December 11, 2009

man's best friend

I thought fetch was a universal game. I assumed that when ever a little boy or girl gets a puppy, they play fetch together. And while I didn't make an ass out of myself as the saying goes, I was wrong for assuming. My host family has two dogs, one spunky puppy, Canelo (Cinnamon) and one calmer mother, Negra (Blacky). Negra just had 5 puppies and they are doing well. I am planning on llevar-ing uno (taking one) to my new house when I move in. One, for the company, and two, to be an example of adequate pet care. Some families are definitely better than others, but very few people treat their dogs as pets. Many treat them as nothing more than an intruder alarm system that every once and a while needs food. I think that's why fetch was not in the repertoire of Canelo or my host brother David. So I taught them both.

We started with the all important stick. I picked one that wasn't too big but had a good weight to it so it would really fly when you threw it. Then we had to get Canelo interested in the stick. That involved just letting him sniff it, then I threw it, and ran after it as if I wanted it more than he did. Eventually he understood that the point of the game was to get the stick before I did and soon he was going for it on his own. Every once and a while he got distracted and forgot about the game, or chased after the stick, sniffed it, and came bounding back without it. But all in all he understood and appreciated the game. (If you'll allow me to project human emotions on an animal, as well as allow me the ability to read them!)

My host family was stupified that such activities could be done with a dog. They loved it. I also took the opportunity to explain to them that some of the "behavior" issues they don't like in Canelo - that he jumps up on them and tries to grab invisible food from their hands - come from the fact that he has too much energy. Not too mention that he is still a puppy, receives no love and attention, and barely receives enough food, but those are issues that are entirely too big for me to handle all at once. So I mentioned that if you exercise your dog, he will be tired, and will be less likely to jump or nip at your hand. They loved the idea and all of a sudden I found myself the official "Dog Whisperer" of Canelo. They want me to train him and exercise him and all that jazz. It's completely my own fault, and I don't mind, but as I worked with Canelo and David on the "sit" command, I remembered the invaluable words of Cesar Millan, the true Dog Whisperer. "Dog training is more about training the human than training the dog." And boy is it true.

Canelo was really quick to learn the sit command. But, he became confused when David said it a different way, or added other commands or gave harsh words as punishment for some innocuous thing as opposed to a treat for the more important "sitting" that was going on. So I had to teach David as much, or more, than I was teaching Canelo. How to properly react when Canelo jumps on him, or why he's nipping at David's hand because he thinks he has food or he just wants to play etc. etc. And then I realized that I could do well with some of my own training.

It seems that every other day or so, I'm presented with some new cultural quirk that nips at my better sense and pushes my buttons. I know that cultural differences are just that, constructs of culture, and there's nothing wrong with anyone's culture, it's just different. But I think we all can identify in ourselves things that we could do better, so I think it's only natural, and okay, to identify things here that could be done better. (Also, it's part of my job to change the mindsets of people in terms of Environmental Management.) Now, I'm not going around on my soap box telling people that I think some of the things they do are... different - leaving a fan on is considered wasting energy, but leaving a T.V. on is not; dogs are neglected, and then people wonder why they have vicious dogs all over the place; plastic trash is burned left and right while respiratory problems are the number one health issue of Salvadorans; and cutting a sapling down because you don't like where it's growing, instead of transplanting it.

But, if I want to have an effect on any of these things, first I need to train myself. I need to be aware of how I feel and control my reactions. I need to check in with myself and make sure that I'm not assuming anything. That I tread lightly, but confidently when it comes to changing mindsets. Nothing comes quickly, and I most gain people's confidence before I can even begin to show other ways of doing things. And even then, it doesn't mean a change will occur, but it will mean a broadening of horizons. An understanding on their part that there is more than one way to skin a cat. But first I must understand and accept the same.

It's tough, but that's why they call it culture shock. It's the incredible differences that you are confronted with, the actions and habits that seem so counterproductive to you, but everyday normal to someone else. I know that in the end my integration in, understanding of and acceptance of (and from) my community is crucial to my future success. So right now I'm adapting. I'm teaching myself first how to handle my emotions and reactions when I'm confronted with these differences. And often it's tough. I want to yell out "why are you doing that!?" "who taught you that that's the best way to do that?!" But that, of course, wouldn't help anyone. So I reflect in my journal, and I share with you all the mini-frustrations. They are, however, just that - mini-frustrations. And they are always overshadowed by the joys of each day. But that doesn't mean they aren't there. Nipping at my heels like the over-energetic Canelo.

November 29, 2009

waiting to see

Acabamos de terminar la segunda ronda de capacitación y todavía siento… extraña. I had to put that in Spanish because I think it just adds to the vibe I’m trying to express. (We just finished the second round of training and I still feel….weird.) Not bad weird, not good weird, but maybe anxious weird?

Training was great. We stayed at the ENA – Escuela Nacional de Agricultura. We lived in a house on the campus, and ate all our meals at the cafeteria. It was weird being back on a campus because I thought I was done with that lifestyle for a while. It was nice to see students relaxing on the “quad”, shooting hoops or hanging out at the little store. But the students were speaking Spanish, playing baloncesto or basquetbol, and the little store sold yucca chips and fresh mango.

Training was not as comprehensive as I thought it would be, but I guess that’s because there’s no way to become an expert in so many diverse fields in such a short amount of time. Instead, we were introduced to lots of different topics that might lead to projects for us and our communities, and more importantly, we were given the contact information of people that can help us make the projects a reality. For instance – lombriculture (worm bins!); compost and green fertilizer; home and school gardens; natural, and simple, pesticides (my favorite was the slug “trap” – make little balls out of masa and beer, place them under a propped up piece of cardboard, and wait for the slugs to come to the cool place with food, then stab them with a pointy stick!); environmental education tips; national park visits; youth camps etc. etc. It was a whirlwind of information, but really good. We covered pretty much everything on the list of activities that my community is interested in, so that’s definitely a positive. But that’s partly why I feel weird.

Now I have all this “training” under my belt, and I’m back in my site, and I feel like I need to start now. Right now. Like yesterday. I think I will begin with my own projects in my house and let the word percolate through the community that the gringa has a garden where she gets her fresh veggies, or she doesn’t have to burn her trash because she composts, recycles, reduces plastic use and takes the rest of it to be properly disposed. But I think that will still leave me feeling kind of…worthless. Not in the woe-is-me kind of sense, but the, what-the-heck-is-she-doing-here? kind. The “We thought we were getting a trained professional to come in and help us fix some problems in our community and she’s making dirt?!” I’m sure that’s an exaggeration, and I know that just living in this community and sharing my energy with the people I meet is a lot, but I just feel a little lazy.

