Swearing In, Sinking In, Settling In

First and foremost, I apologize for not having updated this blog in well over three weeks, but as I am sure you can understand, my time has been, well, hectic and my internet access sporadic. In any event, here is a run down of my life during the past three weeks:

Swearing In
On Friday, September 4th I officially swore in as a volunteer of Peace Corps El Salvador at the Ambassador’s residence at the United States Embassy in the capital city of San Salvador. Upon arrival at the Embassy, we were required to pass through a quick security check point before entering the grounds. To say the grounds of the Embassy are impressive is an understatement. The meticulously pruned shrubs, beautifully manicured laws and perfectly maintained buildings were an unfamiliar site and drastically different from the way of Salvadoran campo life I have become accustomed to over the last two months. Architecturally speaking, the buildings on the Embassy grounds reminded me of government buildings in Washington, DC. (Warning: the next statement has a high cheesy and cliché rating). While walking to the residence, I caught site of the American Flag, a sight that I hadn’t seen since leaving the country two months ago. I literally stopped in my tracks, felt a strange, yet strong feeling of pride for our country that I hadn’t before experienced, paused to take it all in, and took a photo of the massive, waving banner. Maybe it was that fact that training was finally over, maybe it was the heat, maybe it was just because I was at the Embassy, but I never before felt such an identifying connection with my country.

The Ambassador’s residence is a large, gorgeous building, clearly designed for official diplomatic events. With the baby grand piano, sitting room and massive dining room, it’s simple to imagine the important meetings and dinners that the residence hosts. For me, though, the most impressive of all the home’s features was the bathroom. Having been deprived of a bathroom in the sense of the term we use in the States for the last two months, I felt I had died and gone to bathroom heaven. The marble floor was so shiny I could see my reflection, the toilet so clean you could eat off of it (well, maybe not, that’s just gross), the fixtures polished to a perfect sheen, and, in additional to all this, I knew for a fact that I wasn’t going to be joined in the restroom by ants, scorpions, cockroaches, or frogs. Talk about amazing.

The ceremony itself was extraordinary. My group of 33 volunteers officially swore into the Peace Corps in the presence of not only all of our host families, current volunteers from other training classes, and Peace Corps staff, but in front of the US Ambassador to El Salvador- Robert Blau, the Vice President of El Salvador and Minister of Education- Salvador Sanchez Ceren, and the President of the Fondo de Inversion Social para el Desarrollo Local (Social Investment Fund for Local Development) and former mayor of San Salvador- Hector Silva. It was an honor to have these very important and influential men present and speak at our group’s swearing in. Also, after we swore in, we all received diplomas for officially completing Peace Corps training and got to shake all their hands. As you might think, this was a very newsworthy event, hosting the Vice President at the US Ambassador’s residence for such an event, and accordingly, every Salvadoran news network had a camera crew present. Here is the link to check out one of the news spots that featured our swearing in. http://www.esmitv.com/vernoticia.aspx?id=1197

After the ceremony was over, a really great reception followed. We feasted, and I mean FEASTED, on hot dogs, cheeseburgers, steak cut French fries, chili cheese dogs, chili cheese fries, fresh fruit, brownies, cookies, and the list goes on. This may seem like an odd menu choice for an event such as this, especially at the Ambassador’s residence, especially with the honorable company present, but for us, now as official volunteers, it was an amazing treat. Over the last two months, traditional American food like this was few and far between, and in the next two years I am certain its occurrence will become even rarer. Don’t get me wrong, I love beans, rice, eggs and tortillas as much as the next person, especially pureed beans (honestly one of my favorite foods here), but there is nothing quite like a cheeseburger on a toasted bun, slathered with ketchup, mustard and all the fixings.

Once the reception was finished, my friends and I quickly went back to our hotel, did a rapid wardrobe change and were off to our after party. It is tradition that the training class before the one swearing in plans an after party celebration. The class before us did not disappoint and we had an awesome night, dancing and celebrating the fact that all 33 of us who came down in our group are still here.

Sinking In
The next morning, a little “tired” from the events the night before, it was time for us all to say our goodbyes and part ways for our sites. Luckily for me, my PC best friend, Dana, is only one department away, less than two hour’s travel by bus. She and I were able to leave for our sites a bit later than others in our group who have sites farther away from the capital than ours. We split a cab with our two friends, Brock and Kat, after some very surreal goodbyes. It hardly felt possible that two months had gone by, that training was over, that we are actually PCVs, and that we won’t be seeing our group mates who we have gotten accustomed to seeing every Tuesday at the Training Center for two whole months when we return to San Vicente for our second round of training. Of course we have cell phones (some volunteers with better service than others) to keep in contact with each other, but we will be largely on our own.

