My random thoughts at the moment:

It snowed this week in Illinois. SNOWED. We're practically in April! San Diego, San Diego, oh how I love San Diego!

A quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that I took from http://famous-quotes-quotations.com/quote.html that I'm really digging at the moment:

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

An excerpt from a recent online chat with a friend:

Today's office quote reminds me of you in front of a computer except Michael is talking about Basket Ball:

When I'm playing hoops, all the stress and responsibility of my position melt away. In the zone. It's zen. It's physical...Who am I? I don't know. A basketball machine. What is Dundler-Mifflin? Never heard of it. Filling? Paperwork? Who cares?

That's Michelle in front of an excel spreadsheet. I love the "basketball machine" part. The "database machine".

You know it's the perfect time of year right now in El Salvador? It's 70 to 80 degrees each day, sunny, and pretty much no humidity or rain. In Illinois it's about 20 below zero every day with ice, snow, and slush. I'm missing El Salvador and my friends there! But I'm also loving living here at home again, in a place where I feel safe.

I miss these girls so much!!

After five months of being done with Peace Corps, I'm still shocked about some things, mainly the way we interact with immigrants here in the US. How is it that I could go to another country where I couldn't speak the language, didn't understand the customs, etc., but have such a welcome from the people there? People ALWAYS had so much patience in listening to me attempt to get across an idea and help me whenever I needed it. People always invited me into their homes to eat with them and spend time with them. When I see people from outside the US in the community, I always feel like they're shunned or something. No one has any patience to even attempt to figure out what they need/how we can help them. Don't get me wrong; people living here should absolutely learn English just as we should learn the language(s) of other countries we visit. But there is always a learning curve in new things like languages and we don't care to interact with people who haven't achieved absolute 100% success in learning the language. Why is that? How can we ignore the same people who had so much patience with me and who helped me whenever I needed it (which was a lot, trust me)! It's irritating to me and I'm not even sure how to even begin to address and/or change it. I suppose this is exactly what the third goal of Peace Corps aims to achieve: to spread what we've learned during our service with other Americans.

Anyway, enough ranting about that. After traveling around like crazy at the end of last year and early this year (the Bahamas this January were awesome), I decided to start working here to save some cash before moving anywhere. Two weeks ago, I started working at a manufacturing company in Rockford and LOVE it! The people and environment are both amazing. Everyone is very driven and friendly and there is a ton of natural light coming into the workspaces. I have no doubt that this company will end up on the list of best companies to work for in the near future. In addition to having wonderful people and work areas, they do fun things! Example? At Thanksgiving, they decided to attempt to break the world record for the fastest cooking of a turkey. They moved one of the super huge ovens/burners (we're talking like the size of a truck) out on the lawn, invited a whole lot of customers, brought in a boatload of food, and all stood on the lawn while throwing a huge fireball into this oven to roast the turkey. How could you NOT fall in love with a company like that??

So where do I stand currently in the "big" issues? ("Big" being identified as the things people ALWAYS ask immediately upon meeting.) Job? I have one. It's going amazingly well. I get to design databases and be a total nerd on the computer so I'm as happy as can be. Home? Living at home with the parents is actually working out better than I would have guessed. After 12 years of living alone, I figured it would be quite a change. But it's surprisingly working out quite nicely. Friends? This one could be going better. Friends from school, Peace Corps, and work are living in Washington, Ohio, DC, Florida, California, Virginia, Texas, and Chicago just to name a few places. Of course Chicago isn't that far away, but it's far enough where I can't just go out with them at night and then come back home so planning and figuring out who I will stay with always has to be figured out. And since we're living in one of those common incredibly small communities in Illinois, I'm surrounded by families, not single people my age. I'm finding that it's quite difficult to meet people to do things with and I'm missing that. I missed it while I was in El Salvador, but I figured it would come back once I was back in the US. I suppose it won't come back until I'm living in a big city again so that's definitely still in my future.

Well, that's about it with me at the moment! We'll see how these next few months go...

Ok, it's definitely been awhile since I've posted anything! Traveling and starting the job search has taken the majority of my time, and now that I'm not in El Salvador, it just seems like people aren't as interested in what's going on!

