Putting time in

I really wanted to come back to the campo after going to the beach.

That might seem like an odd statement coming from me, but it's true. I hadn't left my site in what felt like a million years and so when I finally did I felt hurried and sweaty and tired. After a 5 hours stint waiting for the micro to arrive, I came home and nearly kissed the gray cinderblocks. Home sweet home!

So what have I been doing the past few months that I so desperately wanted to come back to? Have a look:

English class is... going. I realized that I actually love teaching, but I hate dealing with kids. I don't really have a good vibe with the new class. There are too many students crammed in to the small classroom, and they feel like they have to be there and so that makes it boring. Part of that was a mishap with the Directora, when she came in to my class and warned the kids that if they miss my class they won't be allowed to enter their other classes all day. I'm grateful that she values my time and is trying to impress that on to my students, but damn! I don't want kids getting kicked out of math class because they couldn't make my extra, apart from normal hours English club/class. Math is important, learning colors in English is not. It really isn't! One hour of English a week is not enough to really learn anything, but I do it because some kids want the exposure to something new. The other 80% of class though has been acting up and I'm getting real impatient.

I hope that the Directora approves my financial literacy classes to start next month. Understanding money and how it works is so much more useful than my not-really-English-class. Literally, no one cares if you can say "yellow" and "green". What's much more time worthy is learning how to save and budget money, even if it's a few dollars a month. Those skills alone will be relevant for life.

Of course, even of the Directora approves my classes there is a strong possibility that the kids won't show up. But I'm prepared for that. In fact, a part of me expects for this to fail. I really hope it doesn't though. Keep your fingers crossed.

One day I was coming to English class and I saw the 3rd graders playing COED SOCCER (whoa) with the soccer balls I got donated at the end of last year. It was a real pick me up to see them play. 

I attended the graduation party of my old host sister. She graduated college, which is a huge deal. She is the first in her family to go to college and I'm very proud of her. I think she's a good role model for other youth in the community. I came over before the party to help with all the balloons and paper mache. Sooooooo much paper mache. It was fun though because I got to spend some valuable time with my sobrina Aysel.

Everyone called her liscenciada all day, which means college graduate. It was fun!

I got to hang out with Aysel and take lots of selfies!

My adorable old host parents. My host dad walked my sister down the aisle for graduation, so he has a matching tie. I was so proud that my host mom tried out a new dress for the occasion. So fierce! 

There was a religious mariachi band, too! And I mean religious. Part of the deal is that they lead culto during the party. It was very them.

My host mom was overjoyed to see me. 

We also planned an elaborate surprise birthday party for my current host sister. This literally took weeks to plan and I don't know how but we kept it a secret! I think she knew something was up when Orbelina made bread early and her mom cooked a full meal and put it in tuperware. Me and the other bichas schemed a "trip to the waterfall" to get my host sister out of the house. I said I wanted to take a break from walking in the shade of the school and I snapped this pic right before my host family showed up in the back of a pick up truck. Surprise! We're going to Apalipul! The waterpark was actually really nice, and had lots of slides and a deep pool. I was of course the only one in a swimsuit, as the typical dress for swimming here is jeans and a t-shirt. We ate cake and rice and tortillas, and came home tired but happy.

Look more surprised! 

My host fam. Happy birthday! 

With the cake.

In February I planted seeds my dad sent me last year. I now have basil, zucchini and green beans growing alongside the green peppers my host dad planted. Before he went to health promoter school, he used to sell whatever he could grow in the market. That's what he lived on. I believe him because all of our plants are growing well! He and the neighbor kid made a bamboo/garbage/old door garden to keep the chickens out. 

We started the seeds in a big bucket. This was the end of February.

Then we built this! With old soda bottles, bamboo and the door. 

Zucchini coming in strong! 

These were my great grandfather's green beans. How cool that they're now in El Salvador!?

The basil, slow but sure. 

The door serves a new purpose. 

One track mind

Annnnd I'm back. I hate to neglect my blog, but I've had a one track mind lately and I think it's paid off.

Folks, it's official- I have completed the graduation requirements for my Master's degree in Politics and Government from Illinois State University! I started a Master's International program with the Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development the year before I left for PC and wrote my capstone while I was in El Salvador.

Me and my cousin walked in the same ceremony (she's in SpeechPath) back in May when I visited home. 

Unfortunately my capstone is a little disheartening. I conducted a case study that examines just how drastically my community's development organization or ADESCO (Asociaciones de Desarrollo Comunal) has fallen in the past two years that it's partnered with a certain microfinance institution. I had a really unique perspective in all of this because COED PCVs in El Salvador are placed specifically with ADESCOs to do trainings, help them manage projects, etc. I got placed with one that just happened to, well, suck.

The decline of my ADESCO affected me personally in a variety of ways. Remember when the ADESCO was fulfilling their expectations from the microfinance institution, but not really though, and left me to invite a group of women and conduct the meeting alone? Yeah, that's not cool. It's a constant process explaining my role to the community, but you'd think after SIX previous PCVs they'd get the gist. PCVs work with communities, but they don't work for them. This was just an example of how the "opportunities" the MFI brought in weren't actually what the ADESCO wanted, or they didn't want to work for them.

Whereas the actual case study might be repetitive (people are pretty fed up talking about it at this point), the research I do regarding ADESCOs is really informative. There are NO previous resources, not even governmental resources, that fully describe the history of ADESCOs, how to form one, what they do, what are the legal frameworks in place, and what laws protect the rights of ADESCOs. These are legal entities, with legal powers to solicit their own community development projects with the government, NGOs, international orgs, banks, etc. Imagine if Englewood could just be like, "Yeah, thanks for nothing City of Chicago. We're gonna work with the UN now." It's crazy! So interesting! And yet, no one really knows about it.

I also summarize a recent report that basically quantifies the lives of Salvadorans by their income, housing characteristics, education levels, etc. As it could be expected, rural areas of El Salvador are doing FAR WORSE than the urban areas, and living in the capital can nearly double your monthly earnings. A review of El Salvador wouldn't be complete without discussing gang violence and the influx of child immigrants, two things I've experienced very personally here. It felt a little silly trying to sum up all of these things and present the "situation" in full because, as it is anywhere in the world, the statistics don't always capture the real lives of its subjects.

So besides my capstone, what else have I been doing? Let's see.

Taking pictures of our cows.

Taking selfies with Aysel, who loves my iPad.

Laughing at the boys when they come back from the milpa. Darn tootin their gonna pick those beans!

Making riguas with my favorite family. 

Corn mash, salt, oil, sugar. Looks like pancakes. 

Served with a side of cuajada. So good!

And making tamales with maiz nuevo. I like to eat mine with honey and they think I'm crazy.