Christmas Eve Story Time

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas.  I spent mine eating chicken all day and blowing up fireworks at night. Down here Christmas Eve is a bigger deal than Christmas  (I guess they havn´t figured out the whole Santa Claus thing yet).  Anyways I started the 24th with a nice hot soup of gallina india (gallina india is supposed to me more flavorful than regular gallina because it is raised on the farm, opposed to the house).  I was lucky enough to get a piece of the gallina that had some unidentified parts.  I ate it anyways and what a surprise, it tasted like chicken.  I took off for a walk and stopped by the Portillo household for a nice chat and a lunch of chicken, rice, salad, tortillas and potatoe chips with coleslaw.  Took a siesta in the hammock and swooped by the Posada household for some fun with the kids.  We had fruitshakes and played bingo until 5pm.  I then jumped a block to the other Posada household where I thought I became as full as I could.  I ate 2 giant chicken sandwiches some strange fruit and lots of sugary goodies.  We watched the end of some boxing match and I made my way for my last stop at the Escobar household around 7pm.  I enjoyed a dinner identical to my lunch at the Portillo household.

Now, take a mental note of all the chicken I had eaten this day.  This is where the story gets goood!

So I´m powering through this dinner trying to stuff as much food in my mouth to not offend the family, when two teenagers come in to talk to the dad, Ernesto or Netio.  They inform him that their dad took a spill on his bike and they were wondering if Netio could take a look.  Apparently, Netio is some sort of pueblo certified, people trusted Orthopedist.  The man sits down, already looking like he is in a world of hurt.  They take off the blankets wrapped around him to reveal his arm in a sling (I am still eating at this point).  I take a closer look and realize his left clavical is floating about 2.5 inches higher than his right clavical.  Of course Netio already whipped out his magical creme and began to warm his hands.  I´m thinking 9-1-1, Netio is thinking deep tissue massage (I take a break from eating to observe closer).  Netio carefully removes the arm from the sling and begins the deep tissue massage.  Now this si the first time I felt like puking.  Netio begins lifting the man´s arm and performing some active release techniques I´ve only seen in the UC Davis sports physical therapy center.  This man´s face told me he was in a lot of pain, but I gotta give it to him.  He didn´t squeal once.  I told him repeatedly that he has huge juevos and that I really wanted to cry for him.  Netio continued for about 10 minutes.  Pulling, pushing, rubbing, tugging, lifting, and all out playing with this guy´s arm.  At one point Netio called me closer to show me how much he could push this mans collar bone down with it returning to its raised position. This was the second time I had ganas to puke.  I was realling hurting watching this guy cringe in his seat and felt bad that there wasn´t a real doctor within shouting distance.  Finally I asked the man if he could use anything, some water, booze, vicadin, morphine, or a pillow.  He only shook his head no and made the universal vomit sign with his hand.  I took a big step to the side and watched the show.

He broke free from Netio´s grasp and hunched over in his chair.  The first blast of vomit shot his dentures straight out onto the ground.  He continued to vomit on his dentures for a few minutes, until someone snatched them up to clean them off.  Once the man fought off vomitting and the pain, Netio told him it is best he go to the ER.  HaHaHa, I could have told him that without the marathon of pain.  Netio threw the man´s arm into the sling and sent him packing for the ER.  The man thanked us for our help and took off.

We had a great laugh once the guy was out of ear shot.  I guess someone puking out their dentures is funny no matter the language.  Merry Christmas to me.  We spent the next hour throwing fireworks in the street.

More to come after the New Year.
Peace out cub scouts.