Dana and I stopped off at one of the malls for one final shopping and meal excursion. A week ago when Kat and I traveled to the capital to buy shoes for swearing in (I had some pretty sassy red heels, very cute), I discovered a bagel shop at the mall. For a country that loves carbohydrates and breads, it’s remarkable that bagels aren’t more popular than they are here. In any event, Dana and I chose to have our last meal in the capital at the bagel shop. We feasted on freshly baked everything bagels, I had a club sandwich bagel, and fruit smoothies. As we ate them, the reality of what we were about to embark on sank in and hit us hard. We are going to be living in rural El Salvador, relatively secluded from other PVCs and separated from our friends who have become our support system here in country. We talked about swearing in yesterday, the oath of service that we took, and what the words really meant. Yes, we had in fact entered this service freely and without reservation, but why? What made us think that this was a good idea for us right now? Why would we choose to leave all the modern conveniences of American life to live in a developing country? As we sipped our smoothies, we discussed these things, but without ever really articulating anything concretely, we understood each other perfectly and knew what we were doing was not only going to be an amazing experience, but also where we are meant to be right now.

After the caloric overload of bagels and smoothies, we hit up a couple stores and participated in our last retail therapy (thanks, Aunt Trish, for the phrase) experience for a while. I bought a couple very practical shirts, and a pair of soccer shoes that I will undoubtedly use in the coming months. Dana had to head out before me, so we parted ways with tears in eyes. I know, I know, it sounds lame, but imagine leaving all that is comfortable and easy for a place where you know no one, have no idea of where you are going to live and nearly no idea of what to expect. A few tears where in order.

With about two hours to spare before I needed to head out, I went to a coffee shop in the mall that has free wireless internet, got a frozen coffee, definitely the last one I will be having for a while, and connected on line. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to video Skype with Mom and Dad for well over an hour. I was so happy to be able to see their faces and watch their silly banter as they pushed each other to get in better view of the video camera, I couldn’t help but laugh. The time went by too quickly, and before I knew it I had to sign off and head on my way to my site.

I took a cab to the western bus terminal where I hopped on a bus to where I was to meet my counterparts. I wasn’t seated on the bus much more than three minutes before we took off. But, about twenty minutes in, while still in San Salvador, the tire on our bus became flat and needed to be changed. In about twenty minutes the tire was changed and we were on our way again. Needless to say, I arrived a little late to the meeting place. My counterparts were there waiting for me as I literally fought my way off the crowded bus.

There is a bus that runs from the main city where I met my counterparts to my site community, but there are only two times of service daily, one at 10:45AM and one at 4:45PM. We had a little over an hour before the bus would be heading out, so my counterparts Don Miguel and Don Chepe (Chepe is a nickname for Jose) and I went to a bakery/café to sit a while. I contacted my Peace Corps boss to let him know I had arrived with my counterparts safely. My counterparts and I chatted until it was time to hop on the bus to my new home.

The bus to my site is an old school bus, painted green and white. My counterparts introduced me to the bus driver and other community members who were also riding the bus back that evening. Everyone was very nice and welcoming. The time finally came to head out, and we began the 45 minutes ride, down mostly dirt and pebbled roads, to my host community. The whole ride my counterparts where explaining different things we were passing, such as the fish farming cooperative that sells tilapia, the sugar mill, the sugar cane that’s grown ubiquitously, and the farming cooperative that I may be working with. To be honest, there was so much to take it, and I was trying to prepare myself to meet many more people once in my site.

Forty-five minutes later we arrived in my new town and was welcomed by a group of about 15 women and children. I was trying to take it all in, remember people’s names, and figure out the layout of the community all at the same time and was very overwhelmed. Soon after our arrival I was informed that I will not be living in the house that they originally planned that I would be, but rather on the other side of the caserio (that’s the size classification of my site). Three men from the community grabbed my bags from the house I was originally going to live in and then brought them to the house where I currently live. The whole situation wasn’t really explained to me that night so I was very confused, but basically what had happened was that the house that I was supposed to live in had absolutely nothing in it, no furniture, no water hook-up and one light for the house, so last minute they moved me. When we arrived at my house, I was introduced to the house’s owner, his wife and children, and the rest of the family. The owner of the house and my host dad, Don Rene, is an accountant, and one of two college graduates from my entire community, who, with his family, during the week lives in a suburb like development outside of the main city. (I realize I have not given details of the name of my community, the city where it is near, etc. This is due to security reasons that I am not permitted to publish it on my blog.) Don Rene keeps this home because his mother’s home is attached and he and his family enjoy coming on weekends. It took me a while to figure this all out, especially when everyone was telling me tons of different things, moving my luggage around, setting up the bed and mosquito net in my room, and the like.

