As promised, I have finally uploaded some pictures from my first week in El Salvador. Here is a picture of Eduardo, Bridget and Parker playing baseball at the base of Eduardo and Reina's hillside finca (see previous blog posts).
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Mas Cojutepeque
Here are another couple pictures of the Casa Silvia group, plus me and Eduardo, Reina's brilliant little nephew (see previous blog post). We are under the roof of the little shed on Reina's family's finca (right).
Above to the left, Bridget and Eduardo are hiking up the hillside finca past a papaya tree.
My Suchitoto Casa
This is where I live! It's been sort of an overcast day as is often the case. Actually it's usually quite sunny for periods of the day, and pretty hot, and then it will rain for an hour or so and the clouds may hang out for a while.
Anyway, this is the courtyard in the center of the hostel portion of the Center. Right now I live in a room off to the right (no. 9), right next to Ariel's number 10 room. I love sitting on the edge of that cistern in the center of the garden and looking up into the clouds at night. Last night the moon was almost full so it was quite peaceful to watch clouds streaming by high up in the night with the sound of dogs barking off in the distance.
The sounds here are a little different than I'm used to in San Salvador. Things actually become quite silent in the night here, whereas in San Salvador there seem to be more dogs barking, music playing, and random slams and bams occurring all the time.
That's all for now. I'm watching Glee with Christy and Ariel. Peace.
*
(Don Lito in the Peace Garden here at the Center)
(Another picture of the peace garden. I took this one from the bench outside our office while I was on the phone with Rosemary, Ogg, and Mom.)
Last story of the night: I returned home not too long ago from walking Christy across town with Ariel. We walked Christy to the home of her host family, or host women, Eva and Rosa. It was quite a beautiful walk, through Suchitoto's town center and then down some backroads into Nueva Suchitoto (there are about 80 rural community's outside Suchitoto proper, one of which is called Nueva Suchitoto).
On our way back we stopped nearby the Center at the house of one of our little skateboarding friend's family and had some pupusas. The women who lives at the pupuseria with her family is named Nuria. She is the aunt of our friends Diego and Miguel (11 and 8 years old respectively), and she told us quite the story of her family's move to Suchitoto from one of the rural community's during the war. Ariel and I were so lucky to be hosted by someone so generous both with her delicious cooking and her story telling.
I am still somewhat on the fence about going to San Salvador tomorrow. I could do some work around here this weekend to help get the museum ready for Sunday, but I really want to see Alicia tomorrow and spend some time with the Salvadoran family we worked with two days a week in Tepecoyo when Alicia and I were students here almost two years ago.
Anyway, time for bed. Peace and Love,
Alex.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
First day in Suchi
This is going to be a very brief post as I am exhausted. Today was my first full day in Suchitoto, El Salvador. I am basically two hours north of San Salvador in a rural region which was initially the indigenous capital way back in the day (cerca late 1800s I suppose). Sister Peggy told me that for this reason the department in which Suchitoto is located is called "Cuscatlan", the original name of this country.
Anyway, I am typing away in the office right now as Alcides the vigilante (night guard) paces around. A few minutes ago as Ariel and I were watching Glee on her laptop he came into the room with a big wooden rifle. Ariel and I exchanged surprised glances even though we are well enough acquainted with Alcides' warm nature to know that him having a gun poses no threat. It's actually the standard procedure for security in most of El Salvador.
Anyway, as Alcides prepared to leave the room he made a comment about hunting pigeons (para casar palomas) and Ariel and I just had to clarify with him that he was going to be sitting out in the courtyard firing a real live gun into the air at night, while "guarding" the Center. (I have to say I wasn't totally surprised. After all we are in El Salvador.)
Upon viewing our surely incredulous faces Alcides smiled and said, "si, son copas", which I didn't really understand. He then asked us if we thought the gun was real, at which point I realized that the gun did look an awful lot like an air rifle. Alcides approached the desk at which we were seated and proceeded to show us the "copas" he was toting. Copas apparently are the little metal bullets that his gun shoots, which- Alcides assured us as his final commentary on the matter- "se pueden matar". Good. I hope I am not mistaken for a pigeon tonight. (Seriously though I am completely safe here.)
Today was great. It is awesome to have some community with Ariel (from Santa Clara University; a great singer and consequently organizing an adult and two youth "coros" here; also friend of many Casa students) and Korla (from Minnesota; met Sister Peggy as part of an educational immersion program she attended a year or so ago in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala). They are both just great individuals. We are beginning to warm up to one another and we actually had a great little dinner date at a pupuseria in town just a few hours ago. It was nice to sit and talk about everything from "the Scottish play" Macbeth (which apparently is cursed as far as many theatre folk are concerned), to food alergies and their causes, to Disney movies. We also reflected a bit on our days and our journeys here in El Salvador and it was great to vent some of my "I don't know what I'm doing here" thoughts and feel as though someone (or two people) can relate.
The day did go very well, although I struggled with Spanish a bit and did feel as though I wanted to figure everything out about myself and Suchitoto all at once. One special moment I had took place after we closed the skatepark for the day at 4 o'clock. Ariel, Korla and I spent most of our time running the park, signing kids up and supervising them, but at 4 we closed for the day and a few kids lingered. Diego, his brother Miguel, Jose, and Henri all were sitting around so I went to chat with them a little. They wanted me to ask about getting uniforms for their soccer team (which apparently is just them and "the other kids that didn't come today"). As we spoke I had the idea that soccer could become a part of my job here in Suchi, but I was so overwhelmed from the day and the thought of starting up a whole other project (finding a field, organizing, etc.) that I almost said "no" when they asked me to play with them for a little bit. They just wanted to practice for a little today they said, and as I reflected on this event tonight I realized that this opportunity to coach one 4-person team for one hour was exactly what I needed to be doing. The kids needed me, they wanted me to be their "entrenador". So I sent Miguel off to fetch his soccer ball, went to my room for my shoes, and upon reuniting with the "equipo" we commenced our first ever futbol practice.