Though, on the housing front, I have another option that just aparació (appeared) so I might be keeping busy in the next few weeks with setting up my house! So, I’m in a weird spot right now. That “hands up. breathe.” spot of the starting line. (To use rowing here instead of the traditional “on your mark” of track.) I can see a future with gardens and viveros (tree nurseries), compost and worms, chickens and fish, and a comfortable house to come home to after a good day at work. But right now, the path to get anywhere near these things is still a little cloudy. I think I just need some more time, and maybe some more pupusas.

November 14, 2009

rocks and mountains

Waking up Sunday morning, November 8th to my host mom standing over my bed with a flashlight and saying very passionately - Verapaz está hundido!, Verapaz está perdido!, Verapaz está inundado! at 3 am is not my idea of a good morning. I didn't immediately register what she was saying, so I went back to sleep to the sound of falling rain. It had been raining on and off since Friday afternoon. When I finally woke up for real at 7 am, I realized what my host mom was saying - Verapaz is buried!, Verapaz is lost!, Verapaz is flooded!. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do.

It was still drizzling outside but, there wasn't any water on the porch like there usually was after bad rains. Nothing seemed abnormal where we were, and no one was offering to run off to Verapaz right away to help, so I didn't do anything. The power was out, and I was planning on spending Sunday with my host family anyway, so I started to help with breakfast. As we were preparing breakfast, there was a decently steady stream of men and boys with shovels and ropes and hoes heading off to go help in Verapaz. I would have liked to go, but I figured we would all go as a group later. A little while later Alicea came over and that's when I knew it was bad. Her family woke at 2:30 am and hiked to higher ground through knee deep water as the rain was pouring down. They had lost their home before (during the earthquake, I think) so they were not messing around with Mother Nature. It was Alicea's host mom who woke up my host mom who woke me up to inform us what was going on. After sitting in the rain, but on higher ground, for about 3 hours, they came back down the mountain and walked to Verapaz to look for family members. It was (and still is the house shown at second 42 is in Molineros) a disaster zone. Rocks the size of motorcycles destroyed entire houses and twisted barbed wire into pretzels. We realized later that day, while comparing stories, that what we thought were thunder claps at night, were actually rocks crushing in to Verapaz. The San Vicente Volcano, Chichontepeque, looms large over Verapaz, Guadelupe and San Vicente. The 355 mm of rain that fell in 4 hours was too much for the rocky subsurface to hold onto the mountain anymore, so parts of the volcano came sliding down.

Peace Corps began contacting us all in the early morning to verify that we were all right and where we were. Our second part of training was set to start on Monday, so all of our training class was back in the area, i.e. communities surrounding San Vicente, the hardest hit in the nation. Thank goodness that most of them had taken the opportunity to go to San Salvador for the night, and most of them were already there when the "standfast" call was made Sunday. That means that no matter where you are, you are not supposed to leave that community/city/pueblo unless told specifically otherwise by the safety and security officer. (Some lucky volunteers were taking a vacation up in the northern reaches of El Salvador, so they had to stay another night because of the standfast call!)

So we waited. We waited in Molineros, which is a 15 minute walk from Verapaz. All day long the caravan of people going back and forth to Verapaz was immense. Trucks would pass by and pick up anyone that was going to help, until the back was practically touching the ground. Other trucks were shuttling people who had lost their homes up to the homes of family members or friends in the higher communities of San Isidro and Cañas. The Red Cross and Salvadoran Army had showed up by 9 am. The rural police had already been there since day break, shuttling the wounded off to regional hospitals.

I was torn between going and not. The opportunity finally came at 4 pm, but it was starting to get dark, it had been raining all day, we still hadn't heard from Peace Corps what we were supposed to do, and I had the only charged phone with signal and saldo (pre-paid minutes) of the Molineros volunteers. (There were three of us in Molineros, two in San Isidro/Cañas, two in San Cayetano and one in San Antonio Caminas.) It was a good thing I didn't go because we received a call at 5:45 pm saying that we needed to evacuate. We were told that Peace Corps was trying to arrange transport, but some of the other volunteers were much more stuck than we were (bridges out, roads completely blocked etc.) Luckily Alicea's host uncle was heading back to San Sal (he and some friends had come to help in Verapaz all day) and they were heading back for the night. We quickly packed up our things, said goodbye to our families - and encouraged them to get out as well, because more rain was prognistacated for Sunday night.

We arrived in San Sal without a glitch, and got to the hotel were Peace Corps was putting up the evacuees. I eventually headed back to SAS (my permanent community) on Tuesday night. SAS was not affected at all by the heavy rains. We live in a relatively flat area, with the closest river many kilometers away. The closest volcano, Volcano of San Miguel, is quite a ways away so land slides aren't too much of a concern. Though, supposedly it is a very active volcano and due to erupt, so we'll see about that natural disaster!

It definitely is something to live through one of Mother Nature's shows of force. I have even more respect for the power of water, (and the necessity of trees in this country! El Salvador counts with only about 3% of the original forest cover.) It's also quite amazing the aid response. This country, though developing and small, has been able to rally people from all over the country, through the help of radio, print and television, to donate items. However, as in our country, and all over the world, there are plenty who have turned a blind eye to the situation. I know that I have done the same when other natural disasters are publicized, partly because I didn't know how to help, and partly because the natural disaster, and victims, felt so distant. This time was different. Family members of host families were lost. One municipal development volunteer (their training class stays in Verapaz during training) lost his entire host family. I've walked the streets that were being shown on television. When Peace Corps tells us we can go back in to San Vicente (the area is still off limits) I will be heading back to help in any way I can.

While I understand that if people were to let themselves get worked into a tizzy about every disaster and every victim, they would do nothing but worry all the time, I do think that we all could extend ourselves a little more to help victims of disasters. Whether it's through donating items, money, planting a tree, saying a prayer or even just telling people about it, to raise awareness, all these actions help in their own way. The relative geographical privledge that the United States has is not to be taken for granted.

November 2, 2009

what am I doing here

What exactly is my objective? They told us during training that it would be a good idea to have objectives or a mission statement written down somewhere for us to reference back to, and see how much it changes as we continue on our journey. Every once and a while I feel completely without purpose, so I think some objectives would be helpful. According to Peace Corps/WorldWide my goals are as follows (paraphrased of course):
  1. to provide interested (and less fortunate countries) with human capital (that's me!) to provide technical assistance in the continuing work to achieve basic needs for all members of the host country.
  2. to provide american citizens with a better understanding of other cultures through their service in other countries, as well as blogs and letters back home to family and friends (you all are helping me fulfill my second goal - thanks!)
  3. to provide citizens of the host country with a better understanding of american culture through the presence of a gringa in their community for 2+ years.
All of these objectives hope to encourage peace, friendship and understanding between the US and other countries. No big deal. I think I can do that.

