Entering month 16...

I've been thinking a lot about why the Peace Corps experience is so hard. Read "Just why is it that way?" here if you're interested on my take. Updates from the last couple of weeks are below...

June 2006 swearing-in ceremony at the Embassy
1 Year Anniversary: Celebrating in Black
Andrea, Steph, Tara, me, Josephine, Jen


My identity has been defined...
Before leaving for the states, the new group of volunteers were sworn in and we had a huge party for them. Because they came in exactly one year after my group, we all planned the festivities. Each of the new volunteers received a goodie bag from us that included an assortment of helpful items here, one being an "emergency contact list" with the contact info for everyone in my group and a reason each of us should be contacted. I didn't help come up with this list, but for me it said, "Contact if you need to organize your life and then put it into a database." Fitting I suppose. :)


The Student Tech Team:
Marielos, Rigoberto, Gilberto, Adrián, Marta, Ronald, Carlos, Salvador, Omar


The Technology Project: A small, but important, accomplishment
Before I left for the states, I told the kids that they needed to visit with the non-profit organizations while I was gone to find out what types of projects they work in, and give them a description of our project. Kind of a first visit sort of thing. And you probably remember me talking about my attempt at the motivational talk. Well, when I was home in Illinois, curiosity just got the best of me, so I called my counterpart (the director of the school) and asked if any of the kids had given him a permission form to sign. And he said, "Yeah! They all did! They told me they didn't have the print out of the project description, but still HAD to go, because they didn't want to think about telling you they didn't do it. They're scared of you!" I could NOT stop laughing. Sweet. So my motivation to them was scaring the living daylights out of them. Well, I guess whatever works... But I was SO happy to meet with them and see accomplishment in their faces. They traveled alone, to offices that they had never been to, and talked to professional people about our project. Awesome. I'm SUPER excited about the project. We definitely still have a ton to do, but we're on our way. :)


More Miami Muddles
As many of you know, I had planned to leave the states on August 29th. I didn't actually leave until September 1st. I spent 2 extra days in Columbus because I knew ahead of time those two days that I wouldn't be able to leave from Miami. The last day, September 1st, the Miami plane was cancelled while we were in route to Miami, so I ended up staying an additional night there. Here's a tidbit that just might help you in the future: When the airline people ask you if you want your checked luggage, don't say, "Whatever is easiest." Say, "Yes." Because if you let them decide what to do (especially if you're in Miami where NOTHING ever works right), they just might leave your luggage out on the tarmack overnight, where it can get drenched from the rain, causing (A) all of your clothing to reek when you arrive to your final destination and (B) all of your dark clothing to bleed onto all of your light clothing, leaving you with nothing to wear. It's not fun. And you will continue hating the stupid airport that you can never enter and leave from without problems.













Stupider, indeed...
Baby bro did indeed graduate and now is looking forward to moving to Alaska where he wants to be part of the ski patrol at a local resort. I had such a good time visiting with everyone back home; thank you to everyone for that! I have to admit, though, this is the first time that I felt like a visitor. I was freezing the ENTIRE time! I kept my hotel room at 85 degrees (only because the system prevented me from making it hotter) and was still freezing!! And that feeling was just amplified when I returned to my community. It was such a relief to be back and I was so happy to see everyone. I guess I really do consider this home now. Strange, huh? (Side note: it was 84 degrees in San Salvador when we landed and I started sweating again the MOMENT I got off the plane! 85 in Columbus is NOT the same as 85 here!) Anyway, when I saw people in my community, they were so welcoming and I could tell that they genuinely missed me, and I them. It was a strange, but good, feeling. :)

I've also realized in the last week back that for some reason, I've lost ALL ability to have social conversations. (And I'm talking in English here.) It started dawning on me during a fellow volunteer's birthday party that we were celebrating in the capital. I didn't talk much during dinner, and afterwards, I decided to talk to one of the former staff members for Peace Corps. The conversation was probably the worst conversation I've ever had in my life in terms of flow. There was NONE. He was being sarcastic. I didn't get it. He had to tell me. Then the awkward silence followed. And I mean things like this happened constantly during our conversation. I hope I never have to see him again in my lifetime because I'm pretty sure he considers me one of the dumbest people he's ever met. Then, a fellow volunteer texted me and I started responding back like a mad woman. I mean, I sent like 10 messages to this volunteer about absolutely nothing! And like 5 minutes after the last one, I was like, "What the heck was I just doing?" I really came across as a crazy woman. Finally, one of the volunteers from my group visited me this week and we had a blast talking and listening to music all night. And I said to her that I really thought I had no abilities to communicate anymore. And she said, "I KNOW!!! We've gotten STUPIDER here!" And I was like, "You mean...more stupid?" And we just both LOST it laughing. That about sums it up on where I stand. I really hope I get back SOME sort of social ability... :)


A dose of reality
Yesterday, apparently our 15th anniversary of arriving in country, I had my first security incident. I was riding a local bus in San Salvador (and of course was only on this bus because I was lazy and didn't want to walk) and these 2 guys in the back walked up to the front of the bus, to the passenger (a professional looking woman) right behind the driver. The 2nd guy, as he walked to the front, pulled a pocket-knife out of his pocket, opened it, and held it behind his leg so ALL of us in the back of the bus could see it. And I'm not talking regular pocket knife. I'm talking, when opened, a knife that spanned twice the length of the palm of my hand. The Peace Corps security officer later told me this is called a "ninja knife", or something like that. Anyway, then the first guy asked the woman for something and I just saw her shake her head no. And then the bus stopped at its next stop. EVERYONE behind these guys jumped up (including me) and RAN to the back of the bus to get off. I, and a woman carrying her baby, were two of the first ones there because we were sitting close to the exit. When we arrived, we ran into a 3rd guy that was blocking the exit and all of us from getting off. He starts in with, "Tranquilo. Nada pasa. Está bien." ("Calm down. Nothing is happening. It's all good.") Yeah, RIGHT. We RUSHED him, pushing him off the bus onto the sidewalk, and RAN in all different directions. I ran to a side street up to a small business and asked if I could come in. They let me in and I called our security officer and just LOST it. Nothing even happened to me, but I was shaking like mad and bawling. I could barely even tell her what happened! She was great, though. She came to pick me up and brought me to the office. Then I talked to our PC medical officer and she let me know that I could go talk to the PC psychologist, if I wanted to and asked me for a short description to report the incident to Washington. Man. I really thought I had prepared myself for something like that, with all the security info that we've received. But I guess I hadn't. I was shaken up really badly. I spent the afternoon swimming in the pool at the Sheraton. I needed it. (And thanks to my friend that I called to help me calm down...it helped a lot.)

Ok, that's about it from down here in El Sal! Hope you're all doing well!