In response to my title, I have absolutely no idea why I didnt update my blog. I ave been busy but that happened recently, but anyway, i figure sooner or later you guys would figure out that im still alive and would be wondering what the heck im up to and so i thought why not let you guys know was goinn on in el salvador??
Firstly...i need to wrte a whole post about when shibu n subin came to visit...but that will take a while so stay tuned
After the boys left, we had a one week training on child and maternal health and i brought the most annoying man in the planet as my counterpart...he asked a million questions and all the pcvs thatwere there wanted to shoot me for bringing this man, but it was cool and we learned a lot and were starting a committee on women and childrens health in my community now which ill be in charge of educating and training the committee in.
After that, we went to a training for peace corps volunteers right on the beach. During training, we rented a bus and all of us went to the El Salvador vs. Costa Rica game. At first, me and two friends were pretty bored watching the game in this boring section that we paid to sit in and we saw all the dirty n drunk salvos sitting in the poor section and we wanted in...so we went to that side of the stadium and told them we were gringos so they had to let us in without tickets, and they said something along the lines of YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO SIT IN HERE?? anyway, we get inside and immediately...that whole side of the stadium yells CULO!! (which is a deragotary way of saying like assholes) anyway, we were stunned and shocked and so all of a sudden we just started running, from one end of that side of the stadium to the next and all along the way the rowdy section is yelling CULO and slapping our butts as we were running back n forth in front of them! We really didnt ahve anywhere to go, or at least we had no idea where to escape so we went to the cheer section with the salvadorian band and we sat in the middle of the crew playing the drums and yelling HIJO DE PUTA! at costa ricans...anyway, it was such a fun night:
Yah, there was a reporter there who wrote http://www.laprensagrafica.com/deportes/futbol-nacional/la-selecta/58791-apoyo-hasta-con-vendaje.html a whole article about how survived sitting in said section, commonly known to salvadorians as VIETNAM cause its like a warzone in there. and a few ppl recognize mein the street now saying EMILY CLYNE cause they got the order jacked up in the picture...but it was a veryfun night
So, then I got back to my site and started working with my town on our towns FIESTAS PATRONALES..im pretty sure ive mentioned this millions of times but each town has their own fiestas and since i was on my towns commitee de festejos i planned a big chunk of the activities for our town. I did a dia del nino art competition and gave away coloring books and colors as prizes (thanks bekah for sending those) and i did a dia dental where i gave a toothbrushing talk and gave away toothbrushes to all the kids around:
My big activity, the towns new claim to fame was my TALENT SHOW...its become a huge hit, ppl come from other towns just to see it and the mayor comes to watch and everything. Anyway, I rounded up all the kids to dance within one week and we choreographed 5 dances, one for every age group...and got some viejitos to sing, and in the end, since i was the MC, i put on some music and had a big dance in the street and everyone danced and had so much fun...the stupid clown and the rain didnt even stop us!! The boys did some crazy breaking, see my facebook for more info...and i did another lame indian dance...it sucked..but they LOVED it...im def gonna miss this the most abt el salvadorian...everyone yelling BAILA NAMITHA BAILA!! in america, i have to get on a stage and force everyone to watch me dance...here they actually appreciate me!!
And lastly, for the past month, me and a group of dedicated folks in my town formed a ceramics group...we received training from an art major that lives in san sal...he came n taught the folks how to find clay in our community, make it into a dough, work n mold it into different vases, castles, boxes and decorative pieces. From there I got a lot of paint donated from the mayors office and the group painted all their products and soon we will have an exposicion of our products to hopefully sell. Im so proud of my peeps for sticking through with the course cause making ceramics is HARD! I wayy suck at it compared to the women i my town and im so impressed with how beautiful theyre products came out. Anyway, if anyone is interested in handmade clay ceramics from el salvador...place your orders now, this will soon be a very popular thing to buy in el salvador!
