I realize that I've somwhat abandoned this blog, and for that I apologize.  To be quite honest, I'm not even sure that anyone still reads it.  Regardless, I’ll try to be better about updating in the future.  The last few month lots of things have happened and time has been flying by.  In fact, next month will mark a whole year living in El Salvador. December involved lots of partying at my town's annual Fiesta Patronales. Followed by Christmas celebrations involving ranchero and reggatone Karoake in town, and then a beach celebration for New Years.  January started off slow with most of my counterparts off campaigning for the election, which resulted in the current political party, the ultra-left wing FMLN (the gorillas during the civil war) losing the election to the ultra-right ARENA party. The Alcaldia will officially change May first, and all the street posts have already been changed from a solid-red color, to right/white/blue.  So the future of some of my projects are now uncertain...  After the election, with all the tension running high in town, I took a vacation and did some travelling through Honduras, eventually making it to a Carribean island, in which an excellent week ensued.  Apparently my vacation came at a perfect time, as I recently heard that there was a huge confrontation in the street between FMLN and ARENA, were both sides were ready for an all-out brawl -- machetes unsheathed, rocks in hand, etc.  Luckly the police stepped in before anything too serious happened.  Getting back from vacation and falling right back into place, I have been working steadily in the tree nursery, my recycling project, and planning the agenda for the stove project and the year to come.  Other than that, life has been as normal as ever, considering my circumstances.  My cat is getting fatter everday - she caught a giant lizard in my house a few days ago-, I'm starting to dread washing my clothes on the weekend, and the weather is unpredictable as always.  In fact, it has been phenominally windy the past few days, our treee nursery was destructed, and I'm certain that lots of people have unfortunately lost their homes.  I recommend checking out some pictures that I posted on my other website... http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjnewman1/ As always, Im a lot better at updating photos than the blog.   MATEO

One of the things they made us do in D.C. before leaving the country was to collaborate on a picture of our fears about El Salvador. For my part, I drew a giant, imaginary, poisonous insect. That was one of my first thoughts about moving to a developing country in the tropics, close to nature, and in houses that were far from closed-off to nature (i.e. weather proofing one's house is not an option--or insect proofing in this case). I've been in country over 6 months now, and I have seen my share of outrageously spine-tickling insects. I quickly realized that the mosquito netting was´t protection against all bugs, and when I wake up in the middle of the night to take a pee, there is no telling what is going to be waiting for me in the bathroom. These usual encounters of mine make my life just a bit more exciting than usual (which is pretty exciting without El Salvador´s small and creepy selection of wildlife). If the opportunity presents itself, I usually snap a photo or two, which I know will some day act as a reminder to how lucky it is to live in a developed country. I wish I had taken photos of that giant caballo araña (horse spider) that looks far more like a giant crab than a horse in my opinion. I also wish I got that weird looking tarantula that had an orange back and yellow belly and was in my bedroom during training. Most of the time when I see something strange or big in my house I don't think of taking a picture, and instead run for the broom and just sweep it out of the house. If anything, sweeping frogs out of my house when it's raining has become a regular routine of mine. I do have some giant spiders that are living high up on my ceiling, but those pose absolutely no problem, and if anything are protecting me from getting more parasites in my system than I already have -- I would much prefer to leave all those moscas (flies) that eat pupu de chucho, to feed my giant spider friends. I've been thinking of borrowing a ladder from a neighbor just to take a photo of this particularly big, multicolored spider above the door to my bedroom. Regardless, after finding the shedded shell of a scorpion right in the middle of the house and snapping yet another picture, I decided that it was a good idea to post a blog entry on the subject. Ladies and gentlemen, behold just some of the many critters I live with...

frog on my underwear

Originally uploaded by matthewjnewmanIn my pueblo, every Sunday morning, one can see the crazy gringo in just his American-flag boxer shorts, sweating profusely in his backyard. This is because about 2 or 3 of my hours are dedicated to scrubbing my laundry by hand in the pila. So here is how it goes...

