More caliche

Continuing on with the words that start with "c" that may or may not exist anywhere other than El Salvador. Happy to say that this is not only problematic for me, but also for other Spanish speakers that are not from here.

cachudo- devil
Deja de mencionar el cachudo.

chapudo- red-colored
Estas chapuda. (What people say to me after I go to the beach or really anywhere outside here)

chompipe- turkey (like Thanksgiving dinner)

chulunco- too short (like pants)
Me queda chulunco.

El Salvador Impresionante

Someone at work gave me this first video of El Salvador made by CORSATUR. It has some horribly cheesy moments that I thought were worth sharing. Why cheesy? It shows the airport...without people. 49 Av. Sur/Los Heroes...without cars, or people, or bus. Other major streets and places...with no one. Reminded me of the first Colombia es pasion videos that I saw


The second clip has some more cheese...two goofy chelitos.


Here's some other (better) short commercials from MiTur. I've actually acquired a lot of nice info from MiTur. I've gotten bags with nice up-to-date tourist info at two conferences now.

Fiestas agostinas

August 1-6 was vacation finally this year, after two years of missing San Sal's yearly celebrations. I think it's the first "real" vacation time I've spent here in El Salvador (as opposed to running away as quickly as I can to other countries). Here's what happened on my vacation:

1. Went to El Imposible for the second time and watched Edwin's family all be as afraid of insects as he is. Watched them kill these insects. Saw a 6 year old beat me back up the trail. Next time maybe we'll get to the 8 km path. You could see the coastline looking back down...Barra de Santiago, Costa Azul, etc. Beautiful. I was happy that the 2 hours on the stone road going up to the park didn't kill my car or the rental.

2.Went to the feria de consuma twice and ate all kinds of things that were definitely not good for me, but they sure tasted good. There were lots of nice indigo artesanias that were more than just simply tie-dyed (me wearing some in the last pic) at decent prices and now I know where to find some of the talleres.

3.Went to Joya de Ceren and San Andres with Maria Eugenia, Paulina, and Kevin. Saw corn preserved in volcanic ash. Note the building in the back of the first pic...that was the family's sauna (these were some short people).

4.On the same day went to El Boqueron and Puerta del Diablo with Edwin and Kevin.

5.Danced.

6.Reserved the place for the wedding and went there to try the food.

7. Attempted to pack up some of my apartment (again), which wasn't particularly successful (again).

Biblioteca itinerante

You can read about the Biblioteca itinerante in La Paz and in Yucuaiquin, which I don't know why I haven't taken the time to write about before. It's a joint project between the embassy and the Centro Cultural Salvadoreño Americano, which basically amounts to being a Bookmobile without the vehicle. The set of books stays in a casa de cultural for a month, where they are available to the surrounding schools and general public. I've gone to the openings off and on since I lived in San Miguel, and it's been a great way to get to know more of the pueblos of El Salvador as well as proving that I'm not a good extemporaneous speaker in Spanish and that try as I might I'll probably never get protocolo down. Above all, it provided me with fabulous television appearances where I would then go to the Charlaix to run and people would say, "hey, I saw you on the news yesterday!" These are pics from Paraiso de Osorio in La Paz, Ciudad Barrios in San Miguel (where I wanted to borrow all the books I haven't read since maybe sixth grade), and Chinameca in San Miguel (where they gave me some yummy totopos).

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.

National Conference for Teachers of English in El Salvador

For months we'd been planning the 10th National Conference for Teachers of English (NCTE) and of course the week it happens is the week I would get sick! Like having a party and not being able to enjoy it (missing talking to A LOT of people I wanted to meet or catch up with, missed the reception, missed ALL of the concurrent sessions that I really did want to see). I spent most of Tuesday in a blur...mc'd for a while and sounded like a frog...went to lunch with Kay where I don't think we actually talked about my projects, but didn't need to anyways...bought more artesanias that I'm not sure how I'm going to get home. I also didn't get any good pictures, so I'm going to have to see if I can borrow some from someone else. I did get to hear the ambassador speak for the first time since he got here and caught two good plenaries from Jodi Crandall and Joan Shin.

This was the last "official" project for me as an ELF at the Centro Cultural Salvadoreño Americano and I'm happy to say that it went well. There was a little over 200 teachers in attendance not including the 49 presenters and 39 people on the control committee, and would have been more if not for the ministry. Quite a few people came from UMBC to present and help out, which has been great for me as well since I can pelt them with questions about the doctoral program I'm interested in there. I'm sure I'll be back in El Salvador in the future, but I'm a bit sad to be done.