Now, in the next few weeks ill be working on the 2 grants that i got:
one to build a greenhouse in the community using hydroponics and
two...a national dance camp, where me and a pcv friend that can dance better than me (believe it o not) will be going to different volunteers site choosing the best dancers in the country to attend our dance camp..its gonna be awesome!!
I woke up late today, 7:35 to be exact. If my PC friends heard this they would go crazy…that is very late here. Anyway, since I usually start my morning exercises at 7 a.m. sharp, I thought it would completely ruin my schedule for the rest of the day to start almost 40 minutes late, some things are better left til tomorrow. So instead, I swept the house. Usually by the time I’m done exercising, the dishes are washed, the floor is swept and mopped and the house is sparkling. Before I decided that I needed to get rid of the big tire sitting on my waist, I used to take on each one of those chores in the morning myself. However, my 7.a.m exercises have given me an excuse to forego that for a while. Maybe my host mom didn’t like the way I was washing dishes (I think I wasted water, splashing it around everywhere like I was giving the sink a bath) or the way I was sweeping, but she did not mind taking over my chores. But you see sweeping is such an interesting activity here, its like a treasure hunt. It takes me over 30 minutes to sweep our tiny little house because I cant wait to see what I find that day. Most of the time, it’s a massive amount of dirt that you never actually see on the floor, but when you pass the broom over a few tiles, its as if there was an invisible dirt/ dust storm that was happening before you. Its really insane, especially since I make an added effort to sweep extra hard in my room, obviously. I walk barefoot in my room and my room only, and I never feel dirt particles on the bottom of my feet, but when I sweep, it appears out of nowhere. Anyway, the dirt isn’t even the exciting part. It’s the stuff I find when I’m sweeping. For instance, in today’s sweeping pile I found a beer bottle cap, a plethora of uno cards and a surgical mask. No one in my house drinks beer nor is anyone a surgeon. the uno cards are normal to find but finding one in every single room in the house is the interesting part, including the bathroom and the kitchen (under the stove, on the kitchen chairs) and also under each bed in the house, even mine, where the kids are not allowed to sit down and play a whole game of UNO, let alone enter). Another interesting find that I almost always see is one shoe. I never really understood the missing sock mystery of every washing machine but after living in the black hole of El Salvador, I realize that it is a common problem. I often find one shoe when I’m sweeping under someone’s bed. And I continue my business, sweeping that pile, including the shoe, all the way out of the house into the corridor and usually my host mother or host sister will step in before it is sweeped to the curb and say “Ahh! Mi Zapato! Te encontró!” (my shoe! You found it!) And then they go on to explain how they’ve been looking for that shoe for months, yet in almost all cases they are still missing the other one. When I ask about the missing pair, they say something along the lines of “it will turn up.” Which, is miraculously true, it does turn up. I mean the weird part is not that I found a shoe under the bed, we all do that…the weird part is these people are missing their shoes for months, and I sweep under that bed every single morning, but on this particular morning, it turned up. It’s as if the black hole of El Salvador is done with it and it’s ready to give it back.But I think this explains a lot about why things are so cheap in El Salvador. I constantly buy my host family little things for the house, a chopping knife, pots, pans, spatulas, tupperwear, etc. Within a few weeks, I see the tupperwear set I bought in completely different places of the house. The smallest in the set is now the water can in the parrot cage. The largest one is now a guacal used in the bathroom to pour water into the toilet. Most are thrown into the backyard with no explanation as to why it was thrown away, just the “no sirve” excuse (it doesn’t work.) This is very frustrating considering I spend my own money to buy these things and more often than not, they will not give me an explanation as to why it doesn’t work. Is there a crack? Does it spill stuff? Does it smell bad? Is it rusty? Did you lose the cap? The answer to these questions, all of them, are yes….. “si, eso, no sirve” But in terms of the other things, I have never experienced a pot… just breaking, the handles falling right off or burning to the point where all you taste is ash when you eat anything out of it. Knives that used to be extremely sharp chopping knives just becoming dull, so dull you cant even cut butter. How is it possible that all these things lose their purpose? That never happens in America. I guess it makes sense, a tupperwear can breaking, a knife becoming dull, pans losing their handles. These are all things that very well could happen in America, but it never does! But these things happen all the time in El Salvador!In the end, this has taught me a lot about El Salvador, and its people. There is no point wondering, worrying, or whatever about things…if its missing, it will turn up…and if not, then its just not working for them and that’s okay and I think this also explains why I have love for this country.
a friend just asked me on facebook chat if i was coming back home soon...
for those of you who know, i spent an extremely large chunk of time at home, and if not home then india...so no, im not coming home soon...im not coming home until i have to be home...but i have some reasons to stay.....
