always seemed so calm and happy sitting on my pila waiting for a good swim. Slowly those thoughts began to give way to disappointment that I no longer have the mystery to keep me entertained at night. I just have to hope the pila frog sticks around and continues answering my calls.

People want to know what I have been up to and eventhough I try to update whenever something cool happens, it seems not much cool stuff is happening. After working in the capital for that week a while back my work slowed down in my site to almost a grinding halt.

When I got back to my place I went over to talk to my buddy Rudy who is the security guard at the City Hall and I was told that the plan to finally move most of the people in the City Hall to a second location in Cara Sucia was finally going through. I was a bit confused as to what that means for me and my work, but Over the course of working by myself most of the week and only stopping in occasionally I found that the City Hall has been mostly gutted and of the 45 people that were in the building, only about 6 remain there now. They also took out the wireless internet, so I'll be paying for internet from here on out it seems and won't be able to use my computer for it.

Then I hosted a trainee for their Immersion Days activity, which is basically when a trainee stays in a rural community set up by a Volunteer for 2 nights, then stays with the Volunteer to discuss the actity for one night. It went alright and the trainee enjoyed himself, but it didn´t go how I wanted, which nothing here ever does. Basically the lady he was supposed to stay with dished him off to another man to sleep and a different lady altogether to eat and had nothing to do with him. Like I said it was fine, at least she was responsible enough to make other arrangements, which I am thankful for.

After all that I took the trainee back to the Capital for a 4th of July celebration and soccer tournament thrown at the Sheraton. My reservations got all screwed up and I had to call my Mom to get them squared away, but luckily we got things worked out and it turned out to be free (or I hope so, gotta keep an eye on my credit card statement.) My team (Municipal Development) almost won the soccer tournament. It ended in a high stress shoot out and eventhough our goalie blocked two shots, we missed enough to lose after 7 shots. I didn´t spend much time at the actual 4th of July bash for some reason, but we all went out afterwards.

I wound up getting sick though and I have spent the last two days mostly holed up in my house trying not to cough or sneeze on every square inch of tile that my house is made of. I think Kaya believes I am dying.

Almost Famous

I said it might happen earlier, but today I was in La Prensa Grafica which is a local newspaper as part of an insert for SalvaNatura. So my press debut has happened in El Salvador and I think I may have a future in eco-tourism modeling and Angie agrees with me. In reality it never mentions my name or that of Peace Corps, but I'm in pictures all the same. Several other volunteers have already mentioned that they saw me in the paper. I tried to get my hands on a few copies for posterity sake, but so far I have only gotten one copy. I will try to buy more on my way back tonight.

As stated in the last post, one year in country has come and gone, so quite a few of the volunteers from my group met up and celebrated at playa El Tunco (The Pig) which is named after a rock which bares no resemblance to its name's sake. It had all the hall marks of a classic beach bash; friends, alcohol, playing in the waves, creeping girls out with mustaches, sunburns, non-potable water, basically the works. Seriously though, I had a good time mostly because I got to sit back and hang out with lots of people I talk to often, but see very seldom. Mostly I played Euchre, my new favorite card game, which I only get to play in large groups of volunteers. A very Salvo thing happened when I got there, my sandals broke within two hours of arriving, and before most people were around, so I spent the entire weekend walking around barefoot. I did this because, like I said my sandals broke, but I also happened to have left my shoes at the hostal in San Sal. So I made like the locals and walked around sans footwear, which amused the other volunteers. Then on the way back a large truck managed to spill corn on the highway and a scene that could only happen in El Salvador ensued. The other cars pulled over, but not to help out or for any other humanitarian reason, but to stop and collect some free corn for themselves. At first it was a bit of a "whoa, what is going on?" moment, but we saw it for what it was after a few seconds.

Now I am crashing in San Sal for the rest of the week helping my program director get started on a documentary for our Municipal Developement program. It is a good effort and more reason for me to play with computers. The only downside is that the revolving door of volunteers makes it so I have nobody to hang out with on a regular basis.

A Whole Year

As Matt Ladd so pleasantly reminded me, today marks 365 fateful days since I departed that magical place known as the USA. Add two if you want the number of days since I left home with nothing but two bags packed with hopes and dreams or rather clothes and bug spray.

