exhausted and looking forward to hallucinations

So I'm in El Salvador. I quickly realized that with all the new sites, sounds, smells, experiences, etc. there is no way that I will be able to tell all that I would like to.

Goodbyes of course were extremely difficult. I don't know how many times I heard that someone is proud of me. It is actually makes me uncomfortable to hear for two reasons. First of all, I haven't done anything yet. For all any of us knows, I could sit at my site in El Salvador for two years and treat it as an all expense paid vacation. Of course I won't but I still would rather have accomplished something before I'm praised for it. Second, it makes it sound like I'm doing this for purely selfless reasons. That of course is not true. I am completely selfish, at the risk of sounding cliche, I plan on taking with me much more than I leave behind.

As far as staging (the two day orientation in DC) goes...let's just say I did not enjoy it. The presenters were quite good, but the material they had to cover was not so interesting. Also, I am always a bit put off by new group orientations where everyone seems to become best friends immediately. Of course we will all become friends and of course we want to expedite the process, but it doesn't have to be forced. Being the Peace Corps hippie I am, I think the process could be a bit more organic. I know most of it is just nerves, but everyone seemed to be talking and laughing and smiling as though they were all manic depressives and on speed. Made me want to go to sleep. (I know mom, I'm such a curmudgeon).

I got about 2 hours of sleep before leaving for El Salvador. I was exhausted, but my excitement carried me through. It was about an hour drive from the airport in San Salvador to our training site in San Vicente. Lots of green, lots of color, lots of poverty, and lots of humidity. That's probably the best way to describe it. At training, we had more orientations and it made for quite a long day.

Once again today, meetings pretty much from 7 am until 7 pm and I am exhausted and have a headache. The good news, however, is I took my first dose of maleria medication so I have hallucenagenic (sp) dreams to look forward to. I've always been interested in LSD...maybe this will suffice. (Actually, I've heard from many people that the side effects are pretty rare.)

Special congratulations are in order to Mark for graduating yesterday and Nathalia for finishing up her first year as a teacher.

My love to everyone.

--Mel (that one is for eddie, zack, and jw who is most likely not reading this anyways)