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