ARGH

I am sick. Again. With a bladder infection, if you must know, another thing that never happened to me ever in the States. I will spare you all the details of having to ride a bus to the capital at night to get tested and treated. The story is not fun. And I had to rush out so suddenly that I left important things (cell phone!) at home.

I wonder when I will actually start getting anything done at my site, or if I will be the volunteer who spends her entire service dying in the capital. And I used to be so healthy!

Well, I'm returning to my site again, feeling better with antibiotics in tow. The last couple of times I came to the capital with some med problem, feeling better and going home gave me the happy feeling that all my troubles were over and I would spend the rest of my two years in healthy tranquility. Now I can't help but think something new will pop up next week. Bring on the black plague, I haven't had that yet either.

Um. Knock on wood. I never know anymore.

Feliz Dia de Amistad

Instead of Valentine's Day, yesterday in El Salvador was Dia de Amistad, or friendship day. I like that concept way better because even single people can celebrate, and we need a Friendship Day anyway. It's worth celebrating!

That said, my boyfriend came to visit me, but true to the Peace Corps way of life, we spend most of the day doing community stuff together. I had a meeting with some teens to plan Saturday English classes, and then we went to a memorial service.

The service was for Bilma, a member of my host family who died in the deadly earthquake that hit El Salvador on Feb. 13, 2001. Every year around that time they have a service for her. She was a schoolteacher and apparently died getting the kids out of school. She left behind a daughter, Rossell, who was about two at the time and like 9 now.

The memorial service was actually like a big party. Will and I spent most of the mass helping wrap up pieces of sweet bread up in napkins, which everyone ate afterwards with hot chocolate. No one seemed sad or crying. Then afterwards, we ate a big dinner with all the relatives who had come from all over for the ceremony.

It's strange how many death-related things I seem to be doing lately. But the week in New Hampshire with my family, and then this, made me realize that honoring the dead is actually supposed to be a little joyful, too. And yesterday made me thankful that my grandmother lived to be 80 and died with her family around her, instead of having a school fall on her in an earthquake as a young woman.

I have pictures of the memorial, which I'll post later. Paz y amor.

My house, por fin

Here are some long-awaited photos:

My house (yes, that is my kickass hammock)
Inside the main room
This is how close school is to me. The temporary building is on the left, my house is on the right.
The pila I share with my host family. This is where we wash clothes and dishes.
Where I take my bucket bath (attached to the pila)Last but not least...the latrine.

Paz y amor.

I could still be ruthless if you let me

After spending three weeks out of site, I left AGAIN this weekend for my first Peace Corps soccer game. Site guilt is a strange phenomenon -- after all, travel is usually marked by hopping around a country as much as you can. And when I first came to Peace Corps I thought I would be getting around the country all the time. But when volunteers, me included, spend more than a few nights out of their sites every month, the "site guilt" kicks in -- the feeling that we're leaving too much and having too much fun at the expense of work.

Maybe it's because there's so much to be done. When I think of the amount of projects I have going -- tons of time at school, revitalizing the community development organization, a stove-building project, Saturday English, youth group -- my head spins a little.

That said, THANK GOD I went to the soccer game. The first week back after my premature trip to the States was really tough, and I needed a healthy dose of fun and gringos. The way it works is, the soccer team plays a game in a different volunteer's site every month, against the Salvadorans from that community. This time, the women's team lost to the Salvies 2-1 on penalty kicks. But the men's team won for the first time in years!

During the pre-departure orientation we had before leaving for El Salvador, I said one of my Peace Corps goals was to learn how to play ruthless Salvadoran soccer. Apparently I was so animated about it that people made jokes about my "ruthlessness" for months. So when we had to pick nicknames for our jerseys, I picked Ruthless...and now all the volunteers who didn't know me before this weekend think my name is Ruth.

The game was timed perfectly with fiestas patronales in the site we went to, so after the game there was a lot of dressing up, drinking and dancing. One Salvadoran band even played Stone Temple Pilots, Green Day, Sublime, Radiohead and U2.