November was a month FULL of travel! Dad and I went to Singapore November 3 and then flew to China November 6. We returned home on the 13th and then I got onto another plane on the 14th to start my west coast tour - LA, San Diego, and Phoenix. Basically, I was scoping out where I want to focus my job search and San Diego won hands down.

LA was fun; I was able to stay with fellow Peace Corps volunteer Jen and her new husband Noe and we were able to meet up with some other returned volunteers from our group one night for dinner. I liked areas of LA, but the smog and traffic were horrendous! The sun and heat were amazingly soothing, though!!

The other half of the 1998 John T. Mount Leadership award, Aaron, hosted me during my San Diego stay and we had a blast! We watched Ohio State win against arch-rival Michigan and then visited Tijuana - both of our first visits to Mexico - on the first day. I walked around San Diego like crazy. It's a big place, but feels like a small town. It's right on the beach, but you can easily get away from that if you want. It's really a great city and I'm excited about the prospect of moving there!

I spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix with my grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was definitely a week of eating incredibly delicious food and spending time with family! Also, grandma and I were able to get up to beautiful Sedona to explore a bit!

Singapore and China were also amazingly fun. Things that stuck out to me in Singapore:

The cars drive on the opposite sides of the road, like in England

The escalators run A LOT faster and are flatter at the top and bottom to give people time and room to get off safely (I liked this much better)

It's VERY clean and has a great subway system much like DC's

The national language is English but it can definitely be spoken in a unique manner

And in China:

Beijing is a great city to walk around and explore

The traffic and smog can be worse than LA

The Great Wall is WAAAY wider and steeper than I ever envisioned it to be

The fake goods market is hoppin' for about anything and everything you can think of

The Forbidden City is HUGE

Those are just some thoughts at the moment... There are stories, of course. Those are for another day...

* Photos to be posted soon

My Last Week

My dad came to visit and help me during my last week in El Salvador which was awesome. It was especially entertaining when we walked into my house after he arrived. I've never been sure what causes this, but always after I've been gone for a couple of days, 10 minutes after walking back into the house, this smell begins to permeate the kitchen and/or bedroom. Personally, I think there is some random animal living behind one of the walls and it starts thinking it owns the place and gets all mad when I come back. But I've never seen it, just smelled it. So, of course that happened when my dad and I walked in. Also, my dad saw a mouse run across the kitchen floor so he had to set out my "awesome" Christmas presents (the "reusable mousetraps"). Anyway, while he was inside going on about the mouse, I was outside in the bathroom. I just happened to look up for a moment and saw the largest spider ever. Don't get me wrong; I've seen this spider before. But never from below like I did that day! It spanned a space larger than my hand and it's body was suspended 3" from the wall because its legs were so long! I just said, "Woah" quickly followed by, "Dad! You have to see this!" He came out and didn't see it at first, but when he did, he responded with, "WHAT....is THAT??! Oh my FREAKING God....how long are we staying in this little shindig?" I was DYING laughing. So I figured it was a good time to point out a couple of other things, like my lizard friends that were chilling in my bathing bucket and the bats that did warm up laps each evening outside my door. Also, I informed him not to be alarmed if he heard someone walking on the roof at night and/or saw the roof cave in from footsteps because it wasn't a person; it was an animal that I had never seen, but a friend had freaked out over after seeing. Something about it looking like the giant opossum that the guy in the Princess Bride fought. Anyway, after all of this discussion, dad just stared at me with a look of disbelief. Then he said, "How many days are we staying here? Are you sure you don't want to go back to a hotel?" "Ah...está bien." And everything was ok until he found a cockroach in the bed the second night (he freaked) and the mouse was caught in one of the traps (I freaked). But good stories I guess.

Apart from all the house visitor fun, we did have a great last week. There were quite a few going away parties that we attended, including the last one that was thrown by the kids who worked on writing the plan for the technology project last year. They bought food, we played cards, I gave them photos from their graduations, and they went around a circle and one by one thanked me for coming to San Isidro and changing their lives. It was unbelievably touching and something I won't forget anytime soon.