Cory

Victory is ours!!!!! We won the JICA vs. Peace Corps soccer game.  I think I will say it was the first time in Peace Corps history.  It was an amazing day at Estadio Cuscatlan.  The stadium was packed (see picture).  We beat the Japanese volunteers 3-2.  It was quite the physical game; the Japanese volunteers were a little pushy on the field.  After the game the JICA volunteers and Peace Corps volunteers had a little get together at the Peace Corps office where we enjoyed nachos, chex mix, soda and fun name games.  I was really impressed with the JICA volunteers´ Spanish.  I think the Peace Corps volunteers have it easier because of all the cognates between English and Spanish.  The JICA volunteers have to learn a brand new alphabet and pronunciation.  It was really fun talking with them and comparing the differences between their assignments here and ours.  The JICA volunteers are assigned to a specific place or institution where the carry out their projects.  Unlike the Peace Corps volunteers that are given a community and a very broad program title.  I met a JICA that worked at the Agricultural University called ENA, another that works with the fishermen in Sonsonate to help them make more profit from their catch, and one that is a Tae Kwon Do teacher at the University.  I am thinking of getting my Japanese citizenship and becoming a JICA volunteer that coaches water polo or maybe a surf team.  Anyways, great experience and can´t wait to beat them next year.

Couldn´t even hear my teammates it was so loud....

Going back in time here, two days before the JICA game I took off on foot with Javier (my counterpart and housemate), his friend from the University, and 5 bichas.  We hiked about two hours into the mountains to a cantone called Ajute (I think that’s how its spelled).  Javier has a bunch of extended family up there with a ton of land.  So we took off at 5am and started the treacherous hike up the mountains.  We arrived at Ajute about the time I would normally be rolling out of bed and were welcomed with a nice breakfast of refried beans and tortillas.  After a long nap in the hammock I was woken up by a little girl trying to swing me to the moon in my hammock.

Devil child that woke me up...

The hike on the way up...

We spent the rest of the day wrestling around and playing dominoes.  It was really fun being a child with a giant group of girls.  They made sure that I felt like one of them, which was quite easy.  They loved to do the same things I do; climb trees, play dominoes, ride horses (not anymore, more info to follow), eat pupusas, star gaze, pull hair, play tag, take pictures, touching my face, and sleeping.  I was exhausted from the early morning hike, but these girls carried me through the day.

Barefootin´ it up the tree...

 Some monkeys I found in the tree...

 Before almost dying...

So more about why I don’t like riding horses anymore.  First of all, I have never ridden a horse before this experience.  I just liked the idea of riding a horse.  The whole cowboy image, I thought it kind of fit me.  So the family had a mule, which is great for the mountains and a lot easier to get on.  I mentioned that I wanted to ride their mule so they brought it out to the field where there was some open space.  I tried to listen carefully to the kids while they sped through the instructions of how to ride.  After a trial run with the mule I thought I had the generally idea of how to steer the beast.  The kids told me to kick it with my legs and give it a nice kissing sound so I repeated instructions and was immediately reminded who is in control.  The mule took off running like a bat out of hell.  It B-lined it for the nearest barb wired fence and right when I thought I was gonna get tossed in a mound of cow shit, the mule halted and stood there like an innocent puppy.  So this is where I almost shat myself.  I casually talked to the beast and told him I wanted to turn around slowly and head back to the kids.  This is where I think things went terribly wrong, I TALKED TO HIM IN ENGLISH!  The beast got super pissed off and headed for the dirt road nearby.  He put it into overdrive and we took off in a beautiful gallop bruising my butt and inner thighs.  The beast must have misinterpreted my English for ¨Hey, why don´t we see how fast you can gallop on the way home¨ because he let it all out on the open road.  My life flashed before my eyes multiple times before we swiftly arrived back at the house.  Meanwhile, where were the kids to whisper sweet nothings into the beast´s ears to slow it down? They were too busy laughing.  I promise you this was not a laughing matter. I was screaming like a niña.  When we arrived at the house I decided to talk to it in Spanish and tell him I was gonna get my ass off of its back now.  It didn’t like my gringo accent either because it continued to hammer the gate to the house with its head or would not relax a second to let me down.  Finally the children came to my rescue and fork lifted me off the beast.  That was a thrilling experience and now it is clear that I don´t like riding anything that looks like a horse, only the idea of being a cowboy.  The day ended with some star gazing in the campo.  The next morning I had to make my way back down the mountain to catch a bus at 7am in order to make it to the capital.  What a trip.

Hanging out under the stars...

Chokehold...

