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/
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7 comments:
You have always been good looking and cool. You didn't need to go to El Salvador to find that out.
I concur, but it never hurts to have the ego boosted
you are the cool new guy moving into town sweeping up all the women and soccer glory, beware of the jealous former soccer mvp who will be steeped in jealousy and most likely execute a devious plot to bring you down from your pedestal
maybe i should start calling you pretty eyes
other than the eyes you've always taken after your good looking dad. dad
hey i remenber u i use to pass by ur house everyday with my freinds when we gat off school...becouse there were jocotes in ur house..don juaquin is the director of la escuela la trancas..u played for las estrellas in canton ojo de agua..everyone use to call u miguel or maicol....hey email is geovanni.r1992@hotmail.com hit me up.
u remenber my primo ramon ,..,AKA.,,monchito my abuelita canda..short for candelaria.and chepe....monchos mom is my aunt......cecilia...and nina chela..
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