The objectives of Peace Corps/El Salvador and the Sustainable Agriculture/Environmental Education Program (my specific prorgram) are:
  1. to provide technical assistance to communities interested in agroforestry systems, soil conservation and maintenance; and sustainable agricultural techniques in general.
  2. to provide formal and non-formal education in relation to the protection and mejoramiento "betterment" of the environment.
So that's what other people have told me my objectives are, but what are my objectives? Right now I'm really getting in to the cultural exchange part. I'm participating in any activity I'm invited to, and I'm chatting with anyone who wants to chat - except the bolos when I go running by in the morning. They just get a curt little buenos días and I continue on my way. I've taught some kids in the school red light, green light; hangman (it highlights how awful some of them are at spelling); and a really fun version of rock, paper, scissors but instead it's with wizards, elves, and giants and the kids have to act out the parts. It's a chance to be silly. I also helped my host brother make a piñata with papier mache. The whole family was astonished that corn flour and water could be used for something other than eating! :)

So in addition to immersing myself in Salvadoran culture, and sharing a little bit of my culture, I pretty much just try to
be in the community. My biggest objective right now is just to get my name out there, and hopefully a little bit about why I'm here, and what I can (and won't!) do. It's like introducing a new puppy to your herd of animals. Let the other animals sniff him and make sure he isn't trouble, and then you can start playing. I hope when I come back from two more weeks of training I can get off on the right foot and start "playing", i.e. working.

Another one of my objectives is to continue improving my Spanish. Besides emails, journaling, rare phone calls and books in English, the rest of my day is spent in Spanish. I honestly can't tell if I've had dreams in Spanish yet. While my dreams are vivid as usual, the soundtracks are especially quiet so I can't actually tell what language people are speaking. What I can remember generally seems to be a crazy mixture. Or, I'll be speaking one language and everyone else will be speaking the other. (Now analyze that!)

Another objective is to broaden the horizons of the kids in SAS. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I'm really interested in improving the environmental conscience of the kids. Not only that though, but just life in general. Personal development, life skills and goals - to enjoy reading a book, to know where to look for answers to your own questions (dictionary, newspaper, parents etc.), to dream big about their future, and then have the gumption and tools to make it happen. For my host brother's birthday I bought him the first Harry Potter book in Spanish. He's seen all the movies and he was astonished to start reading and find out all sorts of things that they just couldn't fit in the movies. I'm hoping he will keep reading and learn to love it as much, if not more than he loves television. I hope to be able to broaden the horizons of many kids in this community. Luckily, I think just being here and being different is already changing things.

Another objective of mine is fairly concrete, and that would be the creation of home gardens and compost in the homes that are interested (hopefully the majority!) It is sunny almost all the time here, they have a good, consistent water source (it doesn't run all day, but it always comes on for 3-4 hours every morning) and plenty of decent, available soil. (The soil will probably be the limiting factor here, but that's where the compost and lombriculture can come in and help.) I pains me to see people eating only eggs, tortillas, rice, beans, chicken, sausage, corn, chips, soda, coffee and sweet bread. Many people comment on my height (I'm tall here!) and say that it's all the vitamins and nutrients that are pumped into our foods in the states and that that's what their kids need. I try to tell them that I actually wasn't raised on fortified foods, just good 'ole fashioned veggies, and that they can help their children grow by giving them lots of fruits and veggies. I think home gardens and the increased availability of veggies would greatly help the families here.

So those are my goals. Also, to play Memory with my little friend Elena as often as possible. She precocious, inquisitive, makes up stories all the time (about herself), just a tad annoying, and really cute. She kind of reminds me of what I think I probably was like when I was 3 and a half. She's here now so I'm going to go off and play.

October 28, 2009

dancing queen

This past Saturday was a day. It was interesting, good, exciting, event-filled .... day. I was supposed to teach an English class Saturday morning but the teacher never called me to say she was at the school. (I’ve decided that instead of waiting around and looking like a fool, I’m going to have the teachers call me when they are on their way so that I can time it better. Gringo time and Salvadoran time are not the same, so I’ve adopted this system to allow me to keep my sanity.) So, instead of going to the school and teaching some basic English phrases – I’m Carol. I’m from San Miguel. Are you and your family from San Miguel? – I hung around cleaning my room and lazy-ing about.

In the afternoon we headed off to San Miguel to meet up with some of Caro’s co-workers. (My host-mom, Carolina – we've kind of been christened Carolina del Norte, and Carolina del Sur, but no one really uses that…maybe eventually it’ll stick.) Her co-workers have a fútbol team and they were going to an away game up in Morazan Department, somewhere near Perquín. Caro wanted to show me Perquín because it’s awesome, and then we would go support her friends at their game. Well, the game was actually not really anywhere near Perquín so we just went straight to the game, but it was still fun anyway. Morazan is beautiful (mountains, trees, rivers, and much cooler!) and as we got to the cancha it started to drizzle a little bit which cooled everything off nicely for the game. Caro’s co-workers won 6-0. It was a fun game because all of the team mates were cracking jokes about each other and egging each other on. And I understood a good portion of what was being said!

After the game we headed pretty much directly back to SAS because we had to arreglarse (literally arrange ourselves; to get ready) for the fiesta in which the Candidate for the Queen of the San Miguel Carnival was to be presented. But first we had to pick her up from her hair appointment in San Miguel. Each year for the HUGE carnival that San Miguel puts on, there is a reina elected. Each community under the municipal direction of San Miguel has a candidate. Saturday night here in SAS was our fiesta to officially present to the community our candidate.

So, in true style, the ADESCO arranged a dance. They hired DJ “Super Caliente” to provide the tunes, sold tickets and advertised on the local radio stations. The party was set to start at 8 pm and we got there at 7:30 to help sell tickets at the door and any other last minute preparations. No one really started showing up until 8:30, but that didn’t mean the music wasn't going! I don’t know how this whole country isn’t deaf yet. The music was so loud I could feel my jeans vibrating against my legs. I spent a good part of the night watching poor ants struggling to get away from the vibrations, but of course, they would have to walk for miles to get away from the bass. DJ Super Caliente had brought a literal wall of speakers and set them up in front of his stage. It was a monstrosity of 3 speakers x 6 speakers. At one point I was pleasantly surprised to feel a breeze inside the casa communal where the dance was being held, but as I plugged my ears with my fingers, I realized it was just the bass pushing the air. I had a mini headache the next day. I don’t know when the next fiesta is, but let’s just say I’m not really looking forward to it. =P

October 21, 2009

i'm on my way

As Rusted Root so eloquently sings – “I’m on my way”. I presented my diagnostic findings yesterday to a room full of community and school members – teachers, policemen, ADESCO members (kind of like the city council), a nurse from the local health clinic and students. These past 6 weeks I have been interviewing community members and observing classes to get a better idea of what projects are desired in the community. After my boss from Peace Corps talked for a little bit, I gave a brief introduction of myself and then launched right in. I started with the specific data gathered from the interviews. I ended up interviewing 54 families, (or 245 people) which was my goal, but not even a 10th of the households in this community! I would like to think that my data can be a rough estimation of the community as a whole, but a 10% response rate is not statistically adequate if I remember anything from stats class. Anyhow, for the families interviewed, 60% are male-headed households. This surprised me, considering how many husbands, brothers, and fathers are in the states – but I think a couple of those male heads of households are grandpas, and it’s more symbolic than anything, ‘cause mom really runs the whole show! It’s an interesting study in women empowerment. Yes, there is still machismo, but more and more women are raising their kids all on their own and gaining incredible independence because of it.

