Thanksgiving, Christmas and Cumbias

This is the first year in a very long time (or really, since I've been back in the states) that I've actually felt like decorating and celebrating.  I'm not up to making cookies yet, but it's progress.  We went home to Ohio for Thanksgiving and got to see friends and family, which was a welcome break from Baltimore. We must have listened to at least 5 hours of cumbias during the drive there, which helped set the mood, along with a nasty snowstorm in western Maryland on the way back.  We'll soon be off to Houston for a Salvadoran Christmas. 

I'm grateful for los buenos milagros that this year has brought, after a rather rough 2011.

Feliz 2011

My husband and I decided not to go anywhere for Christmas break this year.  It's been nice being lazy and doing whatever I want, but I realized that the last time I hadn't gone anywhere for Christmas was probably freshman year of high school.  A bit strange, to say the least.  I've done a lot of traveling and moving in the past 15 years, and an enormous amount in the past 4.  It was about time for a rest, I suppose.  I've also decided that I'm about done sending Christmas cards.  Facebook and email is so much easier and cost efficient.  

Baltimore has been good to both of us so far, and is already starting to feel like home.  I love my job teaching ESOL in Baltimore City Public Schools, and Edwin enjoys interpreting and translating for the school system.  We've been here since September, and are both glad to be here after a rather lousy start in North Carolina.  There's yummy Greek food across the street and basically anything that we could want from El Salvador except 80 degree Decembers and the beach within walking distance. 

What I'm looking forward to in 2011 (not exactly resolutions, but things that I'm going to do or would like to get done):

1. Start saving for a down payment on a house.  Rent is ridiculous and a mortgage would be cheaper.  
2. Go to big TESOL in New Orleans.
3. Teach online again, and maybe go back to Peru.
4. Be in Roatan or Colombia or at least El Salvador this time next year.
5. Make myself run again, since zumba and yoga aren't cutting it.
6. Vow to shop at the markets instead of the "super"markets.
7. Present at Maryland TESOL next fall.
8. Find more gringo food that Edwin will actually eat.  
9. Start volunteering again...hasn't been the same since I left Cincinnati. 
10. Write!  I started this year, but fell off the train when I had to go back to lesson plan world. 

Pólvora, Cuetes, Cuetillos...Nasty

At 10:30 am on Wednesday, December 24, the Ministry of Social Protection (of Health, I suppose) in Colombia, had registered 186 cases on burns from fireworks.  111 of these were children, 75 were adults, and 3 died (http://www.minproteccionsocial.gov.co/VBeContent/NewsDetail.asp?ID=18170&IDCompany=3).  The sale of pólvora is outlawed, apparently.  I was watching the news one morning in Manizales, and there was a story about parents who had allowed there children to set off firecrackers and such in the street unattended.  The police caught them in the act, and the parents now have to do community service, along with having their faces smeared all over the news (a big deal in a small town, I imagine). 

Too bad they don't do the same in San Salvador.  In my post from last Christmas, you can see the sky the morning after New Year's Eve.  Disgusting.  And Christmas Eve is no better.  I understand why people like fireworks, but to have every one set off firecrackers, bottle rockets, etc for a whole evening is just too much. Sorry, they're not for children, especially not unattended children, and even less for drunken adults. Yes, it's a tradition here, but it was in Manizales, too.  They got over it.  There's a to-buy-or-not-to buy article in Tuesday's La Prensa Grafica, and one about what our lungs would ask for for Christmas (we know it's not cuetes for sure).  I myself will be hiding inside someplace, wishing the sky were gray because of snow and not pollution from pólvora (can you imagine how many firecrackers and snakes one would have to set off to make the sky still gray the next morning??).

More Manizales Christmas

These are more of the Christmas decorations that are all around the city (well, somewhat around the city). I especially like the cow. There was also an awesome hot air balloon that was lit up yesterday, and a humongous moon on the top of cerro San Cansio (odd, but interesting, since there's nothing else up there).

