Monday, march 30

After much anticipation, I finally got to find out more about what I'm going to be doing during my internship here. As some of you know, when I left the states, I still knew barely more than "well, they asked me to teach English." I could only guess what age level, which school, whether or not I'd be completely in charge of classes or be working as a teacher's aide, etc. Today was the day I finally got some answers. Alvaro picked us up only 2.5 hours after the original time we were to leave, and we went to Caluco for a bit.
I will be working at a school called Republica de China. I will be working as a teacher's aide for Don Carlos most of the week (at least, that's what it sounded like. I hope I'm not underestimating my workload).
I met the principal, the English teachers, and some of the other teachers at the school today. We discussed my plans, scheduling, and briefly went over the English topics this week. Starting at 7 tomorrow, I will begin my internship at Republica de China k-12 school in Caluco. I'll only be working with 7th graders through 2nd bachillerato (which I think is comparable to high school juniors or seniors) and so I will work M-TH 7:15am-12:15pm and then all day on Fridays. The school system is here is kind of confusing. I'll have to write a blog post about it when I figure it out.
The school's vision statement is this:

"Somos una institución comprometida con el propósito de formar y capacitar una niñez y juventud proactiva; para que puedan resolver y enfrentarse a la vida con responsabilidad."

I think the basic idea is this: 

"We are an institution committed to the purpose of forming and training proactive children so that they can make responsible decisions when they come face-to-face with life's opportunities." 

My new friends

I am living in the home of Connie Rodriguez, along with Erica (the housekeeper) and her daughter Michell, though I'm not sure if they LIVE here or if they are just here during the day or what. I THINK they live here.  They're all very nice ladies! Connie is so gracious for opening her home to two strangers from Washington.
Connie, Erica, Michell, Lacey and I all went to the market shortly after arriving. I needed a few articles of clothing (a couple of lighter shirts that are nice enough to work in the school and a bra, since I keep soaking through all my clothes due to the extreme heat and humidity here).
           As far as I can tell, Michell, Erica's 10-year-old daughter, is the only one here who speaks a little English, and even then, she only knows how to pronounce a few written words and how to say colors and some fruits. On the way back from the market, Michell and I were talking a little bit, and she asked me, "Podemos ser amigas?" which means, "can we be friends?" It was very sweet! I responded, "Por supuesto!" "Of course!" And we smiled. Yay warm fuzzy feelings!
            When we got back to the house, Michell showed Lacey and I her book of Fairies. It's an awesome book!!! It highlights famous fairies such as those from Sleeping Beauty, the Snow Queen, Tinkerbell, etc. It also has lift up flaps and things that describes how to find fairies, enemies of fairies, where fairies live, what they do, what they eat and wear, etc. I imagine that such a thick, dense, beautifully illustrated book like that would cost at least $25 in the U.S. We asked her if she could read it and she said no. We tried to help her translate part of it. Lacey looked up the word "fairy" in Spanish, and we found out that it is "hada." So Michell brought her book over and we sat together and looked at the book for a while and I translated a few stories the best of my ability. Then, she asked me if I liked to draw. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I grew up drawing everything all the time and that I wanted to be a cartoonist or illustrator before I wanted to be a teacher. Of course I love to draw! So we went to the table in the garden and she showed me her school book where she had drawn and colored patterns of different shapes in graph paper for class. There were a couple pages of pears, different kids of flowers, butterflies, crosses, pine trees, etc. She's quite the little artist! She also showed me a couple sketches she had free-handed of Frankie Stein and the Dracula chick from the Monster High series. Since my little cousin Maliah likes Monster High, I immediately recognized the characters and said so to Michell. She's a very good artist! I went and grabbed my own sketchbook from my room and then she and I sat down together and drew pictures until lunch. I drew a picture of Michell as she drew a picture of a pug dog. It was great fun! She also showed me the pet turtles, who live in a big enclosure at the back of the house. It gets lots of sun, but there are lots of roof tiles and things to hide under for shade, and there are big pans of water for them, too.