Things are moving rapidly here in La Reina, the navidad is right around the corner.  It is going to be a little different not having Christmas with the family, but everyone know that I am thinking of you.

Love you all,

Cory

High point before the new year

Things are starting to get real lively around the pueblo.  Every house has their own nacimiento or birth of baby jesus.  Every street corner is littered with lights, the park is filled with giant presents and santa claus.  My host mom demanded that I fabricate a market and a small pueblo out of cardboard boxes for her own nacimiento.  Apparently the people include a police station, mariachi band, a excursion bus and even toy convertible cars.  They think of everything here.  The fireworks haven’t been too bad recently, a couple here and there but apparently it is supposed to be a war zone come the 24^th.  I will be spending the navidad in my pueblo but deciding to take the new year to myself on the beach.

I may have scared some people with the last posts, but really amazing things do happen in this country.  There is more than getting robbed and seeing dead bodies.  I had two amazing trips with some of the most talented and determined youth in the country.

It started with a WYD camp in Suchitoto, Cuscátlan.  For those of you that don´t know about WYD, it is a volunteer selected committee that raises money to give high school and college scholarships to kids in El Salvador.  The emphasis of WYD is for volunteers to become mentors to the kids that they apply for scholarships.  So not only are these kids receiving an education beyond what would normally be feasible, they also have a positive role model in their life that takes an interest in their studies and their life in general.  Twice a year we put on camps for the scholar students.  The first camp is more of a technical camp where we give them life skills training, such as preparing for an interview, self-esteem, self-defense, decision making, time management and prioritization.  The second is a reward to all the kids that have completed the school year.

Since I am a new member I was unable to attend the first camp.  But last weekend I attended the second camp where we took them on the lake, to an art gallery, played games, came up with skits, had art classes, went to a waterfall, and had a civil war discussion.  I was very impressed with all the kids.  They are outgoing, intelligent, creative, friendly and respectful.  At the end of the 3 day camp some volunteers that will be finishing their service in the next few months got up and gave the kids a little speech.  Each volunteer that gave a speech either started or ended in tears.  They made it clear that working on the WYD committee and with these kids was by far the most influential part of their service.  After the volunteers, some scholar students got up and gave their thoughts.  Again, tears flowed.  And I can´t lie, I was on the verge of tears.  I almost lost it when one of the kids welcomed Andrew and I into the WYD club and thanked us (even though we haven’t done anything yet).  I left for my site after the camp in deep thought and touched by what I learned from those kids.  I am super excited to be on WYD and to get to know the kids some more in my site.

 Boat ride, scholar student deep in thought...

 Drawing lessons...

 Waterfall, minus water...

 Yesterday I had to wake up at 5am (3 hours before my normal wake up) to head to a Youth Festival.  I went with Don Roberto (Casa de Cultura director), Marina (young activist in the community), and three high school kids that can sing their hearts out.  The festival was set in the department of Cabañas.  Every Casa de Cultura in Chalatenango and Cabañas was invited to bring any youth group to show off their skills.  There was dancing, singing, karate, mambas, bongos, ranchero, folklore dancing, theater, painting, jewelry, and some religious performance.  It was an amazing turnout and I am really glad I got to go.  The kids are really starting to take to me and feel confident joking around with me.


Niño enjoying the mamba music...

 Kids from my pueblo singing, Ceci and Christian...

 Some sort of cultural/religious ceremonial dance...

  On the way back we were in a micro with a theater group from a nearby pueblo.  It was a rowdy bunch of teenagers.  We had joke telling time and when they asked me to tell I joke I insisted I only have jokes in English.  They insisted more that I tell it in English.  I knew where this was going.  So I pulled out the only joke I could think of (all credit to Zanique Albert for the joke):

So, a guy walks into a bar (at this point everyone laughed by I ensured them there was more to the joke). Again, a guy walks into a bar.  He sees a bear sitting down. He takes a seat next to the bear and notices that the bear looked a little sad.  The man says, ¨whats wrong mr. bear?¨  The bear looks at the man and replies, ¨well you see the thing is…………………….I lost my job¨  The man says, ¨whats with the big pause?¨  The bear replies, holding up his paws ¨what? These paws?¨

At this point I knew nobody understood.  The bus got really quit and I told them that they made me do it.  I still received applause, but they didn’t ask me for another joke.  Damn kids.

