Las adventuras de mi vida...

Wow I can´t believe a month´s gone by

2007-07-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

I really can´t believe it´s been an month since I´ve updated this journal! Having so many different methods of journaling makes me forget which ones I´ve kept up with and which ones no.
Let´s see, a lot has happened and a lot of the same things have been going on as well. As of right now I am in my third week away from the city of San Salvador. We were supposed to go back last weekend, but due to plans around my host site, I decided I couldn´t make it. I don´t even know where to begin here.
First of all, after about a month of rainless, hot days I´ve finally learned what the rainy season means here. It´s still hot during the day, but we´ve been getting some good rainfall just about every evening/night. It had been a long time in coming and for many came too late. In the area where I am, farmers lost between 30-80% of their milpa (corn) crops. In the lower section of the area where it´s even hotter and poorer, 100% of the crop was lost! This is absolutely devestating to a family who relies on the sales of their crops to provide everything.
Everyday, Ive been learning something new here and there´s no way I can reflect on it all before I leave. For a long time, I didn´t think I was really changing as a person, but kind of observing and growing more frustrated with the many problems the country has. Lately though, little things taht I had taken for granted and that I was accustomed to always being there and being necessary simply aren´t anymore. It´s an interesting process of growth and I look forward to seeing what life is like when I return to the land of flashing lights, traffic laws, different types of food.
I have to admit that I am not exactly in the mood to think about food at the moment! I had my first "sick" experience last night and into this morning. We´re pretty sure the 5 gallon water jug I traded for yesterday is bad. I didn´t bust it open til last night and all through the night my stomach didn´t quite sit right. I figured it was food I had eaten (aka the boiled veggies that had been sitting out all day and had been reheated twice) but my stomach just felt achy. This morning when I took some of my water with alka seltzer, it came back out in under 5 minutes. After that, I was able to keep down some bread and café. Ive also been pretty "ok" at the office. My stomach is a little restless, but it´s understandable!
Others had told me that getting sick made them realize what everyone here goes through because of the problems they have with spoiled food and bad water. I figured that if I got sick, it wouldn´t really change my mindset, but I was wrong. It is true. I´ve watched various members in my family get a stomach-ache for a day and move on and now I see that this feeling is part of their lives. It´s sad that people have to live this way and that not enough is being done to help it.
Another change I´ve made here is that I have a political mindset/I actually want to know what is happening politically and economically. Granted I´ll never be one of those people who get super into details, but I have grown frustrated on so many issues and have learned so much, it´s difficult not to see the world with different eyes.
Projectwise at OIKOS, I don´t currently and won´t really have a set project because there were some changes to our Piedra Azul plans. I decided I like it this way because I have been given the opportunity to really see what this place does. I´ve gone to visit many communities and seen many beautiful places. I´ve learned different aspects of the OIKOS world and have been able to witness all the organization does from the political fight to the environmental actions. I also did begin teaching, or at least helping with some English classes in the school across the street from my house on Fridays. This has been an interesting experience too and at times I´m frustrated with the learning structure, but it´s another thing I will probably digest after I return to the states.
Okay, enough for now! I´ll try to update again this weekend in the capital city! Peace out!

2007-06-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well, after my last little rant entry (I apologize, i was in an emotional state and needed to reach out to the world) I talked with Bethany who is the other Sippie working with Oikos and found out she was feeling about the same as I was. We called up Sally, our coordinator, and asked her if we could maybe return to San Salvador with her when she came to visit. She thought it was a perfect idea and said she might see if Amanda would want to return too. Amanda has been having a hard time in her community and this would give all the girls a chance to take a mini-holiday from campo living. The heat had been getting to me the past couple days as well because it´s been rediculous! Anyways, now I´m in the capital until tomorrow morning.

Thinking about it, I really needed this break and it has helped a lot, but I was also just thinking about how much of an outsider I am and how lucky I am to have an opportunity to escape the heat. A shower and a coffee maker are luxuries that I am able to come back to, while my family sticks out the heat in hammocks unable to move in El Tránsito. I feel a little guilty, but I think this break has given me an opportunity to think and collect a bit. I still find myself wanting to go home, but I want to stick this out. (Dad - thank you for your cute email about life and the calculations... I realized that this is such a short amount of time and thanks to all my friends who sent reminders about how I need to really focus on taking in every moment)

In these blogs and in emails, it is always so difficult what to type about because every moment of every day is full of new details and experiences. I thought I might take this reflection opputunity to explain more about what I am doing in general and not stick to specific experiences.