I'll be in Cali the night before I head back to El Sal, so I think I have no choice but to stay by the river and all the lights there (awesome). I was there in 2006 for the feria, but just realized that I never posted the pics, even though the majority of them didn't turn out. Oppps.

Velitas

Velitas is a traditional Colombian celebration that takes place on the night of December 7, or in the morning on the 8th (or the night of the 7th & 8th in Manizales). It marks the immaculate conception, as well as the beginning of Christmas festivities. There were streets where every house has Christmas lights and decorations, in addition to putting paper laterns (farolitos), lumieres, or just candles stuck to the cement. Beautiful. Time to get a new camera that takes good night pics.

Operation Canadian Santa

Check out what Santa's doing this year at http://operationcanadiansanta.blogspot.com/

Christmas 2007

From Christmas with Centro Cultural Salvadoreño Americano

Gift giving and packing

I remember being envious of my mother when I was younger. Every time there was a holiday, and especially Christmas, she would come home with piles of gifts from her students. I've received many presents in my time here in El Salvador, but I think that the most valuable gift that I've been given here is that of thanks. A simple, "thank you for making my job easier," or, "I've learned a lot from you," is much more meaningful than any gift certificate or detalle, as they're called here, could ever be. I wish I could say that all of the projects that I've had at CCSA in the past two years could have been completed successfully, but that's not the only goal of the ELF program. In addition to enhancing English teaching capacity, mutual understanding and sharing between cultures is one of the objectives of our time. In that sense, being able to share perspectives and ideas with my coworkers--teachers, administrators, and facilities management alike--has been even more fulfilling as the project work itself. Although it's nice to receive a diploma or envelope from the institution thanking me for my work as an ELF, the simple gift of thanks from those I work with daily is what I will always keep with me.

When gifts are given, I always think "and how exactly am I going to fit this in my suitcase?" It's amazing how many things one acquires in the space of two years, and how every time I travel, the weight limit has gone down even more. I weigh, take out, weight again, take out again. I'm no longer traveling with bathroom supplies or books. I can scan a piece of paper or part of a book, but the rest has to stay.

I also have to figure out what to do with the gatito, since I can't take him to Colombia with me until I find out all the rules on Avianca and see if the apartment they got me will allow me to have a cat. It's expensive, especially for such a short period of time, and I have no idea how much I'll be traveling.

Cancún Christmas

So this was my Christmas and after...on the beach in Cancún. I love México, but Cancún does not in any way resemble the México that I love. It does have nice beaches, though, and I got to see one of the new wonders of the world, Chichen Itzá, along with its swarms of tourists. This reminds me of several points that I want to mention:

1. Flying in Central America sucks. On the trip there, I had a flight from San Salvador to Guate, Guate to Flores, then Flores to Cancún. Note distances on map. Seriously, I could have driven to Guate faster than the nasty process of flying let me. On the way back, the flight was 2.5 hours late and I had to run to catch my next flight, after having circled around the city several times. This was also the flight where we were served the "leftovers" from the last trip. They didn't have any water. Which sucks, when you're sitting on the plane in Cancún with all the doors open for over an hour. But the amusing German couple sitting across from me (there was only 5 of us, plus the flight attendant) made it worth it. And the flight was almost $600...uggggggh Taca.
   
2. I could not acquire Mexican food at the hotel. And anything in the hotel zone was expensive and not really what I was looking for. Is it too much to ask to have tortillas at every meal? I've been in Latin America too long, I think. But seriously, not even Christmas dinner was Mexican.
   
3. Tour guides should not joke about giving tourist iguana for lunch. It's not that bad, and really, anything's good when you put picante and tortillas with it.
   
4. It was still nice to see my parents!

When I go back to the Yucatán, I'd love to see all of the little places that a large tour bus would never take you to. Some day....