First I put on some Steely Dan or Simon and Garfunkel to get the mood going. I aim the speakers right out my back window and turn the volume up as loud is it can go, so I can here it over the water rushing out of the churo. It also creates a nice and tranquilo atmosphere, as I will be outside for a while. Then I fill up the haucal with water and laundry detergent, and throw all my filthy, smelly clothes into that lukewarm, invitingly bubbly bath. And now everything is set up to get right to business. Scrub the clothes with the rock, rinse them with water, and hang em up to dry. No mas. It's sounds so simple, right?.

The first time I did my laundry, back in the days of training and living with a host family, I remember my host mom yelling "estira! estira!" Always sitting in her green, plastic chair, she would be yelling about how I'm doing it wrong. Moreover, she wouldn't help or anything, just lazily sit in her chair nagging. It frustrated me so much and my hands were always soar from taking her advice and practically beating the shit out of my clothes. Then, Mirian was never pleased with my end product.  She did, however, have good reason to criticize me.  Not only did she have about 40 years more experience than me, but my clothes would often still be smelly after they were dry.

But those days are over, and now I can wash my own way. And I must say, I've gotten the hang of it. Now I understand why Mirian rarely did my laundry for me.  Her doing it for me would never teach me how to wash clothes and survive on my own. Its like that bird who learns how to fly from jumping out of the tree and just doing it. The moral here is... learn from experience. And that's one of the main reasons I'm here in Peace Corps El Salvador : To gain some experience and learn from it. After being in country almost 6 months, the clothes hardly ever come out smelly and my hands are stronger and used to the constant motions associated with lavando. Now if only there was something to stop all the sweating...

With my easy listening music blaring out the window, so everyone in town who has caught on knows that I'm doing my traditional Sunday chore (which is NOT going to church like most of the pueblo), I'm in a trance and in my most intimate moments as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Instead of being the outsider walking around the town like a famous rockstar, constantly the subject of attention, and making small talk with friends and hanging with the kids, I have time to myself and can attend to my thoughts. It's like Einstein on his toilet figuring out the secrets of the world, or when that lightbulb goes off in Edison's brain. Except I come up with how writing about washing my laundry would be a fun blog entry to write. This weird trance of mine also gives me time to reflect on life, and come to reality with living poor in a developing country. It also helps that doing laundry by hand is a physical reminder that I no longer live with such luxuries as a washing machine or dryer (fact.. the sun is nature's natural dryer for those who of become out of touch with our universe - just remember to hang your clothes inside-out or the color will fade). While doing laundry, I have time to take in all the new knowledge and events, and reflect on the craziness of life. I have also come up with ideas for projects, which makes washing laundry a valuable tool for myself. The community may not know it, but I'd like to think that, in a way, this makes them benefit from my dirty clothes.

Every article of clothing has its own unique story. "Oh yeah," I will think. "I remember wearing that green shirt during the parade in El Congo, we walked for over 2 hours singing La Bomba, but changing the words to make it about the enviornment. Wow, this is smells terrrible. I know it was hot out that day, but I don't remeber sweating that much." There is this one pair of boxer shorts, that every time I wash them, I think of that time when I went outside in the middle of the night, and there was a giant frog stuck to them. Of course I had to take a photo and then used a long piece of bamboo to knock it off. It was a shame that I had to wash the boxers twice before getting a chance to wear them. My muddy pants luckily don't remind me of that horrible week that I was infected by parasites, but rather falling in the river three times when we went into the jungle to survey land for our reforestation project. Socks with 5 months worth of mud from various excursions, serve as a timeline of my Peace Corps experience. Although the socks will remain tainted brown for the rest of their lifespan, I can only wonder how long they will last, and if they do last 2 years, what will they could possibly look like? Ill keep you updated.

My reasoning skills of what events I have planned for the upcoming days and thus what are the bare necessities of clothing to wash, as well as perfect placement on the line in accordance to when the sun will hit certain clothes at certain times to insure the essentials will dry precisely when I want them to dry, all in a rhythmic rotation that insures everything drying in one day, allows me to pack the shit out of the three small lines that I have. It is a reminder of the rationalization and logic skills that have contributed to me being accepted into the Peace Corps, and it puts my skills to good use. The next step is to figure out a way to transfer my knowledge to the community. Or maybe it's the Salvadoran washing skills that have rubbed off on me? This I may never know. Maybe I will come to this realization next time I wash my clothes.