I also covered average education levels. For all people interviewed, the average grade obtained was 5th. 20-39 year olds have an average of 8th grade, 40-59 year olds have an average of 4th grade, and 60-90 year olds have an average of 1st grade. I fudged the last set to include more ages because it allowed me to have about the same number of people in each division, and it also didn’t change the average at all to include the 80-90 years olds (also because there are only 4 of them or so). The teachers present at the presentation were really pleased to see that data set! Their work is paying off! 23 families – or 42% - receive remesas, which seems a little low from what I can tell, but I think some people had pena (shame) in telling me whether they receive them or not. More than 40% of the people interviewed are under the age of 18 (42% or 104 to be specific.)

After covering those and other statistics, I launched into the section about needs identified in the community. I was grateful to my host-mom/counterpart for helping me come up with that term. I was looking for a way to say – things to work on in the community – without saying “problems”. I think in the end it came across really objective and fair. I presented the needs that were discussed in the interviews, and then presented ideas for dealing with these needs. For instance, garbage management is a big deal that pretty much all community members mentioned. Some of the ideas generated are to gestionar (work for, or towards) garbage bins and trash pickup in the community, as well as charlas (chats) about proper garbage management, recycling, composting, and reducing use of disposable containers.

Another need that was identified that I really hope to focus on is environmental conscience. I think that if we can work towards educating the kids and the community to see their environment (in all it's physical, biological and socio-cultural senses) as something to be respected and also to be proud of, achieving the other more concrete changes will be a little easier. You can tell people ‘till you’re blue in the face not to throw their trash on the ground, but if they don’t first have the appreciation for what that garbage on the ground will do, it won’t matter how many times you tell them. One of the ways I would like to increase the environmental conscientiousness here is with trips to local natural areas and parks. I think they will help the kids see that El Salvador has plenty of places to be proud of as well as open their eyes to the reality that there is so much more (literally and figuratively) out there than they know.

I continued with other needs identified in the community – home gardens (yay for vegetables!), planting trees everywhere and anywhere (yay for shade!), compost (yay for helpful bugs!), as well as general health (yay for exercise!) I’ve offered myself up for leading exercise classes or something. The nurse from the health clinic seemed really happy about that, as well as other parts of the presentation, so we’ll see where that goes in terms of networking! In the end I opened it up for questions. I didn’t really get any questions, but I got lots of “felicitaciones” (congratulations). The police were really excited that I mentioned delinquency as one of the areas in which I would like to work. The police are under lots of pressure on a national level to control delinquency. As of the beginning of October, I believe, there have been more homicides in 2009 than in all of 2008. I think it works out to about 13 a day? Anyway, there were calls for the national police chief to step down, and calls that this is proof the new government (leftist, first in 29 years or something) can’t be trusted to do anything right because they’ve actually allowed an increase in homicides. So, now the national army has been called to start patrolling with the local police forces to try and control the situation. That being said, they are looking for any ideas about how to control delinquency from the front end, as much as from the tail end. It felt really good to share the information I’ve been gathering and have it validated.

The people in attendance expressed their gratitude for having everything so well laid out. The nurse commented that for only being here for 6 weeks, I hit the nail exactly on the head with regards to the needs of the community! And the President of the ADESCO was grateful that I was able to express everything so clearly with the needs presented first, and then immediately followed them with ideas to address those needs. I think that will be one of my keys to productivity. Every time we discuss “problems”, which is a word I really don’t like, I want to reinforce the presence of solutions. (No negative Nancys here!) That’s what I’m working on right now with the Guardianes Ambientales. We’ve been identifying problems in the community, but also discussing the causes, effects and solutions. It seems to be a really fruitful discussion.

So all that being said, I really feel like I’m on my way. I have a work plan of activities that I’m excited to work on, and I presented it to community representatives, and they seemed jazzed about it as well. Of course each person had their own “pet” project they seemed to really like, but I hope that means I will have lots of help from lots of different people on each project.

October 7, 2009

ground control to major tom

It’s almost my one month anniversary of being in San Antonio Silva, and I’m in a weird place right now. I feel comfortable, physically, emotionally and mentally, but I’m not totally sure of where I’m heading. I don’t know if those things seem contradictory to you, but to me they are. I have a fairly set routine which helps me pass the days, but sometimes, that’s exactly what it feels like - just waiting for another day to pass.

I wake up at 5:45 and go running, or some other form of exercise. Oh, and pretty much the whole town thinks I’m crazy as I run past them once, twice, three and four times, but that’s okay. Maybe eventually I’ll find a running buddy, and we can be weird together! (I’m afraid that not only do they think I’m crazy, but also scary. Here in El Salvador, one of the superstitions is about really sweaty people. The conventional wisdom if that if a sweaty person approaches a little child, they can infect the child with evil spirits… Well, if there’s one thing I am when I’m running here, it’s sweaty. I hope that because it’s so hot here, maybe that superstition doesn’t apply? Nevertheless, I generally run a little faster past mothers and children, in case she gives me an evil eye or something, warding off my evil, sweaty, spirit.) After breakfast, and a refreshing shower, I generally go out with my host-grandma and interview people in the community, or just go and chat. In the afternoons I spend time with my host brother, compile information from the morning’s interviews and plan English classes or meetings with my eco-club. And that’s about it. The trips to San Miguel, or community meetings, or wakes, or whatever, don’t come along that often. My life has become fairly regimented, but in a completely non-stressful and unassuming way. It’s really quite strange.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though; the busy, lots-of-meetings, light at the end of this two month tunnel. I officially have two groups of Guardianas Ambientales (Environmental Guardians) who will be the core of my eco-club. One group will meet Wednesday mornings because they have afternoon classes, and the other will meet Wednesdays in the afternoon because they have morning classes. I’m excited to have a group that I can focus on. It feels like something if starting to roll. However, I don’t plan on getting any “real” activities going just yet (community clean-up campaigns, compost piles etc), but instead, spend this time getting to know the kids and what they want to do with the club. In this way I feel half way in, half way out.

