Week 2 Done and Done
Well, whoever said they're aren't some key advantages to being sick never joined the Peace Corps... at the moment I'm sitting alone in the training center waiting for lab results to come in from my, er, sample, and wouldn't you know that the internet is free. I knew that I was throwing up all morning for something! Enough of that talk, onto better things... yesterday right in the middle of training classes a few friends told me that I had a letter waiting for me. When I went to check it out I realized that I had not one but four... so a huge thanks goes out to Sarah, Lisa, Kadee and Allison my Peace Corps guru - you guys absolutely made my day. This second week has been a bit more intense than the first, so needless to say these letters are well appreciated. Please, keep on writing and I promise to get back to you either through email or snail mail.
We've been on the same training schedule as I recounted in the last blog entry, but classes are becoming more specific to technical training and the language barrier continues to be a challenge. There are days when I think that my spanish is actually getting worse, not better, but I'm told that's a normal way to feel around here in early days. Other than feeling rather ill I don't have much to complain about in reality... right now its all about taking it one day at a time, poco a poco. During this past week we traveled to visit a current agro-forestry volunteer in the countryside and also to take a tour of the capital, San Salvador. Also this week my community group accompanied the staff of the mayor in our town to a countryside province, to observe an interview between the staff and a 17 year old girl who has asked for help caring for her family. Both parents have passed away and she is responsible for feeding and clothing her 7 younger siblings, a responsiblity she accepts without requesting to break up her family. It was more than a bit surreal to be sitting in a large, air-conditioned mall eating Pizza Hut the next day in San Salvador. Between these trips I believe that I've begun to gain a perspective on how varied the dynamics of this country are. I have to wonder if the well-dressed people I saw in the mall have any idea of what the conditions are like in the countryside here... I know that if it were me in the United States, I'd most likely be clueless. I'm realizing now that if I can spend the next two years accompanying the mayor to the less-developed towns to provide decent, hard-working people with basic necessities, I will be more than genuinely satisfied with my time spent here.
As far as life in the community goes, I think the gringos are getting in more facetime and things are starting to slow down in terms of the newness of our presence. We're starting to play soccer in the street with the kids in our barrios, which has turned out to be a positive experience in multiple ways - not only are the kids incredibly talented and we have a great time, but just one game of soccer has changed these kids from being the punks who yell out "hey baby" from their doorsteps to a bunch of lively, energetic middle schoolers we can now consider to our friends. They may not be able to pronounce my name ("Erin" doesn't sound too pretty in spanish, so I now answer to "Errn") but at least they know my face and feel comfortable striking up conversation with me. One of the more amusing things that's happened to me so far in community goes along with the realization that no matter what we do, where we go, who we talk to in town, someone is always watching from their door or window. Last week I got caught walking home from the bus stop in one of the instant downpours that are some infamous in this country during winter. My skirt, shirt and shoes were soaked within minutes, and I think my umbrella served for more comical than practical purposes because it just barely kept the crown of my head dry, nothing else. Of course I was the only person on the street, because Salvadorans have a great way of disappearing indoors within seconds when it starts to rain here. I ended up at home looking and feeling like a drowned rat, but I thought, innocently, that hey at least I had my dignity because no one was outdoors to see me trudge home in such a classy manner. Little did I know a few days later that as I was walking back down the street making pleasantries to people, practically every person I spoke to followed their "buenos dias" and "como estas" with "Ud. se mojo el otro dia." It's wonderful, my community neighbors can't say my name and don't know what I'm doing here, but they sure as anything know me as the girl who got wet a few days ago. Now I'm learning - there's always someone watching, especially when the gringa is flying solo in a rainstorm and the entertainment value is up.
Speaking of learning, there's always something new to learn and attempt to remember each day. Just when I think that it is not humanly feasible to squeeze one more person on a packed city bus heading to town, the driver pulls up at the next stop and 10 more Salvadorans cram themselves into the other passengers. Just when I think I can't utter one more word in Spanish, I find myself giving a ten minute talk about my last vacation using the preterite and imperfect tenses. There are lessons to be learned each day but as of right now, the most prevalent has been that whatever limits I think I knew for myself and for others need to be redefined during my time in Central America. I'm already amazed at how incredibly hard people work and the tiny, significant steps forward that can be gained through presistance - I can only hope that I can fall into place in this mindframe as time goes on.
This upcoming week we are traveling to a remote site in El Salvador to live with a current volunteer for a few immersion days. I'm pretty sure that I will get stupendously lost trying to find my own way on said sardine-packed, crazy music-playing buses to my host volunteer, but should that happen I will just do as the Salvadorans do... end up in Guatemala, buy a coconut water from a street vendor, find out who he knows and crash with his third cousin twice removed for the night before it is safe to retrace my steps by daylight. I'm up for the challenge, remarkably more-so than I would have been 3 weeks ago. Until next time, know that I'm thinking of everyone and wishing you well. Best of luck to Aaron and his abyssmal french in Morocco (just kidding) and to Joe in South Africa... happy 24th bday! Love to all my friends and family.