As I sit here eating a bag of chopped mango drenched in hot sauce and salt an reading online manuals for MySQL, PHP and CSS I am struck by how much of my life hasn't changed, but so much has. What makes me Me is still all there and persisting no matter what surroundings I find myself in. You just can't seem to tear me away from computers and projects that involve them. So I find I am researching the possibility of implementing a database system to track the actions of a team of social promoters here, which would serve to modernize the Alcaldía and better understand the work the promoters are doing. Another project entirely, but somewhat related is the possibility of putting up a website for my municipality. (A schoolboy type dream has me designing the site, then asking them if they would like to host the database online so anyone could see what the promoters are doing.) So yeah, same old me, chugging away at learning new things on a computer, but this time it has real world applications.

Meantime everything else around me is different. I don't think I ever would have had mango as a mid-morning snack in the USA. Not that I didn't like mangos before, but they sort of seemed like a luxury before and were only available for a short time. Not to mention I bought my mango from a lady who walks around with a basket of fruit on her head and sells all manner of local fruits for a quarter. I wouldn't have tolerated my current living situation in the USA, but it has made for a fairly comfortable and regular existence for me here. I mean my backyard isn't fully enclosed, I can see the Police next door (and in turn they can see me) when I walk to my shower or bathroom or am out washing clothes. At first I was sure to be fully dressed, but I have given up caring. My landlord also makes use of my backyard for a sort of rotating storage area of his materials and for growing of whatever he sees fit, plus there are always workers coming and going, so the doors stay open. Really it doesn't get to me except occasionally when they use up all my toilet paper or soap, and the small fact that I can't just let my dog run around my yard ever. But occasionally if I am in a rush and leave my dishes out, I come back to a pile of clean and stacked stuff, so it has its perks. Plus I don't really have to clean up after my dog, since one of the workers always seems to do that. I mean Kaya always goes to the same place, so its not hard, but its nice have it done for you.

What do I miss and what don't I miss? Well I miss driving for sure. I could use a hot shower now and then. Strangely I could really use a Nacho Cheese Chalupa from Taco Bell. I am completely wanting for Thai food. A couch or some other large, comfortable place to relax would be a welcome change from plastic chairs. And a washer and dryer would be a godsend based on the endlessly growing pile of dirty, sweaty clothes. But I am glad to be away from the mad dash that is commuting and working (not that I was really doing either) in at least LA. I could be fine if I never saw another Starbucks. I am still glad I am not in school I enjoy being one of the tallest people around. I am enjoying not being surrounded on all sides by suburban sprawl. I didn't watch too much television as it was, but I am glad to only get a glimpse of it occasionally.

All in all it has been a long haul so far, but I don't regret it. Certainly I am looking forward to the day I can say I am a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, but mostly for the experience of redefining myself in the US and not really to rush out of here.

What Happened?

For those that are interested in what transpired in my meeting with my counterparts and my program director, things worked out alright I think. As far as I can tell they were a bit concerned that I am not doing as much of the kind of work they were expecting coupled with the fact that the rumor mill has been working over time in my area and somehow they go word that I have been saying less than flattering things about the local government. My response was basically to ignore the complaints about my work and just present some ideas I had already had. With regards to the rumors, I just assured them that I am not supposed to enter into politics and that I think they were just that, rumors. I also assured them that I would be a little more conscious of what I said and who I said it to. My program director thinks I handled the situation well and thinks things will work out just fine. I have my fingers crossed.

The rainy season has officially begun and so has my task of sweeping my house every hour or so. This may sound strange because nobody in the US thinks of it, but I have to sweep water out of my house. Yes, you read that correctly, SWEEPING WATER. Basically my roof leaks during heavy rains making a mini lake by my front door and window. There is just too much water to soak up with a towel and quite frankly if I tried that it would never dry. So I sweep the water out under the space under my doors. You would be surprised how well this actually works.

Yesterday in and of itself was a strange adventure. It all started early in the morning with my friend Erin getting a call from one of her counterparts asking if she could round up a few Peace Corps friends to bring into El Imposible for some sort of event for SalvaNatura, the NGO that runs the park. I agreed to tag along and it turns out it was a hike to some pretty spots in the park for a photo shoot which will eventually be used for an insert about SalvaNatura in one of the newspapers here. It was a nice hike and all but I felt super awkward. They had insisted on Peace Corps volunteers because they wanted white "tourists" for their photos. So I spent the day feeling a little self conscious and posing for really strange photos. Maybe I'll be famous, we'll see. If I can get my hands on some of the inserts and I'm in it I will try to send some copies out to people.