In the working world, things are going pretty good. The next 3 weekends in a row, I have salida’s. The next 2 are the Girls Camps that I mentioned in earlier posts that we are finally having. The wk after that is a Project Development camp for members of our local governments in town. Then in July, I am planning an HIV/AIDS workshop in my community for youth and possibly in the big Pueblo with the help of my youthie friends that live there, which would cater to leaders in the surrounding communities. In july, I also hope to do an English workshop for school teachers in mine and surrounding communities with help from a youthie friend and an organic fertilizer training with the help of another vol…and then in AUGUST! I can’t waiiiiiiiiiit til august…Im finally, after A YEAR AND 6 MONTHS OF NO VISITORS….am getting visitors!! Shibu, Subin and Swathi have expressed interest in visiting me in August and if all goes well, we should be touring the country and visiting all of El Sal’s Coolest Lugares! Now…for anyone else interested in coming, book your ticket…but since I will have had my fill in August plan for November/December!
Anyway, I just got back from vsiting some friends in Metapan…I went to help a friend with a taller he was doing in his community. We were doing a reforestation proj and at the end of the day, the truck with all the trees got stuck in the mud and my friend was stuck there with them, which left me stranded in metapan (although I coulda stayed at another friends) I decided the best option was jump on the last bus outta town to san Salvador to catch a lot of friends who were in town to party. But since all I had were my campo clothes and no makeup, no shoes, nothing, I went straight to the mall, bought a quick new outfit, got my hair did and made it just in time to start the prepartying at the hotel. We partied til 530am which I thought I forgot how to do...(but most of us fell asleep at the club around 4sh) but still, was impressed wth my friends and i. Anyway, woke up early the next morning, and caught the next bus to my town and called it a quick and fun weekend. I love that abt El Salvador. We can live like Americans every once in a while.
well i wish i could have entertained u a bit more with this post but right now things are just very very tranquilo..and im loving it
http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"> name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11">
So as I mentioned in an earlier post that I am sure all of you read but just didn’t have time to leave comments…………….I was in America for 2 months for my sisters wedding. I know, it was only one day but there was a lot of planning to be done and a lot of corresponding events to attend, unless I could afford flying back in forth within a 3 wk span, it was the only option. So life in America was pretty tough, being bombarded by all things America is not what I needed when I knew I was going back to this life for a whole year. Not only that, people kept asking me about my experience and what projects ive done here when I really feel like I am only in the beginning of my peace corps project experience. I have built relationships, assessed needs, and brainstormed with community members on how to resolve issues we are having. Suprisingly, it took more than a year just to do all that, but now I feel like im finally equipped to start leading projects and requesting funding (HINT HINT HINT).
Anyway, the weekend I got back my friend Emily met me at the airport which was an awesome surprise. We spent the next few days in the capitol trying to get my Salvadorian life back together. That wkend I headed to the beach with my peers and we had an awesome time. I am such a sheltered kid for never having the opportunity to enjoy the beach! Its such great fun, even for Indians like me who escape the sun at every chance.
One of my friends had her 6TH VISITOR come with us to the beach……..6th!! guys, you really are sucking as friends here…not a single person I know has come visit me….SUMMER VACATION IS COMING UP..LOOK UP TICKET PRICES! If you find anything below $325 it’s a steal, and you need to book it…we will have an awesome time here and u will see a side of the world that you for sure will fall in love with! (sorry, ive literally been reading my guidebooks lately for literature purposes) but its true…JUST LEMME KNOW WHEN AND BOOK! I only have one more year here so you need to aprovechar (take advantage)
In other news, I just got back from the Post Office to grab the what I was sure was a great big stack of mail after being gone for 2 months….. “nada namitha, como siempre” Maybe you guys just forgot my address……….
