Here in Argentina

So,  I have started my newest adventure in Argentina.  I'm going to try and start posting in this blog more regularly but I'm not sure how that's going to work.  I arrived here on August 1.  Things have been going quite well.  I like it very much and found it easy to adjust too.  My first weekend consisted of going to my family's summer house, although it is not summer here, and watching American movies.  The Sunday of last weekend I also participated in my first party here, for the daughter that does not live here.  It was interesting.  There was many courses of meats, a lot of wine, and other types of food.  Barbeque is a huge deal here and many men seem to live for it.  The following week I began to take classes at UCEL.  My first class was an advanced conversation and writing class which was scary at first but it seems to be similiar to classes that I have taken so I'm sure that I will be fine.  This was last wednesday.  I should be at the class now but they are taking an exam.  Classes here are strange since they last the whole year, so technically I'm jumping into these classes half-way.  My other classes are also all based on Spanish and some personal Spanish classes to help work with my grammar.  Friday night I watched my first pelicula argentina.  It was pretty good.  Hard to understand.  There were a lot of the cultural differences that I have been noticing in it.  Matte is one of them.  I'm not sure how to spell it.  People drink it all the time.  Its like tea but very strong.  One large difference I have been feeling is the eating schedule.  People will eat very lightly in the morning, have lunch at about 1, have a snack at 5 and then dinner at 9 or later.  My first weekend out was quite different than what I had expected.  I went out with my host brother Fernando and all his friends, and the night didn't start till 11:30.  We went to a bar and dance club and left at 6 am which seemed like a very late night for me but here its normal.  It is also very normal here to have had boob jobs which I find it odd that people are so willing to share with me.  The past few days I haven't done anything to exciting.  I have been to almost every major shopping center in Rosario though.  That's where I went yesterday was a large shopping center.  I almost bought a $100 leather purse but I resisted.  I've been running every day just to be able to leave the house since Monday and today I had no classes.  I also have to wear shoes all the time here which I hate.  I do enjoy all the coffee that they drink.  Well adios.  

Whats been going on

So in the afternoon after my last blog, I went back to San Salvador for a few days with the other girl volunteers. We had a few relaxing days with some shopping and other things. On last Saturday, I got to attend a party for UNES to celebrate 20 years of existence. UNES is an organization that I really like and I was really excited to go and see some of my favorite people that see at Mi Berlim weekly. I went back to my community that night and then stayed there till Wednesday. Im not sure but I dont think anything really eventful happened those few days. I did get to meet with the headmaster of the boys school to discuss going and teaching English which I will start this coming Monday. It will be Monday through Friday from 8 to 1130 and I think Im going to have to put a lot of energy into doing that. I tried today to figure out what Im going to do and how things are goign to be run. I think I have quite a few classes to teach but Im not sure exactly. So I got to ride buses all by myself when coming back on Wednesday and it wasn´t as terrible as I thought at all. Im more worried about getting back tomorrow because I dont think that there is a direct bus back to my community. So Wednesday was the fourth of July and we had our own celebration which was pretty cool with fireworks, hamburgers and other goodies to eat. Thursday we met as a group and discussed what we were doing and such in our communities. Then on Thursday night we went to a coffee shop to have dinner and we came home. Friday I went shopping for most of the day and then we went and got to see the other side of El Salvador. Micheal who is antoher volunteer had a friend who goes to school with him who is Salvadoran. She invited to go hang out with her and it was like a different world. We went to her uncle´s house. Almost everyone spoke English and they were really nice but it was a different way of living than what we were used to. We then went dancing and I got to learn how to dance merege or however you spell it so that was a lot of fun. Then we went and spent the night at the friends house which was beautiful. There were a lot of things that the office had like fridges which wasn´t a big deal but they did have hot water which is something I havent seen for a month, not even in the city. It was probably the nicest house Ive been in too. It felt weird to see the other side of El Salvador. Im used to dirt floors and not having running water and this house was amazing. Since we have came back everything has been laid back and I wanted to go back to my community today but it would have been too hectic. So I am going back tomorrow for a full 2 weeks and my first day of English classes. I hope that I start to do more in the afternoon too. I felt a little bit better because I have been told many times that its really hard to get started as a volunteer here just because of how the culture is and it takes some time to get used to having a volunteer to help. I just want to do what I came here to do and I guess a lot of people respect what we are doing. The girl who we spent the night with, Rebecca´s father I think, said that although we not directly helping out him or people that he is in direct contact with, that he appreciates what we are doing all the same. I keep trying to remember that even if I don´t feel like I did much with my community, Im still building relationships with them and then I can tell other people about El Salvador. After this trip too, I know that I want to learn more about El Salvador and read lots of books and probably come back too.

