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.