The Great Debate

I'm referring to Coke vs. Pepsi. And while I find I am a Pepsi man in the US, here in El Sal I have converted to a Coke man. I am not leaving my old favorite out in the cold for no reason, I find the formulas here are different and the flavors are screwy primarily from the use of sugar instead of corn syrup. So while in the US Coke is too fizzy and sorta coats your mouth with a corn syrupy cinnamon flavor (which I don't like), it doesn't do that here. On the contrary Pepsi here is too fizzy for me.

More than just the Pepsi/Coke issue though, I have been a little struck lately by the dynamic between the reality of Peace Corps work and what my City Hall and the people there seem to expect of me. They seem to think I have done next to nothing in my time here, which isn't entirely incorrect, I don't do as much with them as I originally thought I would. However somehow I think they have taken this to mean that I am not doing anything at all. Oh if that were only true and I was just relaxing. And so I have had to deal with a series of calls to my supervisor and the nail biting experience of waiting for a big meeting with my boss, my counterpart and my mayor in which I need to reinvent myself so to speak and present old ideas in a fresh way. Plus I need to find a way to ask them to be more open with me without criticizing or offending them. I'm trying to relax about it, but it sorta stays in the back of my mind.

Mean time I checked out a possible project today and I'm ready to present to others and start work on them. So as I get close to my second year things are starting to look busy and I'm feeling the pressure to succeed from my office.

Dress Me Up In Stitches

She's doing fine, but photos seemed in order.



I feel like I should rename my blog so it has more to do with Kaya. That seems to be most of what I talk about.

I am working on getting a 3 day camp together for the beginning of June, which is approaching very quickly. It will cover self esteem, gender, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS/HIV, reproductive biology and family planning. Those are all big topics that I think get glossed over in schools here. I am specifically working on a condom activity, a few gender activities and an activity where they burn phrases including the words "I can't ...". Plus I am soliciting transport from the alcaldia since I am the Municipal Developement volunteer.

Also I have become a bit of an unofficial go to person to translate visa applications. I mean several people here speak English, but somehow I am the guy. Thats ok, at least I feel like I am contributing to the legal process rather than illegal immigration. If promoting that means being their visa translating bitch, so be it.

Big Things

Ok not really any big things, I lied. Things have been relatively quiet here as usual, but with a little less for me to do recently in terms of work so I've been enjoying a little bit of exploration and whatnot.

Two weeks ago a new group of volunteers swore in so on a Thursday I headed to the capital to meet some of them and join them to party in their honor. That was fun as the swearing in party usually is, but this time it was a bit smaller, which is fine by me because I am not one for huge dance clubs and so much noise I can't think. I prefer a pub or dive bar any day. The following night I stayed in the capital because on Saturday there was a Peace Corps soccer game. Friday I think wound up being more fun than Thursday because we stopped at Happy Hour at the Intercontinental for 2 for 1 margaritas and a free Nacho Bar. The occasion was to say goodbye to the 2005 Rural Health volunteers who are leaving as of now. We also went to a second bar where the Peace Corps crowd was a decent size and I had a good time hanging out with volunteers I don't usually get to see.

The soccer game was a bit more eventful than usual, owing in part to the strange start it had due to the previous evening's debauchery on the part of several volunteers and the difficulty in getting an early start. One or two volunteers never got over the previous evening's alcohol and decided a little hair o' the dog was in order, but that just led to further drunkenness on the field. On top of all of our other minor issues, it was stiflingly hot and humid. I thought I would honestly pass out the first half. The second half we decided to play skins and for some reason this had a huge effect on our game and we actually scored a few goals. I still thoroughly enjoyed myself even with all the set backs in the game and the blisters on my feet.'

