I didn't start the fire...

It seems like a lot of the time I buy fruits and veggies "por gusto," just for the pleasure of seeing my fridge filled with colorful items. More than half the time I can't finish them all on time. Because when meal times come around I just grab for the oatmeal, Ramen, Mac n Cheese, or canned tuna. Ok well i do also make eggs a lot and often include veggies... But man... I am so ready for some more variety in my campo diet. Eating can be such a pleasure, not to mention a way to feel great. I need more ideas for bringing variety into my life, and my mouth, out here. Any suggestions? Yo dad, the Spam and sausage were a good call! :) Despite my lack of cookin in the campo creativity... i am learning how to make one mean bowl of tasty Ramen... I have also learned that everything tastes better with garlic, lime and hot sauce. So, if any of you readers out there want to send me a package full of tasty American foods... I will be forever grateful!

In other news, I am on the edge of possibly discovering what will hopefully be a big defining project for my service.... Bringing running water to the parts of my community that go without. There are about 100 homes in my community that don't have water, close to 400 people. Many of them spend hours every day just carrying water up to 2 kilometers from the spring to their house- carrying it on their heads, backs, or horses. There are kids that miss school to bring water, men that can't work as much to bring water and therefore lose the little money they'd earn working in the field that day just to bring water, and too often many of them go well over a week without bathing because they have to ration what little water they can for cooking and drinking. To me, this is extreme poverty... and well if we can get this foundation to help fund and organize this project... no doubt the quality of life for these hundreds of people would improve dramatically.

So what happened what a Peace Corps staffer ran across an ad in the newspaper saying France had donated millions of dollars to El Salvador dedicated to water projects. There were a number of requirements- my community meets all of them. So I jumped on it and within a day had the solicitude letter ready. I talked with the foundation the other day and they said the community leaders need to head into the capital to personally hand in the solicitude and discuss their needs. So Tuesday I have a meeting with the community to explain the opportunity, and that it is not yet a sure thing... and Thursday hopefully we can get in front of these people in San Salvador and plead our case. It's not a for sure thing at all yet... just a glimmer of hope... and you can bet I'm gonna do everything I can to try and make this happen!

What else is going on? Well within the next few weeks we will finally be ready to buy the refrigerator our school needs! That's exciting! Everyday that the students come to school they are guaranteed a meal. They are unable to serve many things because there simply is no place to store the food items and keep them fresh and good. So finally they will be able to have a place for the fruits and vegetables and meats and the kids will get some more nutritious foods into their diets. Healthy kids are happier kids. Since my pinata bust, I'm deciding on what I want my next art project to be with the students at the school. I'm thinking... pet rocks with kindergarteners? Maybe we can do a mural too! But I don't just want to paint a mural for the sake of painting one... I want it to mean something. Any ideas?

My shampoo group is still going strong and we're selling our batches of aloe shampoo quickly. In no time we will have enough money to pay for our community clean up. You might be thinkin... But Amy, it doesn't cost anything to clean up trash... OOoooOh but it DOES! We need trash bags and here's the big expense... paying for the trucks to come in that will haul our trash away. The streets here are covered with trash... whenever anyone finishing a can of coke or a bag of chips, that empty container ends up on the ground. Oh man... you should see our soccer field! It's not like there are any public trash cans around... but even if there were, they dont have anyone coming to this community to pick up trash because it's so far out I guess. Everyone is forced to burn their trash pretty much.... That's pretty unfriendly to our environment ain't it? Man, I gotta say, the culture has penetrated my being enough at this point... I too, at times, have found myself wanting to litter. But NO! it's not cool, and not to mention it's unsightly when you look around the place where you live and just see land filled with garbage. So our shampoo money is helping contribute to the cleanliness of the community. It would be great if the ladies continued to make shampoo on their own even when I'm gone!