Berlin Update

So its been two weeks now that I´ve been in Berlin. Things have been going better. The hardest part for me being here is that I don´t feel like I´m being useful. I still haven´t been given any tasks besides typing a few things up here and there. The worse thing for me is being bored and then I start to think about home and it makes me sad. To battle my boredom, I have taken up reading anything that I can find and it has helped but I still feel useless. I just hope that Im give some jobs soon. In the mornings, I typically have something to do though because usually there are meetings. I really enjoy the meetings and it gives me a chance to work on my Spanish and learn new words. My favorite meetings are the environmental ones about the mudslide that happened at the end of May or about the water issue because I feel like those are really important. We have various Equipo Maiz books in the office about these issues and they´re one of my favorite things to read. I think I´m pretty well adjusted now but I still have my off days. Sometimes its difficult because I get these questions and they just shock me. One day last week one of the women from Mi Berlim asked me what the United States was like and I just didn´t even know how to respond, let alone in Spanish. Sometimes Ill get asked, do they have this in the United States and itll be the simplest thing and its just weird that they don´t know anything about where I come from. I guess I shouldn´t be saying much because I really didn´t know much about El Salvador before I came here. People are always curious about me though and about what state I come from and such. If Im studying some new words that I just heard people I don´t know will come up to me to see what Im studying. Its just weird because they´re so curious. Usually the people that I don´t know are the most helpful with teaching me new words and having a conversation with me because my Spanish is still very weak. I am really excited because I got invited to go to San Salvador on Saturday with one of my favorite families here. I have been wanting to know what other families other than the one I am staying with are like. Well hopefully the next week will be a little more interesting.

Berlin

So its been exactly a week since I have been in Berlin. I guess things are going ok but it has been a rough time. The hardest part is not the bathroom, or the fact that bugs are everywhere, or that I have to bath in the great outdoors, although those things are so much different than what Im used to. The hardest thing for me is the communication. It´s so hard to communicate with the people I am with all time. They don´t understand me and I can´t understand them. It also isn´t an easy task to communicate with the people at home either beause there isn´t very many means of internet access and telephone. It also seems as though I am so useless. The most I have done so far is draw 2 large pictures and type something into the computer at Mi Berlim. I hope I get to start doing more. I am always so tired and I don´t understand. I never thought I would go to sleep at 8 pm at the latest. All I ever want to do is sleep and I think it has to do with the adjustment thing. I have also had a bit of trouble adjusting to the food. I just don´t like a lot of it and sometimes the smell of it makes me sick. I love the kids here though. The kids in my family are hilarious and are always inviting me to play soccer or read with them which I love. I never thought I would have this much trouble adjusting. Today is probably the best day I have had yet though. I just really miss home. I hope that I can start to find more things to help with and do more. My Spanish is starting to get a little bit better but I am still nervous and awkward and I always say things the wrong way. Today Sally from CRISPAZ came and visited me and it made me feel more comfortable about being here and the fact that I am having such a rough time. I just hope that I start to enjoy being here more because right now I am a little bit lonely and bored.