This last weekend the Alcaldia was closed Monday and Tuesday, so at the suggestion of a few volunteers in the area we set up a hike for Sunday that would take us into El Imposible, over the peak in the park and out into Tacuba, the pueblo to our north. I have no idea the distance we hiked, but it took us a little over 6 hours and at least 4 of them were spent hiking uphill. The hike was absolutely gorgeous and I wish we had spent a tad bit more time just relaxing and looking, but we wanted to get into Tacuba at a reasonable hour and relax some. On the way we saw the bridge that is actually named El Imposible and gives the park its name. The view from there is pretty spectacular and on either side there is a pretty severe drop. It was a little overcast so we couldn't see as well as I had hoped, but people say you can see the ocean, Guatemala and the city of Ahuachapan from the bridge. We continued on to the peak where there is a community called Naranjitos in which a new volunteer got assigned. We stopped for a few to meet him and relax. After as steep descent we came upon Tacuba where we lunched upon ice cream and soda and then had some time for showers and hammocks at our hostel. We spent the night in Tacuba playing some cards and having a few well earned beers before heading back by bus on Monday which took us about 4 hours in total. I am glad we did the hike and I am surprised that I'm not actually sore after all that. I plan to try this hike again at some point, hopefully when the ground isn't as muddy.

Tomorrow I am taking my dog to the Capital to have her spayed since she is already 6 months old and I don't want any male dogs coming a suiting. I am taking her so far because of a horror story with another volunteer in my area and her dog which almost died as a result of a less than professional job if you ask me. So its nothing but the best and most difficult for Kaya. I'll let you all know how it goes.

54 and counting

EDIT: 55
Thats how many books I've read since I've been in El Salvador. Actually probably tonight or tomorrow that will be 55. As you can tell I am a reading junkie, its how I pass time here. And we aren't talking little dinky books here, some of them are pretty substantial like The Fountainhead and The Count of Monte Cristo, while others are the 6 Harry Potter books. Still I feel like I'm at least expanding my mind in my down time and it keeps me busy.

As for my trip to LA I'll sum it up that no matter how long I spend in the US, it seems to fly by. The result of being there is that LA will always be familiar to me and it will always hold a place in my heart as where I grew up, but for now I felt just a little out of place there. Its the feeling when some place is no longer exactly home. I felt like I was driving around a ghost town or something, so many places hold memories, but the people connected to them are no longer there, or are some other place in LA. I used to get that feeling a little bit back in college, but often enough some of my friends were around, so the feeling wasn't so complete.

In term of my cultural reaction to being in LA, I wouldn't call it reverse culture shock, but it puts things in stark contrast. There are things that being in the US we take as the base level of necessity which very much aren't. Things we have learned to take for granted which I never want to take for granted again in my life. Things like constantly running water, let alone hot water. Or trash service. I want to remind myself in the future that I had lived without, and it really wasn't so bad. Being back here I like it, but the US has made me lazy. I can't seem to bring myself to hand wash anything for the time being having been so close to washing machines and dish washers for a short while. I'm sure that rugged defiance will fall apart in the next day or two as I run out of passable clothing and need to cook again.

After every small trip back to see my friends and family it puts the cultural and economic differences into stark contrast. During training we all say we experiences culture shock, but I really feel we were eased into it what with the first few days in a hotel, living with a family, the training center, other trainees and whatnot. By the time I was completely immersed in and participating in the life here I was pleasantly becoming unaware of exactly how different it really was because my sense of comparison was fading. Now that I can jet straight back to my community and my life here I am allowed a better comparison that I hope never to forget and I think I would be hard pressed to put into understandable words except with lots of time and lots of pages. I don't know I'll ever have that urge.

Minutia

Well one of the things I wanted to accomplish on a personal level while on this crazy escapade called Peace Corps was get myself back in to drawing, both with pencil and paper and on the computer. I have made big steps in that direction and gotten back to my DeviantArt Gallery which is also now in the links section on the right side of this page. It features some old digital art and some more recent stuff. Beware that most of the pencil and paper stuff looks pretty lousy on there because I have to photograph it rather than scan it, so the contrast if off as well as the color.


Cambia La Vida by ~if0rg0t2remember on deviantART
That is my most recent digital piece. Anyway, check out the gallery if you like and let me know what you think.

Also due to my Stateside visit at the end of this month I'm a little scatter brained to wrap up some work here before I run off for a while.

I'm also all confused about what to do about music. My iPod got stolen on a bus and since its HD is as big as my computer's I hadn't backed up most of my music, that means I will have to try to reconstruct my music library very quickly while home and make a fast choice about whether to get another iPod or some other player. It also means that instead of trying to a newer, more reliable digital camera I will have to go for a music player since I can live with an old digicam, but I can't live without portable music.

Kaya is good and I can already see myself missing her and feeling guilty for leaving her behind. I'll have to bring her back something to win her love back after she forgets about me.