We've been on the same training schedule as I recounted in the last blog entry, but classes are becoming more specific to technical training and the language barrier continues to be a challenge. There are days when I think that my spanish is actually getting worse, not better, but I'm told that's a normal way to feel around here in early days. Other than feeling rather ill I don't have much to complain about in reality... right now its all about taking it one day at a time, poco a poco. During this past week we traveled to visit a current agro-forestry volunteer in the countryside and also to take a tour of the capital, San Salvador. Also this week my community group accompanied the staff of the mayor in our town to a countryside province, to observe an interview between the staff and a 17 year old girl who has asked for help caring for her family. Both parents have passed away and she is responsible for feeding and clothing her 7 younger siblings, a responsiblity she accepts without requesting to break up her family. It was more than a bit surreal to be sitting in a large, air-conditioned mall eating Pizza Hut the next day in San Salvador. Between these trips I believe that I've begun to gain a perspective on how varied the dynamics of this country are. I have to wonder if the well-dressed people I saw in the mall have any idea of what the conditions are like in the countryside here... I know that if it were me in the United States, I'd most likely be clueless. I'm realizing now that if I can spend the next two years accompanying the mayor to the less-developed towns to provide decent, hard-working people with basic necessities, I will be more than genuinely satisfied with my time spent here.
As far as life in the community goes, I think the gringos are getting in more facetime and things are starting to slow down in terms of the newness of our presence. We're starting to play soccer in the street with the kids in our barrios, which has turned out to be a positive experience in multiple ways - not only are the kids incredibly talented and we have a great time, but just one game of soccer has changed these kids from being the punks who yell out "hey baby" from their doorsteps to a bunch of lively, energetic middle schoolers we can now consider to our friends. They may not be able to pronounce my name ("Erin" doesn't sound too pretty in spanish, so I now answer to "Errn") but at least they know my face and feel comfortable striking up conversation with me. One of the more amusing things that's happened to me so far in community goes along with the realization that no matter what we do, where we go, who we talk to in town, someone is always watching from their door or window. Last week I got caught walking home from the bus stop in one of the instant downpours that are some infamous in this country during winter. My skirt, shirt and shoes were soaked within minutes, and I think my umbrella served for more comical than practical purposes because it just barely kept the crown of my head dry, nothing else. Of course I was the only person on the street, because Salvadorans have a great way of disappearing indoors within seconds when it starts to rain here. I ended up at home looking and feeling like a drowned rat, but I thought, innocently, that hey at least I had my dignity because no one was outdoors to see me trudge home in such a classy manner. Little did I know a few days later that as I was walking back down the street making pleasantries to people, practically every person I spoke to followed their "buenos dias" and "como estas" with "Ud. se mojo el otro dia." It's wonderful, my community neighbors can't say my name and don't know what I'm doing here, but they sure as anything know me as the girl who got wet a few days ago. Now I'm learning - there's always someone watching, especially when the gringa is flying solo in a rainstorm and the entertainment value is up.
Speaking of learning, there's always something new to learn and attempt to remember each day. Just when I think that it is not humanly feasible to squeeze one more person on a packed city bus heading to town, the driver pulls up at the next stop and 10 more Salvadorans cram themselves into the other passengers. Just when I think I can't utter one more word in Spanish, I find myself giving a ten minute talk about my last vacation using the preterite and imperfect tenses. There are lessons to be learned each day but as of right now, the most prevalent has been that whatever limits I think I knew for myself and for others need to be redefined during my time in Central America. I'm already amazed at how incredibly hard people work and the tiny, significant steps forward that can be gained through presistance - I can only hope that I can fall into place in this mindframe as time goes on.
This upcoming week we are traveling to a remote site in El Salvador to live with a current volunteer for a few immersion days. I'm pretty sure that I will get stupendously lost trying to find my own way on said sardine-packed, crazy music-playing buses to my host volunteer, but should that happen I will just do as the Salvadorans do... end up in Guatemala, buy a coconut water from a street vendor, find out who he knows and crash with his third cousin twice removed for the night before it is safe to retrace my steps by daylight. I'm up for the challenge, remarkably more-so than I would have been 3 weeks ago. Until next time, know that I'm thinking of everyone and wishing you well. Best of luck to Aaron and his abyssmal french in Morocco (just kidding) and to Joe in South Africa... happy 24th bday! Love to all my friends and family.
posted by Erin @ 7:39 AM
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