And this is the after part. I was in San Salvador for New Year's Eve. I'd been warned before that Salvadorans love to set off firecrackers and fireworks (cohetes), but did not really understand to what extent! My dislike for fireworks as a child has not changed...and here the fun part is that the dust and smoke in the aftermath makes it a little hard to breathe or see when you're driving your car. Just like a foggy morning in Northwest Ohio! And check out New Year's day sky...this is not a normal cloud!

My Christmas Cookies

I decided that in order to be more in the Christmas spirit this year I needed to make some cookies, cause it just doesn't feel like Christmas here when it's 85 degrees and sunny. Finding all the ingredients was a bit of a hassle, since according to what the grocery stores have, salvadoreños only cook things from a box. I had a hard time finding chocolate to bake with, a cookie sheet, and cookie cutter, among other things. But I had a fun time making them, and even more so giving them away!

Christmas 2007

This is the second year that I've gone with the Centro Cultural Salvadoreño Americano to deliver toys to various places. This year we went to the Hogar del Niño orphanage, Carcel de Mujeres, and to Centro Escolar Ochupse Arriba outside of Santa Ana. Toys, candy, and cookies are collected at CCS during the end of November and the beginning of December. It's been a lot of fun to dress up and go play with the kids, although a lot of them aren't sure what a M&M is. They like the big white hands, though! One of the teachers, Cecil, dresses up as Santa, and there's usually some clowns and other characters as well.


At C.E. Ochupse Arriba with Santa and Mr. Flamenco


With Santa


Beating up the piñata


At the orphanage


Playing games at Hogar del Niño

Miramundo

Even though it's almost vacation time here, Edwin and I decided to take a little trip to Miramundo, on the El Salvador / Honduras border in Chaletenango. It's one of the few places that actually gets cooooooldddd in El Salvador (3° C at night while we were there). I could see my breath, which I thought was kind of funny. Most tourists seem to drink to keep warm, since there's no heat and most restaurants and such are open-air, which isn't so pleasant when you can't feel your toes! But the views make up for the cold. You can see all the volcanoes in the western part of El Salvador, and neat things like trees, flowers, and birds, which you don't see much of in San Salvador! We got there Saturday afternoon and took what was supposed to be a little walk to see where they grow veggies and strawberries, but the person who told us this was a 15 minute walk apparently forgot that walking and driving do not require the same amount of time. Hostal Miramundo, where we stayed, was cute but way too cold. The shower did indeed have hot water, but I couldn't bare to put my feet on the tile floor. I liked how Christmas dinner was roaming around in the yard (guinea hens and turkies, which are called chompipes). I'm half-tempted to buy a chompipe, park my car in the street for a while, and tie up my chompipe in my parking space until he's ready for dinner. I'm sure the neighbors would love that!

Sunday we went to see Rio Sumpul and a little waterfall (which was actually in Honduras), along with a veggie plantation. Although I enjoyed the trip overall, the lack of infrastructure in touristic places sometimes bothers me, especially since there's such a big movement to start promoting ES as a tourist destination. When we went to the river, the mini bus left an hour and a half after they said it would. That I'm used to. Our tour guide, however, dumped her trash along the path at the waterfall (not even in her own country, mind you), and let people cut wildflowers and pull up plants to take with them. I can forgive lateness, but the rest really bothers me.

We also had some "little" tour guides at the river--three 7 or 8 year olds who followed us around everywhere and pulled up plants for me that I then proceeded to hide again. They were quite cute and helpful. Overall, quite a nice escape from the noise and craziness of San Salvador at Christmastime!

Freezing in Central America

Last week I attended the national teachers conference hosted by the Instituto Guatemalteco Americano (another binational center kind of like Centro Cultural Salvadoreño, where I'm at). Guatemala is FREEZING in November and December, which was a bit of a surprise to me. I no longer own any closed-toe dress shoes, and was seriously regretting this, but it also got me in the mood to do my Christmas shopping, which I'm proud to say I'm almost finished with. The Christmas cooking is more of a problem, since no grocery store seems to stock all of the baking goodies I need. Semisweet chocolate and canned pumpkin have alluded me so far, but I found cream of tartar in Antigua (yes, little things like that make me happy). Antigua also gave me lots of yummy chocolates, some of which were supposed to be gifts, but which ended up in my stomach.