I'm planning some charlas, or workshops, for parents and how they can have better communication with their children... Around here I frequently observe that parents have no clue how to handle their children. They call them stupid and annoying, yell, hit, and never tell their kids they do anything right... These mommas need help. Just with Milton alone I have shown his mom that you can get a kid to listen to you by making clear expectations, having proper consequences, and communicating with them in a positive way. I mean I don't even have kids and I know how to handle them so much better than they do. I suppose it was my teaching experience and that I had awesome parents growing up.

Poor Milton though, his arm is messed up for life after that tamale burn 5 months ago. Especially because he doesn't wear the arm glove he is supposed to, to cover it from the sun.

I see him and in front of his mom ask him, "Milton, why aren't you wearing your glove?" and he will lie, like kids do and tell me it's because it got wet.

I look at his mom and she says, "He's a liar. He just doesnt want to wear it."

But Guadalupe, you can make him wear it, you're his mom. You're the boss.

"He just doesn't want to."

Then I look at Milton and talk to him about why he needs to wear the glove in a very friendly way, and ask him if he would rather have problems with his arm and it getting worse, or would he rather just wear the glove that will help it get better faster. This made sense to him... and within minutes we were on our way back to his house and we put the glove on and he wore it for the rest of the day.

Did I tell you guys that our kitten died? A cute little white one. The dogs ate it one day in front of my house. I wonder if it's just because they like to play too rough, like to kill or taste animal blood... or is it because they don't get enough food any other way? Poor Rinso. R.I.P.

I went to church today with Marinita. I don't mind going to mass every once in a while. I found it hilarious that our dog, Rambo, followed us all the way to church and slept underneath our pew for the entire hour and a half. Only in El Salvador do you find tons of dogs on the floor of the church.

Before I go... Some good simple pleasures I had this weekend in my site- Being able to buy a new broom, a thing to toast bread on over the stove, and a big knife on my front porch without having to travel to San Vi an hour and back and having to carry that stuff. Score. Eating 4 pupusas at Nina Alicias. Completing my second week of the p90x exercise program. Talking to my loved ones on the phone for hours because I got tons of bonus saldo.

Well, that's all folks! Hope you are all settling into and enjoying your summers in the Oosa.

All my love from The Savior!

Paz y Amor.

Amy. or in Spanish... Eymi.

Gringa Pride and Pinata Bust

This may be a record for the longest I have gone without writing a blog. It's been over two weeks. I guess I was waiting for something to write about... Many things have gotten to be normal to me here. This is just life. This is where I live.

And so here I am, coming up on 10 months of being here. What do I have to say about that? I confess- this is way harder than I imagined. I'm not giving up.... but I was thinking about this last night. I had done my fair share of traveling abroad prior to Peace Corps. A month in Mexico, a few weeks in Israel, Greece and Argentina... And I loved going to countries and experiencing their cultures... And clearly the Peace Corps experience is quite different than a few weeks or a month of passing through a country. I guess it's just I realize more and more with passing months how different it is to have to live and adapt to this culture.

It's funny- when I was living my American life, I never thought a second about how much I valued my culture. It's such a comfort to live your life in a culture where people talk and do things just like you do. And after being here almost a year it's sinking in how deeply engrained my American culture is in me. How different my perspective is now than when I was in my first months. When I was super gung-ho about living just like a Salvadoran. Then time passed and I've learned more about their culture seen that I am never going to live just like they do or be like them. Nor do I want to. I know now just how much I love and appreciate my own culture... I don't want or have to give that up. I still gotta be me, ya know. Peace Corps is affecting me... I have never been so proud to be an American.

And then I wonder with so many Salvadorans and people from all over the world moving into the states after decades and decades... what is that doing to the U.S. and our culture? I guess it's kinda cool that in our country we can experience so many different cultures, living alongside them, without having to give up ours. Just driving through Houston's Alief is like a mini-trip to Vietnam. That's cool. You get to experience the world without having to leave your city. I can appreciate that.