My work with Oikos Solidaridad is starting to take form. The organization is continuously working on so many projects all over the surrounding area. They would like me to focus most of my time with them on the community of Piedra Azul. Bethany lives in that community and we will be working on some of the projects there together. (She is amazing to have because I use her as my Spanish teacher-tutor and continuously ask her how to say things) Piedra Azul is a community divided into neighborhoods or caserios that seems to curl its way up a mountain/hill. It is more rural than where I live which is more like a neighborhood. Our main projects there with Oikos include one that involves the different caserios building leadership groups who can evaluate their environmental risks and create plans in case of emergency. They will also hopefully form their own projects to prevent desaster. We have our second reunión or meeting for this project all day tomorrow (saturday).

A second project Oikos is helping with in Piedra Azul I think I already wrote about some. It involves the women of the community coming together to build gallineros or structures for their gallinas/chickens. I took some photos of model examples we visited with a CRS (Catholic Relief Services) women who is collaborating with Oikos on this project. Possibly later I can upload some photos in my journal because I got my card reader in a package yesterday (THANKS MOM!!! xoxo). It was obvious the difference in health and size of the gallinas that were in the built structures we visited compared to most I´ve seen in people´s yards, including my own. The common practice is to let the chickens run wild in your property or wherever they decide to run, throw food on the ground for them, and basically that´s it. These structures guarentee the animals will be accounted for, fed in a healthy manner where they can recieve nutrients and water, and have a large enough area to move around and graze. It also is a way to bring the women in the community together and a way for them to earn money with the sale of large, healthy birds.
This project is coming along. We´ve had a few meetings and visited the example structures. Some of the women in the community seem to be pretty concerned about the lack of space they may have, but we try to say they can adjust size depending on the amount of animals they want and that the results will be worth it!

The third project, the one Oikos wants Bethany and I do do the most work and coordination of, is a plan to provide and plant fruit trees with 30 families in Piedra Azul. This project has been in the process of planning and really takes off this Tuesday. On Tuesday we will plant 14 trees at Bethany´s house which is also the meeting center for the town. It is going to be an example to teach how to plant the arbolitas and to analyze how many trees each family has the space for. The 14 trees are mostly in groups of 2 ranging anything from mangos to oranges to pineapples... I´m really hoping that Bethany and I will be allowed to actually help with the work of planting and organizing and do more than just observe. Oikos wants this project to be complete by the time a big delegation from Germany comes in August right before I leave. I think this is because most of the company funding comes from Germany and some other European countries and they would like to show the completed project as successful and show the great amount of work they are doing and how much it really is benefitting the people.

Other than these Piedra Azul projects, i love travelling to new communities and new projects to learn what other interesting things Oikos is involved in. By doing this, I can ask Hector, Guillermo, and Alex about the company, its funders, and how it began. I am also hoping to return and maybe talk to the school about teaching English to the younger kids once, maybe twice a week. I don´t have work on Fridays so that is a possibility and then maybe Wed. afternoons...?

Anyways, I might update later with some pictures, for now I´m thinking a lot about my future here and in life, what I would like to do, and trying to live in the moment. No matter how much i want to go home, this is a life-changing experience and I can´t quit. I don´t want to quit!