I also think I will be starting the English classes this week too. Though I’m still not entirely sure how I feel teaching English. A part of me is happy that I can provide a service to this community, something they are interested in (though right now, the majority of people signed up are teachers, and they are from San Miguel…) Another part of me feels completely unqualified to teach English, and therefore, I’m doing a disservice to them; another part of me is a little disappointed because I would like to spend my energy on environmental issues and finally, a tiny part of me is frustrated/afraid because a few people have expressed sentiments to me like: “oh, I can’t wait to learn English from you. In two years I’ll be fluent!” I’m frustrated because I don’t think they realize how much work that will be (for me and them) and I’m afraid that they will blame me if they aren’t fluent. I think I need to just keep reminding myself that in the end, by teaching these classes, I’m building relationships and gaining confianza (trust, confidence) with the people attending the classes. And therefore, hopefully, everyone will be more willing to work with me when I do have environmentally focused activities or projects.

So I think that’s part of why I’m feeling…a drift… right now. I’m one month in, spending time doing what I’m supposed to be doing – getting to the know my community, and letting them get to know me. But, I like to be busy, and I like to see progress and the fact that even though I’m meeting with people every day and getting lots of balls rolling doesn’t compute in my mind as progress. Also, I’m one month away from two more weeks of training, which will be a nice break before I really get working. But I have a feeling that when I get back, work will still be slow in the making. This is because the Fiestas Patronales of San Miguel are in late November (and since SAS is a part of the municipality of San Miguel, we get to party too.) And then the kids have no school in November and December, but December is one big Christmas Party and then the beginning of January is the Fiestas Patronales of Molineros (my training community) so I’m going back for those. Essentially, this all means that, maybe, come January I will have a more focused life, physically and mentally. Right now I feel like a quality candidate for space cadet of the month. Oh, and I’m still looking for a house.

September 22, 2009

question and answer

Lately my days have been filled with classroom observations and house visits. It's really given me a window into San Antonio Silva, and I'm grateful for all that this community has already provided me.

The school is enclosed by a huge brick wall, 8+ feet high, and topped with barbed wire. It would be imposing, if there weren't the bright blue and white painted school name and crest on the walls, the trees poking over the top, and the sounds of children playing floating overhead. The school is very large. As in any school, matriculation drops as the year continues, and since school ends in November, the classes are smaller than normal. Right now there are about 800 students in the school. Next school year (which starts January 10th or so) they are expecting a matriculation of almost 1000 students!!!

There are 4 "pavilions" of classrooms. (Complexes of classrooms.) There are about 15 classrooms in the school, as well as a stage, a cantina (food stand), cocina (kitchen - where the food provided by the government is prepared and given out to the students everyday), futbol cancha, basketball court, playground, bathrooms, gardens and garbage piles, administrative offices, computer room, and the aula de apoyo. (This means support classroom, literally. It's where the students with learning difficulties go to receive extra attention. I like that they call it a “support room” here, and I really like the teacher! They also have an accelerated learner’s classroom that I'm really excited to observe.) But I digress.

Students either go to school in the morning or the afternoon. For computer classes, the students come during the opposite time once a week to receive that class. Morning classes start at 7:10 and end at 11:30 or so, and afternoon classes start at 12:10 and end around 4:30. There are six periods, each lasting 45 minutes, with two recesses, one of 10 minutes and one of 15. I think if you check, you will see that the math doesn't work out, but it doesn't really matter because no one seems to follow the schedule, not even the school director or the teachers!

Classes regularly start 5-10 minutes late, and even then, that's when everyone is sitting down – it sometimes takes a while for the lesson to begin. In younger grades, one teacher usually gives all the classes, but in the older grades, there's a science teacher, social studies teacher and English teacher that rotate. This rotations cuts out of class time as well. The topics range from the periodic table to Central American Independence, long division to why and how shadows are formed. At times I’m amazed with how basic and slow moving the classes seem, and at other times I’m inspired by the motivation of the teachers and the way they tackle their material, especially given their relative lack of resources. Some of the students are clearly attending classes for reasons other than to learn (my primary guesses include – nothing else to do, mom and/or dad make them, it’s where all their friends are anyway, and it’s a chance to get a snack.) That’s not to say that those are invalid reasons for being at school – if anything, those are the kids that I’d like to work with the most, to try and encourage them to continue their studies for other reasons as well.

I originally commented that I think this community is fairly well off, and I think on the average that is true, but if my house visits have taught me anything, it’s that as in any community there are a range of home conditions. Some people are living in fairly basic housing – packed dirt floors, wood panel or corrugated metal walls, tile or thatched roof while others live in two story homes with beautiful fences, fancy metal bars on the windows, gorgeous fruit trees and flowers etc. But even with these differences, everyone is incredibly welcoming. When I show up a new house to do an interview, it always begins with some platicando (chatting) and then we move in to the interview part. It’s just some basic questions about who lives in the household, how old, occupation, level of education etc. I also ask some questions about garbage management, whether they have an agricultural land or animals (besides the obligatory dog or cat). The interview itself usually only takes about 5 minutes, but I always give a little bio at the beginning and answer any questions at the end. The most common questions are – “why are you doing this interview/ what is this information for”, “where are you from”, “are you family of Carolina” (my host mom), “how old are you”, and, “are you married”! I love meeting the people in this community and can’t wait to continue my interviews. Hope you all are well.