Namitha Jacob
La oficina de Correos
La Palma, Chalatenango
El Salvador, CentroAmerica
Soo upcoming projects you may ask…
Well the girls in my group are planning a Girls Camp called “Estrellas de Hoy.” I am super excited about it, we are having 2, one for the eastern side and one for the western and it should be really awesome…an experience that these girls will probably never forget.
Im also going into full time teacher mode. I will be teaching Community English classes two days a week, teaching the niños at the school once a wk (mostly English, but def going to try and sneak dental and nutrition in there too) and continuing my life planning and English to the teachers class. Yes, that is 4 days a week of English…which I don’t mind because I know it’s a temporary stint, I told the community 3 months (which probably won’t teach them any English, but por lo menos, it will be a unifying event for the community)
Some bigger projects I have in the works are building Latrines, an HIV/AIDS day camp for kids in this area, and im still trying to get a water project done in my town, which is becoming increasingly difficult because of lack of motivation on the community side of things.
Some of you have expressed interest in donating money to my projects. Big propz to Manju and the rest of KCYL who donated a large sum of their T Shirt sales from the last convention to my future projects. I will definitely give you all details as to how you can actually put that money into an account that is designed specifically for my projects once I receive it. It is a long process, and takes a lot of paperwork but please be patient and start saving your change! J
That’s it…feel free to email me or send me letters/packages!
Things that you can send me in a package that will always make me happy:
-raw almonds
-freshly baked choc chip cookies
-crystal light packages
-NEW MUSIC
-new pix
-you guys doing a cool video message for me
-episodes of america’s best dance crew or so you think you can dance
-us weekly or people magazines (esp issues abt new trends)
-things for the kids in my community (crayons, toys, old computer programs that I can give to the schools computer lab)
this xanga needs a major resecitation....sooo for those wondering..im currently in america right now (technically, not in the peace corps cause i took 7 wks of vacay for my sisters wedding) I am 4 wks in, 3 more to go...which is crazy...i didnt reach any of my goals that i planned to reach while being in america, which were:
1) raise $1,000,000,000.00 for my community so we can undergo a major renovation...im thinking we have the potential to look like laguna beach....post man made lake is built....raised...nothing
2) Look awesome...I am so done with Tony Horton, I have moved on to lesbian body builder Jillian Micheals..she is definitely a butherface, but shes got a hottttttttttttt bod, and i was supposed to look just like her at this pt....lost...barely anything
3) Be healthy...i seriously thought the greatest thing about being back home was being healthy, not having diarrhea every 2 wks or visiting the medical office for some odd reason...but i have been home 4 wks, and one week (this wk) had the flu (or at least flu like symptoms) and another week, thought i was giving labor cause my cramps were that painful...soo all in all...not healthy.
4) Be super spiritual again- well since betsy never wants to go to church with me, i have no motivation to go. And i dunno i jus tthought i would jump back in america, and then jump back to my old spiritual life...which was awesome...the closest i ahve ever been to god, and probably the most secure about my life at that point.
5) Be showing off my spanish at every possible junction in the road...no one at mexican restaurants speak spanish...even the workers that are painting my house dont speak spanish!! I went to mexico for my sisters bachlorette party, and I BARELY GOT TO SPEAK SPANISH...at this pt, when i return, i will be speaking spanish like my parents do when they call me which is pretty limited to "hola"
6) shopping every wkend for new cute outfits to wear to the cool new spots i would be going to every wkend- YA that def didnt happen...i barely went out...i dunno maybe its the recession.
Anyway, the pt is NEVER TAKE A 7 WK VACATION IF YOU ARE IN THE PEACE CORPS! NEVER EVER DO IT!