So far, except for a few words with Lacey and my written communications here and on Facebook, today has been entirely in Spanish. It's sometimes difficult when I don't understand every spoken word, but I think it's best when I admit that I don't understand and ask for clarification instead of just nodding, smiling, and pretending I know what's going on. Everyone here is really good about speaking slowly and being patient when I don't understand. Michell even wrote something down for me when I didn't understand a question she was asking. It's nice. :) I bet this is how a lot of exchange students and/or immigrants feel when they come to the United States! New language, new culture.... it can all be a bit confusing! Why, just tonight, Connie took Lacey and me to see a procession of the Cross, which is a Catholic celebration that commemorates the passion of the Christ as he went to the cross to die for us. We watched the procession go by, and then we walked along behind it for a bit and as we walked, two older men approached us and started talking with us. Older people are sometimes hard to understand because they might slur their words a bit more or talk differently because of their aging mouths or something. I have a hard time understanding older folks and small children even in English, let alone in Spanish! At any rate, we chatted for a while. One man had lived in Washington and worked for Bill Gates for a while (so he said), and he also visited Lousiana, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and New York! Another man, Ernesto (he was very hard to understand!!!), said he had a granddaughter who lived in Canada with her family and came to visit in El Salvador. There was some joke about that that I didn't get, but I smiled anyway. He said my name was easy to remember because it's like the singer "Britney Spears" who has drug and alcohol problems. I feel like everyone here connects my name to Britney Spears; it's a little embarrassing and annoying, since I really don't want anything to do with her anymore. I digress. He made some joke about his name being like "Ernesto" and "Molesto" (Molestar means to bother). Very chatty old guys. It was fun, albeit a little frustrating having to concentrate so hard to make sure I understand what's going on.

Anyway, I'm off to bed! Tomorrow's another hot day!

My new digs

 Last day at San Jose hostel in San Salvador!!

The table in the garden (Michell's drawing utensils here)

This is the indoor/outdoor garden facing away from the dining area. 

This is facing back toward the dining area. That window is Lacey's room.

There's Lacey and Kiva in the dining area

 Lacey playing with the dog, Kiva.

 Family room?

 Dining table (reminds me of my grandma's house)

 My room! I get my own room! As you can see, four people can easily share this room, yet I get it all to myself!

 Bathroom door, mirror, and wardrobe! Way cool! the window opens outside.

 My own little bathroom! :D

 The shower

 Going to the market!

 At the market. I got a couple lighweight nice shirts for school and a much-needed new undergarment.

 One of the churches in Izalco

 Superselectos Supermarket!

 Air conditioning.

 Hand sanitizer (expensive)

 Soap is also expensive.This was the last picture I got before an armed security guard approached me and kindly let me know that cameras are prohibited in the store. Yes, grocery stores have armed security guards here. They don't just have pistols, either. They have shotguns and billy clubs. o_0

 People older than 10 years old cannot ride a bike in this park.

 A clearer shot of the church

 Getting settled in! I brought a little box to keep all my things in one place.

 I HAVE A FAN!

Everything's all set up. The drawers were difficult to move (and there were some small animal droppings in one of them) so I just put all my underwear in a plastic back on top of my things in the boudoir, and then just put my folded shirts on top.

Alex

Very early this morning (3:30 am), the CCLP group left to go to the airport to catch their flight back to the States. Lacey and I slept in until 7 or 7:30 before we breakfasted with Alvaro and Javier and left to go to Connie's house in Izalco, where we'll be staying for the rest of our time here.