And....thanks to all of you....the technology project is finished! The Friday before I left we picked up 56 computers from the Ministry of Education (it took FIVE pickups to transport them). The electricity in the elementary/middle school was installed by Saturday (the high school already had electricity in the computer lab). We got the donation of cable and switches from the Ministry of Education so we met the goal for the community-wide technology center. The check is on the way and Mary Susan, the volunteer living in the community next to mine, will be overseeing the reconstruction of that building with the funds you all donated. So, I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you for your support in this project. It has totally transformed education for the current and future students in San Isidro.

Back in the US of A

I'm really enjoying being back in the US. In DC, I did feel that everyone was moving extremely fast and prices were pretty high. And when we went out to dinner the first night, I was overwhelmed by the number of food and drink choices with all of the talking (there were about 12 of us), but I got over it. It hasn't seemed too hard to readjust (thus far). And I've loved having the opportunity to catch up with a lot of lost friends during the past week (and I'm happy people are still willing to let me stay on their couches at night). Currently, I'm in Columbus and will be driving with baby bro back to Illinois on Friday.

Well, that's about it for me! In the coming months, I'll be hanging out with friends and family, doing some traveling, and getting the surgery redone. I probably won't be sending out updates anymore since my life is now pretty much like all of yours...but I will update the blog when something interesting happens, like maybe during our Yosemite and/or China trips.

Thanks to all of you for your support and friendship! It was sure a roller coaster ride during these two years that definitely ended up at the end!

Peace out!

* Photos to be posted soon

Coming Home

Hello again from El Salvador! My final day here is August 20th and it looks like I'll be flying out August 21st for Washington DC to hang out with some friends for a short time and then will head on back to Illinois. And lucky me, I'll be back just in time for my 10 year high school reunion (after attending 3 different high schools, I'm bound to be back in time for at least one of them) so I'll be able to update former classmates with what I recently wrote for another reunion (that I missed): "I'm not married. I don't have any kids. I don't have a job. I'm penniless. And I was excited that my last house had electricity AND water (at night)." That should garner some attention.

Project Status

The project is coming along nicely. Again, thank you to everyone that has donated! (And you still can donate here.) We have over $6,000 now and I've been working with the Ministry of Education here to get an additional donation of materials that would make up another $1,000 or so. Also, the school director told me he thinks he can round up some volunteers to help out with the work, cutting the labor costs, so I think we're actually pretty darn close to finishing the fundraising! FINALMENTE (feeeeeee-nuuuuuul-ment-ay) is all I have to say about that - I HATE asking people for money! The real fun is going to begin just as I leave, and the new volunteer that is living about 5 minutes away will probably get to enjoy it all and tell us all about it. :) At least I know my time here made a difference (thanks to your support)! Oh yeah, and the Lima News (Lima, OH) wrote up a nice article about our project down here! You can read it here.

Short Story

There is not a lot to write about this week since I've just been in cold air-conditioned doctors' offices in the capital the entire week getting everything checked out before I go home. So, in case you missed this short conversation I posted to my blog last week, here it is again:

What made me MELT last week:

I had just dropped off a Peace Corps trainee to spend a few nights with a family in a neighboring community (you all remember my immersion day experiences from training) and was walking back to my house. A little girl, probably about eight years old, yelled, "Buenas, señorita Michelle!" And I said, "Buenas!" And the following conversation ensued:

Little girl: "Are you coming to school tomorrow?"

Me: "I don't think I can tomorrow."

Little Girl: "But we want to have a party!"

Me: "And you can have a party if I go?"

Little Girl: "Yes!"

Me: "And why is that?"

Little Girl: "Because we're celebrating teacher day and we need to celebrate you!"

Me: "Ohhhh...that's so sweet!" (giving her a hug)

Little Girl: (with her face lighting up) "So you'll come?"

Me: "Oh...I want to...but I have a meeting in the capital with some people from the Ministry of Education really early in the morning! I'm sorry!"

Little Girl: (looking down and all sad) "Ok....I guess we'll just save your present until Monday."