Doing laundry by hand can be a very gratifying experience. Although I hate motivating myself to do it, the end product is always very rewarding. Having all of my lines packed with clothes is like a fisherman who just returned from sea and has lined up his trophy fish to make all the less successful fishermen jealous. It makes me want to take a picture of it or just sit with a cold beer and look at it for a while, even if it is only 9am. Ok, well I guess I can't exactly explain how it makes me feel because that is going to far, but it is at least a good feeling. Who needs technology when we are the best machines nature has. I'd like to describe my washing skills as and efficient, relentless monster, who will not stop until the world is destroyed (or, in this case, until all of my laundry is done or I run out of space on the drying line). Even if all my projects fail (which certainly will not), I will at least have my weekly sense of accomplishment washing laundry.

Some people hate it and will even pay people to do it for them. I don't mind using the pila.

So try it sometime, if anything, it's a good workout. And it could even make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

mateo.

volcan senguil

Originally uploaded by matthewjnewmanMy mom was sick about reading about my diarrhea and random summaries of my day, so I decided to write a post about what my life is actually like. Here you go. This one’s for you Mama!!

MY WORK

Aside from playing futbol with the girls team and basketball with the kids, I am actually doing things that one may consider work. And its not sitting in an office and staring at a computer screen all day! So I’m mostly working with the Social Promoter at the Alcaldia, Antonio. He’s a great guy, and overloaded with work, so working with him keeps me busy all week long. We just finished giving presentations on recycling to all the schools in the municipio (about 20 or more presentations in total), and our next step is to put the campaign into full swing. We will polish the manner in which we are recycling, as well as put composting into action in the schools. In addition to this, we are working with an ADESCO (legalized, grass-roots, community group – i.e. lowest form of government) on legalizing their status and soliciting a few projects from different organizations. I am also working with an NGO who has a vivero (tree nursery) in town and we have about 40,000 trees, most of which we have already planted in the ground. However, we are still working on getting the remaining trees planted before it’s too late, since we are towards the end of the rainy season right now. Another project I am working on with the NGO is an eco-friendly stove project. The stoves burn only 1/3 of the wood as the majority of stoves in El Salvador, and have a chimney, which most stoves are lacking. We already built 26 in our first community, are in the process of building more in the second, and still have a long way to go. I also have a guitar class in the Casa de la Cultura, with younger kids. We meet 3 days a week, and they are learning fast. Although they only want to play ranchera music (like Salvadoran country) I’m starting to teach the blues, and how to rock out. To say the least, we are having a good time.

Other than that, I have plans for lots of projects in the future. One is a composting latrine project with the Unidad de Salud (health clinic). Another is working with the director of the school’s computer lab on a website for the community. I also have plans to meet with a women’s group to experiment on making organic medicines, of which I acquired recipes from a local NGO.

Finally, politics are very polarized and play a huge role in Salvadoran life - especially right now in the election season - so I also have be careful working around political parties. It’s a bit hard when I have in office in the Alcaldia (Mayor’s office), which is managed by a political party, and am constantly working with them, however I think the community realizes that I have no political motivations and just here to help in anyway I can. Nonetheless, the process is very interesting to observe. So there you have it. The role of a Municipal Development Volunteer is very abstract and broad, and this is what I fell into and decided to do.

MY SITE

I live in a small Pueblo, just outside the beautiful – and in my opinion the best – city in El Salvador, Santa Ana. It’s an aesthetically pleasing and tranquilo place. Even safe enough to walk around in the middle of the night, which is hard to come by around here. My community (I legally can’t reveal its name) is located in an immense valley, surrounded by rolling hills and volcanoes. One can even see the infamous Volcan Santa Ana - which erupted just a few years ago - overshadowing the men working in the fields. Since the community is located in a valley, I’m lucky enough to be one of the few volunteers that have a relatively “flat” site. Hence, it’s perfect for riding a bike, and chances are, you will find me riding around.

