This is a Man's World But it Wouldn't be Nothing, Nothing Without a Woman or a Girl

RH for Rural Health. My camera is awesome and
so is my friend Alex who knows how
to take crazy pics like this.

I apologize for making you all wait to find out how my woman's group went last week. It got to the point where I just decided to wait till after this weeks meeting and update you on both. I literally cannot believe that a week has gone by so quickly. So I will give you all an update of both of my meetings and other random things that I know you care about. (Also sorry for the double negative in my title, if you have issues with it you can take it up with James Brown.)

Well folks, my first woman's group meeting was a success! 21 women showed up, which was a huge turn out. Honestly I told my self I would be happy if half that amount came. (Where I was planning on finding half a person is unknown.) My host mom kept telling me how excited she was because when the volunteer before me had a women's group, and there were only 8 women (on a good day) who would come. We started off by doing an ice breaker, or in Spanish dinamica. (Don't you just love how I slipped that word of the day in there?) Peace Corps LOVES dinamicas. During training, we must have done at least one dinamica everyday. I would just like to say, that dinamicas are awkward and usually embarrassing and gringos pretty much hate them. But here is the catch, Salvadorians *love* them. And when working in a culture where everyone has a lot of shame to speak out in front of people, an ice breaker is often what gets rid of a lot of that initial shyness. The dinamica I did was slightly risque, and the women loved it. It is called fruit salad and everyone goes around and says their name and favorite fruit. So for example, I said was 'Hi my name is Chelsea and I like melons'. The second time around you say 'Hi my name is Chelsea and the first thing I do when I get up in the morning is wash my melons...' Then you just wait for the hilarity of that to sink in, and every woman then has to insert their names and fruit into the formula. This is not usually how women talk down here, but the laughing was a nice release of energy and totally broke the awkwardness.

The rest of the meeting was spent working out some of the technicalities of the group. The women decided they wanted to meet every week, same time same place. Also I had them vote on some possible future meeting topics. What I have decided, based on their voting results, is to alternate weeks with healthy cooking classes/ nutrition and health lessons. I also want to throw in some random stuff like recycled jewelry and shampoo making. Everyone seemed very upbeat and excited.

Something I learned about some of the women in my community is that many are illiterate. I would say about 1/3 of the women who came to my group could not write their name on the sign in sheet I had out. I don't know why I am so shocked, the women who could not write their name were a little older, and grew up during a time when it was not common for girls to go to school. But still it really made me think. These women have never read a book. Ever. They have never signed their name or written a letter. I cannot imagine a life like that. My friend Joelle is trying to start a literacy movement in her site, but I just have this feeling that the women in my site would be resistant. My community is very set in its ways, and a project like that might not work, but I feel like even if I could get these people to write their names it would be a huge improvement on their lives. We will see.

My host dad, Orlando, and I were talking the other day and we started talking about old coins. I love to look at the dates on the coins down here. Because El Salvador uses the USD, the coins that are here are usually old or brand new. As it turns out Orlando has a coin collection. He brought it out and showed me this penny. It is from 1838! How crazy is that. He said he found it when he was living in Boston. Nuts.

Also This week I have been on what I call The Great Egg Quest. I am not looking for eggs, I am eating them. At the grocery store the smallest amount of eggs you can buy is 15. So I have to purchase my eggs in sets of 15. (My chickens are not laying eggs yet, they are still too young.) Last week at my women's group meeting two women each brought me 6 eggs. So I had 15 already and then I had another 12. Eggs are good for about a month, but something about having that many eggs makes me a little anxious. So I have been on an egg eating spree this week. Eggs for breakfast, eggs for lunch, eggs for dinner. I might be going slightly crazy.

Yesterday was spent in a whirl wind trying to get ready for today's meeting. I went into Metapan to get the ingredients for hummus and extra large paper for the meeting. I also spent roughly 4 hours of my day walking to every house in my community handing out invitations again. This is not something I enjoy people. It is hot here. Also my community is what my boss calls semi-mountainous, which basically is a nice way of saying there is no down hill in my community. It is up hill all ways. I was beat when I got home, no way I can do that every week. I am hoping people will start just remember to coming on their own.