Oh my goodness!!! SUPER SWEET! The only time I'm with the little kids is during their weekly computer classes this year. And she still wanted me to go! Seriously, I was ready to melt!

Just for Fun

Ok, and this part is just for fun. My group created a facebook account and the site is incredibly addictive. One of the things I recently found on it is a Personality DNA test (basically just a fun personality test). You can take it at www.PersonalDNA.com. My result? I am a "benevolent leader". Anyway, I normally don't include things like this in emails, but it's interesting and an example of what I've been doing this last week between medical appointments! :)

See ya soon! Really!

We're almost there - we have $6,120 (72%)! You can help us with our project by donating now or matching a gift from your employee(s)! Or read "The Complete Plan" (in PDF format) to get more info!

Sending a check via mail:

Include project #519-082, M Gullett, Community Technology Center in the memo field and mail to:

Peace Corps

OPSI Partnership Program

1111 20th Street NW, 8th Floor

Washington, DC 20526

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What made me MELT last week:

I had just dropped off a Peace Corps trainee to spend a few nights with a family in a neighboring community (you all remember my immersion day experiences from training) and was walking back to my house. A little girl, probably about eight years old, yelled, "Buenas, señorita Michelle!" And I said, "Buenas!" And the following conversation ensued:

Little girl: "Are you coming to school tomorrow?"

Me: "I don't think I can tomorrow."

Little Girl: "But we want to have a party!"

Me: "And you can have a party if I go?"

Little Girl: "Yes!"

Me: "And why is that?"

Little Girl: "Because we're celebrating teacher day and we need to celebrate you!"

Me: "Ohhhh...that's so sweet!" (giving her a hug)

Little Girl: (with her face lighting up) "So you'll come?"

Me: "Oh...I want to...but I have a meeting in the capital with some people from the Ministry of Education really early in the morning! I'm sorry!"

Little Girl: (looking down and all sad) "Ok....I guess we'll just save your present until Monday."

Oh my goodness!!! SUPER SWEET! The only time I'm with the little kids is during their weekly computer classes this year. And she still wanted me to go! Seriously, I was ready to melt!

Oh, and read today's (Sunday's) Lima News article about our project!

Help us with our project by donating now or matching a gift from your employee(s)! Or read "The Complete Plan" (in PDF format) to get more info!

Sending a check via mail:

Include project #519-082, M Gullett, Community Technology Center in the memo field and mail to:

Peace Corps

OPSI Partnership Program

1111 20th Street NW, 8th Floor

Washington, DC 20526

------------------------------------------------------------

Hey, everyone! So we now have $3045 (36%) of what we need for the project. Thank you!!

Onto lighter topics. As you´ve probably noticed, I don´t have a lot of funny stories anymore (at least I feel that way), but I´ve been laughing a lot during the last week! Two events that make me smile:

The Form Pick-Up:

There is now a new volunteer living like 5 minutes away from me in the next town, Mary Susan. We decided that we were going to Sonsonate together to do some grocery shopping and other errands. She came to my site to observe a computer class for teachers and then we were off. On our way out, I asked the school secretary if there was anything she needed from Sonsonate and she told me she needed a form. Ok, no problem. We wrote down all the relevant information (form name, building location, etc.) and we´re off.

After stopping in Izalco for some lunch and completing a few short visits with people in the mayor´s office, we ended up arriving in Sonsonate at 4 PM. We decided to pick up the form first because the building was located right next to the bus terminal. The bus driver was nice enough to walk us to the building and just as we arrived, the cleaning lady opened the door to sweep out the dirt from inside. As I attempted to walk in, she stopped me and informed me that they closed at 3.30. I was like, "Oh, I´m sorry. I didn´t know that. I don´t need to talk to anyone though; I just need this form." And she said, "Well, you can come back tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM. We´re closed." And I said, "I don´t think you understand. I only need a form. I don´t need anything else." She said, "Oh, ok, well I have to get permission from our boss." I said ok and she shut the door and walked away. Now, this door is a glass door. I can see all of them and they can see all of me. All of the workers were still at their desks working, or at least it appeared that´s what they were doing. I watched the cleaning lady walk into a back room, stay there for about 5 minutes, then come back out and continue cleaning, ignoring me! She basically LIED to me to get me to away!! I couldn´t believe it! I mean, seriously, maybe that works with Salvadorans, but it doesn´t work with Americans! Or at least not this one!! Who thinks you can lie to someone to get them to go away!! Unbelievable.

