The Days are Long, But the Years are Short

All more the reason to get motivated to do something truly wonderful with my time here. I have been in country about 9 months, and in my permant site for 7. Many volunteers say that they didn't really understand their communities and what they could do for them until they had been in them for a year. I agree with that, but I can feel like I'm getting there, slowly, but getting there.

Jamie reminded me about the Peace Corps statistics they shared with us during training. Peace Corps, after 50 years of sending Americans away for service, has pretty much figured out pat exactly how a typical volunteer will be feeling mentally throughout their 2 years. According to them, I am at that point in my service, that end of the first year stretch, in which I will probably have the blues the most- about what I'm doing here, what I gave up to be here, etc. When Jamie reminded me about this I was in the middle of having a really great day... I was like "I think the worst of my blues is over... but i'll be here for you..." BAHAHA! I spoke too soon... I still have my days when I get the blues. BUT luckily I have been having a lot of really REALLY good days in site mixed in with them.

I'm learning a lot about what it is I need to doing to make sure I can keep it together. Also, with the encouragement of a good friend.... I have discovered that I LOVE to mop the floor of my house. It's really quite therapeutic. Turn on some good music, mix lavender Fabulosa with water and make your house sparkle. I can appreciate living in this cement box a lot more if I keep it clean and smelling nice. Funny, because before it was suggested to me, I had only mopped my own floor once in the 7 months of living here. Quite sad. My floor was dull and filthy... except for on the rare occasion I asked Guadalupe to clean it for a dollar, or Marinita surprised me by doing it herself... not being able to stand how dirty it was. LoL... So here is to new, healthy rituals!

I've also been keeping up with exercise... extremely important. I didn't get to run this morning because the soccer field was a lake after yesterday's rain. I just have to get some workout DVDs to do in my house. I did p90x with Jamie at Noel's house last week. OY! My legs and butt were incredibly sore for nearly a week... the first few days she and I both could hardly walk. It was awesome. Really, it was.

So it was a good week! Tuesday I went to a meeting with town leaders held by the NGO that works in my community. It was all about educating us on the structure of El Salvador's political system... which really bored me because it felt like a basic political science class... only in Spanish. Ay! It was good practice for my spanish though, listening and speaking from 7 am to 4:30 pm. I just didn't learn much. We're going to another one next month about gender in rural El Salvador. That sounds a lot more interesting.

Then Thursday... I had a very unique experience. The Ministry of Health sent a psychologist to my community's school to work with the teachers... He was supposed to be doing some kind of professional development- I think that is supposed to help them better understand their students. But it really turned into some kind of 4 hours therapy session.

He was giving us deep breathing, meditating and stretching techniques. Ok, cool. All things I find enjoyable. Then he went on to have us all sit in a circle for a "catharsis" activity. This is when it got a little... mmm, interesting. He gets a straw hat and puts in on the floor in the middle of the circle. He's asking everyone questions like, "what is that?" it's a hat. "What color is it?" Cream. "who would wear it?" A man.

Then he picks it up and says we are all going to talk about our relationships with out father when we were children... I didn't think his transition was too smooth and it completely caught me off guard. He went first holding the hat... talking about how his dad was a very serious person that made him spend much of his childhood gathering and selling mangoes in the streets. His dad expected him to do this for the rest of his like just like him... etc... He passes the hat to Beatriz sitting to his right. It's her turn to talk about her dad. She was already in tears before he even handed her the hat. She shared that her dad was an abusive drunk that beat the women in the family and she went on bawling and sharing ugly things about her childhood in relation to her father. Passes the hat. Idalia... her dad left them, she had to take care of the family while her mom worked... Bawling.... Passes the hat to Margarita.... Dad had a family with other women, didn't pay much attention to them when he came to visit... At this point we all had tears pouring out of us.

It was incredibly hard to sit there and listen to their stories. Not one of them could say that they did not suffer during their childhood. Seeing their pain brought me to tears as well. I had never known them on this level. We just worked together... and to hear about their pasts... I had so much shame to have that hat passed to me. I had never experienced suffering... really of any sort. I got stitches once when I was a kid... but I never went without anything. My childhood was awesome. My dad was awesome. So what could I say? I just said I was without words... because I had never experienced that kind of suffering. That it's a pleasure to work with strong people like them and to see where they are despite the odds they faced. Passed the hat.