March and April are the hottest months here, so I'm sweating up a storm. This is made more maddening by the 2 or so hours a day that I actually get water at my house, so I have to make sure to fill my pilas and take showers whenever I can if I don't want to bucket bathe. A fridge full of cold water helps a bunch. Also I've been going to a waterfall recently thats about 45 minutes from my house to cool down when other volunteers hang out. Its fun and I take Kaya. I jump off the waterfall and try to teach Kaya to swim, which she doesn't seem to want to do. I'll get some photos of the waterfall up pretty soon.

Easier Than Expected

Ok, we all know El Salvador is a poor country. The average person here makes less than $5 per day and the magic thing they seem to want from us Peace Corps volunteers is some way of bringing them free money for projects. With that being said I had assumed that soliciting any Salvadoran entity, shop, person or otherwise, for a little cash to do a project would be difficult. I was ever so wrong.

The other volunteers in my area and myself are planning a 3 day camp for teenagers to teach them about HIV/AIDS, family planning, STDs and other related topics. We are writing a grant to get the majority of our funding, but it requires at least a 25% community contribution in money or in kind. We were struggling to get the in kind contribution up to a reasonable level and concluded that soliciting a little cash from high profile local stores, especially pharmacies, would get us a little more wiggle room, but we weren't expecting much. In a little under 2 hours we raised nearly $100 dollars and managed to have the manager of the local supermarket promise to solicit donations from his distributors on our account to get us free food for refreshments. Honestly most places that had an owner present easily handed over a few dollars with only the promise of putting their name on a small sign indicating our donors.

Color me surprised and I'd like to say that yesterday was one of the most fulfilling and productive days of my Peace Corps service. I doubt I will have as many pleasantly surprising days like that in my time here, but that one will keep me going for a while.

No News

I've been running around a lot lately, mostly to Cara Sucia and other volunteer's sites right around me to work on workshops I have been planning for various things. It is keeping me scatterbrained and adding a sense of being busy an rushing around. Its not so bad though, at least its a change of pace from sitting around and feeling like I live in a sleepy little town. I'm still finding time for stuff like reading, possibly to the exclusion of things like laundry.

I think the time has finally come to break down and pay someone to wash up a bunch of my stuff just so I can get it back down to a manageable level. My pile of laundry has been steadily growing and I have been cutting into it little by little, but I have basically wound up washing my favorite articles of clothing over and over again and my less favorite things sit in my hamper because I just don't feel like doing hours of laundry except on weekends, but I've been using my weekends lately.

I've also gotta get things all together because my parents finally got their way and I am going back to the states for a bit at the end of this month. What that really means is officially filing for vacation time, figuring out who will watch my dog and when and making a list of what I am taking to the states and what I will be bringing back. I want to pack light if I can, thats just how I travel. I am looking forward to sleeping in my old bed for a change and seeing some friends though. Most of all I am looking forward to driving my car. It has been 9 months since I've driven anything, let alone my car, and lets face it I like driving.

The Other 6 Months

I know I already had a post titled 6 Months, but this one is actually more meaningful, though the other one seemed really cool and important at the time. This time I have actually been in my site, that means actually working in my community for 6 months. Which also means that I am 1/4 done with my Peace Corps service. Crazy Stuff I know.

On the work side of things my Municipio has become the first in the country to create a municipal secretariat of women's affairs. I will be doing some behind the scenes work for this movement since the three people in charge of it want some assistance in designing a schedule and looking for groups to provide the trainings and workshops they hope to bring to our area. I have several ideas, but I will need to see some of the diagnostics that were done at the first meeting before really getting my feet wet.



It is all very exciting, but as a man it is hard to be completely on the inside of this thing. It is also hard to be publicly proud about this seeing as how El Salvador works, but I'm behind it and secretly proud.

Time still seems to be cruising by at an insanely fast pace, especially since I got Kaya. I just realised it has been over a month since I got her and a sudden change of scenery yesterday made me realize how big she has gotten. Photos can't seem to capture the change as I examined them as closely as I could, but at least I can't see it. Maybe someone else can. I updated photos of her in my gallery as well as some stuff of my community. Click my webshots link on the right if you haven't for a while.

You Can't Go Back

Just to mix it up and not combine seperate thoughts, this is a completely different post.

For some time now I've been having little day dreams and very vivid actual dreams of Meadow Oaks Camp. Yeah yeah, I know that was like forever ago, but the kicker is I am 100% sure it is some sort of mental trigger for the delights of my childhood. I mean I have these very vivid sort of daydreams and whatnot of places and things that used to happen there, specifically the camp part not the school, which I have all but forgotten about.