      Instead of taking a van or a small bus, as we had been with the CCLP group, our ride this morning was in a sedan. The driver bore a striking resemblance to my dad: tall, lean but with a small pooch in the stomach, working man's-hands, a mustache and a bit of chin stubble, laugh lines around the eyes, etc. His name, if I remember correctly, was Alex. I wasn't feeling well and I rode up front to avoid motion sickness, and I was not conversational at all until I was surprised to hear the driver ask, in English, "So how do you like your stay in El Salvador?" "I like it a lot," I replied, and then was quiet for a while. I was looking at all the billboards and ads and signs in Spanish. After a while, when we'd gotten onto the highway, the driver said, "What do you think? This is a new project here in El Salvador. This highway." "It's nice!" I said. "It reminds me a lot of driving through Portland, Oregon." "Oh, I've been there! I know Portland," said Alex. "Yeah, my family lives in Washington. My sister lives in Bremerton, and others live in Seattle." "Oh, really? I know those areas." I said. "Yeah? Do you take the ferry over to Bremerton often?" he asked. "My family and I did when I was young," I said. "We haven't gone in many years, not since we moved to Ellensburg." Later, he pointed off to the left. "That's where I live now," he said, pointing at Lourdes. I have wondered since the first time we passed that town how to pronounce the name, since it's not a common Spanish spelling. Was it pronounced "Lords?" That just sounded too English. Was it "Lord-es?" I took this opportunity to ask him. He said it's pronounced "Lo-oor-des." As we crossed a bridge over a small creek, he explained that a few years ago the bridge had collapsed and was recently rebuilt. Lacey joined the conversation at this point, exclaiming that it's amazing that such a small creek could grow so much so as to destroy a bridge. The conversation continued until we reached Connie's. During this time, we talked a little bit about economics. I asked him if it was true that much of El Salvador's economy depends on remittances, and he said yes. 16% of their economy depends on money being sent back from the U.S.! Alex told us that he doesn't think that's so good because people here don't work as much any more like they should, because they just get money sent to them from the U.S. He pointed to a sugar cane field on our left, and said that, for example, people used to work the cane fields and harvest sugar, but now people come from Honduras and Guatemala to do that work because some Salvadoreans have gotten lazy and won't do that work anymore. He said that the U.S. dollar, the currency here in El Salvador, is worth a lot more in Honduras, so people will come here from Honduras, get paid in dollars, and then send it back home where it's worth a lot more. I was thinking that there's a similar state in the United States: there are many people who just depend on handouts and so they don't work, but those people just collect welfare or other government aid and won't work, yet Americans complain about immigrants coming to the U.S. and working our fields. You just find me a native-born white U.S. citizen with an option for a government handout who is willing to work in those fields, then tell me who's taking whose job! Anyway, I digress. The point is, there are immigrants who come to the U.S. to work and send money back home where the dollar might be worth more, just like people are doing here in El Salvador. The U.S. is apparently not the only country with this economic issue.
                      Alex now works as a driver. He drives school children in the morning, first shift workers in the afternoon, and late-shift workers in the evening. He wanted to get a job in a call center, like those for customer service, but he wasn't able to because he lacked the necessary IT training. Apparently, driving and working in call-centers are some of the best-paid jobs here in El Salvador. For example, our CCLP bus driver, Walter, earns $20 a day, which is almost 3x minimum wage. Alex said that people who work at call centers typically earn $1000 per month, and it only costs $100-150 to rent a NICE house here in a good area! He said with English and IT, you can live very comfortably here.