My pueblo only has about 2000 people, but one would think there was less at first glance. This is because each house holds a large, densely packed family of perhaps 5 to 10 people, or more. Moreover, the community itself is crowded, with hardly any abandoned structures. However, the entire municipality is quite sizable by Salvadoran standards, and has about 12,000 people. Por eso, it is a very rural community, and most of the work is agricultural based. Two blocks away from my house are fields as far as the eyes can see. The crops are mostly of sugar cane, corn, beans, and rice. They even go up the mountains where, at the top, lay the coffee fincas. Every inch of unoccupied land is used to grow just about any type of crop one can think of, filling the valley and escalating the mountains. And since there is a huge deforestation problem in my community, one can almost count the number of trees standing solo, surrounded by crops supplying the staple Salvadoran diet…arroz, frijoles, y tortillas.

The houses are typical of anywhere in El Salvador. Most houses are cement, however all roofs are made of tin, which is more-than-evident when I am woken up in the middle of the night because the rain is beating down like there is a war going on, but this time it’s the rain vs. the laminate, and the rain is unquestionable winning. In fact, there are some houses that are entirely made of sheets of laminate, but also mixed with some cardboard, so it doesn’t get as hot. The concept of “homeless” in El Salvador is a lot different than in the U.S., to say the least.

The streets are not only full of chickens, whom love to crow all day long (especially when I’m trying to talk on the phone), but also dogs, of which we call chuchos, and are malnourished and ugly. Most of the females have a “saggy-nipple” problem from birthing waaay too many chuchitos. And a lot of them have enormous scars or gashes because they have encountered the wrong Salvadoran or other animal. I could go on for days about the problems with chuchos in El Salvador and what I have witnessed and seen (in fact I was bitten by one just last week), but for fear of the reader losing interest or being too disgusted, I will stop

There are millions of problems in the community: social, environmental, health related, and anything else one can think of. It’s a poor community in a country that has just gotten over a long and bloody civil war. Fortunately all the people are extremely nice, and eager to change. Because they are so welcoming of the gringo with his ‘change-the-world’ attitude and his idealist visions, it makes work for me easy. Not to mention, there is a lot of work to be done.

Oh yeah - one more thing. There are, of course, the bolos, drunk or sleeping in the streets, siempre.

MY MACHETE

My corbo is necessary for life in the campo. I paid a guy fifty cent to sharpen it with his electric saw. He didn’t even wear gloves or goggles. It was awesome. And now it’s ready to serve me for 2 years. This thing is really sharp. The sheath has about a million tassels and even a mirror, so I can shave myself while I’m in the fields. It clears the brush for me, it mows my grass, it scares dogs, it opens coconuts, and it even makes me look cooler than I actually am. It’s bien chivo.

MY OPINIONS

Sorry, this blog is public, so you will have to send me an email to get them. Peace Corps’ policy.

no yielding for anyone or anything. bus hits truck and keeps going. driver leaves whenever he wants to leave. sweating while waiting for the bus to start moving so that warm-air breeze can cool you down. takes about 8 hours to get somewhere that normally takes 1 hour by car. deledeledeledeledele. bus hits truck and keeps going. stops to pick of every women selling a basket of shit on her on the side of the rode. OVER CROWDED. still don’t get how they manage to fit 30 more people on the bus, while there are already people hanging out the door and shoved against the windows and driver. green. old bluebird school buses driven down from U.S. stickers of cartoons all over (looney tunes, Jesus, etc.) Salvadoran music and lots of Reggatone. that song i hear all the time. no pisa a los asientos. all trash gets thrown out of window. cobrador stealing money. people holding your bags for you (i.e. pickpocketing at the same time). not fitting in seat (if lucky enough to get one). people stepping on each others feet. bringing machete (sheathed of course) along for the ride. jump on/off while its still moving. too many people. shopping while riding. you can buy the cure for cancer. someone making a 15 minute sales pitch about anything from candy to a pen to medicine to clothes hangers. products sold: everything. you can even buy french fries that have been sitting out in the sun all day. taking wrong bus or getting off at wrong stop. braking down while I have diarrea. bus charlas. drunk clown yelling bad jokes. evangelical preacher yelling at you about how everyone is going to hell and then asking if you want to buy his awesome keychains. jesus. spilling orange juice on the elderly women beneath me, but shes laughs because she is used to that kind of thing after riding buses since they existed in El Salvador. I once saw someone with a double rat tail. boobs in face, poncha (fat roll) on shoulder, pretty much all the body parts will be touching you at some point. surrounded by about 10 little kids. all the people staring at the gringo. dogs on bus. cracked or shattered windshields. holes in floor. seats with graffiti all over or no cushions at all. scary gang members on bus. sick people. elderly people. babies. pregnant people. all kinds of people (but only salvadoreño of course). and the one gringo.

