I realized I forgot to mention anything about the swearing in ceremony. Not too much to say, but I do have a couple of thoughts on it...
The night before swearing in we had a dinner hosted by some of the current Peace Corps volunteers. Everyone was quite nice, but the excitement was definitely a little overwhelming. A lot of the volunteers were almost frantic in their excitement to be seeing everyone and drinking/partying. I guess maybe after a year of isolation in my site I'll be the same way--vamos a ver (we will see).
The actual swearing in ceremony was okay. The majority of it was done in spanish, with speeches given by the director of Peace Corps El Salvador, the director of the Municipal Development program, and a fellow trainee whom we nominated to give a speech. My boss, the director of Youth Development, had the privelege of interpreting for the U.S. Ambassador who was at the ceremony. Yes, that's right, of all the capable, spanish speaking citizens of the U.S., we still choose to have an Ambassador to El Salvador who does not speak spanish. His speech was given in English and translated paragraph by paragraph. He even made a joke, saying that he is learning one new spanish word a day and his word for that day was 'pinguino' (penguin). I'm glad he's not wearing himself out learning 2 words a day...that would just be too much. And it's also good to know that he is focusing on vocabulary that will be useful considering the penguin problem here in tropical El Salvador.
After the ceremony was the party. 10 dollars all you can drink from 10-1. Amazingly, I did pretty well in that I felt I drank more than my 10 dollars worth, but I didn't over do it. Others most definitely did, and there were definitely some funny/scandalous scenes to be entertained by. Kind of made me nostalgic for those cottage wop parties at Mac.
Well I gotta go catch my bus now, otherwise I'm stuck here for another 2 hours. Adios
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
I have arrived
So I just read that for security reasons we are not supposed to make public knowledge where our sites are located. I think I probably wrote it in a prior entry, but in any case, I will give you all the English translation. I live in the club of the savior. Club as in stick, not club as in discotec, but I really prefer to think of myself living in Jesus Christ´s nightclub. And as you might imagine, it`s not that flashy, considering Jesus was a minimalist and all. What makes all this even more fun to write is the fact I`m sitting in a pretty large internet cafe that has been taken over by about 10 Mormon missionaries. I'm just dying to get the opportunity to reply to their questions about whether or not I've accepted Jesus Christ into my life with the response 'I've done more than that...I'm living in his freakin club.'
I've been in my site now for a little over a week. Really, I've just spent my time hanging out, preparing my house, and getting to know people (also a lot of reading and listening to music in the hammock). My house is pretty nice. I have electricity, an outdoor shower, and a latrine that is cockroach free.
The people in my site are incredible. Everyone is full of 'chispa' (chispa means spark and is used to refer to someone with a lot of personality.) There is soccer played every evening...some days are formal trainings with the town team (which I am a part of) and other days it is just open to anyone. Currently I'm out of commission for a bit with a sprained ankle, but I plan on making a triumphant return in a week or so.
I think that's about all the writing I have in me today. I slept horribly last night, and am kind of dragging today. However, I bought a thumb drive or whatever those things are called, so I can now write entries on my computer at home and just upload them here...hopefully that will mean more frequent and better blog entries. Hopefully. Love to everyone.
I've been in my site now for a little over a week. Really, I've just spent my time hanging out, preparing my house, and getting to know people (also a lot of reading and listening to music in the hammock). My house is pretty nice. I have electricity, an outdoor shower, and a latrine that is cockroach free.
The people in my site are incredible. Everyone is full of 'chispa' (chispa means spark and is used to refer to someone with a lot of personality.) There is soccer played every evening...some days are formal trainings with the town team (which I am a part of) and other days it is just open to anyone. Currently I'm out of commission for a bit with a sprained ankle, but I plan on making a triumphant return in a week or so.
I think that's about all the writing I have in me today. I slept horribly last night, and am kind of dragging today. However, I bought a thumb drive or whatever those things are called, so I can now write entries on my computer at home and just upload them here...hopefully that will mean more frequent and better blog entries. Hopefully. Love to everyone.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
19 years of soccer and blue eyes makes me cool
I visited my site this past week, and, all in all, it was amazing.
On Monday I left Tepetitan at 6am to arrive in Usulutan by 9. Usulutan is the closes, decent sized pueblo, where I will go to shop, eat out, etc. One of my counterparts, Don Joaquin, met me in Usulutan and we rode the bus together to Las Trancas (about 30 minutes).
Las Trancas is a pretty small Canton (about 1400 people) that consists of 5-6? Caserios. It basically has one main dirt road, and a bunch of side passages. It is damn hot, but there are a ton of trees and shade, and it is really quite nice. From the top of the hill I can see the ocean, which is about 25 km away.
Don Joaquin is the director of the school in Las Trancas, so he took me there first to briefly tour the school and meet some of the teachers. The teachers have all been working at the school for numerous years, and seem genuinely interested and concerned about the students--which is not always the case here. Also, the school has a computer lab with about 6 computers, internet, and most importantly, Air Conditioning!!! I think I'll be offering a lot of computer training classes.