The lovely ladies that came out in
the rain to the meeting today. 

I wanted to take the second meeting and keep it pretty light and fun. I am trying to keep the women coming back. This week I decided to do a cooking class and nutrition lesson. We went over the food pyramid and made hummus. I was a little nervous, as this was the first content based meeting. I spoke a little fast, and the ladies did not care for the hummus, but hey live and learn. I feel happy that I exposed them to something none of them had ever tried before. And I am happy that so many women came out even though it was pouring. 12 women came, my host mom is hiding behind some people because she did not want her picture taken.

I was going to have the women vote on a president, vice president, treasure, etc. today but decided that the group is still a little unstable. So I think until a core group of women start showing every week, I will hold off. But I do think it is key to have them planning the meetings and events. I think it will make the group more sustainable. I know these women are capable of improving their lives, they just need a little push.

Today is also El Salvador independence day from Spain. They won their independence in 1821. That was a long time ago, it is amazing the after effects that the Spanish had on this small country that can still be seen today. The Spanish made it illegal to be an indigenous person, so everyone was forced to dress and act like the Spanish and switch from their native languages to Spanish. An interesting observation about El Salvador is that it has very little culture of its own. But from what I can see, this country is slowly but surly building up its own traditions, but the moving is slow. So everyone have a beer for El Salvador's independence today!

This week I am going to start a new part of my blog where I post submissions from friends. The general idea is to talk about the challenges of be a recently graduated person dealing with life in this economy, or anything they feel like writing about. I am not too strict. If you are reading this and want to submit a post, just leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.

Here are a couple of belated photos from my In Service training a couple of weeks ago.

Making indigo tie-dye shirts is a very serious business people.

This is my boss Carlos. This picture was posed. 

Just where we had IST, no big deal.

My friends are so proper.
Joelle, Alex and Sarah 

This girl sleeps in the strangest positions...

Give Me Everything

Alright people I know it has been a few weeks since I have written, but I have been very uninspired to write. But I do have a few stories from the past few weeks that you all might enjoy. So as usual here are a compilation of stories that make up my life here in The Savior.

First of all I want to share my new found love of Pitbull with everyone. I know what you are all thinking, who is that again? Pitbull is an American rapper born to Cuban immigrant parents in Miami. I was slightly disappointed to find out he was not actually born in Cuba, as it takes away from his appeal a little. He is also known for being a snappy dresser, almost always seen in suits. And being the badass that he is, he always wears sunglasses. (Oddly when I googled imaged him, and saw pics of him with out sun glasses on, I observed that he looks very quizzical.) (Also please don't judge me for google imaging Pitbull.) He has come out with many hot dance songs, including the title of my blog today. This song is HUGE down here right now, and playing on repeat on my Ipod right now. I have no shame. I love Pitbull.

This is what I wake up to every morning.
Just waiting to get fed...

Second: last week I went to a GAD show in a small town called Juayua. This town is known for food festivals that are hosted there every weekend. When my family visited, we stopped by the food festival for lunch, and were more than impressed. Juayua is not very far from my site, maybe an hour and a half by car. But since PCV's are not allowed to drive, I took the bus. Let me tell you, the bus is always an adventure. Wither people are selling you anything you could ever think of, clowns performing for tips or disabled people with blood bags hanging off the side of them asking for money, you are sure to always have an interesting trip. On this specific trip, I had to take a bus from my pueblo, Metapan, to the capital of my department Santa Ana, then get on a bus to the city of Sonsonate and catch another bus to Juayua. This takes about 4 hours.

 I had to leave Metapan pretty early in order to make it to Juayua in time, and I fell asleep on the bus. I woke up when we were in Santa Ana and, fearful that I had missed my stop, I asked the woman next to me if I had missed the terminal stop. She assured me that I had not, and as she was also getting off there so she would let me know. Our stop came up, and we got off. The woman told me she would walk me to the terminal as it is not in a good part of town. We get to the terminal, no problem, and she decides that she really does not feel comfortable leaving me alone. I contemplate telling her I had self defence training the two weeks before and that I am carrying pepper spray, but as I don't know how to say pepper spray, I do not say anything. At this point she spots her boss who is eating pupusas at a shop in the terminal. We go over and say hi, and he invites us to join him for pupusas and coffee. It is never polite to turn down pupusas (and I love them so I never would), but I seriously considered it as there were a pair of antenna staring at me in the crack in the wood in front of me as I sat and ate.