             We also learned that Alex had lived in Los Angeles, California. His English was almost accent-free, and I was surprised to note that he pronounced "Los Angeles" like "loss an-gel-as", just like most U.S. natives do, instead of like "Lows An-hel-ees" like most Spanish-speakers do. We learned that Alex and his family had moved from El Salvador to California when he was 8 years old, and he was raised and schooled in the United States. He lived there for 25 years until he got involved with some Coyotes. A coyote is a person who helps immigrants cross Mexico's border illegally. One night, they were stopped by the police and he was deported to El Salvador and would not be allowed to try to come back to the United States for 15 years. That was back in 2000, and he said that he was definitely going to go back to the U.S. after next year. Lacey asked him what some of his biggest challenges have been since he came back to El Salvador after being raised in the U.S. (where his family lives--he's here alone). He said that one of the biggest challenges was the language, because he grew up speaking only English except for some basic Spanish with his mom. He said he learned most of his Spanish after being sent back to El Salvador. Another big adjustment was the pay difference. I've had this conversation with three locals here, now: Minimum wage in El Salvador (I think it varies by department) is somewhere between 5 and 7.50 per DAY. People here are paid daily because the idea is that if they're paid per hour, they might work only 15 minutes and then say "I worked my hour." In my opinion, that idea makes little sense because people, like Alex, might work 2-3 hours in the morning, then take time off, then an hour in the afternoon, then three hours at night and say, "I worked my day." It's the same concept, just on a bigger scale. Then again, although I'm a foreigner, I'm definitely not the only one who thinks that some of the government's ideas are pretty dumb. Like I said, I've been talking with some locals and reading some signs and billboards. :)

Things I learned from experience

Packing: Yeah, I took advice from a LOT of people in the States who've traveled abroad, so I'm well-stocked with Kleenex and pepto-bismol tabs and hand sanitizer and insect repellant and what-not, but even so, I seem to have overlooked some things. Here's a list of things I wish I'd brought, in order from most wanted to least:

1. MORE CLOTHES! I really could have left out things like books, Kleenexes and cough drops and other things that I can actually purchase much more cheaply here, and instead packed a few more changes of clothes, specifically bras. I sweat a LOT, and I haven't had access to a laundry yet. I brought only 4 or 5 changes of clothes. I even forgot PAJAMAS. I have three skirts and one pair of oversized Adidas capris, which I was thinking could double as PJ's until I got here and realized how much work I'd be doing and how much dirt would pile up on my clothes. I have two pairs of undershorts and two bras, which is not enough because it takes about one to two days to dry clothes in this humidity. I'm thankful for Tide packets to do laundry in the sink.

2. more Tide packets.
3. another water bottle. I was going to buy another water bottle for this trip, when someone reminded me, "you can't drink the water from taps, so why bring a water bottle when you'll buy bottles of water?" What I didn't think about was buying FIVE GALLON bottles of water and filling my personal water bottle from that.
4. ice packs
5. Floss. I swear I packed a package of dental flossers somewhere, but I can't find them so I must have left them on the bathroom counter. :(
6. I wish I owned a swimsuit or board shorts. I'd bring those.
7. a video camera or audio recorder
8. a watch. I had no concept of time for the first 3 days.

Things I'm glad I didn't bring:

a long-sleeved shirt

Some thoughts

This is just some things I've been thinking about as we've been meeting families and learning about the history and culture of El Salvador.

1. After the civil war in the 1980s,  El Salvadoran people now have freedom to express religion, and they're totally embracing it. There are buses that say things like "Christ is our savior," or "Glory to God" or have Bible verses on them. People can walk through the streets with Bibles or religious books. I'm Christian, and in my faith we're taught to say grace before eating a meal. In the States, I might not always bow my head and take a full couple of minutes to thank God, but I might "think" a prayer "real quick" in my head. Here, I'm definitely not alone in bowing my head before a meal and giving thanks--silently--to God. People here are humble; they may not have much, but they don't complain or ask for handouts. They work, and even though their situation may be tough, they still care about the earthquakes in Los Angeles and the starving children of Africa. The hero of El Salvador is a Catholic Archbishop known as Monsenor Romero. You know what he did? He worked and walked with the people, and he continued to hold mass during a time when being Catholic was illegal. I may not be Catholic, but I respect someone who's willing to live and die selflessly if it benefits his  people. That is the attitude that Christ wants all of us to have toward our brethren.

