Sorr about the slacking. No excuses for my not updating this little blog of mine except that I’m lazy and since I don’t have internet in my site anymore (I know, que triste) I forget to blog before I head to town for an internet sesh. Before I blogged out of boredom….so I’ll try to be better? God knows I’m still bored!
Sometimes, and let me repeat that, SOMETIMES, it’s nice to be the gringa in this country. The other day, my bus didn’t come and I needed to get out of my site for mid service medical. The men’s soccer team was heading out the same day for a soccer game, and they were going my way, so I hopped a ride with them in the back of a cattle truck. Imagine, me standing in the back of a truck with 30ish Salvadoran 20 something guys. Just my scene, right? Thankfully, as soon as one of the moms saw me back there with the boys, and because I’m the little white girl in my community, I was “forced” to get out of the crowd and was given a seat in the front cabin. Holler. Saved myself a sun burn and about an hour of sexual harassment.
And speaking of sexual harassment, in case you didn’t see my pictures of the bus driver strike in San Salvador, I was sexually harassed (verbally) by about 100 bus drivers on strike walking by me in a parade. So. Unamused.
It’s real hot these days. I’ve spent most of this month in my underwear and have recently taken to spending about an hour a day floating in my pila. Yes, I know that’s the same water I bathe and wash my dishes with, but you know what, I have no regrets. At about 2pm in this ungodly heat, it’s totally worth it.
I can now get pupusas five days a week in my site. And because it’s too hot to cook and I’ve been living on cereal lately, I am all about some greasy pork and cheese filled tortillas! This is probably the start of me gaining weight for once in this country, but if I do, again, it will be totally worth it.
Upcoming projects: setting up the computer lab at my school (thanks mom and Lane for your ayuda!) and planting trees in a reforestation campaign with the school kids. So look for updates/pictures on those coming in the next week or two! (You can hold me to that!)
I just finished mid-service (WOO!!) medical and I have officially been living in this place for one year and have yet to have an amoeba or parasite. I realize as I’m typing these words in my word document that I’ve just jinxed myself but, whatever. Something to be proud of I think!
The NYTimes travel section is my new weakness. I’m cutting out articles about places I want to visit and restaurants I can’t wait to eat at once I leave El Salv. It’s torture reading about authentic Italian restaurants in San Fran or tapas in Valencia, but I can’t stop. Less than one year left of canned tuna and tomato sauce.
Just finished Wuthering Heights and I’m on to Slaughterhouse Five and The Fountainhead next. At least I’ll be well read after my time in Peace Corps!
Also, if it weren’t for my bootleg downloads of Glee I don’t know how I would make it in my site. If I could have dinner with one person, living or dead, real or fictional, right now I’d choose Rachel Berry. Mostly because I would die to sing a duet with Lea Michelle, but I’m obsessed with her and love every song she covers better than the originals…
I would love it if someone would send me some powdered pasta sauces. You know, the ones that you add milk and butter to and cook on a stove? McCormick does them pretty well I think. I need some alfredo or something in my life! I’m so over tomato sauce.
Obama is coming to El Salv next week and the entire capital is shutting down for his visit. The Sheraton hotel is packed with State Dept. workers and secret service and apparently “centro” (aka the sketchiest place in San Salvador) has been “cleaned out” and is eerily quiet. Wonder what they did with all the marreros? I think Obama should see the capital of this great country at its finest—extremely dangerous, no? Anywho, every room at the Sheraton has been booked by Obama and his posse, so no go on getting a room there. Damn! I was hoping to meet Michelle so she’d want to fund my garden project at school. She’s into school gardens in an effort to combat juvenile obesity right? She needs to get to work in San Geronimo with me!
Okay, that’s all I’ve got in me for now. Miss you all mucho! Thanks for reading! (Oh, and if any of you readers out there are interested in funding my school garden project, since Michelle clearly isn’t going to, let me know!)
Les quiero mucho and stay tuned! xoxo
Where are the pictures of the bus driver's strike?
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