We also had four post-conference institutes. I had 15 people in mine on Strategies for Integrating Technology in Language Learning, where we had 10 hours of learning how to find resources online and develop activities and lessons using technology. One of the students even won an iPod shuffle while we were talking about podcasting! I've heard excellent comments from the participants in Jodi Crandall and Joan Shin's institutes as well. I was able to sponsor 20 teachers to attend the conference and one post-conference institute with my activities allowance and another 20 were sponsored by the embassy.

Hospital Fun

I finally had to break down and take myself to the doctor after waking up this morning with a fever and nasty sinusitis. So, I headed back to the hospital I took a friend to last year, Profamilia. I guess I'd never noticed that it's mostly a maternity hospital. Very nice people, as before, but I really got a kick out of the sign hanging in the waiting room that lists their commonly offered services and the prices. So, for my general consultation it was $5.75. You could also have a STD consultation for $5.75 or your tubes tied for the mere price of $39.95 (male version I think was $34.95). Pap smear for $4 and something (the nurse tried to sell me on this one). Awesome! Way better and far more amusing than the general physical I had to pay for with one of the post-recommended doctors which came out to around $200 in the end just to fill out some papers.

Happy 4th of July

After getting soaked to the bone the night before at the embassy's party, at least there was a little bit of sun for the kiddies to dance. We taught them the Virginia Reel, since they came on the 3rd and said they needed to learn how to "square dance." The last time I'd done square dancing of any kind was at the Appalachian Studies Association's conference back when I was still in AmeriCorps, but luckily the students are quick learners and good at inventing. It was the most country music I'd heard in a long time, and songs that were from the early to mid 90s. This fourth was significantly more fourth-like, with ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs (with cole slaw on them...new for me and don't think I'll try it again). Even fireworks, although there was a humongous tree blocking the view...

Trash, trash everywhere (but the garbage can)

I'd heard a lot about the trashy group of PCVs that's been getting on buses to talk about the littering problem in El Salvador from various different people, and now here it is on You Tube! Much more effective than the teeth-clenching I've done the few times I've taken the bus from San Miguel to San Sal.

Edwin quickly discovered that he can't throw his trash out the car window anymore or I'll start screaming. Now he just has fun with me by opening the window and threatening to drop whatever it is. They make a good point really...trash = money here. Sometime last year I was going someplace with one of the drivers from CCSA and on the way we stopped to drop off a couple of bags of soda cans. There's no recycle bins at work, so the cans had been picked out of the trash (silly, since many educational institutions and otherwise have separate bins at least for organics and inorganics). I think there was three trash bags full and he got some $30 for them! I even took pictures of the bins at other binational centers and made a recycled paper box in supervision, but still no separate bins for the cans.

Honeymoon in Roatan

After it finally occurred to me to ask Marjorie, who lived in Roatan for a while, where to stay, we finally found affordable options that weren't for backpackers. I'd gotten to the point with package deals where I figured it'd be better to save and take a trip sometime later, but Edwin had already asked for the vacation days. In the end, we got a deal on the flights for about $212 a piece on Taca, and found a decent place to stay that was only $55 a night instead of the $140 or so most of the places in West Bay are. That meant we could stay four nights instead of two and have a direct flight back to San Sal on Sunday. And....I didn't want to leave. Roatan was great!

We didn't really do anything special, just rented a moto and got sunburnt. But it was awesome. I forget sometimes how small Central America really is. It was only a forty minute flight from Roatan back to El Salvador on Sunday, from the Caribbean to the Pacific.

The (first) wedding weekend

So, I am now officially civilly married in El Salvador! We signed the papers Saturday morning at 10 in the CCSA board room, which ended up being a little awkward in many ways, but some of that we didn't find out until later. We walked in and I was a little confused because no one was around, I mean no one, which is not at all normal for a Saturday morning there. Come to find out they'd been planning some food and all for us, but then one of my co-workers found out her partner had
passed away minutes before we got there. Hence the sad looks on the few people's faces that were still there, but I didn't find out until Monday.

So, we signed along with the two testigos, Josue and Consuelo, went to buy shirts for Sunday's El Salvador-Panama game, and headed off to Suchitoto to take a ride around the lake. I'd never really wanted to go there before since Suchitoto is always hot to the point that I feel sick afterwards, but I gave in. The lake, Suchitlan (Suchitoto + Cuscatlan according to our lovely guide Jose, and as dubbed by the famous Mr. Coto), is actually man-made reservoir of types. It was created in 1973 , and you can still see the remains of the haciendas and cantones that were covered by the lake. Quite interesting. It's also home for many types of birds.