Eventually Mama Chila, Don Rene’s mother, fed me some dinner of beans, eggs and tortillas while I chatted some more with the family. A little girl, Helen, who I later figured out is my host cousin who only visits on weekends, quickly became my friend and guide. She showed me where the latrine was (I am very lucky to have one, around 30% of homes in my site do not have them), where the pila (sink like, all purpose wash station) is and other sorts of essential information. At this point I was completely overwhelmed, having observed the level of poverty within the community, and having the reality of my new life hit me square in the face.

In my community we have cell service, but it comes in an out, and some locations have stronger signals than others. I had to walk around a while until I found a strong enough signal to call home to Mom and Dad. I know I sounded overwhelmed, tired and that I worried my parents (sorry about that, guys). Exhausted from the long, emotional day, I decided the best thing I could do for myself would be to go to sleep and hopefully awaken with a refreshed spirit and renewed energy.

Settling In
Of course, the next day was much better. Don Chepe took me touring around the caserio to get a better feel for its layout and to get an opportunity to meet more community members. People were kind and welcoming, and I got to learn a bit more about the farming cooperative that grows sugar cane and that many of the community are members of.

When I arrived back at the house from my community tour, Don Rene and Nina Lilian’s (that’s my host mom’s name) 23 year old daughter Xenia was there. She and I had a decent conversation, my Spanish was a little shaky, but like everything, improving poco a poco. She is in her final year of college, majoring in accounting, and will graduate in November. Over the last two weeks here, Xenia and I have become better friends and this coming weekend she is going to take me on a little excursion to the department capital of Santa Ana.

The rest of my first full day in site, I spent with the family, mostly Mama Chila, Xenia and my host aunts (Don Rene and Nina Lilian were out tending to their coffee fields they also own; Don Rene is definitely a business man) learning how to make tortillas and getting to know them. My tortillas weren’t quite circular, were a little lopsided and had varying thicknesses, but Mama Chila encouraged me nonetheless and even had me convinced that they were getting better. Later in the week, Mama Chila also taught me how to make pupusas, the traditional Salvadoran food that is basically a tortilla stuffed with some form of filling, usually beans and cheese and really anything else you can think of. You have to Google a picture of one, because they look different than you’d imagine. Then, you eat them with a tomato sauce and a sort of sour cole slaw called cortida, but my host family here calls chili.

The past two weeks have been very busy and filled with appointments, meetings and house visits. About midway through my first week, after visiting the main town, meeting the mayor, meeting the police (both rural and urban units), figuring out my mailing address, and starting to form relationships with people in my community, I really started to feel much better and on my way to feeling I am at home and comfortable in El Salvador. Getting settled into my room, unpacking my bags, putting personal touches in my room, hanging window screening to keep the mosquitoes out, and talking to my other PC friends who are also running the gamut of emotions and experiences, I feel much better and more prepared than ever to really start work.

For me, what has been most exciting has been observing the community, its needs and desires and seeing all the potential there is for progress to be made. I have running lists of random ideas, some that will never be realized, and those that are simple and seem second nature to us back in the States, and can’t wait to begin sharing my projects with you. During these first two months, though, I am conducting house visits and interviews to do a needs based assessment and figure out the types of projects the community wants and needs. Then, on October 21st, my boss Rolando is coming for a visit where I will run a general meeting of the ADESCO (Asocicaion de Desarrollo Communitario, or the Association of Community Development that functions sort of as a common council would, but on a very small scale). During this meeting I will present the information I have collected an analyzed, and from here I hope to create a sort of plan of action to work from.

In the future I will try to keep you all updated much better with the events that I have going on here in Santa Ana. My host dad, Don Rene, has given me permission to use the internet at his office in the main town whenever I want. But seeing as it’s a 45 minute bus ride, I don’t foresee going into town much more often than once a week to do errands. Also, I do have a mailing address now, so if anyone is interested, let me know via email and I will email it to you. As always, I love any news with updates from home. Please send pictures, too. I love to see what’s going on! Speaking of pictures, I know I need to include more myself, and I am going to start taking more to share, I promise!

I miss you all very much and think of you often. As always, thanks for your love and support and I cannot wait to hear from you next! Anyone want to come visit? I am allowed to have visitors starting December 4th:)