A bunch of us crashed in the host volunteer's house, in hammocks or on yoga mats or thin mattresses. Then, true to volunteer form, most of us were out the door at 7 a.m.

So back to my site and to school. Paz y amor.

School

is in my yard.

No kidding. I got back to my site and they had built a big aluminum building right next to my house. It houses 5th grade in the morning and 8th in the afternoon. Kindergarten and 4th grade are on my host family's porch. I have to wait for them to go on break to take my bucket bath, and the air is constantly filled with the screams of kids who play and throw trash on my front porch. Photos of this coming soon.

I actually don't mind too much because it's fun to talk to them sometimes and they're being moved for a good cause -- with money from the mayor and a Spanish NGO, four big new classrooms are being built in the actual school, which is way overcrowded. These kids are displaced while the construction goes on. They're putting the first stone down Monday in a ceremony which will involve the Japanese ambassador.

In other news, I'm being thrown into school whether I like it or not. I was supposed to spend these next few weeks observing and planning classes, but the teachers and director won't hear of it. They want me to start teaching and start a tree nursery immediately. We'll see what happens.

I have been observing classes, though, and what I've seen makes me really sad. Classes start late and end early and are canceled for hours for small, unimportant meetings. Each grade only goes to school for half a day anyway, and there is no law requiring kids to go to school so people just don't show up a lot of the time. They'll spend an hour during class talking about announcements and not learning anything. They are given half-hour recesses and snack breaks about three times in the course of one afternoon. It's no wonder the actual classes are incredibly basic for their grade levels. I suspect the only real learning is done in high school and college here, but you have to be able to afford those. With an educational situation like this, how can a country develop at all? I never thought I would say this, but I actually feel lucky to have attended Prince George's County public schools (shudder.)

I am still heartened by the teachers' dedication and their ability to keep their large excitable classes under control. And the kids deserve some props, because a lot of them do come to school every day willing to learn and they're well-behaved compared to kids at other Salvadoran schools I've seen.

So even though it might be stressful, I'm excited to start working. Paz y amor.

Back to work

So I got to El Salvador late last night and the mixed feelings continue. First I got my suitcase and the airport hooligans had broken it -- the little pop-up handle that lets me tug it along doesn't work anymore. Then I got into a cab and realized I had no money to pay for it because I hadn't been to an ATM -- I was so used to swiping my card for everything in the States. And taking two buses to my site with a stuffed suitcase will not be fun. I already miss my car in the States.

I'm in the capital and still haven't been back to my site yet. I wonder how that will feel. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone but the rural life will seem even stranger after last week, I think. At least I won't be as bored as the week before training -- I get to start at the school and begin work on maybe reforming the community development organization that has apparently crashed and burned.

At least it is warm here! No more borrowing thick winter jackets, gloves etc. But on the flip side, I already miss snow.

I did get to see Emily at the airport, but just for 10 minutes because my flight was delayed. Thank God there was no one in line when I had to go back through security, and the gate was right there. Worked out perfectly!

Well, time to go to the village and start making myself useful again. Paz y amor.

Farewell to the USA

So tomorrow morning, I get on the plane back to El Salvador. I still think it will be hard to go back, but after shopping yesterday I'm a little more prepared -- I now have peanut butter, more books, gifts for my host family, and my grandfather gave me a shortwave radio. Too bad I spent half an hour looking for the BBC on it and could only find Spanish bible programs. I don't need a shortwave radio to hear that in El Salvador.

Plus, if everything works out, I will be briefly reunited with my friend Emily at the Cleveland airport in between flights! How awesome is it that she's going home to Ohio the same weekend I'm flying through? I almost don't want to think about it, because with our luck my flight will be delayed for two hours again and our window of opportunity will be shattered.

Here is an excerpt from our gchat when we concocted this plan:

me: I think we should do it!!!!!
Emily: me too!!!!
10:56 PM me: oh my god!!!!
Emily: assuming nothing crazy happens with your flight....AHHHH!
me: oh no I don't have a cell phone that works in america

...so we'll see how this goes.

Next post will be from El Sal!