Sunday afternoon we headed to the stadium. It was my first soccer game since I left Colombia two years ago, so I was excited. We saw one of my ex-ILEA students, so I got to introduce Edwin as "my esposo" for the first time. We got soaked in the rain, but El Salvador won 3-1. It was semi-worth the $40 tickets, but made me miss Barranquilla and Junior. At least I got a nasty wet kiss in the ear from the very drunk guy sitting in front of us!

Wednesday we'll be off to Roatan for a last-minute, semi-planned honeymoon!

Parque El Boquerón

Last week the new Parque El Boquerón opened. El Boquerón is the most visible crater of the San Salvador volcano (there's also the Picacho and Jabali peaks which are remnants). I've wanted to go for a while, but the piece of the road that goes up to the crater was not so nice and rather dangerous up until now. You still can't walk all the way around the rim without a guide, so I was a little disappointed, but it was nice to be outdoors anyways. Yensy and I had fun buying veggies and some really strange-looking raspberries, and the atol de elote that I've been wanting for so long. It's a good thing we went a bit early though, since around 11 lots of people starting coming in.

You can also read more about the park in the Diario de Hoy's article.

Random Thoughts

On Professional Clothing:

When looking for an interview suit about two months ago, Edwin and I came to the following conclusion: there aren't many places here that sell professional clothing for women. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised; female newscasters and tv reporters here sometimes look like they're dressed up to go to a club. It really hit me when we started looking for a suit for him, though. In Siman (local "nice" department store), I can get the equivalent of a suit from K-mart or Wal-mart, or at the very best, Kohl's, for maybe two to three times the price. But for men's suits in Siman, there you have some choices. Why is it like this? Even though it might not be true, there are many more men in power positions here than woman. So, women don't need nice suits, since apparently they aren't professionals.

On Things that I Haven't Done Here:

I was going through my email yesterday looking for info to fill out some forms when I came across a email from one of my grad school professors. There's a group of students here from UC this week on a study tour focusing on human rights and economic justice. Out of curiosity I was looking at their schedule, and realized that there's some things that I haven't done since I've been here, such as visiting Romero's tomb and the rose gardens at UCA. Have I been that engrossed in work? Maybe. Not with other people that would want to do those things? Possible, but then I should have gone myself. This brings me to another point...as nice as study tours, mission trips, and vacations are, it's never the same as living someplace. I wonder if I would have come back to El Salvador had I gone on the study tour offered by UC in 2002 with CRISPAZ. What else have I been missing out on? My experience is very different than that of a Peace Corps volunteer (still glad that I chose AmeriCorps over Peace Corps by the way, although I think I might like to try someday). Why haven't I read more about El Salvador's history? Or asked people more? I was a bit surprised when a volunteer in Chinameca told me that the war is still a huge topic of conversation for people in his community. In San Sal, I hear people mention bits and pieces, here and there, but the only one who's ever really told me his story has been Edwin. I feel like that's my fault, especially since it still affects people and the way they live their daily lives.

Gas Prices

This is the gas station on the corner of Los Heroes and Los Sisimiles in San Salvador on Friday afternoon. I had to fill up this afternoon, since the gas light came on right when I left work, and it had gone up to $4.60. Fun times.

Six Days

I'm almost at the end of my "real" working time (a.k.a the time in which they pay me and I have health insurance) here in El Salvador. I've been at CCSA for almost two years in the ELF program, and am not sure how I feel about ending my time with them. I've certainly learned a lot about teaching and teacher training, curriculum, diplomacy, grant writing, and of course, Salvadoran culture. There are certainly many things that I'll miss when I move on this September to the Colombo Americano in Manizales, Colombia through the ELF program, but I think I'm ready to move on to something new. As an ELF, I've done so many different things and haven't done a great job of documenting any of them. I was thinking about that on the way to Paraiso del Osorio for a mobile library event today. Sometimes I feel like I could have done so much more in the past twenty months than I've actually accomplished. And that there's so much more left to do and so much more to learn here! I'm not going to have any problem "volunteering" the two months I'll have in El Sal where I don't have to work. In the end, it's always difficult to leave a job and a place that you're used to. It's hard to think that I'll be getting married, and then have to leave. I figured I'd find a decent job here in El Salvador for another year, but it just didn't happen. And really, I'm excited to move back to what was my favorite city in Colombia! And be able to walk outside again, and go to cultural events, and drink gooooooooood coffee! And go to the hot springs!

I'm not going to miss driving in San Sal, or the $4.60 a gallon it is now for gas, or really even San Sal itself. Will miss being able to find salsa tobasco whenever I want it and going to Office Depot. And my gatito of course, since I don't think he can go with me, at least not at first. And living close to the beach. I think I could go on and on...

