I make a good Cowgirl! Who woulda thought?

With my host dad, Don Chepito



Momma cow and Baby cow in front of my house.

This morning my counterpart’s sister called me to see if I wanted to go do my house visits with her since Ariel wasn’t around to go with me. At first I said no, because I was just going to walk around the area that I already know and it’s not really necessary that I have company.... But when I hung up I felt bad for declining. I realized it would be nice to get to know her and hang out with someone different. She’s in the 9th grade and really nice. So I called her back and said sure, that I’d just finish my breakfast and come over. I forgot that I had to hang my wet laundry out to dry though, and I left much later than I told her I would. To make things worse, I got lost on the way to her house and then some of the bolos on the street starting bothering me, so I went into the house I was near... The one where I buy chocobananas from all the time. They’re cool, they like me. So I had a safe place to go to escape the bolos. They’re the town drunks, they are pretty harmless. They just make me really uncomfortable with their cat calls. They will yell out at me in really bad English - “C’mon baybeee. I alikea ju. Ju awr bootifur.”  Ugh, leave me alone.

I had to ask my friend at that house to let me send a message from her phone because I didn’t have any credit on my phone, I was supposed to buy that when I got to Brenda’s house. She was really hesitant to let me use her phone because she only had 28 cents worth of saldo... a text is 5 cents. I will repay her when I go get my next chocobanana. Brenda was there in minutes. We did our house visits with her friend Lety who is really sweet and pretty as well. She has a lot more ambition than Brenda. She wants to continue her studies and go to high school bachillerato. 9th grade is as high as free public education gets you here. Brenda says she doesn’t want to get her bachillerato. I am wondering if she just says that because she knows her family doesn’t have the money to send her. Her mom is single. She has 6 or 7 kids. All with different fathers. The youngest one is from one of the town’s bolos. Maybe it’s a lot easier for her to pretend like she doesn’t want to rather than face the embarrasment of looking too poor. But you know the girl is poor, she lives in a metal shack with a dirt floor and one bedroom and the and all her sibling and mom sleep in. Her brother is getting his bachillerato though, he got a scholarship with the help of the last peace corps volunteer that worked here in San Jacinto. I would love to be able to do that for some kids here. It’s hard for me to understand why a young man or woman would not want to continue their education... It’s something for them to do other than sit around and clean house and watch tv.

We had some visitors for lunch at the house today. There was this one Salvadoran guy who lives in Australia... he’s related to some friends of my host parents. There are a lot of Salvadorans who have migrated to Australia. It was an interesting lunch... no one else really talked but him. I was amazed at how long he could go on and on without interruption. It was more of a monologue than a conversation... He was telling them all about things they have never heard of... GPS systems, his car that turns on with a button from the outside, all the fancy things he owns. Show off. All that stuff is so foreign to the people here. And it’s not like they are missing out. The simple life is the way to go.

I rode a horse around town today. It was fun to see people look so surprised when I came by on it. They were like “oh! look what the gringa can do!” i think i gained some serious brownie points. We took some pictures of me on it before I left the house. I loved the ride though, I hope I can do it more often around here. 

I came home and exercised in my house... Jumping jacks, kickboxing, running around in circles.... it was good. I can’t go for a run out in the streets here... the dirt roads are too rocky. I would twist my ankle. In the middle of my workout Marinita interrupted me- she want me to go take a picture with the town photographer at her house. I was like, “Umm... now!? I’m all sweaty and wet and red faced.” It could not wait. The photographer is just a guy with a crappy digital camera that brings back a print and you pay him a dollar for it. I told her I could do it for her myself another time, when I could be showered and pretty. But I still had to take the pic right then. It didn’t turn out too bad.

I am getting more comfortable with declining her food now... I have my own kitchen now, I should be expected to use it. So instead of tamales I got to eat Chicken flavored Ramen noodle soup. Way better than tamales! The tamales here are gross. They have no meat... just slimy moist corn mostly. They make me want to gag.

Ok well tomorrow it’s back to work at the school. I need to get in the habit of waking up earlier during the week. Before Milton wakes me up throwing stuff at my door. He’s so cute. I walked out of my house tonight and heard him crying. He was just standing in the middle of the dark field by my house... kinda far away, just standing there crying. He got scared on his way back to his house from Marinita’s and couldn’t see or he was confused about which way to go or something. His mom wasn’t home and his 2 older sisters don’t look after him very well. I ran into the dark field and picked him up and carried him home. Poor little guy... He needs a good mommy. Turns out he does have more than one shirt. It’s just that his mom doesn’t change his clothes much or wash them very well. Marinita and Chepito, my host parents do it for him when they can.

Question: At what age is it necessary for a child to start brushing their teeth?