The micro full of kids...

It was still a great time taking backroads to Chalatenango.  My day ended with playing some street soccer with another family in the neighborhood. 

Good times. Next Saturday is my soccer game in Estadio Cuscátlan against the Japanese volunteers. USA, USA, USA. 

Chompipe, Pavo, Chumpe, Turkey?

This will be a little more uplifting post than the previous one.  

During PST 2 we did some really awesome stuff too.  We learned about so many different projects that we can do in our community and how to write grants, how to do youth camps, stove projects, you name it.

We took a field trip to an awesome waterfall in Ataco, Ahuahcapan.  It was really wide and had a great swimming hole at the bottom. Very refreshing after weeks of sitting in the training center. The monkey that I am, I found a way to climb to a section on the waterfall and throw myself into the swimming hole at the bottom. It was a great opportunity to let loose and blow off some steam. We stayed in this amazing hotel that was settled in the wilderness.  They had these cabins that slept 3-5 people that were all separated with their own private path that winded further into the woods.  Don’t even get me started on the food they had there.  Best food I have had in El Salvador. So fresh and healthy. Green salad with pine nuts!!! Are you kidding me? Endless bread with home made garlic butter.  If anyone visits me, this is where we will stay to relax. 

Secluded bungalows at Jardin de Celeste...

 Water fall, i jumped from right............................................\/ here

After PST 2, the volunteers all had the chance to spend thanksgiving with an Embassy family.  I planned ahead for this one. I met Special Agent Cooke in PST 1 when he briefed us on the security of El Salvador. I knew he was a surfer because he only used surfing terms like ´stoked´ and  ´awesome´.  I befriended him and told him I am going to request his house for turkey day. I ended up going a day early to his house in order to get 2 surf sessions in.  And am so glad I did.  I had the two best surf sessions of my life.  It was another great opportunity to relax and do something I love. 

Thanksgiving was by far the biggest spread of food I have ever had on thanksgiving, and things that I have never had.  We ate around 3pm giving us enough time to take a nap, booze a little, play some poker and have a second thanksgiving feast around 10pm. And I got a leg.  The thanksgiving spread included green bean casserole with crunchy things on top, sweat potato thing with marshmallows on top, giant turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, stuffing cooked in the turkey, sautéed onions from inside the turkey, salad, various dinner rolls, wine, beer, and of course the gravy train.

After the first dinner we hung out and played Wii and wrestled with their kids.  Reminded me of all the good thanksgivings in Carlsbad wrestling around with my cousins (miss you guys).  It was a truly wonderful experience with the Cooke family. And I will definitely be hitting him up next thanksgiving, maybe even Easter, who knows?

Tyler wrestling with the ferocious Jackie (age 6 and she is bilingual)...

 Special Agent Cooke and JB (age 8 and very rowdy)...

 Sunzal, right hand point break to the beach if you make the sections...

So many things happened in the last month, really hard to capture it all in a couple posts, but those were some highs and lows I experienced.  Hopefully now that I am all settled in I can blog regularly and convey my life a little more accurately.  Take care in the states everyone.

Love you all, 

Chusito

I remember my first time...

*Disclaimer* if you have a tendency to worry about my safety and security in El Salvador, do not read on. If you were thinking about visiting me but worried about public security, do not read on. OR just accept that the world is a dangerous place and read all about my exhilarating experience.

The last month of PST 2 was packed full of firsts. First time at a waterfall in El Salvador, first time the departments of Ahuachapan and Sonsonate, first time seeing Yolanda and Loudes after PST 1, first time seeing a dead body, first time surfing in El Salvador, first time getting robbed on a bus. 