At one point when everyone was crying the psychologist was having people stand up in pairs and hug and cry it out. I was just like, "Whoa! What is this?" It was more of a support group and therapy session than a professional development for teachers. But I have learned to just go with things around here.

It was just one of those moments... having "I AM DIFFERENT" staring me in the face. Reminding me I am so fortunate. I remember when I was a kid I would complain when I had to wait til Dad got his next paycheck to get new shoes, and I felt poor because mom wouldn't buy be Abercrombie & Fitch clothes like the other kids who seemed to come from families with more money. I had no idea how fortunate I was. It's funny how one might feel as rich as their surroundings. Because I grew up in the suburbs where there were lots of kids that went to school with me from families with more money, I felt somewhat poor compared to them. Dad dropping me off at school in his Ford Festiva, my friends getting dropped off in fancy SUVs. Pfffff. I was definitely rich in comparison to most children here. Perspective.

I won't forget that day. I'm glad I was there and that I got to know the teachers like that. By the end of the session it was like we were all best friends. That afternoon we ate cake and danced and they taught me some moves. They're such good people.

Well tonight it's pupusa night! I went and ate beans and tortillas for lunch with an old lady friend. I like to visit the old ladies that live alone... they are so sweet and love to have visitors, but unfortunately don't get many because they mostly talk about how much their knees and their backs hurt. But I find other things to talk about usually. And I like checking up on them... I can't imagine how lonely they are. And poor Rosa... she runs a store by herself and she's always letting people take things from her without paying. Kind of like putting it on a tab... but she says they dont always come back to pay, and they get mad when she asks them to. I'm like, stop doing that! People are taking advantage of the sweet little old lady.

This week I am going to a mandatory Peace Corps In-Service Traning. At least it's in a really nice part of the country at a place that serves good food!

Ok, I could go on forever, but it's almost pupusa time!

Paz y Amor.

Gossip ain't nobody's friend...

Ok so it's been a while. Mostly because Semana Santa came, El Salvador's holy week, and I spent most of it doing gringa things, that I wasn't left with much blogging material. Still, it was an awesome week! Got to spend a lot of time with two of my favorite people in El Salvador, Noel and Jamie. I even went to the movies! Twice in one day! Guess how much a movie costs here? Like 3 bucks! Awesome huh! And then popcorn and a soda? About $4. It doesn't taste like the movie theatre popcorn at home, but I'm not complaining! We saw "Just Go With It" with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, and then "Hall Pass" the movie about the guys that get a week off from marriage. Both were funny and entertaining but Just Go With it was better...not as much guy humor. Anyway, I am super lucky that I have the option of going to an American style movie theatre so close to me that has new releases. Well... actually, I dunno... Those are new releases right? LoL I dont even know anymore.

The rains have been picking up here and there! Which means the hottest days of the year are pretty much past us. Hallelujah! By the second week of May we should be in the definite rainy season. I can feel the climate changing. I got used to the very dry air... after a few heavy rains in San Vicente... I'm rediscovering the feel of humidity. I'm looking forward to days and days of rain that I can spend relaxing in my hammock and reading good books :) I'm not looking forward to all of my things being wet and mildewed all the time. But I will do my best to keep things safe and dry... This is when ziploc bags are essential! I'd also love a bunch of those disposable Glad-like tupperware things. Would be great for storing and organizing my stuff! ;)

I have been getting to know my community better... in a way I'm not sure I want to know. It is impossible to avoid the gossip of the community... People love filling me in on the dirt. And I get my ears filled with what are sometimes very entertaining stories. I just don't know how much of it is true, and I don't want my opinions of certain people who are really nice and good friends to me changed because others want to tell me about things that happened long ago. Anyway- The tales are nonetheless pretty juicy so.... Let me tell you about...

Nina Alicia. My good friend and maker of the best pupusas and food in town. She has been so good to me... Big Loving Latina momma she is. One of the few people I can sit with and have a relaxed conversation with. And she is always giving me food. I love her. Well,  She has 5 kids... and she had told me the father of her children died about  5 years ago of kidney failure. What I didn't know what that he was the husband of Nina Elba who lives arriba in the centro, whom with he also had many children. Well back when he was alive, Nina Elba had decided one day she had enough of her husband banging this other woman... So she hid out in the trees in the field in front Chepito's house and waited for Alicia to leave from visiting the neighbor... Upon her exit she started to shoot! And the chase began... Elba was chasing Alicia and shooting at her all over the property right in front of my house. Chepito said her aim was terrible... He was sitting on the pot in the latrine when a bullet flew through the wall of the outhouse, right past his face, and through the other side. How crazy! You wouldn't want your last moment on earth to be spent taking a crap would you?