At this point, Mary Susan, the other volunteer with me, said, "I don´t think they´re coming back and it´s pretty late...we should get going." I was like, "I´m not leaving!! She lied to me!!" And she said, "Well, we´re not in the US; we´re in El Salvador! There´s not really anything you can do about it." I said, "What do you mean? They have to leave sometime and they have to come through this door. I don´t care if I have to wait all night and sleep here! They´re talking to me!" She was pretty irritated at this point and informed me she could wait 5 more minutes but then we would have to go. So I started staring at the people inside. I mean, I was standing directly in front of this glass door just staring. As you can imagine, the workers inside became somewhat uncomfortable. They started talking amongst themselves, clearly saying things like, "What´s wrong with this gringa? Why isn´t she going away? It´s obvious we´re closed and are not going to help her." And of course by this point, the cleaning lady was milling about going about her business also obviously ignoring me.

Five minutes passed with the staring with no results and Mary Susan, unable to convince me to leave with her, left to run the errands we had planned, while I continued the starting. I watched 2 of the women close up their computers and pack up. They still were pretty uncomfortable with the idea of approaching me, so they asked the security guard to escort them out. So, the security guard from across the room struts over with his huge gun, unlocks the door, and lets them out. Of course, they run by without making any eye contact whatsoever and I immediately take advantage of the door being open and step in.

The security guard informs me that they´re closed. I say, "I know. I´m sorry. I don´t need to do anything here; I just need to pick up this form and I can leave." And he said, "Right, but we´re closed." And I said, "I don´t understand what the problem is. I don´t think it´s difficult to hand me a form. Is there not an organized system here?" He said, "Ok, I have to talk to my boss." I said, "Ok" but didn´t move. He said, "I have to shut the door if I´m going to leave it." I said, "Yeah, well that´s exactly what she (pointing to the cleaning lady) told me and she never came back. So since people here obviously lie, I´m going to wait right here. I won´t walk in anymore, but I´m not walking out." At this point, he was very uncomfortable and certainly not used to someone, especially a woman, being so direct, so he started to question the cleaning lady who got super irritated she was being called out for lying by someone who was showing up late and didn´t have any reason to complain about anything.

The security guard at this point didn´t know what to say or do so I encouraged him to ask the boss to join us and the three of us could talk about it. So, reluctantly, he asked the supervisor to come over and the supervisor asked me what the problem was. I said, "Hi. I know you closed at 3:30. I´m really sorry I´m arriving late, but all I need is this form. I don´t need to talk to anyone. I don´t need anyone to do anything for me except hand me this form." And he said, "Ok, I´ll give it to you now, but in the future, please try to come before we close." I said, "I really appreciate it. Thank you so much." And he reached to my left, pulled out a sheet of paper, and gave it to me. Can you believe that??? It took like 0.1 seconds to give me that form and I had to create this huge scene to get it!! I mean, 30 minutes of me staring at them, being super direct with them, ect., for them to take 0.1 seconds to give me the form!! He didn´t even have to walk anywhere to get it!! Wouldn´t it have just been easier to give me the paper in the first place?

Anyway, I walked to where Mary Susan was and told the story to her and all she had to say was, ´"I can´t believe you got the paper." I just said, "Oh, I knew I was getting the paper; I just didn´t know how long I was going to have to wait to get it!" And she said, "Do you ever take no? You seem like you´re kind of a determined person." Well, maybe...

