HIV/AIDS conference

Well, hello there!

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.