Let´s start with the good stuff, and by good stuff I mean really scary stuff.  It was almost the end of PST 2 and we were driving back to San Sal from Sonsonate.  We were in a micro van with about 8 volunteers in my group.  We hit a little bumper to bumper traffic and didn´t think much of it until someone said ¨is that a car crash? Why is someone laying in the road?¨ Right then and there I knew something was a little up. As we approached the body we had to maneuver around it because it was in the middle of the street.  As we all glanced out the window, we immediately all regretted the decision.  What we saw was our first dead body. Cause of death you wonder? Well I can assure you it wasn’t a car crash.  What I saw and what all the other volunteers witnessed was a dude lying in the street with a bullet hole in his head.  Now the part that was a little freaky was that he was still kind of alive as we passed which means that it must have happened within minutes of us arriving.  Freaky.  And the upsetting part was that the body wasn’t covered, there were no cops, no ambulance, in fact, nobody in the streets acted as if there was a dead body lying in the middle of the road.  If you weren’t to see the body you would think that it was some normal traffic and every thing was just gravy in the city we were driving through.

Naturally I was a little shaken up by this encounter, but nothing could compare to my next encounter the following week. 

I was heading out to Chinameca with 3 volunteers for a volunteer basketball game then we were heading to Carnaval that night.  We were about an 1.5 hours into our 2.5 hour bus ride. We just crossed over the Rio Lempa and our bus driver thought it would be a good idea to pick up two guys on the side of the road that had bandanas around their necks.  The two men boarded the bus and took their seats. About 5 minutes later one of them stood up and the cobrador (fare collector for the bus) told him there are seats and he could take a seat.  While this was happening the other guy jumped up (with bandana around his face now) grabbed the cobrador hostage style with a knife up around his neck.  (SIDE NOTE: while this is all happening myself and the other volunteers were chatting up a storm and laughing our heads off.  But I knew something was wrong cause my heart rate jumped through the roof and my body was overcome with a rush of warmth. I really knew something was up when I looked up and saw the other guy with a cowboy hat and a bandana on his face waving a gun in the air.) At this point we went into survival mode. We stuffed our backpacks under the seats, sat on our cell phones and the rest of our money. But as I reached in my pockets to get out some money to give I realized I didn’t have any money in my big pockets, so I had to dig through my tiny pocket where I had $50. As I was scrambling to break a few ones free the guy with the knife and the cobrador were making their way down the bus with a bag collecting from everyone on the bus.  I managed to scramble in time and pull out $1.10 (haha, I am such a cheap ass.) The guy with the knife made one pass holding the cobrador hostage, the guy with the gun stayed at the front waving his gun in the air screaming PISTO (money) Rapido!!!!  After the first pass they made another one for cell phones.  We were not about to give up our cell phones so we sat tight as they passed, but just as they reached our row the guy with the knife motioned at my friends watch and my friend quickly took it off and coughed it up.  After that they pretty much packed up the bag and jumped off the bus.  All in all they were on the bus for about 3 minutes.  I was expecting to be robbed at some point during my two years. I was starting to feel too comfortable on the buses and I think it was a good reality check and reminder that the country I live in is dangerous and preparation is always needed in order to avoid being a deer in the headlights.

Día de los Muertos

Buenos Días Tod@s

I made my way to the cemetary yesterday to check out the dead person scene in La Reina.  The cemetary is jam packed. I couldn´t walk around without walking over tombs or childrens graves.  It was really erie.  My host mom made a point to hide and come running and screaming at me at one point.  She is lucky I didn´t karate chop her.  Because the actual day celebrated is Wednesday and I went Friday I didn´t get the full experience of all the living people putting flowers on the graves.  But to my defense it was the day after my trip to the campo and I could barely move in the morning. Anyways, here are some of my favorite pics from the graveyard.

I had to climb on top of a double decker tomb to get this pic...

 Larger tomb with no flowers...

 The empty spots are waiting for bodies, but below the dirt there is probably 1 or 2 more tombs...

 Empty spot, taking reservations now...

Flower Power...

I am still alive down here!! Send me some letters.  and Happy Thanksgiving if i Dont get another post in.

Chusitooooo

Last two weeks fast forward

It has a been a jam packed week since my asamblea general.  I have been doing all sorts of great stuff. Milking cows, working in the campo, swimming in the river with the kids, playing soccer, and helping students with their upcoming English presentations.