Calling MINEDWe needed to set up a meeting with the National Technology Director in the Ministry of Education, so one morning I called the general Ministry number since I didn´t have his direct line. The woman answering the phone told me she didn´t know who he was so I told her he worked in technology and before I could correct his name (she thought I said "Rodriguez" instead of "Urias"), she had transferred me. I was thinking, "Great. I´m going to be talking to like 10 people here to get his secretary." So the next person picked up and I said, "Good morning. Could I please speak with Carlos Urias?" And she said, "Michelle!" Dude. I don´t know about you, but when I´m calling the secretary of a national officer and she immediately knows it´s me from asking if I can talk to him, she is either amazing at remembering people and voices or I´ve done my job and made an impression (hopefully a good one). I was so shocked I couldn´t even speak. She informed me the day of the meeting that she "knows my voice". I jokingly said, "Are you sure it´s not my gringa accent?" And she said, "Oh, well that too.". Puchica. 2 years of speaking Spanish and it´s still clear to everyone living here that I´m DEFINITELY from the states.

Alright. Those were pretty lengthy. Good for now. I´m sure I´ll have more... :)

Miss ya all!!

Help us with our project by donating now or matching a gift from your employee(s)! Or read "The Complete Plan" (in PDF format) to get more info!

Sending a check via mail:

Include project #519-082, M Gullett, Community Technology Center in the memo field and mail to:

Peace Corps

OPSI Partnership Program

1111 20th Street NW

8th Floor

Washington, DC 20526

------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you again to everyone who has donated to the project! Thus far, we have received $2,675 and are awaiting $5,823. We're more than 30% of the way there! Remember, the more people that know, the sooner we'll get the dough! (Yeah, I JUST made up that catchy little line.) :)

My friend Ky is hosting a fundraiser tonight in Columbus - thanks Ky! If you have any creative ideas on how to help out, go for them! You'll be making a difference in the lives of 4,100+ students just this year! And think about how many family members and future students you'll be affecting with your donation!

Thanks again to everyone who has helped out! We're nearing the end!

Ok, so good news! In one week, all of you awesome people helping my community and me donated $650 to the "Community Technology Center" project meaning that we now need $7,848! Thanks to everyone who donated!

For those of you who didn´t have time or thought, "later"...well, what about now? :) You can do it (I can hear the guy from Waterboy yelling that) here.

Oh, and someone voiced a concern that the Peace Corps site wasn´t secure because it is missing the "lock" image that most secure sites have. (And rightly so; we´re all told to NEVER submit data on a site without that lock to protect ourselves against identity theft!) However, on the page BEFORE entering your credit card information, there is the following notice:

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Why This is a Secure Transaction:

The secure server software (SSL) that processes Peace Corps donations is the industry standard and among the best software available today for secure commerce transactions. It encrypts all of your personal data including credit card number, name, and address, so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet. You can tell when you are protected by encryption — the lock or key at the bottom of your browser changes color or is no longer broken. To use this option, you must have a browser that supports SSL ( e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, AOL, or Netscape Navigator).

Due to the layout of our transaction web pages, a secure connection icon may not be visible in your browser window at certain times. This occurs because outer frame information (pictures, fund and/or project details, etc.) does not require SSL security and would significantly increase the wait time during the checkout procedure. However, as stated above, all pertinent ordering information is encrypted using state-of-the-art SSL technology and is secure from tampering by outside sources.

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So, back to the raising money part. I know, I know, you´re all dying to know: "What ELSE can I possible do to help out my good friend Michelle?" :) Well, I just happen to have some suggestions!

1) Forward the info to others!

This is pretty self-explanatory...spread the word to others who (A) work in any of the companies listed in #3 and/or (B) may be interested in participating in projects like this. :)

2) Put donation cans around your office/church

My friend Karen emailed me this great suggestion. This way, you can help me out by (A) spreading the word about my work and educating others about El Salvador WHILE drumming up support for this specific project! Thanks for the suggestion, Karen!!

3) Check the recent "matching" list

Check the list below for businesses that HAVE recently supported a Peace Corps project (and this is a RECENT list, meaning that there are probably a lot more that have done it in the past!) If your company is NOT on the list, well, then YOU can be the very important person to add it and if it IS on this list, ask them if they´re willing to support this project too! And if you need to fill out paperwork and don´t have time, scan it and I´ll fill it out so all you have to do is sign it! (I like to make it as easy as possible!) :) There is more info regarding matching gifts here.

