It's funny how I've adopted some Salvadoran customs, but staunchly refuse others. For example, I don't care how many times my host mom says how ugly my pants are, I keep wearing them. They're just pants!!
This is atol chuco. It's made out of blue corn mash and has a salty/acidy taste. The first time I had it I hated it. Now I can't wait for the atol girls to come by on Sunday afternoons!
All this for $.30!
I prefer to eat mine like soup with hot sauce and the chips whole, not crushed up.
I'm having a lot of good days in a row. I just want to ride this high all the way to my US visit in March!
I'm in love with a gorgeous 6ft+ model and a red bearded tech wizard from Idaho and a scholar from Chicago with suave dance moves.
I knew it was meant to be when she made me a custom designed bracelet, when he did the splits on a bar table, and when she rapped "Colt 45" with no mistakes.
It feels natural, you see, when she belts Boyz II Men, when he builds towers out of office supplies during training, and when she does her disappointed Irma impression. She does the best disappointed Irma impression.
She makes me laugh when she curls up like a cat, or when she dances the robot. I love how she gets riled up during Settlers of Catan, or how happy she gets when we reminisce about the Andes of Peru.
I love COED '13, every single one of them. They're my family and my best friends. They're my sanity and my comfort, and I'd never make it here without them.
Last night I was made aware by my doting mother that I've been absent from internet activity for FAR TOO LONG. (It's been 13 days since I wrote my last post.) I am very fortunate to have internet access in my site that allows me to post frequently, so I guess it's conspicuous to my million three followers when I skip a week of posts.
You should be happy though! Whenever I'm not writing it's always because I'm too busy having fun. This past week has been outrageously great! It's a PCES tradition for the previous cohort to throw a swearing-in party for the recently sworn PCVs. My group, COED '13, swore-in on October 3rd, spent 7 weeks in site building confianza and meeting community groups, then went back for a three week technical training. Needless to say, it's been a crazy 6 months. Finally we're settled in, we have no travel restrictions other than the PCES norm, and projects are falling into place. Youth Development '13 planned a great weekend in Tunco to celebrate our transition to PC adulthood. Some highlights include pizza, beer Olympics, and dancing- but you'll have to call me to get the deets.
My dear friend Maria brought me back a 1/5 of Jack from the US. A girl after my own heart!
After the beach, COED '13 zoomed back to Perquin for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) conference. I like to think of this conference as a right of passage in Peace Corps. After all, you're not a true PCV until you do a condom demonstration with a group of wily teenagers.
Oooo so official.
I actually had a great time at the HIV/AIDS conference. We had an unprecedented amount of free time in the afternoons. Usually our trainings are jam packed and drain all the life force from you. I took advantage of the cool mountain weather to nap in the hammock, practice my Beyonce dance moves (surfbort), and chitchat with my PCV besties.
We were split into groups of four to do an interactive HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention program with 20 high school teens. I was surprised at how much they already knew about HIV. I think they had fun, too!
My name's Ale and I'm going to teach you about HIV/AIDS.
"Word on the Street" is an activity I lead where the kids write down slang/commonly used words to describe parts of the body, sexual acts, and people. The PEPFAR training is really good at breaking down why people use these words, why there is so much pena with sex, and why it's offensive to use certain words. I made it clear that we will not be using the words huevos or sidosa in the training.
Mario leading Mito/Dato (Myth or Fact) with a choke de tren. You have to switch places in the circle and the person left out has to read a mito/dato and answer. It can get pretty violent!
This activity walks through the process of white blood cells turning into HIV/AIDS cells. Then the person in the middle dies. It's a good visual way to explain what happens with the cells.
We also did a condom demonstration. I read the steps with Hilary and Mario helped show the right way to put the condom on. Although the HIV/AIDS population in El Salvador is only .8%, STIs are still a big issue. This training is a good way to encourage teens to be smart about their sexual activity.
"The condom should look like a little sombrero"
I read the steps to using a condom correctly about 7 times through that day.
They got a kick out of the wooden dildos. I think PC owns like 100.
It's kind of a tradition that I make a doodle during trainings now. This one of Game of Thrones/Sea Life themed.
I love old people. I like to listen to their windy, long winded stories. I like to eat their down home cooking. I even like their musky smell. Old people have wisdom. And if they're hip like my grandma, they have good wine, too.
I think we take old people for granted in the US. I was so happy that the last event of #feria2014 was a celebration of seniors. We had a band made up of musicians aged 70+, dancing, a futbol shootout, piñatas and of course, pupusas.
I spent the majority of the event helping with the pupusas. If I am proud of anything after PC, it'll be that I helped perfect the assembly line of refrigerio.
On Saturday I went to the carrera de cinta. The event basically consists of grabbing a small metal ring that's tied to a rope. On horseback. You get a small prize from a cute little madrina for every ring you bring back. It went well, with the exception of a few wild horses that almost kicked me in the face. Everyone was so surprised at how fast the gringa can run...
The cohete (for those of you who complained about the video quality from the alborada).