While all this is going on (usually at the same time) there are spectacular views of everything from gorgeous rolling hills and towering volcanoes, to beautiful beaches and beautiful women.

I started posting some of my favorite pictures on this website. Check it out.

mateo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18635991@N07/

bike, house, coco

Originally uploaded by matthewjnewmanFirst of all, I want to make it clear, that because of Peace Corps policies, I cannot post any of my opinions about the way the system of government or politics or anything else regarding my opinions of this country or the Peace Corps. Although I feel strongly about issues and how certain institutions or methods here work, as well everything else, I’m sorry, but I cant post them. If the wrong person reads it, you can see how this would cause a problem and possibly affect my work or the work of the Peace Corps. Ba.

Lets begin. This post is a random summary of a few days ago…

After sitting in the Alcaldia playing around on the Internet for a while, I was bored and decided to go to the school to talk to the Director about my recycling competition in the school. This also had something to do with the recycling truck coming yesterday afternoon to make sure they could pick up our trash, after I left the Alcaldia. It was suppose to come at 8:30 but actually came at about 3pm. Damn Salvadoran sense of time. My concept of ‘being a little late’ has completely changed, as this type of thing seems to happen all the time, with everything. In Salvadoran Spanish, if you want a meeting at 10 am for instance, you probably have to say the meeting is at 7.30 am (and you will bring refreshments of course). Nonetheless, the truck ended up making it, and now I have 10 giant bags (and they really are giant) to fill up with plastic before the company can come pick up our recyclables. So I went to the school and the Director seemed very interested in my proposal of starting this recycling campaign with a little game of ‘who can collect the most plastic bottles.’ We also talked with another professor who is totally into the environment (Salvadoran hippie), and since I’m going to announce this project in front of the entire school in 2 days, it would be best to meet again tomorrow to discuss all the logistics. And then, when I got back to the Alcaldia, I got sucked into giving a speech about the benefits of composting and recycling. Lucky me! And since it will be International Environmental Day, it’s going to be in front of all 6 schools in our municipality. Too bad its probably going to be a lot of reading and pretty boring since my Spanish is not that great and there’s no way I can just pull something out of my ass like I can with other ones. Oh well, serves them right. It will at least be more informative that the 12-year-old Salvadoran girls doing provocative dances on stage, which is always inevitable at these kinds of events.

So after this somewhat monotonous morning, I went to the comedor to eat lunch -- chicken, rice and tortillas (always tortillas), and read the paper (that’s right, Obama’s the nominee. In your face Hillary!). The women who owns the comedor wanted to exchange numbers which was nice – I guess the whole ‘confianza’ thing is starting to take affect which means I’m totally doing something right!! By the way confianza is something like a mix of confidence and trust, only way more important and has a lot more connotation. Also its talked about all the time. I think maybe you get killed or everyone hates you if you don’t have it. Its still kinda a mystery to me, but nonetheless, its means I have to prove I’m not a government spy or anything, and I’m a just a good guy here to help and make friends. Everything seems to going well, and I think I’m doing a pretty good job so far.

Then I went back to the Alcaldia and hung around a bit, chatted with some peeps, went to the Juzgado de Paz and did the same, then went home, cleaned the house a bit and read, until some kids came to my door asking me if I had a pelota. So we played basketball for a while and I kept stealing the ball and stuffing the shit out of little kids. I think they enjoyed it. Jorge, the guy who works at the vivero stopped by riding his bike and we chatted for a bit. Unfortunately I can never understand anything he says. So I went back to basketball and continued beating the shit out of the kids and schooling them in little game we like to call ‘around the world.’ Until it started raining. AGAIN. Damn tropical depressions. It’s been tropical depressioning for a week straight now, and just when I though it was over and began to enjoy a nice game of basketball, it starts all over again. Tonto rainy season.