Antonia. She is a really good kid that lives next door to me. Beautiful, Smart. Has a lot of potential to really do something with her life. She is about to graduate from 9th grade and no one has the money to pay for her to go to high school, so I am going to do the best I can to help get her a scholarship. All one needs to go to high school here is about $250 dollars, to cover the costs of daily transportation and their uniform and books and lunch while they're there. That's not much money to you and me. Well now it is to me, almost my monthly salary... But before Peace Corps I would blow more than that in one day shopping at the mall. I will soon be setting up a fund for Antonia and other scholars in my community for people to donate to their education. All these kids need is the opportunity. Antonia is a gem in this community... I don't want to see her get pregnant right out of 9th grade like her sister, Roxana- Who by the way refuses to leave her home because she is too embarassed for the community to see how pregnant she is... It's sad, but I can't say I blame her... These people are vicious with their gossip. But she won't even leave the house to go to the clinic for prenatal care. I'm gonna go visit her today, poor baby... A baby havin a baby.

But what's the juice? Last night I found out that my host mom, Marinita thinks Antonia might be her granddaughter, daughter of her son Vladimir. But they're not sure, because Guadalupe was sleeping with about 4 men around that time... I was looking at their son's picture, and there is a resemblance. Marinita really is a very forgiving and loving person. She has treated Antonia like her own since she was born... But all of this- not knowing who the baby daddy is... Sounds very Jerry Springer doesn't it? Anyway, I want better for Antonia, I really do.

I also heard about the guys in town that have gotten their wives and their daughters pregnant at the same time. WTF? Thats disgusting and pisses me off... I'm sure the daughters didnt want that. I'm not sure if the daughters are under 18. But if they are... this monster might need to be reported to child protective services, which actually does exist in the country.

There is another girl in my community that was so distraught about her husband cheating on her that she committed suicide by eating rat poison.

And I have heard a number of stories about men and women in this town who have two separate families. Children with one person, and many children with another person.

In a way it feels necessary for me to understand who is family with who... Although it seems like everyone in this town seems to be related to one another somehow... But maybe I need to know this stuff, as ugly as it sounds, because if I'm working with these people, it helps to understand why some don't want to work with others. Still, there is a lot of dirt I don't know about them... and that I'm sure I don't want to know. I'd rather look at everyone with a clean slate, you know? Gossip is mean and evil and ugly. Chambre ain't nobody's friend. Sure, it might feel good and entertaining in the moment you are gossiping... But afterwards especially if I am the one sharing the info- I feel worse. Like I shouldn't have said all that. And with as much gossip as I hear coming from people around here... I'm learning it does not make you look good. Whatever bad things you say, they stick to you... You are the person that shared ugly things. OY! Is that not what I just did in this entire blog? But I'd like to think of this blog as different... Like I'm just a reporter or something.

I know... it's so hard to avoid...And when you live in a small town like this, everyone knows everyone's business, there's no such thing as privacy. But everyone deserves to make mistakes... I mean, I'm not saying it's ok to have two families at the same time, or impregnate your daughters... but JEEZ it's not really any of our business to be talking about with everyone we walk by the on the street.

On a ligher note... THIS IS MY 100th POST! I feel like I should celebrate or something! Maybe you can celebrate with me by sending me an awesome care package :) LOVE!

Semen? What's that?

Have you ever seen chickens do it? It's quite an awful site! One that I get to see every day. The rooster chases the lady chicken around for a while... she looks like she is running for her life. You can really tell she doesn't want it. She seems to eventually get tired or just gives up and the rooster jumps her... He gets on top, standing on her wings, pinning her down... and he does his thing while she is laying there unable to move... and the most annoying part of the site to me is watching him peck at her head throughout coitus like he's really showing her whose boss or telling her to shut up or something. Yuck. I am SO glad I am not a lady chicken. They're called hens right?

My host parents catch me staring at the chickens doing it sometimes. I always have this horrified look on my face, jaw dropped, and my host mom will look at the chickens, then look at my face... and we both laugh.