The madrinas. They have gifts of $1-2 to give for the rings brought back.
Every ring has a number on it that corresponds to a madrina.
Yesterday I stopped by the tarde alegre on my side of town. There was a great turn out. The kids had a pinata and ice cream, then there was a band that played for the adults. Of course, the bolos were the first to dance. They asked me to dance with them, but I said they'd need to bathe first because they smell bad. Everyone loved that. I left just before dark for a skype date with my parents, but my host sister went to check on the party. Apparently the whole desvio was full of dancing! I hope everyone had fun.
I miss a lot of things about my old life in 'Murica. I miss wearing hoodies. I miss chili and pita chips and all kinds of food. I miss my favorite TV shows. I miss shopping for stuff I don't need. I miss being comfortable and feeling clean.
And damn, I miss the Stanley Cup champions and my home team, the Chicago Blackhawks.
I went to a few Wolves games with my dad when I was a kid. I don't remember much of the hockey part, but they had this terrifying pre-game show and I hated it. Who thinks fireworks INSIDE is a good idea?!
I started following the hawks because I dated a guy who was a big fan. I loved the speed and the fights, and I never missed a game at his crappy college apartment. That was 2010 and the hawks went on to win the Stanley Cup that season, the first Cup win since 1961. I like to think that I was their lucky charm. What a great time to fall in love with hockey!
And they did it again in 2013 to send me off to El Salvador with a BANG! As always, their lucky charm watched every game and didn't wash her hawks sweater because superstition, duh.
It's difficult to keep up with my favorite team here in PC. I read all the hawks news and check the stats, but I'm missing the Crow's great saves and Sharpie's sharp shooting. I miss Q's 'stache and of course my captain, o captain!
Being a sports fan in Chicago can be really depressing (i.e. Chicago Cubs), but Chicago hockey always delivers. I'll get home in time for the 2015 season to kick off. Who's coming to games with me!?
I know Christi's in :)
Open when.... You miss the (2013 Stanley Cup Champion) Blackhawks
I just want to thank my grandma and my dear friend Mauli for sending me cards! I love it when you include photos because I put them up on my mirror. I love seeing your happy faces!
My grandma also sent a lot of Valentine's day cards from the 90s (I think they're kinda old?) so I'll be sharing these with the kids in town before I leave for the beach on the 14th. It's one of PCs goals to share American culture with your host country. Grilled cheese was pretty fun. Next up: Valentine's cards!
Thanks for the pics!
Send me a pic and you can end up on my mirror too!
Two traditional foods here in El Salvador involve melted, gooey cheese- pupusas andguisquil relleno.
So why, WHY, has it taken me 7 months to make a grilled cheese sandwich!? I put an end to my grilled cheese suffering today.
Quesillo is a type of cheese that's kind of like ricotta. It melts well and tastes great. That and some wheat bread (a pleasant surprise at the store), margarine (because butter is nonexistent) and tomatoes and you've got yourself a salvadoran grilled cheese!
I made 5 grilled cheeses and shared them with the family. They love it! I want to teach Otina how to make grilled cheese so she can sell them in her chalet. It has serious potential!
Let there be cheese! The first grilled cheese. They melted better once I got the hang of it.
Forget about Sochi, the real action is here in La Montaña!
This week is my host community's patron saint fair. I don't know the story of the Virgin Lourdes, but I know she's a Catholic saint. So by default, the fair isolates half the community who isn't Catholic. I'm trying to convince the Evangelical half to come to the events anyways. There's free food!
From the onset it's been interesting to watch the community dynamic played out around the events of the fair. My host mom was suspicious when I told her the ADESCO is going to host a tarde alegre with a piñata and live music in our casario. They never host anything on our side of town. Must be a political ploy....
Oi ve. Politics aside, we've had a pretty good turn out for the feria. I'm planning on going to as many events as I can, with the exception of the coronación because I'll be sipping margs at the beach :)
Here's a run down of our events:
6 de febrero- 4am Alborada, 3pm Tarde Alegre en la cancha
7 de febrero- 2:30pm Tarde Alegre (in my casario, oooooooo)
8 de febrero- 4am Alborada, 2pm Carrera de cinta
9 de febrero- 4am Alborada en la cancha, 8am Torneo de futbol
10 de febrero- 2pm Celebración de adulto meyor (Yey! I love old people!)
15 de febrero- 7pm Coronación de la reina
We kicked off the fair Thursday morning 2 hours before dawn with an alborada. I went over to my community guide's house the day before to make 300 tamales. I spent the night there, and after an unfortunate battle with a gato that wanted to sleep on my head, I was wide awake and ready at 3:30am to pass out tamales, pan y cafe to the community members gathering outside. Free food is good food! Cohetes woke them up, but many men and women wake up at this hour on the regular. Woman need to make breakfast for the men who leave to tend the fields at 5am.
I kept asking, when does the sun come up? Why is it so dark still? They laughed and told me to wake up earlier. A true salvadoran wakes up at 4am. I told them I'll be a true salvadoran at the appropriate hour of 8am. We agreed to disagree.