missing home

2007-06-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

I realize i write in this thing all the time and am online a lot, but there isn´t anything else for me to do in the office. i need to get up today and see if there´s any projects today, but for now i wanted to type about how i´m really missing home lately. It was awesome to have a delegation of all these ppl from Boston here for the weekend, but being around them and then having them leave to go home was SO hard. I´ve kind of hit a road block where i really just want to go home and see my family for a weekend or something. it´s difficult being in an environment where no one understands what i want to say or what i want. i have to just go along with stuff and don´t really get a say or any freedom. Bethany and i talked a little bit about life in English on Saturday night when i stayed at her house and honestly i talked for a half hour straight about my friends and college and stuff. It was a huge relief to finally speak more than a phrase or a sentence and to say EXACTLY what i wanted clearly. The whole experience left me feeling really alone. I kind of want to spend a day or two in san salvador, but we will be back there in like 10 days, so maybe it´s better if i try to stick it out. More than anything i want to talk to my parents and have a real hug. Everytime i think of them or read something from them i tear up. like right now.. ahh.. i need to stop because my eyes are gonna always be red while im at work. This is especially hard because they just back from vacation at my favorite place and i want to be there to relax.. its like my getaway. I was selfishly happy to hear they had problems with ticks because that wouldve driven me crazy and it gives me a reason to be happy im here. i hope we have a project today at work so i can try to get my mind off home for awhile. Tomorrow when Sally comes to visit, im gonna see what she thinks. i´m also for sure gonna run tomorrow again. I really just want some freedom to go for a walk, so if we can get Bethany to the office sometime soon, we already have plans to walk to El Transito or the market to get food or something new and exciting. The projects here are great, im just at a brick wall right now with my experience and i know its worth it in the long run, but right now i really want a break. I really want to go home, go to the coffee shop with a friend, come home and chill in AC, get a hug from my mom, cut up a fresh melon. Ok, i should stop complaining... We did go to the beach yeserday and it was gorgeous. There were some problems with communication and my family, but still its a little taste of paradise. k gotta go re-jump back into this world i call El Salvador... miss you all and please keep in touch because its all i got!
xoxoxoxo

despues una semana en el campo

2007-06-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today was probably my best day so far here. First thing, i ran longer this morning (24 min) and it´s become a normal thing with the family! yay! Then breakfast wasn´t too awful, although i am SOOOO sick of eggs, especially greasy eggs. Eggs and cooking oil are in everything with my family! That´s a little extra complaint though.. back to a really great day. After breakfast, I had a really good conversation with Rina (26 yr old, mother of the 3 yr old) about universities and money and stuff. It was totally a real conversation where we both spoke in full sentences and i didn´t say ¿como? or `what´a million times. Yay! i´m learning!! The convo was cut short cuz i had to leave for work. The same people that did the puppet show on Tuesday morning were already here. I already liked them from the other day because i could understand them and they like to be as talkative with me as possible. Joseph, the leader and possibly the father, has been all over the world with his puppet shows which is really cool. He´s from El Salvador, but travels wherever he has work. His shows usually have messages about environment or anti-violence, etc. Last time he came with this other lady who´s my age and today her brother who´s 19 came too. They all talked with me and are all working on learning English which was fun too. On our ride back to OIKOS, joseph had hector stop so we could get horchata... SO good! it´s different and authentic here. When we got back he asked me if i wanted to come with them to Espina, one of the most beautiful beaches here, for lunch... of course i said yes! So we drove the 40 min to Espina.. and yes it is gorgeous. Theres beautiful mountainous scenery too. We ate at this little place outside of town on the beach where ´they all knew the family and guess what?!?!?!? I ATE FISH ohhhhh and not just ANY fish.. this fish was big and had been washed off and fried sortof WHOLE. yup.. i made sure they showed me how to eat it and i actually liked it.. didnt taste like fish.. more like chicken hehe. I also ate the salad because im craving fresh veggies so hopefully i wont get sick.. oh well... havent yet! We talked a lot about all kinds of stuff and i have the girl´s number so i can call her when i go back to san salvador. Her brother said he´d drive us and take us to a dance club... i have my first actual salvadoran friend! i wish there was a way to meet more ppl that live in the campo my age, but oh well maybe one day. Tonight Rina said we´re going to the market so i can buy some fresh fruit because i mentioned my craving yesturday. i really just want something fresh,, some fiber would be helpful too hehe.. Tomorrow a delegation of about 13 Boston college students and 13 high schoolers is coming with Sue from CRISPAZ to spend the weekend with OIKOS and in the area. i think we´re going to Espino as a group on Saturday so im excited for that! okay enough for now.. i think i´ll head home soon! miss you alllllll...
To my family - have an amazing time at Reed Ranch!!!!!!!! i´ll be where its 95 degrees everyday!

livin la vida campo!!

