My two years of Peace Corps service have concluded and I am leaving my humble home in the campo for an equally humble home in the city. I am fortunate enough to have lived in such a wonderful and safe community. I will never forget my time in Cabañas. I will always carry with me the memories of: the stores of my two neighbors, the amazing sounds of the night, dogs barking and roosters crowing, the evangelicals screaming and crying, the early mornings when my neighbors blasted their music, time moving slowly, the sunsetting on giant hills, eating at my Padrinos, talking for hours in the street every night with Chele and Padre and Pacheca, Rio Lempa, and what my girlfriend likes to call "la buena". The good life.
What I won't miss is the machismo. That is pretty much it. And I still live here and it is still the only thing that I cannot accept about this country. The trash burning is not that bad to me, I actually don't mind how it smells, and there is no other option so that is just how it has to be.
Now I live in Sonsonate, the valley of the Holy Trinity. I love it here. The weather is hot and perfect, I am 20 minutes from the beach, and I have a really great job. I am working with this program called Superate (better yourself) where they specialize in teaching English, Computers, and Life Skills to high school students. I work with the Life Skills teachers providing resources for HIV/AIDS/Sex education, leadership classes, and I also have a poetry club. It is a really incredible group of people that work here, and the students here are so hungry to change and be successful.
It is very different being here. I have the internet everyday, I get to speak in English if I want because all the teachers can speak it, and I live in one of the largest cities besides San Salvador. Sometimes I still can't believe that I am still here and I still get to do this.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
You Gonna Eat That!? - Mike Watkins /No Cavities And A Negative Stool Sample
Hey, hellooooo.
it is has been a few months, clearly, and now I am proud to say that I have completed my first year of service, had my medical evaluation and am very healthy, and I have no cavities. I am very fortunate to only have gotten amoebas, on more than one occasion, and to have been sick only once this whole time here.
Things are much different, they have been for quite some time. I feel different in my community. Not different as in set apart, but rather I feel just like another member of my community. Whenever I don't eat pupusas for more than 2 days I crave them, I eat 3 tortillas for lunch everyday instead of a half of one like my first months, and I have a dog that is serious about take caring of me. Little kids in the street will now speak to me in English after having taught them how to hear"How are you" and respond with "I'm good thank you." My boys are much more protective with me, they look out for me, make sure I am safe when I am not in site. My community has also met my brothers so they ask questions, want to be updated about them. There are so many more things that have changed that have made it hard, some days, to really envision that in less than a year I will be leaving.
Sometimes I feel like I am not actually going to go back, that is that I am not going home, I am home. Every single house in my community has someone that is right now, or has been recently, in the United States working. I heard a friend the other day tell me something that I could really relate to. He said he felt like his home was in the States, but his country is El Salvador. Sometimes I feel the same way, but reversed.
Now with a year left I am writing lots of letters to South Africa, finishing my reading list, seeing my projects come together, and planning some big changes in the next year and a half.
it is has been a few months, clearly, and now I am proud to say that I have completed my first year of service, had my medical evaluation and am very healthy, and I have no cavities. I am very fortunate to only have gotten amoebas, on more than one occasion, and to have been sick only once this whole time here.
Things are much different, they have been for quite some time. I feel different in my community. Not different as in set apart, but rather I feel just like another member of my community. Whenever I don't eat pupusas for more than 2 days I crave them, I eat 3 tortillas for lunch everyday instead of a half of one like my first months, and I have a dog that is serious about take caring of me. Little kids in the street will now speak to me in English after having taught them how to hear"How are you" and respond with "I'm good thank you." My boys are much more protective with me, they look out for me, make sure I am safe when I am not in site. My community has also met my brothers so they ask questions, want to be updated about them. There are so many more things that have changed that have made it hard, some days, to really envision that in less than a year I will be leaving.
Sometimes I feel like I am not actually going to go back, that is that I am not going home, I am home. Every single house in my community has someone that is right now, or has been recently, in the United States working. I heard a friend the other day tell me something that I could really relate to. He said he felt like his home was in the States, but his country is El Salvador. Sometimes I feel the same way, but reversed.
Now with a year left I am writing lots of letters to South Africa, finishing my reading list, seeing my projects come together, and planning some big changes in the next year and a half.
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