Futbol frenzy

I'm in the capital for the US vs. El Salvador soccer game and the city, or at least what I've seen of it so far, is going nuts. They're all decked out in Salvadoran soccer jerseys, which are royal blue. I'm wearing a blue polo shirt just to be safe.

Dear Father, thank you for your Bangladeshi heritage and my resulting dark hair and skin. When I wear sunglasses to hide my blue eyes, no one thinks I am a gringa. I would feel safer for this if it weren't for the fact that soon I will meet up with a bunch of pale, pale volunteers.

The people in my site who knew I was going to the game kept teasing me, saying "Estados Unidos pierden," or that the States will lose. But then they smile sadly and say they know we will win because the Salvadorans are so very small. I tried to console my school director by saying that small people run faster. This, he thought, was a great joke.

The past few days at my site had been hard because the schoolkids have been extra annoying, trashing my porch with even greater frequency and deliberately throwing little seeds and things at my house even after I told them, then yelled at them, then threatened them to stop. Plus a random increase in piropos, or the catcalls and things we all get. I, being from DC, had been used to them and they never really bothered me. But people recently have tried to touch me or say things that are so vulgar I won't write them here. It got to the point where I was walking around my village, my own home, with my teeth constantly gritted.

Honestly, all this bothered me enough that I began to wonder why I don't just go home. I gave up all my comforts, my family and friends, all to help this one community. And this is the respect I get? I don't expect to be worshipped and I don't even really want to be treated like a higher being, but I would appreciate being able to walk around without constantly feeling the need to scream. I am here for two whole years, after all.

But then there are days like yesterday, when kids came by for help with homework and invited me to play on their school soccer team. And mornings like this in town, when I got to chat with a bunch of my favorite kids and my school director, and a woman I know from the mayor's office, and the cybercafe lady who invited me inside to watch part of "Lord of the Rings" while I waited for the bus. Sometimes I think people really know me and like me here. And sometimes I really love my site.

Also, a new volunteer is coming to work in the mayor's office the Monday after next. I'm so stoked to have a companera I'll probably have to tone it down a little so I don't come off like Patty Simcox from "Grease": "Oh my God, we're going to be life-long friends!"

Time to go grab some lunch. Wendy's or Pizza Hut. Missing America has given me horrible eating habits every time I come to the capital. As I remember, I refused to eat fast food most of the time in the States...now I count the days until I can have some.

Paz y amor.