| well my friends and family, i have reached the 6 month mark. i celebrated it last week, december 8th. i'm still sane and free of all tropical-related diseases. and contrary to popular belief--i have never had a bad bout of diahrrea. all that "oh, you're going to die if you drink the water" business is bullshit. if you give your body time to acclimate to the new bacteria, nothing bad is going to happen. i've been brushing my teeth with "the water" since month one. i've been drinking it now for a good few months. one bit of traveling south misinformation put to rest.
so i guess this is a good time to take stock of what's been going down. well, i'm a bit fatter, i can speak spanish (more or less) and i have a good idea of what campesino life in el salvador is all about. i also have a pretty good idea of what i want my life to be all about, at least for the next few years. central america/mexico solidarity work! clueing in people in the US as to what life is like south of the border and why life is like that. i get my first little taste of this world beginning february first. that's when i start my next volunteering venture: i'm going to help coordinate a US delegation to El Salvador. It's going to be a group of election observers to check out the 2006 elections in march. This new obligation will keep my in el salvador until april first. it's kind of funny: right now i'm a volunteer in el salvador and i find myself writing an application to be a volunteer in el salvador. but teaching computer literacy to campesinos is a world apart from coordinating a delegation. ooh, i'm excited.
as to my world these days--in the past few weeks i've learned how to harvest beans, corn and coffee, without machines. i've got the several blisters to prove it. man, campesinos and campesinas are tough! malnutrition, lack of health care--whatever. i've seen 11 year old boys and 75 year old men haul 50, 60 , 70, 80, 100lb sacks of corn, beans or coffee down steep slippery dirt paths, wearing flip flops. women can do it too, except they wear skirts. and flip flops. i think i can do pretty much anything in flip flops these days--except haul a 60 lb bag of corn. my new trip is wanting to learn how to carry stuff on my head. it's a really useful skill. that's how women haul big tree branches, giant pitchers of water or baskets full of stuff. men use their backs. but imagine--going to the laundromat with a basket full of clothes on your head! tell me that isn't hot! it's my new goal. i've become slightly more integrated into the community too. i've been to a high school graduation and dance, a FMLN election rally, the fair. i'll be spending christmas and new years here too. apparently there's a big dance, a big dinner and lots of fireworks. i've told the women that i live with that i can adopt one, marry the other and carry one across the border in my backpack. you see, the el salvadoran dream is to get to the us. so i represent a whole bundle of stereotypes, hopes and dreams to people. i'm also going to assassinate the unfaithful husband of one of my friends for a basket of tamales, so she can get remarried. because for damn sure she doesnt have the $300 bucks to get a divorce. i think she makes $3 bucks a day, maybe. i've also caught the eye of the neighborhood hottie,(it's really not hard when you're the only "white" girl around) who's got designs on getting out of el salvador. little does he know that not only is he dealing with a woman of substantial emotional intelligence, but that i have sworn not to get involved romantically with anybody from the community. no matter how excruciatingly hot he may be. no, no my friends. never romance in the community, nor partying. no, that's what nicaragua is for. and that's where i'm going this very thursday. i've got some serious steam to blow, and a week to do it. then i return to my monastic and pure existence as an upstanding member of the organization and country i represent. here's to solidarity! and here's to nicaragua!
but something else looms as well in my future--a glowing star beconing me, ever southward. the world social forum. we'll just have to see how that works out, but venezuela---oooeey! it just so happens that the little pause between my stay in the community and the start of delegation work fits nicely around the world social forum. if everything works out, jason and i will hit the streets of caracas with some hilarious street theater and party hardy with the reds of the world.
i guess that concludes my bi-annual update. and i would just like to say that i really really really really miss everybody. i really really really can't wait to come back to the united states and see my beloved family and friends. it can be super difficult down here, feeling like there's nobody to talk to and that nobody understands me. but i know that i'm on a journey, and i like where that journey is leading. so i keep on trucking. despite the loneliness, despite feeling like an animal at the zoo, despite fighting the stereotypes every day. but all this is helping me to understand the flipside of life. for example immigration. i feel i have a much better understanding of what immigrants have to deal with when the come to the US. and that's valuable. so don't worry everybody, i am coming back. i'm no deserter. but for now, it's still on and i'm still learning. love you all. lisa
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