So then I went back to Mirna’s house for dinner (egg, beans, tortilla), hung out, and watched ‘Lost’ (in Spanish of course). Then on my way back -- it was still pouring but luckily I’ve got my $3 purple and pick flowers umbrella -- I saw the biggest frog I have seen since being here, and trust me, I’ve seen a lot of frogs where I live. Moreso, next to it, was a slug, and I shit me not, almost 2 feet long. If it wasn’t raining so damn hard I would have taken a picture to prove it. So I’m not positive, but it seems that the rain brings out the abnormally huge and freaky bugs out. Then, when I got inside, there were 4 huge beatles stuck to my pants and about 10 more flying around the light in my house. As much as it sucks walking the dog in the rain (I live with another volunteer who has a dog and they’re both leaving next month), it’s at least nice that she loves to eat all the bugs in the house. Ahh Peace Corps. Its the grossest job you’ll ever love.

And also, I wish I knew how to fill up all 10 of these giant bags before the school year ends. I’ll just put that on my to-do-list with all the other projects. Oh well, Ill think of something. Hopefully.

By the way, the presentation turned out excellent!!

So I have moved to my new site. Im still alive, but it seems that being sick is just a part of life here. After living in my site for almost a week (which is beautiful by the way....a small Pueblo surrounded by Volcanos and mountains that peak through the clouds...utterly beautiful) I got my first case of the infamous DIARREA. After about 5 days of that I decided it was time to go to the medical office in San Salvador. So I went, and my worst fear was almost realized. Since I got my Invitation way back in October, there has always been this fear in my mind of riding on a bus for hours, while having diarrea, and the bus breaking down. Well, this was a close one. I had to pack myself in a bus for almost 2 hours (the longest 2 hours of my life), propped against the from windshield, drenched in sweat, and stacked against no less that 10 people, including the bus driver. Luckly I made it with no accidents!! Although Ive never felt more uncomfortable in my life.

So at the office they gave me a cup (for a sample) and sent me on a wild goose chase in search for the clinic. After taking more completely packed buses, I finally made my way, went into the bathroom and..... NOTHING! absolutly nothing. I sat in there for about 2 hours, sweating profusely, and nothing happened! So I had to make that incredibly embarrasing call back to the medical office and find my way back to Peace Corps headquarters.

Then they made me stay in the capital for 2 more days, giving 2 more samples. So what was it? bacteria? viral? dengue!? To my astonishment....Nothing again. The tests were inconclusive. So I was sent home in the same condition that I came. Uncomfortable, and with about 5 gallons of water coming out of my ass everytime I shit. ohhh El Salvador. Why must you do this to me?

But other than that, things are going well. Ive been busy in my site going to meetings constantly and getting to know the people around town. The Municipality is pretty small, and very poor. A small place with big problems. So I definitely have a lot of things to do. We are about to start planting lots of trees, as well as start a municipality-wide recycling project. This among other things, should keep me busy until I start with some projects of my own. And I also joined a travelling drama group called Gringisimo( I play the guitar and do some acting for them), so I will be performing about once a month travelling around the country. We do plays about the enviornment, gangs, and other social issues. As long as I dont keep getting sick, I think all the groundwork is laid for a successful Peace Corps experience. Vamos a ver.

mateo

Ok. So I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!!!! I only have a minute online so I have to make this brief. First of all, I am sooo glad training is over. Second, I am moving today to a small pueblo just outside the city of Santa Ana. I hope I have Internet there and can keep everyone updated, but we will have to wait and see. I am very excited to finally start working! Third, I have to go. Wish me luck.

mateo

acahuapa

Originally uploaded by matthewjnewman Since everyday is different and exciting in its own way, I have decided to just put an entry from my journal as Post NUMBER TWO.

Also, the picture on the right is probably the best picture I have ever taken. Enjoy...

Sabado, 12 de Abril, 2008

Today started with me catching the 7am bus to San Vicente. I prefer to take this earlier bus because 1) It passes right in front of my house and 2) the music on the bus is always awesome. --i.e. the bus that leaves at 7.20 always plays shitty american music like YMCA, so I prefer to wake up to upbeat Salvadoreño tunes instread. Moreso, the busdriver has good taste in his selections.--

In San Vicente we had our first lecture in Spanish which was regarding Salvadoreño history, remesas, and migration. There were also a lot of disturbing fotos of people jumping and taking trains across the border, as well as injuries and deaths. It was extremely sad to see, but I am happy to announce thatI understood most of the lecture, marking a landmark in my understanding of the Spanish language. I also has the opportunity to watch a video that was put together by Municipal Development Volunteers in El Salvador, about some of their successes, which was very inspiring.