Yesterday was my trip to the campo.  I had previously met this family, 2 boys living in the house (23 and 17 years old).  They invited me to go to their land in the mountains to work a day with them and next thing I know I am getting up at 5:00 am (that is unheard of for me).  We packed up the tools and food for the day and set off on our hour hike to their land.  We had a pack of 4 dogs that were going with us and they didn’t stop wrestling until we got back to the people.  It was absolutely beautiful in the mountains.  These guys were like mountain goats prancing up the slopes and rocks without even looking.  I felt so clumsy following them.  Once we arrived to their land I set off on another mini hike with the oldest brother Alexander to milk the cows.  Later we returned and helped repair their barbed wire fence that ran along a dried up creek.  It was a nice changed of pace hacking down trees with machetes.  They joked with me that when I go back to the states I will be walking around with a machete hacking at everything because as we hiked I would take the liberty of chopping every tiny little piece of plant.  We had a good time joking around. While in the campo we encountered these little crab like bugs that grasp onto your skin and suck your blood.  They are called garapatas and they suck.  We were covered in garapatas before noon and it took 2 showers, shaving my beard and moustache, playing soccer and swimming in the river to get them all off.  And After I went and played soccer with the oldest brother, I told them I need to train and they are taking it on as their third job to make me a better soccer player. 

I am also starting to feel like a high school student again.  The kids in the high school are really fun to hang out with and I can never sneak into the principals office without being heckled from the classrooms and whistled at.  I am super excited to go back for PST 2 and learn some valuable information regarding project ideas and how to get NGO´s involved in the various youth groups in my community.  It is about time I start doing things in the community, people are gonna start thinking i´m just vacationing in their pueblo.  That or a professional soccer player training in the community.  Either or.

Well, I am off to San Vicente this Saturday and can´t wait to see Yolanda´s grinning face when I roll up to the house.

Pe@ce

Chuuusito

The high school kids really welcome me with open arms.

Fulfill your visual appetite

B-Rabbit on the microphone. Busting rhymes for the locals...

 The hobbit...

 Looking down on my stomping ground...

 Flying kites, just another day...

 Talking with the oldest person in the pueblo...that´s alive (99 years old)...

Asamblea General of Epic Proportions (not)

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet
Make you want to move your dancing feet
To the rescue, here i am
Want you to know, y'all, where i stand

¿Como ha ido? Today was a historic day in La Reina. It was my asamblea general. The asamblea general is a necessary town hall meeting that all volunteers in el Salvador have to do. It´s an opportunity for the volunteer to butcher their national language in front of all the important people of the community. It also serves as an informative session about Peace Corps, my program and the volunteer´s role in the community. We are supposed to present our findings from the community diagnostic and talk about possible programs for the future.  I had sent out some special invitations to all the churches, the mayor’s office, the bank in town, the school and high school, the health clinic and the local oficina juridical. I also went to the high school and announced my meeting and told them to invite their parents, posted announcements in the most frequented shops and places in town, and had the church and school makes announcements. The meeting was planned for 9 am. I didn´t expect people to show until 9:30, and I´m not gonna lie, I was pretty worried when it was empty at 9:20. But the schools pulled through and sent two classes form the middle school and 1 from the high school. This made my day, seeing the kids march over in their uniforms, all the cipotes (kids) screaming “Chusito!” My nerves settled a little and was ready to take it on.  There was also a lot more village elders than I expected.

The actually presentation went fairly smoothly, of course my mouth decided to dry up as soon as I started talking. So I was forced to fight cotton mouth while I tried to roll my R´s through the presentation. I got a fuerte applause at the end and finally was able to relax a little.

I asked them to include me in their lives and invite me to do fun stuff with them. And immediately after I was swarmed by kids asking what I am doing this afternoon. I guess I´m going to the park to play with them! I am stoked, the asamblea general was a great opportunity to show them I want to be part of their lives.

The next month is gonna be jam packed!!!! I prob wont be able to post. Here is my schedule.

Halloween Weekend: fundraiser in San Salvador for WYD (volunteer committee that gives scholarships) and volunteer costume party.