We ate pupusas, generously purchased by the boss of a woman I had never met before this morning, as I awaited another member of GAD who I was meeting up with at the terminal. When the woman and her boss finished eating they decided it was time to go to work, but the woman clearly had issues leaving me alone, even though I assured her my friend would be there in under 5min. Apparently I look like a good person to rob. Looking skeptical at the thought of leaving me alone, the woman calls the pupusa lady over and tells her to keep an eye on me until my friend gets there. The pupusa lady does not look pleased with this task and responds that if I have faith in God, I will be protected. The woman I met on the bus looks at the pupusa lady like she is out of her mind. The bus woman looks at me and tells me to watch my back, she then turns and leaves. Thankfully nothing happened in the next 3min before my friend got there, but I now remember very clearly what it is like to be baby-sat.

Third: I spent my first 7 months in country being super healthy. But it is like a switch flipped and I have been sick 3 times in the past month! I can only hope this is not a habit. The last time was this past weekend. I was headed to the last showing of GAD's musical, A Mi Manera. I was in a car with my boss, Carlos, and our country director, Jaime and two other GAD members. I woke up early and had not had time to eat. So as we set off on the hour drive to the show and as I began to feel sick, I attributed my upset stomach to hunger. About 10min before we arrived, I knew I could not wait another moment, and I asked Jaime to pull the car over. He did and I immediately threw up everywhere. Love to keep it classy in front of my boss'.

Fourth: I have mentioned the GAD musical a couple of times in this post. The musical has now come to an end, and it was pretty successful. The musical was created by another volunteer and GAD member and addresses gender roles and stereotypes. The play was put on by a group of Salvadorian college students, who performed it 7 times all over the country for volunteers of the region and students or youth groups they brought. The kids watch the play, and after are broken into small discussion groups. The group leaders are given a set of questions that address the issues brought up in the play. Some of the issues addressed are the stereotype that women who have condoms are prostitutes or promiscuous, men should not cook or clean, and women should live with having an abusive, non faithful husband.  Powerful stuff.

Fifth: I have my first women's group meeting this Thursday! yay! I am nervous, but also excited to see who turns up. I am going to take this time to gauge interest in the group as a whole, interest on possible meeting topics and hopefully vote on a President, VP, secretary, etc.

Updates to come people, stay tuned.

Nonsense

Well folks, my family came and went. I would say that they integrated pretty well and got a real sense of what I am doing, in the week that they were here. My Mom was caught scolding Hoja in Spanish, my Dad did shots with Cowboy Carlos (who has about 80 heads of cattle) and my brother picked up a bunch of words in Spanish (and actually taught me one). All and all it was a great trip.

Hoja loves chairs. 

I am sure you are all wondering what exactly I am spending my time doing down here in The Savior. Well, mostly I am trying to work on my Spanish skills and integrate into the community. This is what we are told to do for the first 6mo to year. It sounds like a lot of time, but if the community does not trust me, then nothing will get done. Here are a couple of ideas I am working on. The volunteer that was here before me had a Women's Group. There were only about 5 members and since the volunteer was a guy, he could not talk about a lot of sensitive subjects (like sex-ed and HIV/AIDS prevention). Since he left the group disintegrated. I would love to restart this group and open it up to more women in the community. Also since I am a women I can talk about issues that might be taboo for men to talk about with women. I have a lot of ideas, and I would like to try to make the group sustainable so that when I leave, they will continue to meet. 