I was on the bus back to my site last week after hanging out at Noel's house for the weekend and I was feeling like I typically do when I leave there- a little blue. It's not easy making the transition from capital life to campo life... there is a world of difference between the two. I usually get a little down about it, but after I am back in my site for a day I'm fine. So I was sitting there frowning a bit and the guy next to me was super happy and could not control his urges to talk to me. So finally I gave in- talking would be a good distraction from sitting there thinking about how much I was going to miss my boyfriend and that life... And the guy is all smiley and telling me about how he is on his way home to San Miguel to pack his things because he has his interview that morning at the US embassy and was approved for an immigrant visa and he would be flying out as soon as possible.

"Pues, Felicidades" i told him. He went on to talk to me about how nervous and scared he is. He has never lived anywhere but with his cows and chicken in the campo of San Miguel. I didn't study past 6th grade. And I was thinking- what is this guy going to do up there? He said his plan was to cut grass for his brothers landscaping business. Ok- that's more money than he would ever make here. And then he asks me, "How hard is it for you to live outside of your country and your culture?" and he's talking about how much he's going to miss El Salvador- his food, his life... I was honest and told him it can be tough sometimes. But then I realized how much easier it will be for him living there.... when people immigrate to the U.S. there are huge communities of others just like them. They have their food, they celebrate their holidays, and shoot- they don't even have to learn the language. People go to the states and live there forever and never learn English because they dont have to. We even cater to them and make it easier for them by having many things translated for them. Cuidado. Piso Mojado.

What a comfort to have that kind of support when moving to another country. It's tough when I'm out here in the campo and the only American.... sometimes it feels like no one here understands me. Thank God at least I can call my gringo friends who are here experiencing the same thing... And when I need gringo time we can get together and hang out. But seriously, I could not live here if it weren't for them. I would go crazy. I need my fellow Americans more than I ever thought I would. I get by with a little help from my friends.

So anyway... Does all this sound pessimistic to you? Sorry about that. I really had a decent week last week too... I was out of my house everyday most of the day, hangin with the peeps. I spent all afternoon last Thursday making pinatas with 4th graders. It was fun and they seemed to have a great time... we got the first layer of paper mache on there... and were going to put on the second layer and finish up the bodies on Friday. And then Friday came and I showed up to school to find out at that several 4th grade girls had done and destroyed all the pinatas. WTF? I was really upset by this... they ruined them all, crushed them. Little boogers. I was so excited to be doing them and to be active with the kids at school. I just felt like- How can I do anything with these kids? The teachers are just as much to blame. They don't really supervise the kids and the kids know it- The pinatas were hanging in the office a place I thought was safe and out of the way... but the kids went in there anyway. Sigh. Ok I'm over it now... I don't think I will be doing pinatas again. Next time I do an art project we will do something they can finish and take home in the same day. It's too bad these girls ruined it for everyone else. Kids.

I am super excited and looking forward to my trip to Roatan, Honduras at the end of the month where Jamie and I are going to try scuba diving for the first time. It's supposed to be one of the best places for diving in the world. It kinda freaks me out, being deep down in the water like that... but I'm giving it a go. Everyone I know who has tried it says its awesome and that I gotta do it.
I'm also going to use up my airline credit I still have left over from canceling my trip to South America last summer before joining the peace corps and I'm going to go to Houston just for the 4th of July weekend. I'm lucky that I'm from a place that's only a few hours away by plane. Yup... This ain't my grandmother's Peace Corps! (who served in Benin back in the 80s).

I wanted to sleep in today but Don Tulio was chopping wood right outside my house... at 5:30 in the morning! Oh well... gave me time to write this blog.

I've been exercising a lot more at my house in the campo lately. I got all the p90x cds from Noel and it's great- I'm able to get excercise without having to wake up super early to run before the sun comes out, and then when it rains I can't run because it's too muddy. I'm loving it.... And today is Yoga! So I'm gonna get to it! Then I gotta run to the school and clean up the pinata mess.