Following Weekend: I leave for PST 2 which is more technical training in San Vicente for 3 weeks. We get out of PST 2 right before Thanksgiving.  The embassy employees host PCVs for a feast so I requested to stay with some friends from training with a family.

After Thanksgiving: There is the largest carnival in Central America the Saturday after thanksgiving and there is a PC soccer game vs. a local mayor’s team.

After all that traveling around I will be ready to hang out in my site for awhile and start some activities with the bichos (kids). 

Besides all that nonsense things have been pretty tranquilo here I my pueblo. The crazy storms didn´t affect the pueblo too much. We got lucky up here in Chalatenango. Can´t say the same for other parts of the country.  Hopefully the affected areas can recover quickly and return to their lives.

That’s it for now amigos. Salud pues.

Chusito

Being sick, AVC, and life in La Reina

Que ondas mundo. Its been awhile, or at least it feels like it. I think ive been slacking because I have been talking to some people through email and facebook so I forgot about the hundreds of people reading my blog.

First, I want to give a shout out to grandma goofy. Happy birthday! I hope you got my voicemail.  Secondly, thanks mom and dad for the sweet packages ive been getting. everyone else don’t be shy. Send me anything, magazines (surfer, juxtapoz, home and living, Victoria´s secret, you pick), handwritten letters! Photos, mixed cd´s, used bandaids (include a story of what it was used for), anything.

Recently i´ve been kind of sick again, I had a good run of 5 days and finally it cleared up after the All Volunteer Conference (AVC). Kind of lame I had to go through the weekend feeling like dog doo doo, but I made the most of it and had a great time.

The all volunteer conference was held in La Palma which is about an hour away from my site.  It was held at a tourist center where there were tons of cabins and a big assembly hall.  About 95+ volunteers showed up and it was so awesome to meet some other people.  My group felt a little out numbered since we are down to 13 people and one from our group didn’t show up making us a small group of 12.  Other groups are around 30, so it was time to be out going and meet new people. 

The weekend was filled with all sorts of useful information for volunteers in the middle of service, but for the new group it was kind of useless since were not starting projects right now (and we are going to be learning about all that in our second training in a month).  Also there were talks about options after service (3^rd year extensions, master´s programs, foreign service officers, working with NGO´s) the foreign service lecture was really interesting, but the fact that the application process puts the peace corps application to shame is a little discouraging. No worries though, that’s too far in the future to worry about, taking it day by day. 

The AVC started Friday and ended Sunday.  One group went into the city La Palma to check out all the artisan work and the cool pueblo with a lot of culture and another group took off to a nearby volunteer site to challenge the local team in a soccer match.  I opted for the soccer match (getting chunky, not).  It was an intense game that we were winning in the second half but the Salvadoran referee kept adding time. Every time we asked for the time left he said 15 minutes until his team was winning. Super rigged.  On the bright side it was a good opportunity to make more friends with other volunteers.  Apparently there is an epic soccer match held between JICA (Japanese peace corps) and Peace Corps in December.  You better believe im playing in that one. Throwing elbows.

the sweet dirt soccer field...

action shot...

After the soccer game I got dropped off on the side of the road to trek back to my site. I ran into a friend from La Reina on the ride back (who coincidentally was on the same bus up to La Palma on Friday) and we chatted a bit and I ended up hanging at his house for a bit.  He and his dad and brother are going to take me to their land in the mountains to work the fields one day. I’m really excited for this, everyone (Americans) I talk to say its such a great experience and they really respect you after showing what you got in the fields. I arrived sunburned and exhausted and fell asleep before 7:30. 

Don’t want to overload you guys too much in one post so ill let that settle in and post something else after this weekend.  There is the inauguration of the youth radio station (Reina Stereo) this Friday so im sure ill have a good story after that. Also its supposed to downpour for 4 days straight, the river is gonna be pumping, maybe ill take a white water trip this weekend.

Salu,

Chusito

Casa de Chela

Dont have much time to post anything of importance but here are some pictures. i promise a more meaningful blog next time. peace.