Goodbye San Salvador for a few weeks

The last few days have been really calm and laid back. On Sunday night, it was free time so I decided to venture in the art of handwashing my clothes in the pila. It wasnt as bad as I expected but it was quite a workout on my arms. Monday we had a speaker about the economics of El Salvador speak to us about neoliberalism and a whole bunch of stuff which I probably couldnt understand in English and it was even harder for me personally to understand in Spanish. Then all the sippies traveled around the National Univeristy to check out their amazing murals that were painted on the walls and sides of buildings. Then we went and ate pupusas at Anne Maries and it was a very good time. We all love her and she is very funny. Today again was very laid back. We heard about the problems with gangs and youth here in El Salvador with two members of CRISPAZ and then we went out to lunch and the rest of the day was ours. Judith and I decided to venture to the grocery store to buy me a waterbottle and we got caught in a lot of rain. Then I called back home for about 2 hours which was 2 hours well spent because its going to be difficult calling home the next few weeks. Tomorrow I leave to live with my family in Berlin and work with the women´s organization. I am both excited and nervous. Excited because all these women sound amazing and they sound like they really want to be a part of their community for 10 weeks. Im nervous because Im not very confident with my Spanish and I have a feeling that Im going to have a very difficult time. Im ready to get out but its still frightening to think that there probably wont be anyone that will speak english to me for the next three weeks. I guess I am getting imerged into the culture. I think after this whole experience I am going to appreciate my very safe and modern life but I know I won´t forget the people I have met or the problems I have seen.

Last few days

Friday we went to many different places that were places that were difficult to handle. In the morning we went to the Church where Romero was killed and also his house. After being here for just a week, I realize what things are very important to the people and Romero is probably one of the most important figures here because he felt so much for the poor and the people of El Salvador. We also went to the house he lived and it was sureal that he used to live there on a day to day basis. The church was sureal also because to think that over 20 years ago he was killed at that place and there I was standing right there. After that, we went to a park where there was a wall in dedication to the people who were killed during the war. That was a little unbelievable because there were so many names and most likely that wasn´´t all of them either. After that we went to the UCA or the University of Central America. The university I heard is the best in central amercia and is a very hard school. It was also a very beautiful school with lots trees. There was a museum dedicated to the war and that was very interesting. We also looked at the pictures of the massacre of the Jesuit priests and it was very disturbing. The pictures were very graphic and almost sickening. The one that actually showed the people after they were shot made me so ill that I had to stop and pick it up again after a few minutes. Its hard to think that during these times people could have been so gruesome to not only other human beings, but people who only wanted to serve others and were so religious. We then went to the garden where the priests were killed and also saw the house where they had lived. I read about all of these events before but they didn´´t make such an impact on me until I saw them with my own eyes. I really didn´´t understand the importance of these events or even the importance of Romero before I came here. When I researched El Salvador, these things weren´´t what showed up and I guess you cant really tell whats important to a country until you see it and lately I have been feeling the importance of these events. Later that night, we went to a karoake bar. It was fun but I realized how little Spanish I know and how difficult this is. I sometimes wonder if I should have waited to come here till I understood Spanish better because I would have gotten more out of this whole situation. Saturday we went to the market and the beach. That was pretty amazing. I got to go into the Pacific ocean and I have never swam in the ocean before. After that I was exhausted. Today we went to mass in the Catedral which was a different experience for me because it was in Spanish and im not catholic. I felt doubly disadvantaged. We got to see Romero´´s tomb which was very cool. Sometimes I feel that im just beginning to understand the importance of Romero and that im being a fake by being interested in him. I do want to learn more about him and what he did for the people of El Salvador. The past few days were quite interesting and I cannot wait to go live with my family this week.

Catching up in El Salvador

hello hello,

i made it safely to el salvador and it has been quite the experience. this was especially interesting since i have only been on a plane to and from florida and that was my only experience with that. i was really lucky that all the people at the airport were pretty friendly. i was also lucky because two of the people that sat across from me in the airport in Houston were fellow Sippies and helped me a lot to get through the international part of the flight. it was interesting to be one of the few americans on the flight with many other people who were from the country. the first day here was an experience and all i wanted to do was look around. i got my first taste of food here and was exhausted. the second day we started going to speakers and i felt like i was learning more, probably more than i learned in a day of college. i also got to eat and make food at one women´s house and that was exciting also. today was kind of long since it started so early. we began the day by being ready at 8 am and then we went to meet with 2 organizations in the morning and one in the afternoon. we also all got to adventure in our first making of a meal while being here and making it on our own. we were quite successful and our spaghetti turned out decently. so far i have encountered many different types of people but i don´t feel as shocked by the situations as i thought i may have been. maybe once i enter my campo, i may start to feel a greater impact. i am a little uncomfortable with my spanish though and feel like i´m always asking someone what another person said or for the person to repeat what they said for me.