September 15, 2009

independence day parade

It's 4:30 am and the dogs have started barking. I'm not sure at what exactly, but I can hear other dogs in the distance begin to bark to. I try to fall back asleep, the electrical hum of the ceiling fan helping with it's white noise. It's no use though, because the local radio station begins to air it's daily offerings on loud speaker to the entire community "today, two for one pupusas at the comedor. fútbol game at 2 pm. church services at the following churches..." etc. A wonderful advertising tool that I will for sure need to take advantage of at some point, but kind of a bummer at 5 am!
Today is Independence Day here in El Salvador, as well as the rest of Central America. School is cancelled for today ("summer" break is November-January) but the schools are the main participants in the parades. My host mom and I went to the school at 6 am to help prepare the food for all the marchantes after the parade. We returned home to wait for the parade to pass. The parade consisted of the school, and only the school. First the flag bearers, then the kids in costumes - traditional El Salvadoran dress, doctors, police, soliders, nurses etc. - then the littlest cachipuristas (baton twirlers), then the band, then the older cachipuristas, then the cheerleaders, then the gynmasts, then a "brigade" of students marching in their school uniforms. It was all pretty cool, especially because all the parents and teachers work really hard to make it all happen, and they parade right next to their kids, making sure everything goes alright. In this heat, they also provide them with water, wipe their faces etc. It's a pretty big event, considering. We waited until the parade passed, and then followed behind to watch some more. That quickly became walking with the parade, and then barreling on past the parade. It's weird to me to be watching a parade, and kind of participating in it, but here it's no big deal to walk right along side, and even pass the people parading. I guess it's also a little weird for me, because I know that gringo t.v. is really interesting and that I was like a saturday morning cartoon for a lot of the kids.
After the parade, and some brief words of congratulations and thanks at the school, we returned home. We watched the larger ceremonies in the capital on t.v. in the comfort of our living room. They have essentially the same thing, but in the large fútbol stadium in San Sal. It begins with school groups, gynmasts, cheerleaders, cachipuristas, bands etc. A large part of it was a parade and display of the armed forces of El Salvador. They had a fake war right there on the soccer field, complete with helicopter evacutations, cannon fire, and peace negotiations. They also had a cavalry demonstration and paratroopers! It was pretty impressive, if not a little disturbing.
After that, I passed the afternoon watching fútbol (Real Madrid vs. Zúrich) in a hammock. It really is a tough life here, but someone has to do it!
I will close here - my host brother and a jigsaw puzzle are calling me!

September 9, 2009

under the hot lights

We've been told that we should pretend that we are auditioning for a job. This audition is in front of an entire community, and the audition will last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. No pressure!!

I am here in my new site, and it's true. Everyone just wants to check and make sure that you are "buena gente". They want to know that you know what they know before they are willing to learn from you what you know. I have begun the process of getting to know the community by visiting the school and passing through all the classes with the directora (I wish we could gender nouns in english!). I was also introduced in front of a parents meeting. Now pretty much the whole community knows my name, but I don't know the names of any of them!

The audition seems to be going well so far - in the afternoons I go visiting with my abuelita. We visit her friends in the community. I'm slowly getting to know people. I don't think I'm ever going to know everyone in this community. I hope for maybe knowing everyone in the school. I will probably be here most of the time anyway, since Peace Corps and MINED have an agreement of certain charlas that I have to give, and considering that there are 2-3 sections of each grade, I will be teaching a lot!
Not only do I think I will enjoy my job, but I think my new host family is great. Carolina, my new host mom, wants to exercise as well as learn to cook more "saludable" for herself and her son. I've already convereted her son to whole wheat bread without doing anything! I think we are going to get along very well.

This town is very interesting. It appears that there is quite a bit of money (I saw an air conditioner unit sticking out of a house the other day) and quite a few houses have cars and computers. That isn't so say that this town isn't a peace corps town - though sometimes, even though I've only been here for 4 days, I forget that I'm in El Salvador. And then, the bachata blasts from the car radio passing by, the cows barrel past as the farmers bikes behind them, the women walk by with guacals full of pupusas balanced on their heads. I have visited the poorer people in town, but almost everyone has family in the states that send down remesas, and with those remesas they buy luxuries. Not that I begrudge them any of it, it's just interesting.

I hope I can have a positive impact on this town. Just now entering into the school (where they have a computer lab and internet) I was acosted by a bunch of niñas. They were very excited to see me and chat with me. I think one of the toughest things for me to see though is the amount of children that have one parent, or sometimes both! in the states. A lot of parents from this town, and this country in general, are in Washington D.C. and Houston.
I have a feeling I will love it here. Somedays I might want to jump in the freezer to get away from the heat, but it's all the more reason to love a bucket bath! I think, in general though, besides the heat, this is going to be a great fit. Just wait and see.

August 31, 2009

let the good times roll

I can't believe that two months have almost passed. This week we are finishing up training and getting ready to head to our sites. Thursday we will all travel to San Sal, Friday we will meet our community counterparts, and then be sworn in at the U.S. Embassy and then Saturday we travel to our sites. I am technically in the department of San Miguel, but am also really close to the department of La Union. I will be about 25 minutes away from the city of San Miguel, which is the second largest city in El Salvador. It's nice that I will be close to a larger city where I can get lots of crazy food so that I can cook whatever I want! I will be the first volunteer in my site, which is exciting, but also a little nerve-racking. I will be working with a school of 500 kids, which is larger than my high school! Though hopefully that means that there will be more resources available to me in terms of energy and ideas from students and teachers alike.
This entire experience has still not settled in for me, I think because for me it doesn't feel like anything has started. I'm not in my site yet, I don't have my house set up - I'm still floating around in training land. I think once I meet my counterparts and move in, this whole two years dealy-bob will begin to sink in. I am so grateful for my wonderful homestay family in my training community and I can't wait to visit them again for holidays and family occasions. I only hope that I can have as good, or even better relationship with my homestay family, neighbors and counterparts in my site.
I am a little bummed because all of my friends from my training community are assigned sites on the other side of the country. The good thing is that I will be able to travel and get to their sites within one day if I want. It's also a good excuse to go and see more of El Salvador. Being close to San Miguel also means that people can get to me pretty easily as well, so maybe I will have vistors! (Peace Corps and otherwise.)
Even though I'm two months in, I really feel that this journey is just beginning. I will try and update again sometime soon, but I don't know how my internet will be in my new site. Wish me luck! Thinking of you all.

August 18, 2009

first class

I have officially taught my first class in El Salvador to Salvadoran kids. It was an English class that I gave to 6th graders. Almost the entire lesson was in Spanish though, with a few English words thrown in, so I’m counting it as my first class in Spanish! I’ve already learned a few things about teaching.
1) I stink at time management. I planned for the lesson to be 45 minutes long, but I was done after about 30! Part of it was not my fault, as the children knew more of the verbs than I thought they would, so we flew through some of the sections. I should have had more back up activities, or just done the ones that they liked a lot a few more times. I’ll remember that for next time.
2) Kids love to get up and learn. For my English class I was allowed to pick my own topic, so I asked some of the kids in the class beforehand what they wanted to learn. They said action verbs. I decided to do TPR (total physical recall) that we always used in Señora Kule’s Spanish class at FVS. We would recite the words in Spanish and do some action that would remind us of the word. I figured for action verbs that was a no-brainer! I picked 15 verbs because there are 30 kids in the class. The verbs ranged from swim, run, and eat, to hug, cross and lift. We also played “Simon Says” with the action verbs as well as a find-your-verb-partner. I had written all 15 verbs in English and Spanish on separate sheets of paper so I could hand them out to each student and then have them all get up and find their partner. I should have played that game 700 times they loved it so much. I especially liked it because the kids were really great about helping each other out to figure out what verb they had on their piece of paper, and then who their partner was.
3) The kids were really forgiving and made my first class a breeze. I know a handful of the kids in the class either from my host family or from the group of kids that we’ve been working with in the community. They were very excited to help out and show me what they know. Also, gringo TV—stare at the gringo ‘cause they might do something incredibly interesting—is fairly popular here so getting and holding their attention is not too much of a challenge!
So all and all I think my class was a success. I guess I could randomly poll the kids to see if they remember any of the verbs to know for sure, but I was pleased with their performance in class. I clearly have things I need to work on (time management!) but I’ll have plenty of opportunities to get better. I plan on teaching another English class before we go to our own sites. One last chance to mess up in front of a forgiving audience!