Marinita asked me to explain HIV and AIDS to her after getting back from the camp I took the kids to. She didn't know a thing about it. I was explaining to her what you can get it from... and this is when I discovered Marinita does not know what semen is. I was a bit shocked.. she has 4 kids. But when i told her the virus can be transmitted through the semen of a man... she asked me "what's semen?" I said... "you know- when a guy..." After a while she said "ooooh yea... that" so I guess she knew it existed kind of... maybe she just didnt know what it was called. She is such a conservative woman.

And sex is something people just don't talk about here. They all do it... but since they don't talk about it, maybe they don't really understand what they are doing, or even know the vocabulary for the parts and what not. This is why Peace Corps El Salvador spends time on educating youth about HIV/ AIDS and general sexual health, like at the camp I went to. My friend Emilie described what we did at the camp perfectly in her blog... I especially like her description of "Paso a Paso" when we taught the kids how to properly use a condom. Read it ---> HERE

A cute story about how clueless people can be without being educated or talking about sex. I was talking to a guy the other day... He's was pretty old... like 80 maybe. He told me that he and his wife never kissed... they have 8 kids, so they had sex... but they never kissed. That is, not until he got to be about 60 years old and started watching telenovelas (spanish soap operas)... He said they never knew how to do it... they learned from watching telenovelas. Now they kiss all the time. That story made me laugh.

You just don't see any PDA here either... I have gotten so used to not seeing anyone touch anyone else here, the other day I saw some teenagers holding hands and I was like "WHOA!" lol... I think it can never hurt for people to be more outwardly affectionate toward one another.

I'm learning that I really like going to bed early and waking up early. I went to bed at 8:30 last night and got nearly 10 hours of sleep. When you do this almost every night... it's amazing how good you can feel! I will never again be able to sleep so much in my life when I am done with peace corps.

Highs, Lows, Headaches and Lovin Latina Mamas

You know what? Things are pretty damn good these days. Ok yea, yesterday I had a rough time and I was having one of those "I feel like I hate El Salvador and no one here understands me" kind of moments. But that's just because I had 2 crazy busy weeks of running around, long bus rides and being around people constantly almost every day. I reached my limit and just needed a day to myself. So I took it. I stayed in my house allllll day, which I almost never do... especially without feeling guilty about it. I read, I wrote, I watched a movie. It was wonderful! A day just for me! It's important to remember to take those. And then by the time evening came I was feeling back to normal and ready to show my face to my community again. Peace Corps is crazy like that sometimes. Everyone says how you have really high highs and really low lows. And it's amazing how quickly you can go from a high to a low or vice versa. But generally, I am happy.


It was just the night before my "I hate El Salvador moment" that I had returned back to my community feeling like I had done one of the greatest things so far in my service. I felt awesome. I had taken some kids from my town to Chalatenango to the HIV/AIDS prevention camp... They learned a lot, had tons of fun, and went and taught what they learned to kids at a school in La Palma on the last day where they kicked ass and I was so proud of them. I felt like taking them to the camp was one of the best things I have done because I gave these youth the opportunity to have a completely new experience unlike anything they had ever had before. Sleep away camps are not something most Salvadorans have the opportunity to experience. For them to get out and see a part of their country they had never been to, to meet youth from outside their community- they have only known and hung out with people from their towns their entire lives... meeting people from a far away place and making friends with them.. It was just really beautiful. It couldn't have gone better. I would definitely like to do more camps in the future. Even though it means staying in the free state park cabins that are kinda ghetto and nasty... a few nights of sleeping uncomfortably is worth it.

Saw my first tarantula there. And then yesterday I saw one in my site for the first time! EW! Tarantulas are scary looking! I stopped screaming and freaking out about rats long ago. When I see scorpions now, I remain calm and just kill them. I live with frogs hopping aroung my house. Tarantulas though appear to be one thing I can not chill out about. Huge hairy spiders the size of the palm of my hand. They have to do something bad to you... if they look that scary! AHHHHH!

Let me get back to this low I had the other day. It was triggered by a comment my host mom made to me. She came to say bye and tell me they were off to church on Sunday when she said, "I would invite you, but you don't like to go places with us." OK well she's not exactly wrong... whenever I go out with them I have to ride in the truck Chepito drives- and his driving is scary with his one eye vision and his diabetic low sugar states. And I always am coerced into sitting smushed between the two of them in the seat of the truck, its pretty uncomfortable. I always tell them I would prefer to sit in the bed in the back, just because I need my space you know. But they don't like being seen toting the gringa around like that they said. Besides the only places they ever go to are to church and to pray at people houses, or to weddings of people I don't even know. Why would I want to go to those things? Catholic mass is not something I enjoy. Why would a non-Catholic be interested in going to mass? I thought Marinita figured a long time ago I was evangelical anyway.

