Oh the grief I am getting for asking the girls this question! So as you all know by now, I am terrified of bats which I did not learn about myself until arriving in Santa Clara. The bats often fly into the rafters in our room at night and fly out again. Due to the initial stress I felt from having bats around me, I asked the girls if they thought the roof was connected to the walls at Leonel’s house in San Salvador. Um all I got was hysterical laughter and them egging me on to ask him the question which I did not. In my slightly crazy mind I felt this was a legit (respect) question. Imagine if they were flying around me here in the city and I did not have a bednet for protection. So many things would result from the stress I would feel! Well let me tell you that the roof does connect to the house as I am sitting in the living room on the couch right now. This is one of the nicest houses actually. But I will get to that in a minute.
I want to first write about our day on Wednesday with the Town meeting. On Wednesday we met Doris at her home and she took walked with us to the town meeting which was housed at the building where the water project is headquartered (and I have no idea which dirt road it is off of in relation to our house). About 50 people were at the meeting which began at 2, but really did not start until 3:30. A local man, working on the infamous water project introduced it and talked about the goals for the rest of the year. Then the Peace Corps volunteer, Sean, spoke about it as well. It was his last day in the town so they also displayed their gratitude to him and his work. Then it was our turn! We went in front of the group and presented ourselves and our project in about a minute. Then everyone just stared at us and we kept smiling back at them saying “es todo”. It was so funny and uncomfortable. The mayor came around 4:30 towards the end of the meeting and spoke to the people as well as a spokesman from the government party. Everyone kept emphasizing positivity in the future of the water project and they are hopeful to get an engineer from the Peace Corps second tour program. If the project is not completed by the end of this year then it is going to be terminated. Let’s hope they get the 30% more funding and the people to carry out the work that they need soon!
This weekend has been awesome. I think each weekend keeps getting better and better! I hope the trend continues! Friday morning we began with a trip to one of the schools in Santa Clara. The Mango school in Caserio Mango has grades 1-9 in it. Doris was giving a “charla” or talk to the children about personal hygiene and we were able to go and listen and observe. We walked up to the school and heard kids yelling and laughing all around us. I like how schools are similar in other countries. Kids are just kids. The school houses 200 kids on a normal day, but on Friday most were on a trip to a pool! About 30 elementary aged children came in the classroom for the charla. We sat at the back of the room and again Doris called us up to introduce ourselves. The kids were so great. They learned our names and repeated them back to us. Then we asked them how they think their health and nutrition are…they all answered “BIEN”. We followed up by asking what they typically eat at home and many started laughing and yelling out “BEANS, RICE, EGGS” while not really funny it was an interesting reaction to the question. Doris then began the charla with icebreakers where 4 boys came to the front of the room and she would introduce them with silly names like, “This is Miss Rooster” and all the kids were cracking up and then she would really introduce them. This was followed by a song and dance which was so great! I wanted to dance with them! Her lesson was interactive and well received by the kids. They discussed hand washing before/after eating, after using the bathroom, brushing their teeth, taking daily showers, keeping their living space clean…things such as these. She had visual aids. Overall it was a great talk! I spoke with the teachers afterward. They were nice women who asked more about our work and expressed their desires to travel to the US, but how they are unable to afford it and can’t really travel anywhere. It was a very humbling moment; where I reflected on how lucky I am and it reminded me of how grateful I am for being born in the US and have so many privileges that others do not. As we left, Doris bought us chocolate covered frozen watermelon…um DELICIOUS (and trust me I thought it looked and sounded gross but I was so wrong!). That afternoon we decided to head to San Salvador with Leonel for the weekend.
Here is where the title of the blog comes in and the laughter. Although I must say I have gotten so much better with the bat situation! Like I mentioned the roof on this beautiful home connects. The homes in San Salv are deceiving in that along the roads all you see are these long walls with secured gates throughout. Behind the walls are neighborhoods, who knew? His home is decorated beautifully with a large kitchen with eating area, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a patio with a garden (PP potential ladies) and mirrors EVERYWHERE! Haha we did not realize how dirty we were and how busted we looked until we got to this immaculate home and saw ourselves. I felt so dirty that I did not want to wear my shoes or sit on the couch. And then the mirrors…we all were cracking up in horror at how rough we looked! On the farm we have one tiny mirror in the dimly lit bathhouse so reality check in the city! We went and had dinner at a nice restaurant beside Pizza Hut where we intended to go initially, but the nice place smelled irresistible and it was worth it! We were given a taste of the wine on special and a mug full of beef broth upon sitting down. This is apparently custom at the nicer restaurants here. Both were great. We sat beside a table of gringos who were from a southern state based on their accents, the way they dressed, belts, and Sneakers. I love how sneakers scream Norteamericano in any culture. We love us some sneaks.
Leonel’s nieces offered to take us to the Disco that night so we went over to meet them after dinner. The family was so nice and really cute. The dad is a doctor, mom a nurse, and the girls are 27, 24, & 21. We chatted about our project and life in Santa Clara. It was so funny to hear them talk about the country; with them being city people! I think they were impressed that we are “roughing” it so to speak. Again same as in our culture; city v country. We came home and got ready super fast. Wow did we feel like attractive women after taking our hair down, putting on dark jeans and a shirt, and wearing makeup. Haha you should have seen us looking at ourselves impressively! Leonel says as he sees us “You have transformed” You know you look rough when… Then we got picked up by the girls and went back to feeling frumpy. Our jeans, flip-flops and shirts were boring compared to their skinny jeans, skirts, jewelry, and heels! But I was just so happy to be heading out for a while. We went to one disco and sat at a table and had bottle service (1st time I’ve ever experienced that at the beginning of the night!) We had a drink and then started dancing! The music was amazing. They played everything from Rihanna and Black Eyed Peas to reggaeton/hip hop latino artists, to house salsa. Once I started dancing I never stopped!!!! It was so much fun! I mean I do need to prepare my dance moves for the wedding season starting in May and lasting for many months!!!! I now have a huge list of songs to purchase upon my return to the states! The dance party ended around 1:30 for us. But all in all the night was a success and one of the most fun thus far!
The rest of the weekend has been chill. We saw Unknown (awesome) at the movie theatre yesterday…um movies here cost $3.90. I bought nachos, a medium drink, and my ticket for $9.00! Um USA needs to join the cheap movie club! We ate dinner at a Sports Bar (I know so American) BUT they were playing ESPN with College Basketball and I was so excited!! I am so bummed to be missing March Madness, so it was a great opportunity not to be missed! We sat beside a table with a party at it. The party consisted of about 7 men wearing cardboard pink ties, one with a crown, and one woman. They were called the Julius Warrior Party. Anyone know anything about this? We tried to figure them out. They were all sooo happy and they hugged and yelled when the “king” came to the party. Not sure, we were thinking maybe a World of Warcraft type group? Kayla and I are heading to the pool this afternoon with Carla, Marcela, and Gabby (nieces) and I’m excited. Tomorrow we return to the farm…where the roof is not connected, with one less. I am finally caught up on this blog thing! Next one will be later in the week.
Love to all,
Nicoley
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