A. D. Marble Company matched a gift to support a latrine and sanitation project in Ghana.

American International Group (AIG) matched gifts to support a mentoring program in Ukraine and a youth group in Uganda.

Analog Devices, Inc. matched a gift to support a health clinic in Niger.

AON Foundation matched a gift to promote diversity and multicultural acceptance in Romania.

AXA Foundation matched a gift to support a summer school program in Malawi.

BAM Studio matched a gift to support grain mill construction project in Togo.

Bank of America matched gifts to support women in development camp in Romania, to improve sanitation in Togo, to purchase English textbooks in the Ukraine, and to the Tsunami Relief Fund.

Bear Stearns matched gifts to support the Tsunami Relief Fund.

Black and Decker matched a gift to support a resource center for teachers in Moldova.

BP Foundation matched a gift to improve a kindergarten in Moldova and repair a pre-school and community center in Togo.

Branch Banking & Trust matched a gift to support a primary school renovation in Tanzania.

Countrywide matched a gift to support a project which will provide furniture for a school in Azerbaijan.

Deutsche Bank matched a gift to bring potable water to a community in Ghana.

Financial Security Assurance Inc. matched a gift to build a well in Togo.

GAP Foundation matched a gift to support a gender and development conference in Morocco.

Genentech matched a gift for development projects in Panama.

GlaxoSmith Kline matched a gift to support a computer-training center in Tanzania and a School and Community Center in Togo.

Greif matched a gift to support a school cafeteria project in Moldova.

Harcourt Education matched a gift to support a Foreign Language Teacher Association in Kazakhstan.

Hatch Mott MacDonald matched a gift to build a garden well in Mali.

Houghton Mifflin matched a gift to support Model UN project in Moldova.

IAC Foundation matched a gift to the Tsunami Relief Fund.

JP Morgan Chase matched a gift to develop an internet café in the Ukraine and a gift to build a garden well in Niger.

Land America Foundation matched a gift supporting a basketball court project in Togo.

McMaster-Carr Supply Company matched a gift to improve sanitation in Togo.

Mentor Graphics matched a gift to support a Youth Summer Camp in Burkina Faso.

Microsoft matched gifts to support a Library in Ghana and the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Education Fund and Tsunami Relief Fund.

Motorola Foundation matched a gift to support the HIV/AIDS fund.

National Instruments matched a gift to provide science books for a secondary school in Ghana.

Neiman Marcus matched a gift supporting a health sanitation project in Nicaragua.

News America Inc matched a gift to support Peace Corps Tsunami Relief Fund.

Overbrook Foundation matched a gift to support a health clinic expansion project in Thailand.

Pfizer matched a gift supporting a national gender and youth development conference in Ghana.

Putnam Saving Bank matched a gift to support a health clinic in Niger.

RH Donnelly matched a gift to improve food security and small business enterprise in the Dominican Republic.

Sallie Mae matched a gift supporting a Business Resource Center in the Ukraine.

Tellabs matched a gift to support a Summer School project in Malawi.

UBS Foundation USA matched a gift to support an orphanage library in the Ukraine.

Wachovia Foundation matched a gift to improve sanitation in South Africa and to build a library in Guinea.

Washington Mutual matched a gift to provided a school furniture in Ghana. Still haven´t donated? You have time...YOU KNOW YOU WANNA DONATE!

So, I added an entry onto the other blog about what I PLANNED to email about last week before I got the awesome news that we could all donate online to the project. Immigration in the United States. Hot topic right now, huh? Well, read my current thoughts in Benefits for Illegal Immigrants?. I would love to hear your thoughts on all of this (after you´ve donated to the project, of course!) which again, you can do HERE. :)

Miss ya!* "Money" photo taken from cheriewillers.blogspot.com.* "Illegal Immigrant" photo taken from vivirlatino.com. I couldn´t find the photographer name to give credit.

Oh my goodness. It´s been FOREVER since I wrote! I was talking to a friend this past week and I told him that in the next couple of weeks I was going to start bombarding people with emails, so it was kind of better that I hadn´t written in a while. So, here we are.

