A Dog-Eat-Cow World

10-31

Tomorrow is Halloween. I love Halloween. I guess it’s that part of me that will always be a kid that keeps me feeling attached to the holiday. In Texas around this time the weather finally starts cooling down- the air is a little bit crisper, the sun a bit kinder. You see black and orange decorations in the neighborhoods and in the stores. Pumpkins. Costumes. This is the first time in my life I have been separated from the feeling of October in the states. Wow. I get a little homesick thinking about it. But Tuesday in El Salvador they are celebrating Day of the Dead... I wonder how that will be. I think people are gonna dress up in costumes. I heard that everyone goes and hangs out at the cemetery all day and has a party there and they sell food and drinks and stuff. So maybe it’ll help with my missing Halloween.

I woke up this morning and right outside my house I saw the dogs chewing on something. Something big. It was a chivo, a baby cow. Pretty new born. The dogs had killed it in the night to feast. I was kind of shocked.... but at the same time not really. That’s life. Dogs here don’t get Pedigree from their owners... They just get tortillas and milk. They have to get some meat, ya know... and well out here- they do what they gotta do to get it. It’s really kind of neat. For the first time ever, I’m being exposed to nature... to the wild. I never would have seen this at home- where the dogs are treated like sweet little babies and dressed up in clothes and given pillows to sleep on. No wonder all that sounds crazy to Salvadorans. It is crazy. They are animals. And we humanize them, baby them, and forget what they are capable of doing on their own. This is real life, what I am seeing here. A dog-eat-dog, or excuse me, dog-eat-cow world. And here I am finding everything I was looking for. 

My whole life, I knew the world was different outside of the states. I knew people didn’t live so comfortably like we do. And so many of us take it for granted what we have. I wanted to simplify my life. To not just see what people live like here, but to live like they do. Our comfy houses that are sealed from all traces of wildlife. In all my houses I ever lived in I hardly ever saw bugs. We had the house sprayed to protect ourselves from them. The most I ever saw was a cockroach here and there, or one of those really tiny spiders, a daddy-long legs, or a mosquito. Here, I just get used to living with the bugs. They don’t scare me anymore. The rats don’t scare me anymore. 

It’s really satisfying to live this rural 3rd world life... To just focus on the important things- spending time with good people, helping them, being productive- Free from wasting hours on the couch watching trashy television shows, Throwing away entire days surfing the internet and feeding a facebook addiction. The people here don’t have much. They are poor. They eat the same beans, rice, tortillas, and pupusas all the time. They go to bed at 8 o clock at night and wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning. Don’t drink much. They have to go collect sticks in the woods to make fires to cook their food.  They don’t have machines to wash their clothes and dishes and heat their food in 30 seconds. It’s a bit harder. But their lives are simpler at the same time. And in many ways their lives are so much better and more satisfying. They spend time with their families everyday. The families and neighbors work together. Salvadorans have good hearts. They have nothing and want to give those they love everything. I love it here. I thought leaving my American life to come here was so hard. But I can already guess that going home will be so much harder. I don’t have to think about that right now though. It’s only the beginning for me. I am thankful for this opportunity. And I am thankful for all my family and friends back home that are showing me so much support!

Yesterday I was at the school- just hanging out there and reading a magazine. It was the afternoon- so only grades 5-9 were there. I haven’t gotten to know many of them because most of them are really shy. But yesterday I could see they were finally warming up to me. They came and sat next to me, asking me questions about who I am, what I’m gonna do. Its great to finally get to know some of them. I was talking to 2 boys that weren’t in class taking exams like everyone else. I asked why- turns out they got kicked out of school because they had too many absences. But they still came to hang out there even though they couldn’t be in class. They wanted to be there. They wanted to see their friends. They said they had all those absences because they had to work for their families. 

Later I sat in on the HIV lecture for the 7th graders, given by one of the teachers. It was pretty well done. The kids need to know about it... and AIDS is a huge problem here, as it is in many 3rd world countries. The teacher was telling them to protect themselves through abstinence. She didn’t really talk much about using protection if they are sexually active. I wonder if those kids know how to use a condom. And kids here become sexually active at very young ages. Most of them don’t use protection because well- you have to have the money to buy condoms, and you have to get them in the city... They probably have too much pena to buy them. I dont think they even sell them at the little tiendas here. And even if they did- it’s such a small town everyone would know what kids are doing it- they’d all be gossiping about it. So the kids have few options for protecting themselves. The teacher asked me to help her with this sex education program in the next school year- which starts in January. I would be happy to help. I think it’s really important to provide youth with knowledge about this stuff. 

I walked a sweet little old lady home yesterday. She needed to hang on to my arm to not fall down. What would normally be a 5 minute walk for me was a 30 minute walk with her. LoL. 

I woke up for a run this morning and I feel great! I could get used to this.