August 7, 2009

happiness on a bus

Just about every single morning I’m up at 5 or 5:30. Some mornings it’s because of the cows (vacas), roosters (gallos), buses (buses), or venders (vendedores); other mornings it’s because I’m going to “hacer ejercicio” (to make exercise) with my fellow Molineros trainees. Sometimes that means running straight up a hill for 30-40 minutes, depending when we want to turn around, or doing yoga on my patio, surrounded by curious dogs, chickens, ducks and host relatives. We always invite them to join in, but no luck! “Maybe later”, they say.
If we don’t have class here in Molineros, we travel to San Vicente. The bus schedules don’t seem to be organized in any way that I have figured out yet, but luckily our host parents know exactly which bus is passing at what time to get us where we need to go. The public transportation system is privatized here like it is in Argentina and India. Anyone can create a bus route, you just need to register with the Department of Transportation. So this means that you get bus routes like 178A that go from Verapaz to San Vicente, (which is the only bus that we can take that takes us directly to and from where we need to go). The 500 goes from Guadalupe to San Vicente, but only in the mornings, in the afternoons it turns around before our stop. Waaaaay before our stop. We only made that mistake once! The 501 however goes from Guadalupe to San Salvador, completely in the opposite direction that we need to go. The 301, 302, 303, 304, 305 and 306 all travel between San Miguel and San Salvador and come by about every 10 minutes. Other buses come only twice a day. Etc. etc. etc. all around the country.
I love public transportation (as long as I get a seat!). There is something about sharing a ride with other people, seeing the country and experiencing it all together that literally puts a smile on my face when I travel. Coming back from immersion days, I had a big goofy grin. It’s a good thing I was up near the front, because I’m sure if anyone had seen me, they would have thought I was even crazier than they already think the gringa traveler is. The bus that I was on had the front door more towards the middle of the bus so there are seats right up next to the driver, essentially sitting in the passenger seat of the bus. That’s where I was sitting. So I got an almost 180 degree view of El Salvador coming back from immersion days (more about immersion days later). Most of the buses here are old school buses. Someone said that a bunch of them are donated by school systems in the States. I’m not sure, but it seems like it. You can sometimes see the old lettering on the side that says “Montgomery County Public Schools” of “Ridgewood Elementary School”. All the buses are painted fabulous colors on the outside, with lots of decorations on the inside. There is normally music on the buses, and it’s normally loud and cheesy 80s pop. I’ve gotten off the bus to Lady in Red more than once.
The volunteer that I was visiting this weekend, Emily, said that if you are an impulse buyer, you might have trouble in El Salvador because the venders come on to the bus to sell you things. Anything. Everything. I’ve witnessed the sale of chiclet, newspapers, pre-made sandwiches, meat on a stick, coconut water in bags, little notebooks, anatomy textbooks, English workbooks, salvation and chips. I haven’t purchased anything yet, but I might get some roasted peanuts or toasted coconut the next time one of those venders gets on the bus.
The immersion days experience was a four day, three night immersion in the site of a current volunteer. We did a home stay in their community, in the hopes that we would be completely immersed in Spanish and Salvadoran culture for at least 24 hours without any of our fellow gringos to fall back on. It kind of worked, except that the volunteer I was visiting lived right across the street from my host family. My family was waving goodnight and chatting across the street, but it still worked! After the home stay, I got to follow around Emily and do what she does on a daily basis. I helped her give an environmental charla (chat) which is probably what I will be doing a lot of. On Saturday I got to go with her environmental club to one of their reward excursions. We went to the Barra de Santiago, a 2.5 hour ride in the back of a truck to a beach/bay/mangrove forest area. It was beautiful and so nice to see how a volunteer is making progress with her kids. After touring the mangrove area in a boat, we took the kids to the beach. Emily had told the kids that they could tell their parents they would be extra safe on this trip because they were traveling with a lifeguard (me!). First of all, my certification expired two years ago, I was trained for swimming pools, not surf, and generally most of the people I was guarding had some modest amount of swimming lessons. It was just me, 25 salvadoran children and the Pacific ocean. The waves here are pretty serious, and there is a fairly mean undercurrent, not to mention that the tide was going out anyway. Luckily, there were some other volunteers that joined us on the beach that day, with their trainees that were shadowing them, so we just made a gringo wall and had the children play in the waves between us and the beach. It worked out well enough, but we all probably got knocked over a couple of times.
I’m so excited to finally be getting ideas about what I can do in my site. I’m having a blast seeing this country and learning more about the people and the language. I love spending time with the other trainees and my host family. I’m enjoying training for the most part but can’t wait to get to my site, wherever it may be. I’m thrilled to be here, and can’t wait to share it with whoever wants to come down and visit me!

July 27, 2009

how big can you dream?