Anyways, this was an excellent conference, and I came back motivated to try out some new ideas, and having gained some advice and observations on hosting a conference (ours at CCSA will be in July). I now know that you can make ice cream in ziploc bags with groups of over 250 teachers, that the number of Americans who adopt Guatemalan children and then stay at the Marriott hotel in Guatemala City is scary, and that there's lots of really neat people who travel around to present at these conferences. My sessions went well, and it was much easier having Internet access to talk about blogging.

I was also amazed that I could increase the amount of food that I ate, but lose weight at the same time. The difference between healthy food and food in El Salvador. Or maybe I frooze off the food. Guatemala is different in so many ways from El Salvador, even though Guate City is less than four hours away by bus, including the time that you get stopped at the border. When I got back, El Salvador was also a bit chilly, but not frigid!

Chaparrastique

Finally, a nice picture of the San Miguel volcano! Still need to climb it, though. Maybe once it's not rainy season anymore.

Colombia Vacation, December 2006

Colombia Vacation, December 2006

Las cuatro fiestas

Colombia, here I come again! For as much as I didn't like vallenato in the beginning, that changed when I could listen to a song and understand the lyrics first-time 'round. Diomedes Diaz, you said it:

Por la rivera se ven
arbustos y cocoteros (bis)
Y los negros pescadores
en canoa vienen ya

Como lanzaban hundiendo
sobre lobo su cañal
Las noches iluminadas
me recuerdan a El Edén
(Por todas las desprendidas)
estrellitas que allá se ven

Rema rema
que va llegando Juan
Rema rema
que va llegando ya
Rema rema
rema ligero Juan
Rema rema
que vas llegando al baile

Que linda la fiesta es
en un 8 de diciembre (bis)
Al sonar del Traqui traqui
que sabroso amanecer
Con ese ambiente prendido
me dan ganas de beber
La pascua que se avecina
anuncia la navidad
Un año nuevo se espera
que dan ganas de tomar

Toma toma
tomate el trago Juan
Toma toma
que vamos a bailar
Toma toma
tomate el trago Juan
Toma toma
vamos a amanecer

Pero que sabrosas son
las fiestas de carnavales (bis)
Con carretas y disfraces
las comparsas vienen ya
con el golpe de tamboras
a la ........
Con la batalla de flores
el desorden se formó
con carrozas y a las reinas
alegran el corazón

Baila baila
baila la cumbia Juan
Baila baila
que llegó el carnaval
Baila baila
baila la cumbia Juan
Baila baila
Vamo' a carnavalear

Que linda la fiesta es
en un 8 de diciembre (bis)
Al sonar del Traqui traqui
que sabroso amanecer
con ese ambiente prendido
me dan ganas de beber
La pascua que se avecina
anuncia la navidad
Un año nuevo se espera
que dan ganas de tomar

Toma toma
toma el trago Juan
Toma toma
que vamos a bailar
Toma toma
tomate el trago Juan
Toma toma
vamos a gozar

Por la rivera se ven
arbustos y cocoteros (bis)
Y los negros pescadores
en canoa vienen ya
Como lanzaban hundiendo
sobre lobo su cañal
Las noches iluminadas
me recuerdan a El Edén
(Con todas las desprendidas?)
estrellitas ya se ven

Rema rema
Rema ligero Juan
Rema rema
que vamos a llegar
Rema rema
rema ligero Juan
Rema rema
que voy llegando al baile

I've never seen what he sings about, but the spirit of the song brings back good memories and makes me excited to go on this trip. Although I'm going to miss family and friends back in Ohio, and new additions to my life in El Salvador, I'm thrilled to get to be a part of the holiday season in Colombia this year. Now, if only I could stay until it's carnaval time!

