Swearing In

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

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.

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/

Moving Day

I'm moving. My host family has been planning on moving at the end of August, but that would have no effect on me since I would be leaving for my site mid-August. Well, I went on an overnight Wednesday (I was literally gone for 26 hours) and when I returned half the house was packed up. Apparaently, we are moving on Monday to Entrevista, a small community about 10 minutes away by bus. It's not that big of a deal, but a little stressful and frustrating as I have to pack up all my stuff and I have really started to enjoy Tepetitan (my current community.) Oh well.

This past Tuesday I found out where I will be spending my next 2 years. Starting August 16th, I will be living in Cantón Las Trancas, Ozatlan, Usulutan. Cantón Las Trancas is my community, Ozatlan is the municipality, and Usulutan is the department. It's in the southeast part of the country, and looks to be about a 30 minute bus ride (depending on bus routes and roads) from the ocean. The community has had 3 volunteers in the past (all Rural Health and Sanitation volunteers) but at least they know about Peace Corps. Also, from what I've heard, they are very active and pretty organized. Monday-Thursday I will be visiting my site and meeting my counterparts (the director of the school, and the local health promotor.) I will most definitely write an entry Friday or next weekend with my thoughts on my new home. Adios

El Futbolista pt. 2

So I wasn't planning on writing another blog entry until I got back from the beach, but after last nights performance on the canchita (little field), I decided I had to update. After a decent first half, we were only down 5-3--I had a goal and an assist and hit the post twice. The second half began with the other team scoring two quick goals, and I immediately thought 'here we go again.' But we came back with two quick goals of our own cutting the deficit back down to two. By now, I've become a marked man in the tournament, so I was having trouble making things happen, but I did manage a few Maradonna's (non-soccer players won't know what I'm referring to, but it's a pretty basic move that looks flashy) and they were all greeted with 'Ole' from the fans. Finally, I put in a nice volley with my left bringing us within one. On the ensuing kickoff, I stole the ball and quickly fired home a shot from deep. Not even 30 seconds later, the ref blew the whistle marking the end of the game and our first non-loss. I have never seen a tie celebrated so enthusiastically in my life. Once again, I'm a celebrity...and this time I'm letting it go to my head.

On a lesser note, I have a rash. Which reminds me of a line from my favorite movie which goes 'Man, I got a rash.' The first person to tell me who said this, what movie, and what scene in the movie will get a letter from yours truly. (I'm expecting either Zack, Isaac, or Mark to get this one). Just leave a comment on the blog with your answer.

Que Chivo Estar Aqui (How cool it is to be here)

We had field based training from Wednesday-Saturday. Field Based Training or FBT, is just a visit to a current volunteer's site where he/she has activities planned for the group. The youth development volunteer's were split up into two groups of four. My group was led by Beatriz, who is currently shadowing Kiva to be the next trainer for youth development, and Ever, our Salvadoran motorista and all around badass. Our site was a pueblo called Victoria in the department of Cabañas. This is pretty much the same area I visited for immersion days, and as I have described previously and as the pictures show, it is gorgeous. It is about 5,000 feet (I think) in elevation, and it overlooks the mountains of Honduras.

We arrived around 10:30 Wednesday morning and met Lisa (our host volunteer) at the station for Radio Victoria. This weekend was Radio Victoria's 14th birthday, and it has quite an interesting history. It was originally based out of Santa Marta, was closed down during the civil war, and has always been 'alternative radio' offering a non-centralized form of news and place for opinions to be expressed. The radio offers a very cool program providing workshops on reporting for youth, and then allowing them to present on air. The best part of the radio, though, is definitely the people. Their passion for what they are doing (and it's most definitely a struggle to keep the radio station functioning) showed through brilliantly when they were talking to us.

After meeting with the radio staff, we ate lunch, prepared for charla's that we were going to be giving the next two days, and met our host families. My host mom is the director of 'la casa de cultura' (cultural house) in Victoria. She lives with her mom and her two children--Salvador age 9 and Bryan age 6. The family is all quite nice, but exhausting to say the least. Salva and Bryan were the most hyperactive children I have ever met, and it most definitely does not help that they are constantly given sugary drinks and coffee. Actually, most Salvadoran children are given coffee. It is tough to see, knowing how bad it is for them, but it is cheap and filling, so if food is scarce, coffee helps.

On Thursday, we helped Lisa give a charla on adolescence to the 'Escuela de los padres' (basically like a PTO). The turnout was quite impressive as about 50 parents showed up--almost exclusively women. We were in charge of facilitating small group discussions, and I thought it all went very well. Afterwards, we went to the house of a Salvadoran friend of Lisa where we made pizza from scratch and cooked it in an adobe oven. I'm not sure if it is because I've gotten a little tired of the food here, but the pizza was quite possibly the best thing I've ever tasted. Of course that meant I ate way too much.

Later that night I went with my host family to a nephew's birthday party where I was offerred 'chaparro.' I immediately asked 'what's that' and they just told me to try it. Turns out it is basically moonshine made from fermented plantains, and it is illegal to make in El Salvador. This was most definitely the strongest liquor I have ever tasted, and I'm just thankful I did not go blind. Though I got a bit buzzed, I was safe, because my host mom was drunker than I.

Friday we went back to the school where I gave a charla on teamwork. Essentially, the kids had to build a bridge out of straws high enough so each member of the team could pass under. I think there's a picture of it on the previous entry. The charla went marvoulously, mostly thanks to the kids. We then drove to a site about 30 minutes away where another volunteer, Sarah, lives. There, we went on a hike with a bunch of 4th graders, and picked up plastic to recycle all along the way. After the trash pickup, we hiked to a pretty amazing waterfall where we spent the rest of the day.

Saturday, we woke up at 4:45 to hike up a hill to milk cows. I'm a pretty amazing milker to tell the truth. I have pictures to prove it. The best part, though, was the location. We were above the clouds, so looking down it seemed like it was an ocean and the peaks were all islands. After milking, we ate breakfast and went back to our host communities. It was definitely a great 4 days.

Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to the beach for the weekend. On one hand I wanted some time away from the group, but it's hard to pass up a trip to the beach. We'll see how it goes...if I need to, I'm sure I can find a nice private plot of sand where I can sleep and read. Peace all.

A few Pictures

Here are some pictures of El Salvador...I'm still figuring this out, so I'll give descriptions some other time.