It was so great. I had them do warm up laps, some stretches- all of which I imagine they had never done before. (Alicides told me later that "physical education" for kids here consists of someone handing them a ball, pointing at a field, and saying "go play for 40 minutes.) It was great, the kids were so cute. And they had a great time even though they were kind of out of control and really just wanted to kick the crap out of the soccer ball and score goals.
When things got a little out of hand (arguing, ostracising the youngest Miguel) toward the end, we sat down and had a little reflection. I don't know where it came from but I directed them to sit in a circle and roll the ball to someone sitting across from them. Once the ball had arrived the recipient was to say something they did well in practice today, and also say something the passer of the ball had done well in practice. This was a great exercise for them I think, especially as it seemed to me they were not necessarily accustomed to talking about things they'd done well, or complimenting others (except of course complimenting Henri who is the best futbolista of the 4).
Well I really should go get some sleep. Tomorrow we open the park again at 9, and I am going to speak with Sister Peggy about setting up my yoga class as well at some point in the morning. Not sure yet if I am headed to San Salvador to visit with Alicia on Friday or if I will remain here. Either way it should be great. Love to all. Goodnight.
Anyway, I am typing away in the office right now as Alcides the vigilante (night guard) paces around. A few minutes ago as Ariel and I were watching Glee on her laptop he came into the room with a big wooden rifle. Ariel and I exchanged surprised glances even though we are well enough acquainted with Alcides' warm nature to know that him having a gun poses no threat. It's actually the standard procedure for security in most of El Salvador.
Anyway, as Alcides prepared to leave the room he made a comment about hunting pigeons (para casar palomas) and Ariel and I just had to clarify with him that he was going to be sitting out in the courtyard firing a real live gun into the air at night, while "guarding" the Center. (I have to say I wasn't totally surprised. After all we are in El Salvador.)
Upon viewing our surely incredulous faces Alcides smiled and said, "si, son copas", which I didn't really understand. He then asked us if we thought the gun was real, at which point I realized that the gun did look an awful lot like an air rifle. Alcides approached the desk at which we were seated and proceeded to show us the "copas" he was toting. Copas apparently are the little metal bullets that his gun shoots, which- Alcides assured us as his final commentary on the matter- "se pueden matar". Good. I hope I am not mistaken for a pigeon tonight. (Seriously though I am completely safe here.)
Today was great. It is awesome to have some community with Ariel (from Santa Clara University; a great singer and consequently organizing an adult and two youth "coros" here; also friend of many Casa students) and Korla (from Minnesota; met Sister Peggy as part of an educational immersion program she attended a year or so ago in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala). They are both just great individuals. We are beginning to warm up to one another and we actually had a great little dinner date at a pupuseria in town just a few hours ago. It was nice to sit and talk about everything from "the Scottish play" Macbeth (which apparently is cursed as far as many theatre folk are concerned), to food alergies and their causes, to Disney movies. We also reflected a bit on our days and our journeys here in El Salvador and it was great to vent some of my "I don't know what I'm doing here" thoughts and feel as though someone (or two people) can relate.
The day did go very well, although I struggled with Spanish a bit and did feel as though I wanted to figure everything out about myself and Suchitoto all at once. One special moment I had took place after we closed the skatepark for the day at 4 o'clock. Ariel, Korla and I spent most of our time running the park, signing kids up and supervising them, but at 4 we closed for the day and a few kids lingered. Diego, his brother Miguel, Jose, and Henri all were sitting around so I went to chat with them a little. They wanted me to ask about getting uniforms for their soccer team (which apparently is just them and "the other kids that didn't come today"). As we spoke I had the idea that soccer could become a part of my job here in Suchi, but I was so overwhelmed from the day and the thought of starting up a whole other project (finding a field, organizing, etc.) that I almost said "no" when they asked me to play with them for a little bit. They just wanted to practice for a little today they said, and as I reflected on this event tonight I realized that this opportunity to coach one 4-person team for one hour was exactly what I needed to be doing. The kids needed me, they wanted me to be their "entrenador". So I sent Miguel off to fetch his soccer ball, went to my room for my shoes, and upon reuniting with the "equipo" we commenced our first ever futbol practice.
It was so great. I had them do warm up laps, some stretches- all of which I imagine they had never done before. (Alicides told me later that "physical education" for kids here consists of someone handing them a ball, pointing at a field, and saying "go play for 40 minutes.) It was great, the kids were so cute. And they had a great time even though they were kind of out of control and really just wanted to kick the crap out of the soccer ball and score goals.
When things got a little out of hand (arguing, ostracising the youngest Miguel) toward the end, we sat down and had a little reflection. I don't know where it came from but I directed them to sit in a circle and roll the ball to someone sitting across from them. Once the ball had arrived the recipient was to say something they did well in practice today, and also say something the passer of the ball had done well in practice. This was a great exercise for them I think, especially as it seemed to me they were not necessarily accustomed to talking about things they'd done well, or complimenting others (except of course complimenting Henri who is the best futbolista of the 4).
Well I really should go get some sleep. Tomorrow we open the park again at 9, and I am going to speak with Sister Peggy about setting up my yoga class as well at some point in the morning. Not sure yet if I am headed to San Salvador to visit with Alicia on Friday or if I will remain here. Either way it should be great. Love to all. Goodnight.
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