I'm excited for the fair even though I've struggled with some ADESCO members in the planning process. They wanted a big, fat gringa candidata to crown. Ya know, one that'll bring in hundreds of dollars from her friends and family back in the US. As if this wasn't ridiculous enough, most candidatas are young teens (you can't have kids to participate so the sad reality is that this leaves 12 and 13 year olds). Some PCVs agree to be candidatas and it's totally awesome and they have a great time. But I personally choose not to. I tried explaining that I could help with soliciting funds by writing letters and going on visits. I mean, the majority of professional experiences I have required fundraising skills so I wanted to share that. Experience. Not magic money. Explaining my role is a constant process.
But never mind that. It's #feria2014 time! Follow my blog for updates on this exciting week of sport, food and community bonding!
I was an idiot if I thought hiding out in my house on election day would excuse me from intense political conversations.
PC is strictly, very seriously, 100% apolitical. You kinda have to be in a country that's very polarized. Walk around in a red t-shirt and you could lose (or gain) all the support of your community. Election time has turned up the political tension, and unfortunately I've been subjected to some very politicized debates and conversations. Now that there's going to be a run off election in March, I have to sit quietly and nod as more and more people tell me how their party will save the country.
Today I had two very different conversations with two very important women in my life. They couldn't have more different political views, and that's what made it so interesting to listen to them. Both women are mild mannered, but they are die-hard supporters of their chosen party. I honestly never would have guessed it until today when each woman decided to share their positions with me, whether I wanted to hear it or not.
I won't get into the positions of FLMN or Arena, and I won't give you a laundry list of the ridiculous sweeping promises they both made leading up to election day. FLMN is left, Arena is right. Google can tell you the rest.
What is more interesting to me is why these women support the side they do. The first woman is dirt poor. Literally, her house is made of mud and bamboo. Her husband passed away recently, and with him went the small amount of income the family depended on. She's an illiterate small business owner, but it's hard work and she's barely making it. She supports FLMN because she knows that with a little push she could get herself above the worst of poverty and her kids could know a better life. She's suffered in poverty all her life and supports the party that would give free school uniforms to her children and subsidios for her home.
The second woman is very devote. She believes that the lord God our savior provides her with three square meals a day, the clothes on her back, and her good, solid home. He provides for her- not the government. Those who would have the government support them are Godless and/or lazy.
Now, I've been known tothrowshade on the Evangelical church. I simply don't agree with what they preach. So imagine my dismay at hearing this woman I care for very much disregard the backbreaking work her husband does to harvest the corn and beans she eats, the plentiful remezas she receives from her children in the US, and the substantial land she inherited from her father. All because God. The guy who frowns on women in pants.
But then the conversation changed. She started talking about the war. It's a very sensitive topic around here, especially because I live in northern Morazan where it all began and where the most people were killed. She told me stories that would have given me nightmares if only I hadn't heard such terrible, terrible stories before from other Salvadorans. The worst was a story about when her brother was taken in the middle of the night from his bed, had every single tooth pulled out, then was forced to lie face down in the street next to his father as they were pumped full of bullets from a machine gun. That happened in front of my house 30 years ago.
She remembers what frente meant back then, and no amount of campaigning will ever help her to forget. It pains her to see her nephews and nieces wear red to support the left. "They don't know what it's like to suffer. I do. I'm always suffering."
So there you have it. Two women who suffer. One sees the front runner FLMN as a solution to her pain, the other sees it as the source.
This is hardly the last political conversation I will have here in El Salvador. I know it isn't because my community is completely polarized and everyone suspects the other of misleading me. They all think they have the responsibility to enlighten me, even though I tell them time and time again that I have no part in this. I cannot care either way.
And after hearing these two women's stories I don't think I would choose a side, even if I could.
What is standfast? It's when something is happening somewhere in the country and we can't leave our sites. Think volcanic eruption or.... presidential election day. We've been on standfast here for 3 days, 1 day before, the day of, and 1 day after, all because of the peaceful elections here in El Salvador. I know I can't blame PC for being cautious, but common! For some reason knowing that I couldn't leave my site made me feel trapped, even though it was honestly like any other day.
I think other PCVs can agree that we took the opportunity to be lazy. Verrrrrry lazy. I tried to make the time pass by hanging out with the kids. It worked until my stomach problems picked up and I didn't want to be around humans any more. Then out of boredom and addiction I bought more internet so I could see everyone's Super Bowl party food.
Nachos.
Beer.
Wings.
Chips and dip.
Cheese sticks.
It was almost too much. I made some mashed potatoes and watched Sleepless in Seattle. All in all a decent day.
Aysel doesn't like wearing shirts. Also, this is what her hair looks like when you take the braids out.
Ive has a mane too!!
The mangos are coming in so I asked David and Kenny to climb up and get me some.
Kenny wouldn't let me take the knife away. I was certain he'd cut a finger off.