I often dream I am paddling a boat around on Secret Lake and Greg (the counselor) is rushing up to turn on the sprinkler under the bridge to soak me before I go through. Or perhaps I am imagining swinging on the rope swing and splashing into Secret Lake, which few people used to do because there were rumors it was full of sewage water. I felt in on some secret as a school goer because I used to see it filled with fresh water near the end of the school year and know they cleaned it, although it acted as a bus parking lot a good portion of the time.

Secret Lake was the site of my first meeting with long time school companion Geoff Plitt and the site of my permanent image of him. He was a chubby kid in my group, a little older than me, wearing a Home Depot painting hat with pride and basically flaunting the dork he would become. He always wore who he was with pride, and I look back on it remembering how torn I was over that hat. I hated it, but secretly I liked it and I wanted into the dork club. Well I got in eventually.

I also vividly remember nearly every turn of the water slide, climbing up, sliding down, the changing rooms, the mysterious ticket booth that sat nearby, and sitting in the shade playing geeky dice games. I was a self proclaimed king of the slide, going down as fast as I was capable and skimming the water in the pool all the way to the steps. Ah good times.

There was the pool, where I used to pretend I couldn't swim. Unless of course I was going down the small slide or jumping off the diving board.

There were the jerks that stole my very first G-Shock watch and used to come to camp with Jack in the Box twisty fries every day.

The Snack Shack and the Slim Jims it sold.

That waft of horse dung as you walked to the lame little horse area. Which also happened to be where I mischievously locked my cousin Daniel in a latrine and shook it trying to tip it over.

Moto and getting my "liscense". In retrospect those undersized quads aren't nearly as cool, but hey, they were close to the mini golf course.

Right, the good ole days. The point is that is all gone now. Its gone, caput, over and done with. Nobody else will ever learn those secrets and have those memories because they are gone, making way for the expansion of Viewpoint School. I went to Viewpoint too, but it wasn't the same, that was school, Meadow Oaks was always more of a camp with long school times thrown in to me. I secretly never wanted that buyout to happen years ago because I knew that it eventually meant Meadow Oaks would slowly disappear. Now I have no place to sneak a peak at those years of my childhood except while daydreaming or sleeping. I didn't think I would get all nostalgic for that sort of stuff, but the years are coming on quickly and staring the rest of your life in the face sometimes does that to you. I mean I've been having these little flights of fancy since before departing for El Sal, but they come more frequently the longer I am gone.

Mostly though I miss Secret Lake and I don't know why.

Dia de Amistad

Happy Valentine's Day, or as they call it here, Dia de Amistad.

I'm not doing anything special, unless you count hanging out with Kaya, maybe doing some laundry and getting some pupusas for dinner something special. I personally wouldn't consider it special because I do most of that every day. So continues another year in a huge streak of having nothing in particular to do for Valentine's day. Every seems to want to be on the other side of whatever they have, meaning if you have nobody you feel like junk and if you have a ball and chain you wish you were single instead of forced into this hokey holiday.

Been a little while since I last posted. With regards to my dog I finally got the supplies my parents sent and everything is working out great. A proper crate is something my dog totally needed and the rest of the supplies give me extra stuff as the dog grows, like a larger collar and a cloth leash as soon as she stops trying to chew on her leash, until then I am using a chain.

Its been a busy time, but not all directly work related. I've been in and out of my site, which makes me sorta scramble around trying to figure out what to do with my dog. I spent two nights in order to go to the monthly soccer game and one night in order to go to a regional conference for all western volunteers. There have also been a rash of meetings for volunteers in my micro-region (four adjacent municipalities with 11 total volunteers). I am happy to be doing a little more group work, but it doesn't seem all that developed other than my area's planning a workshop for adolescents. Hopefully we can get on the same page as a group of volunteers and find a way to use the micro-region to support our projects and bring each other in.

As I stated I am finally working a little more closely with the other volunteers in my immediate vicinity. It is nice because they all live pretty close and I am getting to know where they all live by going to their respective houses for meetings. I also bring my dog along to their places because they don't mind and several of them also have dogs. So its like two meetings at once, we are working and our dogs are meeting. It kind of makes me look forward to when my dog is a little older and I can take her wherever I go outside the Alcaldia.