After returning home and eating some freshly killed chicken for lunch, I went to La Casa de la Cultura to meet with the ´Arte Jovenes --this is the youth group that I am doing some projects with in Tepatitan--. We walked down to the Acahuapa --nearby river -- stopping to pet a Cabra and look at the fish in someones homemade lake (the family raises and sells fish). After walking on a narrow path that pretty much had cliffs on both sides, as well a scurying across a pipe with a 20 foot fall underneath, we reached the perfect spot in the river. There was a spectacular view of Chichumtepec (Volcan that I live on), and little trash (which is rare in this country). Muy tranquilo. We spent spent about 3 hours splashing around and playing games. At one point one of the girls asked if she could hide in my luggage to go back to the states with me. I had to explain to her why that was a terrible idea, making it kinda into a joke, but that seems like the unfortunate general opinion of life here. Being trapped. A LOT of people believe they are trapped in povery, their country (they cant travel anywhere except central america), their situation, etc. And this problem needs to be adressed here, abandoning their situation does not help anything in the country.

After returning home, I bathed myself from getting dirty in the river, practiced guitar for a while (i.e. made jokes and observations in Spanish while singing), and ate dinner - beans, rice, and an egg. Xiomara (my host sister) was crying and I couldnt figure out why.... she is a 15 year old girl with a boyfriend, so its probably about something stupid and best if I stay out of it. So, I am here writing in my journal in my room. A good day in El Salvador and I get to finally sleep in tommorrow!

as the title of the post says, Send Me Mail. I love to get stuff so send it here....

Mateo Newman, PCV

Cuerpo de Paz - El Salvador

Correo Nacional

Centro de Gobierno

Apartado Postal 1947

San Salvador, El Salvador, Centro America"

Hi all. My thumb drive does not seem to be working and my prepared entry seems to be outdated now, so I have decided to ramble for a little while on life here in El Salvador.

I am living in a small town on the base of the Chichumtepec Volcano called Tepatitan. I live with a middle aged women whose husband has recently died and her 15 year old daughter. Luckly I dont have 15 little kids running around me at all times, and instead get my own room and some privacy. There was a two day spread when I didnt have water too. Also, I have already killed a giant spider and bats live in my room during the day. With that said, let me take you through a typical day of mine in El Salvador...

We live with 6 chickens and a rooster, so my day usually begins at about 5am, when the alarms (rooster) go off. Also, my first night there was a fight between our cat (brilliantly named Gato) and one of the chickens at about 1am. Anyway, I use the bathroom and shower - I am lucky enough to have these luxuries - that are located outside. In fact, the whole house is consisted of a giant patio/kitchen/garden with all of the bedrooms surounding it. After eating a breakfast of rice or beans (sometimes an egg), I take the overly-crowded (understatement) green colored schoolbus to the city of San Vicente for training. After sweating all morning, we are lucky enough to be the first group of trainies with airconditioning at the training center. I return home at about 5 or 6 and eat dinner. If Im lucky I will eat a Papusa or 2. Yesterday, when I returned home a chicken had laid an egg on my bed, and today it kept jumping on the table while I was trying to eat lunch, so me and my host mom restrained it and will kill it tommorrow for dinner....mmmm fresh chicken. I then usually go to the park and play basketball or have a meeting with the kids in the community, or sometimes just study Spanish on the Hammack until I fall asleep.

Actually, that is a bad example of a day. I sometimes have Spanish classes all day in Tepatitan, which includes going home for lunch and taking a short mid-day siesta on the Hammock (part of Salvadoran culture). Other days I have visited a water fall that is walking distance from my house, although its a long walk. Last week was Semana Santa which included lots of Church processions and some vacation time. I got to go to the beach also, which involved giant waves and a terrible sunburn. And the list of things goes on. My journal has already gotten very entertaining, just like I hope this stream of consciousness blog post is. Anyway, my internet time for now has run out so I hope I get the opportunity to post more pictures and stories soon. I hope everyone is well and try to stay in touch.

mateo

I have a something ready to post, but my thumb drive is not being read on this computer!!! I only have internet access for about 20 minutes a week, so hopefully I will get this up soon. Wish me luck. Im alive and well by the way.