I am also very interested in a water project. Getting my community potable water will be expensive and probably take at least 5 years. But someone has to get it started. I just found out that there is a water committee already formed in my town, which is a huge fist step. I am looking into grants and NGOs that could possibly help. In the mean time I am looking into a water filter project. This is, unfortunately, also expensive. Each filter costs about $30. A lot more than many in my community can afford. So I am looking for a grant or something that will help cover that cost. *Also none of you people who read this know ANYONE in Rotary Club?? Tisk tisk. I find that very hard to believe.*

I just finished reading a few books, and I loved all three of them. I read Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Pride and Prejudice, and Bossypants by Tina Fey. First of all, Pride and Prejudice was awesome. I read slowly because I did not want it to end. Drama, romance, old-fashioned letters and a woman heroin? Where is bad? No where. This is my new favorite 'classic' book. I also just finished the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series. The first two book were way better than the third, in my opinion. The third book was slow start. And actually I did not find myself enjoying it until the last 1/3rd. But I am sad that the series is over, especially since the third book's ending is totally set up for more books to come, but that will never happen. So sad. I also just finished Bossypants. I love Tina Fey. The disk drive on my computer has decided it will only play two of my DVDs. (DVDs are crucial down here, especially since it is not normal for women to be out after dark. Needless to say,  I have a lot of time to read and watch DVDs.) Anyways, one of the two DVDs that I have on rotation is Baby Mama with Tina Fey and Amy Pohler. Classic movie. Tina tells it how it is. And that is great. (I also feel that I can call her Tina because I have watched that movie so many times now, we are practically sisters.) 

My miniature hen had chicks! She laid 6 eggs, and 5 eggs hatched. They are adorable. I am so excited! Unfortunately there was a small incident where Hoja ate one of them, so now there are only 4. We will get to that in a moment though. This brings my current chicken total to 10, plus 1 rooster. Baller. 

Now on to Hoja. Girl is off the walls. I am daily reminded that I have no say over what she does. If she feels like it, or if there is food involved she might listen to me. Maybe. Since the spray bottle did not work out, I have started using some pennies in an empty soda can. She seems more aggravated by this than afraid. I want her to grow up a little so this crazy, teething puppy thing is over. Also she did actually scoop up and kill a 3 day old chick in front of my friend Joelle and her parents who were in town and had stopped by to say hi. I am totally mortified and I am sure Joelle's parents think I am just as much of a spaz as Hoja is.  

This week I am headed back to San Sal for three reasons. Reason one is that I have a dentist appointment. If you know me, you know that I have mad issues with dentists. Once when I was like 15 I was at the dentist getting a cavity filled. My dentist tried to put something in my open mouth without telling me, which I assumed was the novocain shot. So I slugged him. What? Don't tell me that would not have been your first response. (Remember when I wrote about my fear of needles? Yea that makes me do irrational things sometimes.) Needless to say he was pretty mad, and when I walked out of the office my Dad was quite aware that it was time to switch dentists. SO I think we can all assume that I am pretty stoked for my appointment tomorrow. It is just a cleaning. But I do not have the genetics for healthy teeth, so I already know nothing good can come from this. Wish my dentist luck people, and lets hope my anxiety can stay under control.

The second reason for my trip back to the capital is Harry Potter. Yes people, I will be seeing the final installment of HPotts. I am a little more than thrilled. If it were up to me, every HP movie would be 5hrs long and leave no details out. I would totally pay to see that. And it is going to be subtitled, not dubbed. Score! Reason number three, and probably most important, is my yearly In Service Training (IST). What's that you say? I just got done with 3 weeks of training? I know I know. But all PC El Salv programs have yearly training around this time. So I will have it again next August. I have no idea at this point what we will be learning about. Also it is only 3 days long. So I will be back in my site by Saturday. Holler. 

Here is a list of the books sitting on my table, waiting to get read. 

*The Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver (This is the one Hoja tried to ruin, I am pushing through.)

*Shogun- James Clavell (Paige- I promise that I will finish this book in the next 19 months...)

*Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte (Started but hard to get into. As opposed to Pride and Prejudice, which was phenomenal and I never wanted it to end.)

*House of Sand and Fog- Andre Dubus III (Anything in Oprah's Book Club has to be gold.)

*The Dogs of Bedlam Farm- Jon Katz (From reading the back I am pretty sure this book will help me train Hoja... Maybe? Hopefully?)

*Say You're One of Them- Uwem Akpan (Again with the Oprah's Book Club comment.)

*Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston (Over the years I have learned to mostly trust my Mom's judgement in books, there for I have high hopes for this book.)

*Game of Thrones- George R.R. Martin (Not sure why the author has two initial 'R's in his name, but apparently this series is a phenomenon taking the US right now.)

Also Ali- If you read my blog, please answer this question. On your blog you mention that you miss 'American Cheese'. Can you clarify that. Do you miss slices of American cheese that people put on hamburgers and turkey sandwiches? Or do you miss the types of cheese found in America? Like bricks of cheddar, American cheese and cheese whiz? Because I miss the types of cheese that are found in America (excluding cheese whiz, although I retain my right to eat it without judgement). This includes American cheese. I like some Salvadorian cheeses, but I would kill for a brick of cheddar and a box of Triscuits. Also you are living in Paris, the cheese capital of the world. So you cannot complain about cheese. It is a law. Look it up.

Also who is still reading this blog? I am curious as to my fan base. I mean I know my family read this, but anyone else? Hello? Let me knoooow :)

Hoja gets tied up after she eats baby chicks. 

Family in The Savior.

People- I had a Dr Pepper with my bean soup last night. Think about the magic of that. Dr Pepper does not exist in 99% of this country. (Although my boss magically found it in San Sal once, but that is beside the point.) How did I come across this magical beverage you ask? My family. THEY WERE HERE! Yep the rents and my brother made the trek to The Savior for a whole week. It was glorious. Besides the fact that they brought me a teflon frying pan (I know I am a freak for requesting this), a real pillow, new non-stretched shirts,  and the third Girl With the Dragon Tattoo book (just to name a few things),  we had a stellar time traveling the whole country.

Bro breaking in my new hammock

We took a couple days in San Sal perusing the museums and hitting up a huge fair that was going on. I spent most of the time seriously worried that my family was going to get mugged. They were not nearly as concerned as I thought they should be. I mean we did get patted down before entering the fair grounds, but who knows. We made it out of the capital unscathed, and headed up to my site. We spent some time in my pueblo, buying super cool hammocks and a cowboy hat for my brother (which he maybe had off his head for a total of 20min after it was purchased).  We took a walking tour of my community. My fam tried all of the exotic food I have been talking about on here. They ate enchiladas, pupusas, and atole de elote.

Atole de elote is a corn, milk and sugar soup or drink. It can be had hot or cold. Readers, my family are champs. This stuff is not normal food. Especially when a huge, steaming hot bowl is served at lunch time, and I have threatened them that I will be outcast in my community if they do not eat everything they are given. Solid job family.

Pop-sicle

After my community, we headed to Ataco to celebrate my mom's birthday. Ataco is a small artisan town set in the mountains. They have the best goat cheese. Ever. We stayed in some beautiful cabins, and probably could have stayed a week. We then took the beach road along the south and headed east and eventually north to the department of Morazan. We stayed in a small town called Perquin that was the head quarters for the guerrilla movement of the El Salvadorian civil war back in the '80s and '90s. If you do not know about the war that took place down here, you should go do some reading, it is crazy. Way to go US government for giving $7 billion in support to the wrong side, solid job.

On our way back to San Sal, we hit up San Vicente where I had my first two months of training. We visited my host family, the training center, the terrific taco place and of course the pan dulce shop. No trip to San Vicente is complete with out a trip to the pan dulce shop.

We then headed back to the capital for one more night before my family se fue a Los Estados. We went back to the same restaurant we ate at when we were in San Sal before. I ordered the same dish as it was so good the first time, I cleaned my plate. I was not super hungry this time around so it was not shocking to me that I did not finish my meal. Around 2am that night, I woke up with terrible stomach cramps and spent a significant amount of time in the bathroom.

As my family got up and was ready to depart for the airport, things had not quite worked them selves out in the stomach department. I know they felt huge amounts of guilt leaving me in such a state, but who could have known the road I was headed down. I tried to fall back asleep, but by 10 when there was no sign of improvement and my stomach cramps were leaving me immobile and in tears, I called the PC med office. I was told to go to the lab for some tests and come back to the office to await the results. The lab tests were, of course, inconclusive. So the PC doctor decided to give me some meds for the symptoms I was experiencing and wait it out a little more. As soon as I took the meds, I threw them up and the PC doc decided the correct course of action was to admit me to one of the hospitals in San Sal.