Speaking of outside the Alcaldia, I finally got my chance to enter El Imposible with some community members. i wanted to take my dog but I was advised against it, and I'm glad I didn't. The hike was a little to long and hard for Kaya to have accomplished at this point. We hiked out to the source of water for our town and I finally have a full understanding of why we only get water for about an hour and a half a day. The system is really rather poor and old. I can't even begin to describe it in a reasonable manner here. I took pictures, but they just seem to highlight the innate beauty of the forest rather than the water system. Still, I am glad I finally got in there and have a better understanding of both the water system and the forest now. I can't wait to get back in there for a purpose other than work. All this of course is because we are trying to find a way to upgrade or replace the current water system. 2 hours of water a day just doesn't cut it, and often times I don't get home at the correct hours to fill my pila up. That means restricted water use for bathing and washing of clothes and such.

I'm also hopeful to start a project with Habitat for Humanity. I don't want to jinx it, but the lady I spoke to seemed interested in trying to get a meeting together with my mayor and see whats up. They are spreading into our region and I think they can provide some support for replacement housing for families that lost their homes in October floods. Personally I like the way Habitat works rather than other NGOs. Families have to work and pay for part of the project with them and I think that adds value to the home and teaches Salvadorans to take matters in their own hands rather than wait for a free project from some crazy rich country. Seems much more sustainable to me and I have made a conscious decision to avoid projects that just hand people stuff with a non-visible money source and a management that isn't of the community.

Walk the Dog

It is amazing how quickly once can settle into a routine. Before I picked up Kaya I never really thought about my comings or goings. My house was where I slept and where I could catch some time alone without people constantly asking me why I don't have a girlfriend and why I don't go out with Alana. (Another Volunteer, surprisingly everyone seems to know her and they all think we should be married by now.) But now my house is that place I have to go to every few hours to take care of my dog. And I can't think about spending more than a few hours away without making special arrangements. My day pretty much goes like this now:

-Get up at 6 or earlier and take the dog out, then feed her and do my thing while she is eating. Take her out again just before leaving.
-Go and do whatever morning work I have, usually meetings in the Alcaldia or Cara Sucia.
-Get back after lunch and let the dog out again. Spend a little more time with her, then head out again.
-Get back around 4, take the dog out and then play with her for a while. Or perhaps take her for a walk and get looked at like a crazy man.
-Make the dog's dinner around 6 and either concurrently make mine or go get some food after she eats. Either way, she eats before me.
-Relax and do my thing at night, but keep a constant watchful eye out for house soiling. Get a few minutes of obedience training in here and there. (She can pretty much sit on command now)

So with all that I am set to try to leave Kaya for about 2.5 days and play some fútbol in the East. I hope she takes it well and I hope she doesn't revert to peeing all over Erin's house while I am gone. I don't really know how she will respond to staying with someone other than me for any period of time, but its gonna happen eventually, so we'll see now.

Work is going pretty well. There are lots of regional type meetings happening so there is plenty of time to interact with other Volunteers right now. My Social Promotion team is going full steam teaching some of the themes I had written and I am tying to search out some other work to do since I neither get invited to each workshop, no do I want to be at all of them. I will attend the ones that are for the communities closest to mine. I seem set to help behind the scenes starting a municipality wide women's movement, which seems like it might be pretty interesting. Of course I won't be able to enjoy the fruits of that or flaunt my involvement, but thats ok.

Anywho, I got bored and shaved my beard into a fu manchu. I get bored with my facial hair easily, and what else can I do with the prohibitive amounts of hair on my face? So I goof around a bit for funsies. Interstingly enough only one comment so far. I would have expected a slightly larger response, especially from all the female volunteers. I guess the stache is so popular here that any variation means I'm a real man.

Kaya

Ok so I talked about it for a while and thought about it even longer and I finally just went for it and got a puppy. She is a 2.5 month old Boxer and I named her Kaya. Obviously you all want pictures, so here you go.



Kaya

I am still figuring things out a bit, so I am temporarily using a stacking cube shelving unit as a substitute crate for training purposes. (Crate training is a humane way to housebreak a dog and keep your house safe from chewing.) She doesn't have any proper toys yet since there isn't exactly a pet store around here and people don't think of dogs the same way we are used to up north. But I am working on it. On the 26th I will head to the capital for other reasons and check out a pet store with my program director while I am there. Erin, the other volunteer in my town, is excited to babysit for me whenever I need to leave for a short time and she has already met Kaya.