Mateo

mi casa

Originally uploaded by matthewjnewman The green house on the right is mi casa.

semana santa procesion

Originally uploaded by matthewjnewman procesion de Semana Santa en Tepatitan

Hola a todos! Welcome to my first attempt at a blog, and portrayal of myself on the web. This website will hopefully be a place for you to learn about what is going on in my life, El Salvador, and the Peace Corps. It will also act as a good way for you to keep in touch with me. Not to mention, this may become one of my only chances to use English over the next 27 months.

At any rate, I will be leaving for El Salvador on March 9th, to work in the area of Municipal Development. I will be working alongside the mayor in one of El Salvador’s 262 municipalities. The job description states the following:

“The purpose of the Municipal Development Project is to assist individuals, organizations and local governments to better the quality of life in their rural and semi-urban municipalities by modernizing local services and processes and increasing citizen participation. The premise is that greater citizen participation and a more capable local government will lead to improved public services (health, education, infrastructure, water, solid waste collection and disposal, electricity, roads), as well as economic, environmental and social services…”

I suppose I have my work cut out for me. After my 10-weeks of Pre-Service Training comprised of cross-cultural orientation (history, politics, etc.), intensive Spanish instruction, and technical training, I will move to my site, where I will need to create projects (the easy part) and then implement them (this is where it may become tricky). It seems like it will be a pretty unstructured work environment, where I will go only as far as my help and skills will take me.

El Salvador is commonly described as a “small country with big problems.” Roughly about the size of Massachusetts, it is in fact the smallest country in Central America, and is also the most densely populated (about 7 mil people). Virtually all of the surface water is contaminated. Tribulations exist with trash and sanitation, mitigation, education, and in many other areas of government. In addition to these and many other problems, many social issues have also been left unresolved since El Salvador’s bloody and destructive civil war. Furthermore, because of El Salvador’s location on the Pacific Ocean and the 30+ volcanoes that dominate the country’s landscape, earthquakes, hurricanes and landslides are a constant threat. It is, by no means, one of the safest countries in the world (MS-13 for instance). However, I have also been told that El Salvador has some of the hardest working and most hospitable people in Latin America. Hopefully I can be of useful service and help the good people in this unfair and inequitable world. This will definitely be a learning experience if nothing else. I hope you enjoy the stories.

Wish me luck. Adios ATL. Keep in touch.

I was told that the application process would take 9 months to a year. I guess I did a pretty good job speeding it up...

Beginning of July - Started application. Sent out 3 letters of Recommendation. Requested transcripts from GSU. Still working on Appl. and writing essays.

07-16-07. Finished essays, recieved letters of recommendation, SUBMITTED APPLICATION

07-20-07. Recieved email from local recruier. She will put a packet in the mail for me to complete.

07-24-07. Recieved package in mail. Filled out more paperwork.

07-25-07. Called recruiter. Scheduled interview for tommorrow. Went to Sherrifs office and got fingerprints taken.

07-26-07. Nominated for business advisor in Latin America!!

08-4-07. Recieved medical kit

08-21-8/29. Doctors appts, Dentist appts, lab results.

08-30-2007. Mailed in medical kit

09-8-07. Peace Corps recieved medical kit.

09-13-07. Recieved dental kit back. Need to have molar extracted.

09-17. Recieved letter stating I need to get another Bloodtest b/c white blood cell count was too high.

09-25. CBC retest.

09-28-07. Mecical clearance!

10-10-2007. Spoke with Placement officer. Need to take written and oral Spanish placement test so I can go into a Municipal Development Program in March. Need to be at intermediate level Spanish.

10-12-2007. Emailed Spanish placement test. Application waiting for final approval from boss. Should take a week or two.

10-16-2007. Invitation was sent!!

10-22-2007. EL SALVADOR!!!

10-24-2007. Mailed VISA/PASSPORT application.

10-25-2007. Wisdom Tooth Extracted. Dentally cleared!

10-29-2007. Emailed aspiration statement and resume to in-country staff.