Despite being in a developing country, the hospital I was taken to was very modern and I received great care. They dealt with my hysterics, as well as anyone ever has, as they drew my blood and put in an IV. (For those of you who are unaware, I have a very strong distaste for needles, especially the kind that stay put in my veins for more than .5 seconds.) I was in the hospital for just over 24 hrs. They decided that I had food bourn illness, and it had passed by the next afternoon, so I was released.

I feel totally better now, except that my family has gone and I wish they were still here. Or I wish I was there. Or something. (Not tryin to live in Florida though, sorry.) We had a great trip but, unfortunately, I only took about 3 pictures. My Mom has all of the photos. So if you know her, I am sure she would be glad to show you. If you don't know her, well you are out of luck, and she might be super weirded out if you contacted her. Careful there.

I will post again soon and update you all on the rest of my life. Teaser: new chicks, Hoja is crazy, PC projects? I know you will be waiting on the edge of your seats, so I will try to post it quickly.

Stereotypes and Expectations

Confession: I lost my razor so I have not shaved in a long time. So long that my leg hair is soft. TMI? Probably, but it made me think about the stereotypes people have of PC volunteers.

When I think of PC volunteers I totally think of unshaven legs among other things. But the truth is, that is just not the way it is. Most of my PC friends shave their legs. There are so many ugly stereotypes of volunteers that are just not true. Most of us are young professionals (read: fresh out of college), and not very many of us are, what I would call, 'crunchy'. Lets define that though, crunchy is a hippy/vegan/hemp wearing/non shaving/ sometimes high/ sometimes preachy/ always eating granola and tree hugging type of people. There were a lot of very crunchy people that went to Umass. A lot. This is not a bad label by any means, just a lot of people think this is the only type of people that join the Peace Corps.

I have a little bit of crunch in me. I love granola (Uncle Paul if you are reading this you make the best granola EVER) and organic local milk. I have hugged a tree before. I was a vegan for a month my freshman year of college. But I do not think people would define me as crunchy based on my definition of the word. And I would not define most of the volunteers in El Salvador that I have met as crunchy. Some of them, sure, but the majority no.

Another stereotype (that I am also going to call an expectation for those of you volunteers who are reading this) (that sounded nice, but I do not think any volunteers read my blog) that we deal with is how 'hard' we are going to have it. Don't get me wrong Peace Corps is hard. It is hard to learn a new language and not be able to express yourself. It is hard not having clean water. It is hard leaving everything you know for something new. It is hard battling cultural norms. It is hard starting projects and finding funding. But I do not live in a dirt hut. I have electricity and internet. I live 10 minutes from a hospital and grocery store. Again, this is not the norm for all volunteers, but for many, it is.

I just wrote an article for the Peace Corps El Salvador magazine, El Camino, about expectations. It started out about the changing of what volunteer's lives have morphed into over the past 50 years. But ultimately it changed to an article on what people expect before they get into their country and why PC begs us to lower or get rid of expectations. I argue for a change in expectations. Peace Corps is not what it was 50 years ago, and I think that is the way it should be. Sure there are probably volunteers in Africa who live in mud huts, but that is no longer the norm. What have development organizations been doing for the past 50 years if not moving people out of dirt huts and lifting people into healthier lives?

Believe it or not, a lot of volunteers complain about how 'cushy' we have it. Some even call it 'posh corp'. But don't even get me started on that. Because these people are welcome to come take a bucket bath with my gross river water and I dare them to tell me I am living a posh life style. Sheesh



Also here are some obligatory pictures of Hoja. For all of you who have seen Baby Mama  this is how my covo with Hoja went down.
Me: Hoja, is that just a feather or is it a whole bird? Feather or whole bird? Aw it's just a feather!
(Because she did actually eat one of my chickens last week, so this is now a real worry.) Oy.

So tired of shenanigans. Hers and mine.
She is not amused.

Here is your Word of the Day:
Yard = Patio
I know that one is hard, right?