The rest of the day I stayed with my host family--Nina Chela and company. Wonderful people, good food, fun kids, and a wooden bed. No joke, the bed I slept on was a wooden board the size of a double bed, with a sheet thrown on top. I guess you can't win 'em all.
The next day, Tuesday, I met with my other counterpart, Don Remberto. Don Rembe is the health promotor in Las Trancas. I went with him to the Unidad de Salud in Ozatlan (a smaller and closer pueblo than Usulutan.) Don Rembe's meeting was only supposed to last half the day, but ended up going the entire day leaving me with not much to do. I did stop by the mayor's office and the police station to let them know I'll be living in their municipality--they both nodded and smiled, and I'm pretty sure I'll never see them again...but at least they know I'm here. The rest of the day I sat in the Unidad watching animal planet and talking with the doctors and nurses (all women.) It wasn't a complete bust, because never before have I received so many 'guapos' 'chulos' and 'bonitos' in my life. To any white folks with blue eyes reading this, move to El Salvador and you will automatically be good looking.
The rest of my time was spent meeting people and hanging out. Everyone was very friendly, and the town is extremely organized. There are three soccer teams, an under 17 team, a recreational team that pays their own travel and uniform fees, and then 'la seleccion' (the selection/town team). Well Wednesday night I was invited to play some soccer. I didn't know it, but apparently it was some sort of tryout. I played for 25 minutes, scored a goal, had an assist, and didn't lose the ball once. Afterwards, two of the town leaders who were watching and the coach and one of the players asked me if I had my passport with me. I said, "No, should I be carrying it around?" thinking that they were concerned about safety or whatever. They responded, "Of course you should, how else are we going to get you signed up on our team." Basically, to be part of the team they need a copy of my passport. The process takes about a week, and I arrive in the community on the 17th of August and there is a game 2 days later. They wanted me to be ready to play for that game.
Only a week and a half left of training, and then off to my site. I'm very looking forward to it.
PS
To read something from the real writer in the family, check out my Grandpa's story
http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/08/01/one-last-look/
On Monday I left Tepetitan at 6am to arrive in Usulutan by 9. Usulutan is the closes, decent sized pueblo, where I will go to shop, eat out, etc. One of my counterparts, Don Joaquin, met me in Usulutan and we rode the bus together to Las Trancas (about 30 minutes).
Las Trancas is a pretty small Canton (about 1400 people) that consists of 5-6? Caserios. It basically has one main dirt road, and a bunch of side passages. It is damn hot, but there are a ton of trees and shade, and it is really quite nice. From the top of the hill I can see the ocean, which is about 25 km away.
Don Joaquin is the director of the school in Las Trancas, so he took me there first to briefly tour the school and meet some of the teachers. The teachers have all been working at the school for numerous years, and seem genuinely interested and concerned about the students--which is not always the case here. Also, the school has a computer lab with about 6 computers, internet, and most importantly, Air Conditioning!!! I think I'll be offering a lot of computer training classes.
The rest of the day I stayed with my host family--Nina Chela and company. Wonderful people, good food, fun kids, and a wooden bed. No joke, the bed I slept on was a wooden board the size of a double bed, with a sheet thrown on top. I guess you can't win 'em all.
The next day, Tuesday, I met with my other counterpart, Don Remberto. Don Rembe is the health promotor in Las Trancas. I went with him to the Unidad de Salud in Ozatlan (a smaller and closer pueblo than Usulutan.) Don Rembe's meeting was only supposed to last half the day, but ended up going the entire day leaving me with not much to do. I did stop by the mayor's office and the police station to let them know I'll be living in their municipality--they both nodded and smiled, and I'm pretty sure I'll never see them again...but at least they know I'm here. The rest of the day I sat in the Unidad watching animal planet and talking with the doctors and nurses (all women.) It wasn't a complete bust, because never before have I received so many 'guapos' 'chulos' and 'bonitos' in my life. To any white folks with blue eyes reading this, move to El Salvador and you will automatically be good looking.
The rest of my time was spent meeting people and hanging out. Everyone was very friendly, and the town is extremely organized. There are three soccer teams, an under 17 team, a recreational team that pays their own travel and uniform fees, and then 'la seleccion' (the selection/town team). Well Wednesday night I was invited to play some soccer. I didn't know it, but apparently it was some sort of tryout. I played for 25 minutes, scored a goal, had an assist, and didn't lose the ball once. Afterwards, two of the town leaders who were watching and the coach and one of the players asked me if I had my passport with me. I said, "No, should I be carrying it around?" thinking that they were concerned about safety or whatever. They responded, "Of course you should, how else are we going to get you signed up on our team." Basically, to be part of the team they need a copy of my passport. The process takes about a week, and I arrive in the community on the 17th of August and there is a game 2 days later. They wanted me to be ready to play for that game.
Only a week and a half left of training, and then off to my site. I'm very looking forward to it.
PS
To read something from the real writer in the family, check out my Grandpa's story
http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/08/01/one-last-look/
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