Obviously I am super excited and don't want to leave her ever, but she needs to learn that I won't be there all the time. For now she is a little crybaby when I leave, but hopefully that will change with time.

Translate This

So I got into the capital yesterday after a few days spent at another volunteer's site translating for a group of engineering students from CSU working with Engineers Without Borders. Basically it was a good experience and I am glad to have tried it out, and will be heading out this afternoon to try out a different sort of translating, for children.

Basically my translating time was spent with a team of the engineers that were surveying the community so they can properly estimate costs for the water project they are working on. Since there were only two translators, and the other was busy with another task for the engineers I was running back and forth between the people by the surveying viewfinder and the pole. That got interesting in spots where curious community members wanted to know why some houses were having marks put in front and others not, and also when some over-zealous men wanted to flirt a bit with the women engineers who don't speak Spanish. It can be hard to notice exactly when and where you should be to translate, especially when someone is barely within your view. Certainly it can be fun to watch the fireworks as complete chaos ensues due to inability to communicate, at least it can be amusing to the party that actually understands what is going on.

Aside from funny occurrences, translating can be an odd job. It is very difficult to keep yourself out of a conversation and instead simply translate what is being said or asked. One good example is that someone will often ask a question that I know the answer to, and I need to remember to pose the question to the other people instead of simply answering it myself. Plus it is hard to know how much of side conversations to translate, since the natural tendency of people who can speak a different language is to use it as a bit of a cover knowing that the other parties will never know exactly what was said. I do enjoy it though and I want to keep trying to do it as time goes on to see if I can get a little better at translating while people are still talking. I think the need to immediately repeat what was said in a different language could also result in better comprehension.

Happy New year

Let me start by wishing the obvious Happy New Year to the maybe 7 people who read this blog. I missed the opportunity to wish anyone a Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah, but my internet schedule was limited in December.

I had big plans for December, and most of them that were work related wound up falling through. I had planned to run a little workshop for my social promotion team to teach them how to run a meeting better and how to give a more effective informal training, but it got canceled. I had planned for one of the Volunteer Coordinators to come out and help me, but alas, since it was canceled she couldn't come. My plan to teach them some ice breakers went awry and got canceled as well because the meeting that I was to present them in went way overtime and my chance was lost. The city hall closed on the 22nd, so after that there was no working in that capacity. All work I did after that day was either done in the Peace Corps office or shut up in my house on my computer.

As much as work failed I did manage to get along pretty well otherwise. I went to San Sal a few times for meetings for other projects with Peace Corps Volunteers. Also I met up with a work friend of my mother's and spent Christmas Eve and day with them. They took me to a nice beach and to a town that is literally all pupuserias. I managed to eat a few pupusas that stand out in my mind as some of the best I have had, which is hard to do considering the sheer quantity of pupusas I wind up eating.


cslom

I also hung out with some community members who are part of a festivities committee and we went to a waterpark in a different department. I spent the day back and forth hanging out with the kids in the kiddie pools and trying to convince the guys to go down the water slides. Eventually I got some of the guys to go down the big, slow, curvy slide and some of the guys and a few of the kids to go down the slide that used the inner-tubes. There was a third slide, a big red one that had about a thirty foot straight down drop that nobody was going on all day. I figured it couldn't be that bad and so I did it and got a standing ovation by the people in the pool below. I wound up being one of only 3 people to go down that slide all day. I would have gone down it several more times, but I almost lost one of my brand new contact lenses on the first go and that was enough for me not to encore my performance. But now lots of my community members are talking about my trip to the waterpark and especially my love of slides.


cslom

We also had a bit of a holiday party with the social promotion team, complete with secret santa gifts and a home grilled hairless sheep. It was good fun and good bonding. I left just in time for everyone to start drinking, which I am not fond of sticking around for, for various reasons including my inability to understand drunken spanish and my desire not to promote drinking. Either way it was fun and a good chance to bond with the people I work with.

Now I am back in the City Hall and preparing to get back to the grind. This month I plan to get out and try my hand at translating, first for some engineers in a friend's site and second at a children's camp at a gorgeous lake. I have never translated before and I think this will be a good opportunity to see how I do. also this month I will finish up some work with other volunteers getting some charlas together and head out to play a soccer game. All in all I'd say it looks pretty exciting for January.