The court yard in the middle of my house, those are fruit growing from the tree...

 my bed, equipped with mosquito net...

 my desk area...

 the relaxing area...

 cocina with grandma and maria...

 front of my house...

Bien Ocupado

Sup sup sup,

So i just got out of the first meeting of the womens group in the community.  They selected the name: Mujeres, la esperanza del futuro (Women, the hope of the future).  It was a very successful meeting where they selected their directive and brainstormed in possible projects to do in the future. I introduced myself and asked if i could be a part of their group to support them and observe their meetings.  It was a great experience and i think im lucky i got to be their in the beginning. I hope i can end up working with the Esperanzas.

Anyways, my life is busy busy this first week and time is just flying already.
Things are just falling into my lap. Let´s recap:

-went to an inauguration for a recycle/trash management facility with the mayor´s office. President of El Salvador didn´t show up. typical.
-visited the high school and made a fool of myself in front of the whole school on the loud speaker. Best way to make friends.
-got invited to a nearby canton with some high school students.
-walk the pueblo every night after dinner and talk to Don Tito, Don Tino, Don Juan, Don Angel, Dona Marie, and everyone else and their mothers.
-got invited to eat pupusas on Saturday with Don Juan and his family
-going to the river Saturday with Javier and other people
-taught kids how to play chess and ping pong
-going to a meeting Monday at the Health Center
-going to the middle school Monday to make a fool of myself in front of more kids
-going to Chalatenango the city on Tuesday
-got invited to the Mayors house for dinner or lunch one day
-invited to another house for dinner
-invited to visit family in a nearby canton
-making house visits with Don Roberto and Don Juan Wednesday to listen to stories from the elders

and lots more that I can´t remember right now.

Things that I do now that I didn´t do in the states:
-wash with a bucket
-say grace before every meal
-wake up before 8 am
-speak spanish
-play soccer
-walk around the neighborhood at night
-eat squash
-eat my cereal with boiling milk
-sleep in a mosquito net
-live with cats instead of dogs (not by choice)
-wear a collared shirt everyday

Well, thats jsut a little taste of my life right now. Hope everything is tranquilo in the states yall.  Catch ya later.

Chusito.

Casa de la Cultura

All to myself...

 View from the Casa de Cultura...

 The World´s Greatest Grandpa...

Family Fiesta and Swearing In

Hola todos y todas,

Que ondas? So I am chilling in my new community, and it is b-e-a-utiful. I am surrounded by hills and mountains that glow with every shade of green.  My pueblo is pretty darn big, not gonna lie, very intimidating.  The first few days I was in a daze of confusion not knowing where or how to begin my process of integrating.  Slowly things began to come together.  Sunday, my host brother (Javier, also a high school english teacher), took a walk around the community and met several people, including Don Juan.  Don Juan works at the Alcaldia (mayors office) and it was an immediate in.  Next thing I know I am invited to an Alcaldia meeting, invited to an inaugration of a trash management facility where the president of El Salvador will be, invited to eat pupusas with his family and also the mayor personally opened his home up to me for any reason (eat, sleep, talk, business).  I am starting to feel at home.

Today I met with the director of the Casa de cultura, Don Roberto, he is such a nice guy and made me feel even more at home after walking around with him.  I met more important people and got invited to a women´s group meeting.  The kids at the school invited me to their cantone for a day, the janitor invited me to work in the campo with him on the weekend.  Things are looking up.

Taking a jump back to the family fiesta and swearing in.  I was nominated by the other trainees to be the grandmaster of games.  It was a great test of my spanish in front of all the host families.  It went really well and Yolanda got a kick out of it.  Swearing in was pretty cool, the US ambassador came and gave a speech.  We nominated Andrew to give a speech as well and he rocked the house.  He had everyone laughing in spanish (jajajajaja).

Here is a handful of pictures of the recent events, I will try to get some of my town and new house.

PS I updated my address, Don Roberto said all packages that get sent to the Casa de Cultura will be received by the Alcaldia and we will be notified.

Eduardo, the man...

Preparing for swearing-in...

Ambassador...

San Esteban Crew...