Happy New Year, a little bit late, resolutions, etc.

Haven't posted for a while, even though I wanted to, 'cause McAfee on my dad's laptop blocks everything and even after playing with it for a while, couldn't figure out where to un-block Blogger.

I have to say, one of my resolutions for the new year (what I'm going to fix in 2006) is to take more pictures. People have been asking me, and I really don't have many good ones. I have no excuse really, now that I have a digital camera, other than I am extremely lazy when it comes to taking pictures!

And I have to find something useful to do with my time. I've spent the last I don't know how many years volunteering and I NEED to find me someplace to feel like I'm contributing something to society in Barranquilla. Even if the locals don't have that need, I do. What have I done with the past six months? It's not like working with the students is very fulfilling (sorry, those of you who are good students). And what do I do, really, other than work, sleep, and kind of eat? So much for my idea of working in Colombia being at least more relaxing than being a full-time grad student. It's not, in many ways. I don't want to keep losing hair from all the stress! So that's another resolution-don't lose any more hair from working too much.

I WILL finish my first knitting project this year, I swear. I WILL pay off my $26.50 overdue book fine to the Cincinnati Public Library. I WILL at least start doing yoga again 4 times a week because I realized I have no muscles left in my body.

I had a great New Year's Eve with my friends in the 'Nati. And it was 60 degrees the next day! Balmy! Amazing! Even thought 60 is still a shocker after 85. I wanted it to look like this (Christmas last year), but I can deal with not having to wear a coat all the time when it's January!

And we went salsa dancing at the Mad Frog, where people know how to turn! I truly miss living in that city (mostly because of friends and connections) but also because even though there's really not much to do there, there's 10 times more to do than in Barranquilla (which how is that possible?).

Islas del Rosario

So, I went to spend some time this weekend in Cartagena with the folks visting from UC and we ended up taking a day trip to the Islas del Rosario. Like many things in Cartagena, the isla trip was nice and I enjoyed it, but I think I always expect more after hearing people talk about it. The lancha takes about one hour to get out to the archipelago, which is just outside the Bay of Cartagena. There's somewhere between 23 and 27 small islands, depending on who you're talking to, many of which are privately owned. We were on Isla Grande, at a place called Media Naranja. This was the first turquiose blue, what-I've-always-thought-the-Caribbean-should-look-like water I've seen since I've been here.

The interior of the island was also interesting, although not very accesible. One of the other girls and I started walking on our own, but a guide quickly caught up with us. That was probably for the better, since all of the paths looked the same! I didn't have my camera with me though, which was unfortunate. Lunch was included, too-the typical fried fish, arroz con coco, salad, and patacones.

The best part though, was the trip back. The sea was fairly calm in the morning when we went out, but the afternoon was a different story. It was the next best thing to a rollercoaster! Luckily, we had sat in the front of the lancha, so most of the water flew over us and hit the poor, unspecting people sitting in the back. I felt bad for the couples that had brought their babies with them...it must have been completely miserable. So, in the end, I'm nice and tan now, but I'm sure I'll lose it quickly over Christmas!

10 more days until I freeze

So I see this tree outside my office every day and then I think about how it's only 30-some degrees in Cincinnati right now and how I'm going to freeze to death when I step off of that plane on Christmas Eve. Maybe that's a good thing though...it doesn't feel like Christmas here, where on a hot day it's still in the 90s. I went to the artesians fair to buy some presents to take back with me and was looking at some hats made of Alpaca wool, but it's not easy to think about wearing a wool on your head when it's that hot!

There's no Christmas music playing here either, although I have been hearing a lot more cumbia lately on the buses since Carnaval is getting close. The carols I have heard are all translations from the English versions, other than one or two. I'll have to post pics of some of the crazy Christmas light displays I've seen. To me, it's rather depressing that Christmas here is just as commercial as it is in the States, if not more so. To be continued...