I had not planned to march in this parade. Instead, I was standing in front of my house on Sunday morning in faded jeans, a soccer jersey and shower sandals snapping pictures as it marched by. Then my school director, the mayor and the asesora departamental (think county superintendent of schools) passed by, dressed to the nines, and literally dragged the raggedy gringa into the limelight with them. Thanks guys.
Marching in a Salvadoran parade is an exercise in patience. It took us an hour to cover the microscopic distance between my house and the school -- done in slow, mincing steps and long motionless pauses. Luckily this gave me lots of time for pictures:
An unfortunate biker tries to wend his way through
Arriving at school
Kindergarteners are cute.Speaking of patience, I am also going through a really rough patch in the Peace Corps right now and started thinking last weekend about coming home. When I joined the Peace Corps, my biggest concern was that two years would be too long for me to be missing my friends, the reporter's life I loved so much, family etc. I told myself I would definitely stick out the first year and then see how I felt. Well, now I'm coming up on a year in country, a ton of my friends who went on one-year abroad programs are coming home, and although a lot of this year has been great, right now life is extremely frustrating. So I'm doing what I did after my grandmother died, the only other time I've felt like bailing...I'm giving it a month and then deciding. If I feel better, I'll stay; but if I don't, I could spend a miserable year waiting for things to turn around, or I could come home feeling good about living in El Salvador for a year and contributing to my village in a few small ways.
Thoughts would be appreciated. Paz y amor.
2 comments:
A year is a LONG time. I'm about 2 weeks away from finishing my year in Korea and so looking forward to getting home.
That said, will you leave El Salvador with regrets? If so, stay. If not, you've given them a year of your time and life -- you can leave.
JMO...
Alia:
I'm sure you know that the journalism industry is very sick right now, so there might not be a job for you if you come home.
I'd hire you back in Orlando in a heartbeat. You're smart, intensely curious and a darned good writer.
I think you should follow your gut. If you're getting something out of the experience, stick around for another year.
Whenever you come home, please call me, and I'll do whatever I can to help you find a job.
Newspapers need people like you.
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