Parque Nacional Montecristo

Edwin, Jonathan, myself, and some others from CCSA headed to Parque Nacional Montecristo for the labor day holiday. It took a long time to get there and we didn't stay very long, but I'd like to go back to hike and camp if I can find the time. The park is close to Metapán in the department of Santa Ana, and sits right on the Guatemalan and Honduran borders. It's a cloud forest, but it was nice and sunny the day we went and I don't think we actually got into the cloud forest part anyways. We did get to see the famous arbol de amor (love tree)...see if you can figure out why it's called that from the picture.

Planning a Wedding in El Salvador

The date is coming close for the civil part of my wedding (June 21), and I've still got a lot to learn about the whole process of getting married. The "real" wedding a.k.a the party is not until November, but the problem is I'll be going back to Colombia in September for work. This adds just a little bit of stress I'm not very traditional even by US standards, so getting what I want here has been a blast so far. There's a lot of people trying to tell me to do this and that, but not much luck so far in finding what we'd (okay make that I'd since Edwin is even less picky than me) really like to have. I've got a stack of bride magazines, some from here, with awesome articles about the "first night" (pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee, salvadoreños that write these articles, that's not very practical for people here). Maybe the women, but definitely not the men. All the dresses look like cake icing, which I'm really not into. And no, I don't want a cola (train) as long as Thalia's. If I thought I could get away with it, I'd only send invitations through email and facebook.

Anyways, this is all I really want from my wedding:

1. live music,
2. drinks and food (in that order),
3. a beach (this is a hard one since salvadoreños don't seem to get married on the beach much),
   
4. not to be broke at the end,
5. not to be stressed to the point I get sick.
   

I really don't think I'm asking for that much. I've been to many places that swear they'll send me quotes for prices, which never happens. Prices at hotels on the beaches that are semi-close by are ridiculous in general. Eloping would be so much easier. I'm sad because I really don't have the time to change my name because of changing countries again. I'm pretty sure the passport wouldn't be ready in time, especially since I'll be leaving El Salvador, going to Ohio, going back to El Salvador, back to Ohio, to Colombia, then back to El Salvador. Not at all complicated. In addition, I'd have to change my IDs in three different countries, tax info, bank accounts, credit cards, services...I'd rather not. I'll do it some day when I know I'm not going to be changing continents every 10 months!

In light of all the fun I've had trying to find someplace to make my dress that won't charge me $500 and trying to find a place to have the wedding, I'm going to start posting the places that I've had luck with.

Off to look for more ranchos in La Libertad...anyone know of any good ones that could hold up to 150 people and that are right on the beach?

IHCI Conference 2008

From May 15-17 I was in Tegucigalpa for yet another conference for English language teachers, this one hosted by the Instituo Hondureño de Cultura Interamericana, another binational center. Cecil, Martha, and Jackie from CCSA were there as well. Safe to say this one was much more fun than the one I'd gone to in Tegus the year before hosted by one of the universities, where no one knew what was going on, where anything was, and where the room numbers were changed randomly during and after sessions. I'd originally wanted to go to this one just so I could spend my birthday in a nice hotel with good food, comfy beds, and "real" hot water. Edwin was supposed to come meet me for the weekend, and another friend was supposed to be in town, but both of those things fell through. Allyson came up from Nicaragua though, and Kay was there from Mexico, so I had a good time drinking and chatting and shopping (bought lots of Lenca pottery that I don't know how I'm going to get home, but now thanks to Carmen from the embassy I know all the good places to go for some day when I have money). It was the best birthday I've had for a while!

I am also the proud owner of lots of pictures of myself looking stupid...sleeping on the bus...blowing out the candles on the cake that they brought to me during one of my sessions at the conference. Digital storytelling, topic of choice this time round, was not that big of a hit, but then again technology never is in C.A. The people at IHCI were wonderful and I hope I can go back to visit again some day. It's always fun to see people that you've met at other conferences and workshops...central america is small in the fact that you see the same people/teachers everywhere you go!

My ELF Story

Here's the first draft of my ELF story for your viewing pleasure...

Los Ausoles

Los Ausoles is located in the department of Ahuachapan, right outside the city of the same name by the geothermic plant La Geo. They're smoke-spewing fumaroles (vents?) that you can walk right up to, as well as boiling mud and hot springs. Smelled a bit like when the water softener at home in Ohio isn't working, but stronger. The best part was that it was just kinda there, free for anyone to walk right up to (or into if you weren't paying attention). Los Ausoles is defenitely on my list of cool things that I've seen in El Salvador that most people don't even know exist. Next stop is the Termales de Santa Teresa right down the road.





The vents make a hissing sound, just like a pressure cooker. Not a particulary comforting thought when you're walking over top of them.