Haven’t written in a while…sorry. I would say I have been too busy, but that would be a flat out lie. Even when I am busy I should still take time to write. I will try to do better in the future.
Currently, I am writing to avoid finishing other paperwork (which I hate) and avoiding laundry (I haven’t done laundry in a week and a half, so I am in for a fun-filled 2 hours of hand-scrubbing, that will teach me to procrastinate).
Sometimes I can’t believe I have been living in Central America for a year. It seems like yesterday I was sitting at a bagel shop in Washington D.C. fresh off the plane from Omaha, talking with four strangers about what we did and did not pack and why we joined Peace Corps. Now I am halfway through my time here on the volcano.
Now the days pass slowly, but the months somehow slip away without notice. Today is the last day in February and I find myself thinking, “I am about to start March…where did February go? Where did January go for that matter?” Some days I feel as if I am sitting and staring at the clock waiting for the seconds to slip by, but somehow at the end of the month I can’t recall how four more weeks have passed me by.
Then again you can say it as my friend Paul said yesterday, “One-sixth of the year is over! Is it bad that I know that? Obviously I am counting…” We are now dividing our service in to fractions…
The group of volunteers that came in before us finished their service last week. Most of them left the country over the weekend. This means that my group of volunteers is the oldest Rural Health volunteers in the country. We are the experienced experts now, which is unnerving, but also gives me a sense of accomplishment. The newest group is still in training for another month, but will be heading out to their sites in a few short weeks.
This past Saturday we had a meeting with all the volunteers in my area. It was interesting to talk to all the volunteers in different areas and different branches of Peace Corps and hear what they are working on. We had some guest speakers from local NGOs as well as a few visitors from Washington (the higher-ups visiting us front-line workers). It was a really great experience to find out what Peace Corps Washington thinks are the needed adjustments and how they view what we do as volunteers. I really enjoyed their comments and appreciated their point of view. And of course it was fun to hang out in Ataco (the town where we had the meeting) after the meeting with all the volunteers I rarely get the chance to see and have dinner at a nice restaurant and drink coffee at a cute cafe in the morning.
On another note, a short work update:
Still teaching English classes twice a week at the school. My students are quite difficult this year. There are more boys than girls so the mostly well-behaved female energy is overpowered by anxious and rather badly-behaved male energy. Last week they were making fun of my Spanish pronunciation. I now have a whole new respect for junior high teachers.
I finally gathered all of the information, finished, and submitted the grant I have been working on since November. It will be reviewed this week or the following week. Here’s hoping I get the funding!
My grant money I applied for in December finally came in! I am buying arts and crafts supplies for my Nutrition Center for the 1-5 year olds to use. We will be going to get the supplies (me and the director of the center) in the next week or two.
Working on getting things rolling for the next Engineers Without Borders trip to my community. The team will be coming in May, so I have some preparations to start making sooner rather than later.
And now a short fun update:
El Salvador is a lot of fun. I went to a Reggae concert two weekends ago in the capital. Mya and I drove through McDonald’s at 2 am afterwards in a taxi. It was almost like being in the United States again.
I got a marriage proposal….from a man who saw me one time at a bus stop. Sometimes I feel I am getting an inflated sense of self-confidence and self-worth here. Never got proposed to be a stranger in the US.
Found a jumbo-sized jar of peanut butter in Sonsonate. Peanut butter is like gold here. I nearly cried in the aisle I was so happy (it is amazing what you never knew you would miss). It cost me $6, but it will probably feed me for about a month.
Got my hair styled yesterday. A friend of mine has a daughter who is a hair dresser and when she saw me, she immediately demanded she be allowed to do my hair. She kept telling me that Salvadoran women pay a fortune for hair like mine and she refused to believe I didn’t dye it. I looked very lovely afterward.
And a short NOT fun update:
Irritable bowel syndrome=no fun. (No need to elaborate)
Was standing at my sink this morning and a lizard fell from the roof, landed on my head, and climbed into my shirt. I was wearing a zip-up sweatshirt over a sports bra, and immediately started screaming and clawed the sweatshirt off. My host family came running up, hearing me screaming, and all of them stood there looking at me screaming and running around my patio in my bra.
Rainy weather lately. Rainy weather=no internet signal, moldy clothes, and the desire to stay inside all day long.
Not looking forward to mid-service medical exams. All volunteers have a full health check-up at the one-year mark and mine is at the end of March. Eye exam, dentist, poop in a cup, gynecologist, dermatologist, and any other additional tests that might be needed depending on what they find. What a glorious way to spend two or three days…getting poked and prodded.
Linds, you make me laugh out loud sometimes. Loved the image of you running around in your sports bra while your host family probably were looking at you like you were crazy. I’d have had the same reaction as you. Evil lizards!