Sworn In

For all those who have been asking for the new address, here it is:

Erin Dussault
Alcaldia Municipal de Chapeltique
Avenida Geraldo Barrios
Barrio Centro
Chapeltique, San Miguel, El Salvador

I really appreciate the requests for the address, as I can´t thank you enough for the copius amounts of mail I´ve already received! A special thanks to Sarah Lacy, Nicole, Kadee, EMQ, Carrie, KK and Brie for the wonderful letters, and to Sarah, Lisa, Steph, Ann, Kelly, Sister Dorothy and Aaron for the recent emails. Now that I´m in my first week in site and have passed into the realm of not knowing whatsoever what to do with myself, you can bet I´ll be writing back to you either through snail mail or email very quickly. Please have patience with the mail system, it´s almost as bad as the cell phone connections (I know some can attest to that) but I´m willing to put my faith in it if you are.

I arrived in Chapeltique yesterday and before I could process the fact that I´m really here/have the panic attack that goes along with that realization, I was immediately approached by my host mother, Niña Esmarelda and her six year old grandson Kevin. Kevin wasted no time in putting all my bags into a spare bedroom, leading me outside and naming all the fruit trees that are in Esmarelda´s expansive garden. After he tested me on the names he took me through the backyard to a few houses nearby where his other grandmother, his immediate family and his aunts and uncles live, and introduced me to about ten new Salvadorans who welcomed me into their homes with open arms. We then walked back to the house, where we ate our eggs and beans together for dinner and he informed me of just about everything he´s learned at church school in the past month. It´s been about a full day that I´ve been here and Kevin hasn´t yet left my side - indeed he´s sitting beside me at the moment as I´m writing this entry. My counterpart Carlos, who I saw this morning, has taken to calling Kevin my body guard and I daresay he´s correct. I prefer guia, or guide, but bodyguard seems to work as well - since I arrived here I haven´t received one piropo (catcall), perhaps thanks to my miniature security task force.

Besides meeting some of my neighbors the only thing I´ve done so far is observed an english class in the casa de la cultura, or culture house, here in downtown. My counterpart and about 15 other adults pay $22 a month to attend four Saturday classes run by a professor from the school in the nearby city of San Miguel. It was incredibly interesting to view the class and observe how one would teach English... I´ve been asked on and off (directly and indirectly) if I would be interested in teaching English while I´m here. I have mixed feelings about it at the moment - I´ve never taught a language class before and while I can speak English I´m not sure I can teach the correct grammatical rules, verb tenses and pronunciation that one would need to know to learn it at a basic level. There´s also something a bit frustrating about thinking of coming to a new country and partaking/adjusting to its culture, language and lifestyle just to spend two years teaching the people of that country how to speak your native language. However, I´m one of the lucky new volunteers in that I already have a list of potential and existing projects to learn more about and hopefully help with - in the short time I´ve been here the people of Chapeltique have impressed me beyond belief with their initiatives and existing development efforts. It was my hope from day one of training that I would be able to come into my site and collaborate on already existing projects and groups, efforts that Salvadorans made and are making in response to the needs they see in their community, as opposed to me creating projects that I feel are best for them. If they are such an integral part of the projects I end up working on, they will continue to sustain those projects long after I leave in two years, which is ultimately one of the most important goals of all Peace Corps programs. It´s an early first impression but an encouraging one that Chapeltique seems to know what it needs; my role here will hopefully be to assist them in obtaining those needs.

I suppose that´s about it for now. I´m not sure what I´m going to do come Monday, my first real working day on the job, but I imagine I´ll figure it out. I hope all is well at home and the summer is finishing off on a good note (and, I hope you´re all just as hot and sticky as I am). I miss everyone as always - I have to admit that thinking about the Dussaults on vacation in RI without me this year occupied much of my thoughts in this past week. Glad you guys had a great time and good weather, I wish more than anything I could have been there with you. Also, a huge congratulations to Sarah for graduating from nursing school - I´m so proud of you! Send pictures via email of the pinning ceremony if you can. My thoughts are with all of you at home, especially as I embark on attempting to get to know a whole new town. The past two and a half months have gone by quickly, as I imagine the next two years will. Best of luck to the E2 boys in Africa, to Monica in Honduras, to Biz fighting the battle against cancer in Boston, to Ann and Beth making it happen in grad school, to Ange saving wild and plant life throughout Western Mass and to Steph saving lives (or dealing with the crazies) in Boston - keep on making St. A´s sound like THE place to send your kids, guys. Can´t wait to talk to you all via email or snail mail!