Of many things, mostly sickness

I got to watch the inauguration today, or as much of it as I could between annoying phone calls from an incompetent woman who fixed our school's computers wrong.

I wouldn't have watched it at all, except that I was in the Peace Corps Office because I spent all of yesterday throwing up for no discernible reason. So I guess my bizarre sickness was a good thing?

Anyway, it was really cool to watch the inauguration in the Peace Corps conference room with the mix of people we had -- young American volunteers, older American staffers, and Salvadorans who were possibly more excited than the gringos. They kept congratulating us.

Now that I'm all better (they never did figure out what was wrong with me) I have returned to my training week at the Escuela Nacional de Agricultura, or the national agricultural university, where we've spent the week learning things like how to start a tree nursery or plant vegetables. It's been fun because we get to go work outside while the youth development volunteers are in San Vicente listening to presentations all day (sorry, guys.) But what's even more awesome is us volunteers get a house all to ourselves and free access to the pool and Internet, and the cafeteria food isn't bad and prepared to American hygiene standards. So it's been a pretty kickass week apart from the random vomiting.

And apart from the sad news I'm receiving from my family that my grandmother's been moved to hospice care. I will probably be flying home for her funeral within the month, or rather to New Hampshire. This means I won't be coming to DC now or in May -- but I think this is much more important. Love to the family if you're reading this. Especially Grandma.

Even before I got the news, I'd realized that my grandmother has been an immensely positive influence on my life. Once, when I was about nine years old, she told me that I had been blessed with intelligence and it was time to think about giving back. I know she imparted that spirit to my mother, aunt and uncles, and between all of them, they taught me to go through life with the purpose of helping others. It's why I'm in the Peace Corps right now and why I'll choose my career for public service and not just money. So thank you, Grandma.

Love and miss everyone.