2. People here are super polite! Even in the big cities, everyone takes time to say "buenas" (short for good morning/afternoon/evening) to people, even strangers, they see on the street. Whenever someone passes someone else, or gets up from a table, one always says "con permiso," (excuse me). Driving through small towns like Suchitoto, Las Trincheras, Sonsonate, even to big cities like San Salvador and Santa Tecla, one sees people just sitting out on the sidewalks, talking, or visiting over the walls that separate their houses, or walking hand-in-hand through parks and streets and roads. People here TALK to each other! Yes, almost everyone has a cell phone (or two), but they still prefer to get together and talk face to face! Most of the communities are very loving and touching, holding hands, hugging, etc. Kids I meet for the first time smile and take my hand just to hold it and walk with me and just BE. Life in the States is pretty impersonal. People hide their emotions for some reason, and people hide from other people. It's a lonely culture.

Day 4

Day 4:
Moving hostels:
Our first activity of the day was to move from the San Jose hostel in San Salvador to the Agape hotel/hostel in Sonsonate. Here's my new room, which I share only with Lacey (and an anthill):

Las Trincheras, Sonsonate

Today, we were told to prepare to find out what real poverty is. Alvaro told us that the people who live up past Caluco live below the poverty line, but will welcome us with open arms. We were told to prepare ourselves to be hugged, touched, and to laugh and cry with the people. He wasn’t kidding.

Our first stop of the day was to a daycare/elementary school. It was nothing more than a tiny, one-room brick building with two windows and a door and a small concrete church on a patch of dusty dirt. The CCLP group I had traveled with had brought bubbles, small bouncy balls, big playground balls, and candy for the kids. Since I wasn’t part of the group, I of course had nothing to offer, but Ryan kindly gave me some candies to give to the kids. As soon as we arrived, the kids all gathered around the fence and made two rows for us to walk through as they greeted us with “Buenas dias, amigos!” I gave away the candies to some little girls, and as we walked to the school house, a little girl took my hand. “Como te llamas?” (what is your name?) I asked. “Gabriela,” she said. She couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 years old! She was so cute: big brown eyes, brown curls pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a pink and white dress. The teachers of the school introduced themselves to us once we were all crammed inside the school house. The kids had prepared two songs to sing for us, too! It was adorable. They were so excited to sing these songs, but I think we all enjoyed the second song more: it involved hand motions! I liked the second song better just because I understood all the words. J

Then, we were invited to play with the kids. Only about 5 of us in our group of 13 speak much Spanish, but playing, thankfully, doesn’t have to require many words. I have a hard time understanding little-kid-speak in English, let alone in Spanish! I could talk to the kids, but I had a hard time understanding some of them. I wound up playing ball with a little boy: We passed a small bouncy ball back and forth. Then, a little girl joined the game. Somehow I eventually wound up with a bigger playground ball, throwing it around with three little boys and a little girl. It was so funny! The little girl kept jumping and grabbing the ball from a little boy I was trying to throw the ball to. I laughed as I called her a “ladrona,” meaning “thief.” It was VERY hot in the little schoolhouse, so Ryan asked if I wanted to invite some of the kids to play outside, so I asked them, “Quieren jugar alli?”(do you guys want to play there?)  I pointed outside. “afuera?”  (outside). Some of them nodded so we all went outside where the kiddos could kick the ball to their hearts’ content. Ryan asked me to explain the rules of Kickball to them, but my knowledge of sports vocabulary is incredibly limited. I don’t even know how to say “kick” in Spanish, so I have no idea how to explain “kickball!” It was almost lunchtime, so it worked out okay. We helped line the kids up and wash their hands with soap and water. To wash one’s hands in this neighborhood, one scrubs with a bar of soap while someone else pours a pan of pila water or tap water over your hands.

While the kids were eating, we left to go eat lunch ourselves. We went up the road to the home of a woman (whose name I’ve forgotten), who works with ISNA, which is a program for helping kids. She has four kids, I think, the eldest of which she was able to send to University for IT, though the majority of kids in Las Trincheras don’t go to school beyond 6^th grade. There were a lot of people at her home, which was a concrete, brick, and sheet metal building that is smaller than most U.S. homes but larger than most of the homes in the community. The kitchen and laundry room are outdoors. Ah, yes, laundry. Laundry is done in a river or with pila water in a bucket, by hand, then hung up to dry. I myself have been washing my own laundry in the sinks of hostels with Tide packets and hanging it up on makeshift clotheslines in the bedroom, but I digress.

