New life!

Well I am officially a Peace Corps volunteer as of 2 weeks ago. Our swearing in ceremony was very nice, and it was super nice to stay in a hotel with air conditioning for the night. Haha Oh the little things. The US Ambassador to El Salvador, Mary Carmen Aponte, swore us in. The next day we headed to the capital, San Salvador, for what the call counterpart day. Counterpart day is where you meet the Peace Corps appointed people who work or live in your community that will be your guide for the next two years. If you want to start a project, or figure out who will be the best to work with or just want some support, they are your go to people. My primary counterpart is the Health Promoter here in my little town outside of Metapan. A Health Promoter’s main job is to know the general health of everyone in the community. They also give vaccinations, birth control and are often the first person people in the community will go to when they are having a health issue or want to learn more about a health issue. My secondary counterpart is my next-door neighbor and for all intents and purposes my new ‘host mom’. She is super nice and super active in the community. I am replacing a volunteer here, so my community has some experience dealing with gringos, which is good, but I am hoping that eventually I will stop being compared to the volunteer I replaced. My town is semi-mountainous, which sometimes is beautiful and sometimes a pain to walk everywhere. There is a river that runs through my town, but is mostly dry right now as we are in the middle of the dry season. Speaking of that it is HOT here.



My House!



Some interesting things that have happened to me in the past two weeks:

-          I killed a chicken. I got up one morning and one of my host sisters asked me if I wanted to kill a chicken right then and there. Really there was no reason to say no, so I did not. Haha It was pretty interesting and I have to say I felt like I might faint, but it was also pretty cool to see exactly where your food is coming from. I then helped de-feather it and then ate it later that day. It was delicious. J I have spoken to my host mom about getting some of my own chickens, and in a matter of days I will have my own brand new baby chicks. They are growing away in their little eggs as I type this. Now I just have to figure out how to build a chicken coop… anyone?

-          I moved into my own house. I was originally supposed to live with a host family, but through some mis-communication I moved straight into my house (next-door to the family that was supposed to be my host family). There are 2 rooms, a kitchen with a wood burning stove, a pila area, and a pretty sizable front yard. There is a lime tree, an almond tree, 2 orange trees, a marenon tree (I cannot seem to escape them), and 2 mango trees in my front yard. And I already have plans for a garden. Not a whole lot in my house right now, but slowly but surly I am collecting items.

-           I ate rabbit for the first time. And you know, it actually does taste kind of like chicken. Haha I have to admit, I was a little nervous about trying it, but as it turns out, I loved it! Go figure. 

-          I also got a new address here in my area. I have changed it on the side of my blog here. So when sending things, this is the correct address to use. 

-          My counterpart, the Health Promoter, took me around my little town and introduced me to the majority of the families. There are about 150 houses here in my town, which compared to some of the other volunteers near by, one has about 50 houses and another only has 17, 150 is a ton. It took us 3 days to just stop in and say ‘hi’ to all of those families, so I can only imagine how long it is going to take to complete the census.



My wood burning stove and my chicken sitting on her 14 eggs



-          Speaking of the census, I have officially started my community census this week. It is about 75 family and health related questions. I have to say, it is a little awkward going to houses and asking super personal questions, like when was their last obgyn exam, to people I have only met once before. And it’s even more awkward when they do not answer truthfully (like when you ask how many times a day they brush their teeth and they answer 3 times a day, everyday, and half of their teeth are missing/ visibly rotting). I have completed about 30 houses, and am trying to average 6 a day, finishing sometime at the end of April is the goal.

Spanish Word(s) of the Day: Chicken: Pollo

Hen: Gallina

Rooster: Gallo



Chick: Pollito (pronounced poy-e-toe)



Also happy April! Hard to believe it is already April, but here we are. If you go to the post office today, you can still get those birthday presents out to me, and there is a chance they will make it in time! ;) Just kidding (kind of).





View from my front porch



My Pila area

View of my back yard and neighbors house

^My main room