Anyway, it was just this one comment that got my wheels spinning. I make an effort to spend time with them, I do. Just last Sunday I spent the ENTIRE day with them at the beach. But ok... say that it is true that I dont like going out with them, isn't that ok? I go out with them from time to time, but I'm not going to go to every event every weekend. It made me feel bad though- Marinita is good with the Latina mama guilt. Because I dont want them to feel like I don't like them, and I feel like I try to have a good relationship with them. It's just, where I'm from- it's ok to have more of an independent kind of lifestyle. And just because someone lives next door and is your landlord doesnt mean you have to do everything with them. *sigh* this is where the "no one here understands me" thoughts came in. Those trains of thought are never good to hop on for me. But I pulled myself out of the slump after some good chick flick distraction.

Still trying to wrap my head around what these cultural differences mean... and how I am going to live with and handle them. Most of the time I can just go with it and even laugh about it.

I know- a lot of it is about Marinita... I guess because she is the person I see everyday that I have these misunderstandings with. Like yesterday- I told her "Ok, I'm going to watch a movie in my house now" and she said "ok I'll be over there in a little bit." How did that sound like an invitation? She couldn't watch a movie in English on my 7 inch DVD player with me. Haha. Good thing I watch movies in English, because i really needed my time alone :) lol. I did watch a mexican movie with her and Chepito that night... to make up for it.

Also, I came home today with a splitting headache and she was so extremely concerned out me, which was very sweet. But my head was pounding and the last thing I wanted was to speak spanish to a salva mom hovering over my hammock. She told me I had such a bad headache because I "study" too much. Whenever she sees me reading-- whatever it may be, a book, People magazine-- she says I study too much. Reading fictional novels and trashy magazines is hardly studying. And she kept saying it to me while I was laying in my hammock, head throbbing "You really shouldn't study so much, it hurts you." I said, "Marinita, I studied for years all the way through University, I assure you... studying is not bad for you." I had a headache from the heat or dehydration or something. NOT from reading books! LoL- I told Jamie about it, and she said something like "Yea! THATS why they all stop studying after 6th grade, to avoid headaches." Anyway... an interesting cultural exchange none the less.

Next thing I knew Marinita comes in my house cutting up a huge watermelon for me, saying she was going to spend the night at my house if I was sick... and then she came at me with the big bottle of green goo that she proceeded to rub all over my forehead and even into my hair on the top of my head. She said it helps her when her head hurts. I recognized this as the stuff they sell on the buses for a dollar. And it BURNED. A lot. But you know, my head hurt so bad I was willing to try anything. And you know what? Within 20 minutes it was gone! I think it was probably the 3 advil I took shortly before... BUT i dunnnno... it could be the magic of the green goo.

I had a translation error with our driver on the way to Chalatenango. I was trying to tell him to turn the air up in the back of the van, because we were hot. The kids told me I ended up telling him that we were all horny in the behind. Oops! LoL. Love those english to spanish blooper moments.

Chalatenango is gorgeous. I saw my friend Katherine's site and was very jealous of her cool mountain weather, paved streets and pueblo-like set up. I was almost ready to switch sites, until the drive home... No thanks, I don't want to live there. The roads arejust too windy. I get road sick easy. I will just have to live with tredging through mud and water on my dirt roads during rainy season... It's really not that bad. But darn, I shoulda bought those cute rain boots at target when I was in the states :/

I'm discovering my love George Straight. Oooh, George. You're good company in the casita at night.

Finally got myself up and out of bed for a morning run today! Gonna try and make this a habit again. Working out makes me feel good and happy.

Making shampoo tomorrow with a group of women for the first time! Hopefully it will turn out good enough for selling!

Ok... well it's way past my bedtime... Almost 10:30! WHOA! I've been asleep by 8 or 9 every night this week. Buenas Noches!

Paz y Amor.

Thinkin Aloud.

A friend is one before whom I can think aloud.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's been a good week since last Monday. Tuesday I was told to attend an important meeting, and walking into it I wasn't even sure what it was about. I discovered that it's my job to form a committee of youth to collaborate with the old guys that are on the ADESCO (city council) and together we are to plan lots of activities for other youth in the community. In the meeting we planned out activities for the whole year- including educational lectures and vocational workshops for every month and other recreational activities. So, there will be lots of work for me :) A busy Peace Corps Amy is a less crazy Amy.