 We ate a lunch of a Salvadoran version of Spagetti, cooked vegetables, corn tortillas, and papaya. To drink, we had a fresh-squeezed tamarind juice. 

All the food we've eaten here so far is fresh, unlike most foods in the U.S. It's amazing, but oh-so-filling. I thought I would have some trouble adjusting from my stress-eating habits of four small meals and a couple snacks down to 2-3 meals a day, but I have not been hungry the entire trip. It may be from drinking and sweating so much, but I'm not sure. I think it's a good thing! 

Next, we spent several hours working at a construction site of what will be the new school in Las Trincheras. It's an absolute dream come true compared to the tiny, run-down old school. The daycare in its current location will lose the land in a month, but the new location will be on their own land so the kids will have a nice, new school to learn and play and grow in. This school has an office, a kitchen, and two classrooms WITH attached bathrooms!!! There's even space between the classrooms and the kitchens to be able to add a new classroom when the community grows more! Right now, there will be room for 60 students at this school, but it can potentially hold up to 100. The CCLP group and I helped out where we could: We were divided into groups to work on a few tasks at a time. I was part of a group who was moving a pile of dirt and rocks to the other side of the enclosure (The school is encompassed by a brick wall with barbed wire on top, for safety). Using pickaxes and shovels, we first chopped away at the dirt pile, then sorted out all the big rocks and threw them into piles. Other groups would cart away the rocks, and other people would help shovel dirt into wheelbarrows to be taken to the hole on the other side of the enclosure. It was hard work, but it was fun, and, thankfully, there was cloudcover and a bit of wind!!!!!!!!!! I would have just died if we'd been out in the direct sunlight doing that work. 

After working with the little kids and at the new school, I was excited to be staying in E.S. for 9 more weeks. The new school should be open in 2-3 weeks, meaning I'll be here to witness it! Although the heat is absolutely killer, and the culture is greatly different than that of the U.S., I do want to stay and work. Yesterday, I just wanted to go home. I felt awful and I felt sick at the thought of spending 10 weeks in this deathly heat, but today was a great day. I had so much fun playing with the kids, and I even had fun working at the construction site (something I never thought I'd say). :) 

These are papaya trees!

These are coffee plants (above & below)

I got really dirty. 

AC units are my best friends. :) 

After dinner, we watched a video on the civil war. Here are some notes: 

Video of the history of El Salvador (notes)

Communism offered people to work long hours for small pay. Propaganda included people carrying pictures of two people struggling under a yoke, like oxen, but sweating blood.

When people held meetings, they talked about taking the land. They began by organizing sessions and they organized the land occupations. They promised them land, then conflicts.

They should have taken the land from the rich, but instead the land was taken from the peasants who were then put to work on the land they used to own.

In the case of one man’s father, he joined a party in which almost no one could read.

1931 peasants involved in movements for religious reasons.
Government oppressed the union (of peasants). It was now a crime to be poor, basically.

The communist party was gaining power as repression & terror spread.

The peasants associated with Socorro Rojo began to organize a rebellion against the communist party.  When strikes began to turn violent, the national guard intervened and killed 30 workers.

The government began rounding up and machine-gunning the rebels. Emilio Sanchez began ordering land to be returned so that he could return it to the Indians.

More than 10,000 men were killed, including Indians.

When the rebels rose up against the Communists, many communists were found hiding in holes dug in the ground, covered with planks of wood.

Ditches were dug by the roads, filled with bodies of the dead. People were taken out of their homes, marched to other towns, and gunned down. The priests, even, would ask people if they had been involved with the communists. Those who had so much as been invited to a party meeting would be rounded up and shot.