We are currently in the throws of community based-training. Buried in one of the bajillion pieces of paper that Peace Corps sent us to read before we left was a basic description of our training. They outlined two types. One is classroom based and the other is community based. The community based one is new and only being used in selective areas. What do you know that El Salvador is one of those areas? This means that for the next 6 weeks (to make a total of 8 weeks) we will be living and working within host communities. Our Spanish teacher comes to us and we have class in a fellow trainee’s host family’s home. (We aren’t volunteers until we are sworn in.) We also do community contact activities within our host community to get used to going up to people and asking for help on such and such an activity. We go in groups so it’s not as daunting, but really, when we get to our assigned sites, it’s only going to be us, so we better be ready! We also travel to the PC training center in San Vicente at least once a week for health classes and policy and procedure training as a entire group (all 33 of us, as opposed to the 5-6 people that live in a host community.)
After two months of community based language and culture training, we are sworn in, assigned our sites, travel to our sites and move in, and make community contacts for two months. We go to people’s homes, introduce ourselves, hold meetings etc. Then after those two months, we come back to San Vicente for 2 weeks of intense technical training. This not only allows us to focus more on our Spanish at the beginning, when that’s what we really need, but it also allows us to come back to technical training with specific questions and ideas from our sites that can be shared and worked out with the larger group. It sounds like a great way to do training.
One of the community contacts that we are currently working on is an activity that lasts the entire 2 months that we are in our host communities. We are supposed to engage with a local youth group, identify a problem, or problems in our community that can be alleviated or eliminated by an activity, and then we plan, execute and “celebrate” our activity. We have found a group of kids to work with and we had our first meeting. Instead of asking the kids to identify “problems” in their community, we asked the kids to come up with their ideal community. They could draw, discuss, list, write or describe whatever community they wanted. If their ideal community is one with a giant purple elephant, we wanted them to say that. (Our group of kids ranges in age from 11-14.)
I was not expecting it to be so hard to get 20 engaged and active youth to dream. We had split up in to smaller groups to try to make everyone comfortable, and divided the gringos up among each group of kids to facilitate. Most of the children described communities with larger schools, larger churches, more soccer fields, cleaner rivers and more cars. I’m not trying to suggest that these are invalid answers, because from what I can see, this community could use all of those things, but I wanted the children to have fun and think about themselves for a while.
I guess I was expecting them to say they wanted a big park or a bike trail, or a swimming pool, or a basketball hoop. Maybe I’m placing what I think they should want on them. I do think that some of the kids wanted to say things like that, but were just shy. However, I’m also convinced that the children’s responses were what they were partly because they have never been asked to dream before.
In one of our larger-group development sessions we were talking about how it’s often hard for people with fewer opportunities and experiences to think about their hopes and dreams, especially when they are never asked that question with any frequency. As children growing up in America, we are frequently asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?!” Most children will shout something fantastic or outrageous: ballerina, fireman, president, doctor, veterinarian, blue elevator or whatever it may be. Ask the children here, and they will say farmer, teacher, mom. Again, I’m not trying to say that these are “wrong” answers by any means, because this community surely does need farmers and moms and teachers, but I was expecting kids here to be kids. And I’m sure there are kids here that dream of being fabulous things when they grow up, but I didn’t expect to receive the responses we did when we asked for an “ideal” community. I am beginning to see the reality of what we were discussing in that development session. I’m curious to see how this plays out in whatever site I’m eventually placed in. I plan on doing community visioning in my site, but I’m wondering how much of a challenge that will be? I need to start thinking of ways to get people who don’t normally dream to do so.
We will continue working with this group of kids to identify some activity they want to do to make their community more like the ideal that they created. Hopefully with a little more prodding from us we can encourage them to start thinking big.

July 19, 2009

"asi es"

Training has been a whirlwind of activity so far. We are currently in our host family/training sites. I have the wonderful opportunity to be my host family´s first PC trainee - I hope I give her a good impression of us. The country is an amazing place, full of great food, fruit, people and vistas. As in any new culture, there are little quirks to get used to, but one piece of advice we were given was "asi es" and I think that that is very apt to my situation. "That´s the way it is" I don´t see this little missive as a cop-out, or an avoidance of the situation, but instead, I see it as a path to understanding. By recognizing that some things and my culture and their´s are just the way they are because they are, I think that will lessen my culture shock later on. I am looking forward to challenging myself to learn more about myself and this culture every day. So far so good!

Oh, and one week down. Not that I´m counting down, but just because it´s flown by so much.

June 22, 2009

"without courage, wisdom bears no fruit"

I've been checking things off my to-do list, but that doesn't make the future any more certain. I graduated in May, and I packed up all my belongings from Skidmore College. I road-tripped across the country with my friend Alicea, visiting national parks, and friends and family along the way. I'm home now, making even more to-do lists as well as un-packing and repacking all of my belongings. I'm preparing to leave for the Peace Corps so the packing I'm doing now is like nothing I've done before.
I'm packing things appropriate for semi-tropical, rural El Salvador, which is where I will be for the next 27 months.
Alicea and I got accepted in to the same program: Agro-Forestry/Environmental Education, so we will be traveling together for a bit longer ;) We will meet our fellow Peace Corps volunteers in Washington D.C. for pre-service training and meet-and-greets on July 7th. Then, bright and early on the 8th (4 am - it's a good thing we both did crew with all the early mornings!) we leave for El Salvador.
I will most likely by in an elementary school teaching environmental education. I'm very excited to begin learning exactly what my position entails, because right now, it's more of a "less is more" vibe coming from the Peace Corps headquarters.
I will attempt to update this blog as regularly as I can, but no promises!
Hope your summer is going well.
Alicea and me, post-race. A teammate captioned the photo with: well, at least they have great personalities...

February 1, 2009

can i get paid to think?

the following is the personal essay I submitted to the Peace Corps as a part of my initial application. I thought people might like to read it.

According to a recent personality survey I took, I am a thinker. My friends and I joke around about what that truly means, but deep down I know and embrace that label. I am a thinker. Sometimes I think too much, and every once and a while I forget to think, but at any given moment, I am probably pondering something. Lately I have been thinking about “small-ness”.

There seems to be a potent lack of small things in our lives. Large cars, mega-farms, multinational corporations, and voracious consumer appetites dominate. Many of the problems I notice around me seem to arise from an unsustainable excess. Monocultures, monopolies and unilateral actions are threatening our sustainability as a human population. One breed of cow, potato, corn, political system, finance system, pesticide, antibiotic, advertiser and market are driving the reduction of our world to one homogenous product. I see these monocultures, as I would classify them, as unsustainable and undesirable.

I understand and appreciate that some large systems are required and are often better than smaller ones, for instance – public transportation, communication, emergency relief efforts and public health care. However, not only is small beautiful, and more sustainable, but small can be wonderfully powerful. I believe small ideas and changes can have big impacts. I believe a return to the small and local is a way to alleviate many of our world’s ills. It is to that end that I relish the opportunity to volunteer through the Peace Corps within a community that could use my help.

I am prepared to be a Peace Corps volunteer and tackle a variety of challenges in my placement. As my academic record shows, I have taken quite a range of courses. I am immensely interested in the connections between and among disciplines – how environmental policy is connected with economics, geology, sociology, physics, psychology, mediation, urban development and government. Even the largest problem can have small solutions, but they are often complex, intricate and require broad support and action.

For instance, to truly address urban poverty, changes must be made to education, health care, unemployment support, housing, rural outreach, farm support, environmental protection and a host of other systems and programs. Together, these required changes are by no means small and are linked in ways that are not intrinsically apparent, yet in these links we find the keys to meaningful change. Being a thinker, I love finding those miniscule connections, those interdisciplinary associations that give you that “ah-ha” moment. The moment when you discover problem A is related with problems B through D, but within those connections, you also find a host of solutions: many of them small, yet powerful.

I'm not sure what my future job title may be, but I want to make a career out of "ah-ha" moments. I know this will require an involved understanding of many facets of life and to that end I try to learn as much as I can. I am a thinker for life.