The last 2 weeks...

2/17/06: BUS MEMORIES...GOOD FOR A LIFETIME...
I'm on a bus from San Salvador to San Vicente, coincidentally it's the same bus that my friend Jared is on and even more odd: there is an open seat for us to sit in. Because we're leaving for the weekend, to meet all the newbie volunteers, we have our huge backpacks. And, of course, we're on the kiddie size bus, with both of us not even coming close to fitting into the seat. Although the width of the seat is lacking, it's wide enough to comfortably (as comfortable as you can imagine) fit our backpacks next to us. We come to a stop on the outskirts of San Salvador where the cobrador (the guy that collects the money) informs us we have to move over for the people that just got onto the bus. I move close to the window and sit straight, causing me to lift and bend my legs up so I can fit and Jared says, "I can't fit in that seat! Why the heck do WE have to move??!" So he makes the new person sit between us. Sure enough, as we pull off, I look around the bus and EVERY OTHER seat that's the same as ours has 2 people. I vocalized this and Jared just went crazy again. "YEAH. Why did WE have to be the ones to move??!!" with much irritation. I start laughing uncontrollably...but that only lasts for about 30 seconds, until I realize that I'm going to be stuck in that position (basically my body in a ball, with my huge backpack on top) for the next hour and a half. THAT was a memory...









2/18/06: MINI-ME HAS ARRIVED...
Do you remember all of those emails that I sent right after I arrived here in country? All of those crazy experiences that I was priviledged to share with you? Well, I guess I've become the veteran because now I'm a mentor to a newbie, Leah, that is going through all those fun experiences. I met her for the first time on the 18th of this month and she's AWESOME! The first meeting should have been a sign of what was to come...we dressed exactly alike...black sleeveless shirt and jeans, and both had similar haircuts (although, after my haircut debacle in December, I have to say, her's is WAY cuter!). She's 22, recently graduated from Arizona State University, and is from Minnesota/Alaska. We met for the first time on Mentor Day in the training center. When we saw each other, we yelled, "Hey!!", ran up and hugged and one of the other trainees was like, "What the heck is this?? Look at you two...it's like you're sisters!"

Anyway, we (the oldies) talked about our day to day lives as volunteers with the newbies. And when we got to safety, I started talking about how I'm super careful with stuff, like how I carry my flash drives in my bra. And Bri, the trainer, said, "What do you mean?? You have stuff pointing out of your bra all the time??!" And I said, "NO!! Geez! I'm wearing them right now!" And Bri said, "Well, I guess you DO have some room to store them! You've got HUGE jugs!" Nice intro for the newbies...

Anyway, after the long discussion, we (the veterans) whipped out a pinata...a dilapidated/sketch-looking Spongebob Squarepants and I said, "OK. We got a pinata to welcome you all to the country. And we know that this Spongebob looks a little scary. But we just want to tell you that it's just like your experience here in El Salvador. It seems a little scary right now, but you just have to pound away for 2 years, and you'll get through it and maybe even find a few surprises in your experiences, just like you'll find some surprised inside this pinata." I think I was the only one that liked that comment, but I didn't care...they were going to hear it! :)









2/19/06: TOURIST ATTRACTION SUCHITOTO
During Mentor Day, one of the other volunteers found out where my site is and just went on and on and on about how lucky I am because it's so beautiful. Well, on the 19th, I had the opportunity to visit Tamar's site (another volunteer from my group) next to Suchitoto, one of the biggest tourist sites in the country. Oh my goodness. Her site is forested, overlooks this beautiful lake, and is super rural. I can't hold a candle to that! We took a ferry across the lake to her site, and besides being able to take in the breath-taking view, we had the pleasure of dancing with this drunk woman that just found us irrisistable when we just stood still taking in the view. Tamar is working on a rabbit project, which means they have 3 rabbits (one male and two females) and they breed them. When the baby rabbits are 4 weeks old, they become food. I found it to be very interesting, although I don't think I could be too involved with that project...seeing baby rabbits and then knowing they're getting killed for food. It's really helping out the community, though.


2/20/06: DON'T FORGET ABOUT US...
When I got back to San Salvador, I visited the Ministry of Education so I could visit with the National Director of Technology again. I gave him a solicitud about a month ago for a computer lab in the school in my community and hadn't heard anything. So I walked into his office and said, "Caaarrrllos! How's it going?" Yadda yadda yadda..."You haven't forgotten about San Isidro, have you?" "That would be impossible while you're there." Yadda yadda yadda. He's coming to visit soon. :)


2/21/06: TEACHING ENGLISH...
Remember crazy Mauricio from the English workshop on the beach? The one that started running around the room screaming at people to sing his song? Well, he has recently been hired to teach English in a school, so he invited me to sit in one day during his classes. I was welcomed SO warmly by ALL of the students. I got a letter from EVERY single grade, in English, welcoming me to their school, with all of their names on the welcome letter. Super fun. We start teaching Engligh in my community on Monday! The hardest thing is that I am not teaching. I won't do it for sustainability reasons. The people that I've met that I can converse with are teaching it. It should be interesting...wish us luck!









2/24/06: WHIPPING TALES...
In the morning, I met with a guy in San Salvador about the internet project. I'm getting super pumped about it, but it's going to be really expensive in the beginning I think. The first Technology Committee meeting (the group that I formed within my community) is March 14th. I'm making them make the plan for how this is going to happen (which is incredibly hard for me...I just want to DO it!). Anyway, in the afternoon, I went with Adolfo to meet his friend Bass and his girlfriend Brooke (both from New York) at Bass' godfather's beach house. OH MY GOODNESS! This place was AMAZING!! Imagine Pottery Barn catalogs, and you have an idea of what this house was like. About 7-8 rooms, all with bathrooms, the back all open, stairs down to a private pool which was on a cliff overlooking the ocean. That night and the next morning were SOOOO fun!!!! I was like, "HOW are we in El Salvador right now??!" And the next morning, when Adolfo and I were swimming, we watched whales playing in the ocean right in front of us! They were whipping their tales all around...for like 30 minutes! It was AWESOME!!












3/2/06: A VISIT TO MY SITE...
Leah (my awesome mentee) arrived at my site yesterday to have her immersion day experience. I was determined to make hers memorable because of all the fun she's going to have with the family I selected; I thought my "marriage proposal/guy getting into bed with me" experience was ok not to repeat with her. :) So she's up in Santo Tomas, the caserio (community even smaller than mine) up the hill from my community, right now spending 2 days in the country. She's coming back to my house tomorrow morning, and we're going to attend a youth camp, eat some lunch with 2 other volunteers, and then eat pupusas and talk!


Ok. This email is quite long enough, I think. If you want more details (I'm seriously trying to give highlights), let me know. :)

Hope you're all doing well!

Miss ya!