2007-06-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

i´ve already spent 2 weeks in this country and i´m learning a lot about the culture and language. Finally I´ve discovered my voice. I comprehend a little more of the conversations of my family, especially of my ¨"mother" who speaks really fast and with A LOT of slang. I´m also a little more accustomed to this culture´s conception of time. Time passes really slowly here... ok, well...

The first 2 days with my family I was so nervous because i understood pretty much NOTHING they said.. if they said anything to me, and i was always separated aka i ate alone, have my own room..etc. Eventually i asked why i always ate away from the family and stuff and i found out that they eat outside and sleep in hammocks because they don´t like the heat. Well DUH this random girl from Michigan obviously doesnt like the heat either!! I said i want to be a part of the family, so now i eat with them outside. I spent the whole weekend with my family visiting relatives and stuff on father´s day and now i can understand them, but no one else haha...

There´s so much slang here, just about every other word is cut off. They use the term "puta" (bitch-literally, but can be used like sh*t or f*ck or whatever you want it to be) like it´s thier job too... oh yea, that def. includes the 3 yr. old... haha. My family is known for listening to the radio loudly all day which i like because im learning music and i get to hear the news. The whole family likes to sing and dance around a lot which is cute. Anyways, I´m surviving just fine.. besides the fat that i feel like im gonna gain 20 lbs. from the food and amount of food they feed me here (ex. breakfast this morning - a big piece of pastry, 2 cookies, sweetened coffee, and fried plantains). I gave away a cookie, and im working on making portions smaller (they think im crazy and make fun of how i dont want to get fat).
Body image here is something that´s always thrown out into the open. They refer to others that they see as gordo or gordita or flaco (fat or skinny). Yesterday we walked to the casa of a lady who sews and mends things because Alé needed his gym pants shortened. When we got back he was telling his mom about her and they started talking about how she´s getting fat. Fat and skinny aren´t bad or good, just adjectives.. although fat ppl are common. i decided its because they eat a lot of unhealthy, cheap foods and becasue they sit around all day. it´s just too hot for exercise.
On Sunday night, i asked my family if i could go for a run maybe in the morning and they started craaaccking up like crazy! They asked what time, so i said 5am because figured it´d be before i´d draw too much attention. They told me i they´d unlock the school yrd across the street.. sooo i got up at 5 and they got up at 5:30 to open it.. haha... i ran for 10 min and the father and daughter were standing there watching my every move like i was crazy. i asked the daughter (Marina- 12 yrs old) if i was doing something wrong or if everything was ok and she said i should maybe stop after 10 more min. I felt so awkward and they kept commenting on my run all day so i thought maybe they didnt want me to. but then this morning the mom was like "oh, no running today Ana?" so now im totally confused about the whole situation and i think í´ll try to run again tomorrow.. we´ll see how it goes!
They did allow me/teach me how to wash my cloths in the pila and help cook the chicken which was awesome. i get the impression that Deborah, the girl who stayed with them last summer, spoke better than me, but learned things in a different way.. For some reason they were really careful about asking me if I want to learn.. maybe im completely off with that.. either way, they do love her and keep calling me deborah by mistake. Two gringos, we must look alike!
One more little story although there´s sooo many (ask me later about the incident with the family members we visited who do coke). This story´s about my job. This mornign we went out on our first presentation about gallinas (hens). One initiative they´re doing at OIKOS is to teach the women in communities the best ways to take care of and raise hens for the best and healthiest production. it was really cool becasue it might be a way to teach the communities about safety and health issues along wtih bringing them together. plus, if they can get healthy gains, they might be able to earn some money. The poverty here is rediculous and their environmental management too. i think this afternoon there´s a puppet show at a school which is an awesome way to get youth educated and involved early. I´ll write more about this later...
for now.. im going to try to find something to do in the office resembling work.
p.s. if you happen to look at this Deborah, any advice you ahve to offer would be AMAZING!!!