I went to Jamie's site last week and got to see her new house she is living in. Ay Dios Mio. Lucky lady. The house is awesome, big, central, and has the most beautiful tile floors I have seen in the entire country. And it has a bar. I am bien jealous. Will I ever move? I have no idea. I have made the Pro/Con list... there are a lot of pros to just staying where I am. I may be discovering the Pros outweigh the Cons. PROS: safety and security, help with house cleaning, rides from Chepito, purified water delivered, and the ability to have quality alone time almost whenever I want it, because it's kinda far from all my friends. CONS: I have host parents and I often feel like highschool again telling them about all my comings and goings. (but ya know, it's nice to be part of a family here, and they care about me), and I have to live with things they store in my house which means they come in a lot. I am very territorial of my personal space. But these are things I can get used to. At times they may irk me more than others... but don't you think the pros are greater?

Marinita, my host mom, is learning things about me. Por ejemplo, that I am not a morning person. I often prefer to be left alone, not talked to until after I have my coffee. I once told her this is how am. I explained that growing up my mom often would not talk to me in the morning. And yesterday I spent several hours sitting next to Marinita on the bus- her talking like normal, and I wasn't responding much. And she said "Oh yea, i forgot- you are enojada in the morning." LoL... made me laugh.

Friday I went to San Sal and bought stuff to make shampoo with my women here. I think we'll be doing it next week. Hope it turns out ok! I got the chance to see a different way of making it at Jamie's school when I went last week. She is making it with the kids there. So that was helpful.

Yesterday I went on an excursion with my community to Playa El Cuco. It was.... interesting. They brought a bus into town and filled it up... everyone paid $4 round trip. The beach we went to is only 2 hours away... but we stopped on the way there so people could buy some Pollo Campero to take with them. Salvos are CrAzY about their pollo campero.... really junky fried chicken is what it is. Everytime I eat it I feel terrible after. The line was crazy for this fried chicken... out the door. It took an hour for everyone to get through the line, get there pollo, and then we were on our way again. El Cuco is the beach that all the salvos like to go to. I'm not sure why they like this one so much more than the others. It's kinda ghetto. We rented a room for $15 where we could change and put out stuff. Pretty pricey considering how dumpy it was.

I swam a little, but spent most of my time reading in the shade. I like to swim at the beach... but I get tired of getting knocked down by the waves. The waves here can be really strong. So I like to just get wet to cool off, and get out and go have a beer in the shade somewhere. When I'm dry and hot again, i'll take another dip. All the people on the trip with me were so burnt because they spend all their time in the water. They were so shocked I wasn't burnt.... like they were disappointed I wasn't. They wanted to see how lobstery red the gringa gets, I dunno. Sorry, I wear sunscreen. My favorite part of the day was paying $1 to get a ride on a little boat out far past the waves. Seeing the coastline, it was gorgeous.

The trip wore me out. And this week is going to wear me out even more. Not a whole lot of time to rest. You see tomorrow is Jamie's birthday and she called to see if I want to leave for San Sal today to celebrate her birthday with other friends. I was feeling kinda bad about the idea of leaving my site because I am leaving Thursday- Saturday... but you know what- that's for work. And Jamie has been the best friend to me since I got here. She's has always been the kind of friend that listens and just lets me think out loud to her... So i'm gonna go and celebrate it with her. And if people here have a problem with that... Well, they will get over it. Friends are important. And birthdays only come once a year.

It's hot hot hot hot! I have to sleep with my fan on at night now just to be able to fall asleep. Thank god for my fan. But the power is out right now so I am sitting here sweating.

My head is too itchy lately. Please don't be lice. When I've looked at the kids hair at school... a lot of times I swear I can see lice eggs speckled all over them. It makes me paranoid.

I watched a movie on my ipod last night that I downloaded on iTunes. Reese Witherspoon... "How Do You Know?" It was pretty terrible. I am such a sucker for chick flicks. What's my deal? All the ones I've seen lately are sooo bad. Can anyone fill me on the best movies that have come out since last July when I left... I want to know what the good ones are. What have I missed out on?

Ok... Gonna get my shit together and go to school for a while before I take off to celebrate my friend in the capital.

Paz y Amor.