2007-06-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday and we have the afternoon free, so i figured i could take this opportunity to update my blog on all we´ve been up to lately!! We´re coming to an end of our orientation week and it has been a lot to take in, but I think I can try to summarize a little of what we´ve seen and done so far.
There is a lot of history and culture, as well as political tension in this country. A lot of what I´ve heard so far seems to be sad and almost hopeless... but at the same time there are glimpses or communities of hope. This is mostly connected to the poverty in the country. Latin America has one of the highest gaps between its ultra rich and extremely poor. There are the few mansions you can see in the mountainsides or the occasional nice car, but mostly people here are just struggling to get by.
I´m trying to think of the places we´ve been so far in order, but i think im gonna have to resort to just listing them and about them. On the first couple days we learned about the current social situation around here. We had a presentation about how clean water is becoming scarce in the country and how there is a serious problem with the rivers drying up in the close future. About 89% of all rain water or something like that in the country is toxic or impure (nice to think about when you get caught in the rain)! Water privitization, actually privatization of pretty much everything, is a big economic issue/problem. We had a presentation from another guy about the history of El Salvador starting back with the Aztecs and Mayans and going up through the war... it was interesting because I learned a lot about how this country became what it is now. We also met with a lady who is involved with the political system around here and another one with a woman at an organization that´s alot like a women´t shelter and education center. That was cool or "chivo" in salvadoran slang! The organization does all kinds of things from medical exams to training women in the campo how to get better treatment in factories.
Another really cool place we went to was a Base Community. I don´t have my journal right by me so i don´t remember the name, but it´s basically a neighborhood who works together as a community to make the community better. We went to their meeting center area (so cute! there were flowers and posters!) and talked with one of the women who lives there and runs the religious services they have weekly and coordinates a lot of the events. There are a bunch of base communities around and they´re usually like grassroot movements to better their lives and often have religious affiliations.
The second half of what we´ve done so far is to go to historic areas that have to do with the war and Romero. We went to Romero´s house, the Church where he was shot and killed, and a center/museum where the Jesuit priests were killed. At this center there were notebooks with very graphic pictures of the corpses. When we walked around after looking at those pictures, i was kind of overwhelmed and felt like i just wanted to get away for a little while. The war is so sad and devestating, it´s hard to put into words. It´s even harder to realize that pretty much everyone you pass in the streets survived the war and probably has a horror story about it... We´ve done some talking and reflecting about this stuff, but it almost seems surreal listening to people´s stories.

On a happy note... Friday we went out to a kareoke bar! Sally is our coordinator-type-person for all the Sippies (what we´re called as summer interns) and she took us out with some of her friends. Sally´s in her early 20´s and from the states, but has been here now a year and a half. It´s awesome to hear her language skills and how she´s basically fluent after that short time here! Annnyways... the bar was pretty fun! I sang with one of the ladies "fotografía" by Juanes and Nelly Furtado and they would have breaks where they´d play dance music and everyone would dance. The part i loved most about this was that it wasn´t just young people in our group but like the mom in Sally´s host family and her sister and their friend who were a lot older and then a couple people in their 20s and then a couple teens. We managed to avoid the sketchy men as much as we could and had some good fun.
Yesturday we went to la playa (beach) that was about an hour away. The waves were HUGE and the water was like a bathtub! It was cloudy by the time we got there, so not that hot and we had a ton of fun playing frisbee and just enjoying ourselves.
My spanish is coming along. I freeze up when people talk to me and question me, but hopefully things will get better with time. Most people in the office are American and speak English, but all our speakers and Sally´s friends speak Spanish so it´s interesting... Apparently 40% of what is said in the campo is caliche (slang) so that will make it hard! I guess i´ll just work through it and see what happens. Food here is amazing and i love it! Pupusas, rice, beans, tacos, fresh squeezed juice, different tropical fruits! we went al mercado (market) yesturday and i bought some earings too. okay... this is enough to wear you out and i know its sooo vague and not really fun or detailed, but i promise from now on to be more concise and exciting!!!

Buenas y ojalá oír de Uds. muy pronto!!!

He llegado en El Salvador!!!

2007-06-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally in El Salvador for the rest of the summer. Later Ill have to come back and start my recap of what ive learned and experienced already in one day... but for now its time for dinner (6:42 and already almost dark out!)...