56 computers are indeed on their way to our community here. We solicited them through the World Computer Exchange Program and are responsible for paying around $70/computer. The parents passed a resolution to donate $0.25 per student per week (we have 1400 students) to raise the $4053.20 we need to pay for them and they are estimated to arrive in June. SUPER EXCITING, I know! :) As you can imagine, I´ve been working like crazy with parents, teachers, and students to set up a trustworthy system of collecting money so everything runs smoothly and we don´t have gossip about whomever stealing. And yes, I created a database.

When the computers arrive, we´re dividing them as follows: 15 for the high school, 30 for the elementary/middle school, and 11 for the cyber cafe. The last part in my opinion, the cyber cafe, is the most important piece. It´s how we´re sustaining this project. When computers go bad, we need to purchase new software/equipment, etc., we´ll have a source of income to do so. And, the community will have access to information and technology that they´ve never had before. I´m seriously SO excited. Two years of work and I´m finally going to see some tangible results!!

However...and it´s a big however... The building where we are constructing the cyber cafe is currently constucted with adobe (not too secure or computer/electricity friendly), has no electricity, has no floor (just cement), and needs a new roof and ceiling. So, basically, it needs everything. :) The community is raising approximately $10,000 for all of the equipment and reconstruction of the school labs, but we need an additional $8498 to do all of the reconstruction that needs to be done to the future cyber building.

Since I am frequently asked by all of you, "What can I do to help?", I decided to finally cash in on your offers - I´m going to ask you to donate $100. I know, it´s a lot of money, but (1) it´s totally tax deductible (so definitely feel free to donate more), (2) you´re totally opening a new world to around 5,000 people, if not more, and (3) this is 2 years of MY blood sweat and tears to make this thing a reality and I would hate for it to die during the last stretch because I couldn´t drum up enough support!! Now how many times can you say you help out so many people with one donation WHILE making 2 years of your friend´s/family´s work meaningful? I mean, really, you´re donating like $0.02 per person. You know you´re going to feel good all day about it!!

I know, you´re DYING to know, "How can I donate now?" Well, I just happen to have a website for you: https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=519-082&region=latinamerica. Again, tax deductible. Helping me out. Making a difference in thousands of people´s lives. Seriously. I can´t believe you´re still reading this and haven´t donated yet!! :)

Ok, I guess you´re going to do it another day. Onto more topics. Teaching computer classes.

So, I apparently have not mentioned in any of my updates that I am teaching computer classes. We have 16 computers at the high school at the moment and every Sunday, we have "distancia", basically the equivalent of getting a GED. We have 7th-12th grade classes for people that have not received their diploma/certification in those grades yet. It´s really amazing to see how so many people here only have education through elementry school and it´s a big thing to have a 9th grade diploma, and even bigger to have a high school diploma. Drop out rates from schools usually happen around 3rd grade, 6th grade, and 9th grade. So anyway, I´m teaching to mostly adults that want to improve their level of education.

So I started teaching in January so I´ve had about 12 classes thus far. Last month, the electricity stopped working in the computer lab, so now each week I move a computer into a different classroom with the projector and I demonstrate how to do something. (We´re working with an electrician to get that prob solved ASAP.) Then I ask if I explained it well and if they say yes, then I start calling people to the front of the room, when I inform them that we´re at work and I´m their boss and I ask them to do something for me. It´s working out ok because everyone in the class can see what the person on the computer is doing (or not doing as the case may be) and help out if they get lost. Then I know that they understand what I´m talking about which is always nice since I´m doing all of this in a foreign language.

As you can imagine, this is the first time that many of them have EVER had contact with a computer, so we start with basics. And many people get really nervous when I tell them they have to come to the front of the room to do something. So I get a lot of excuses. Remember, I´ve been with them 12 weeks now. You would think after 12 weeks with me, they would know that excuses don´t work to get out of participating. Last week, I swear, I had the best one. I couldn´t even believe this kid was trying this out on me. When I called him up, this is the conversation that ensued:

Him: I can´t.

Me: Why not?

Him: I´m stuck.

Me: What do you mean you´re "stuck"?

Him: I mean, I can´t move from behind my desk. It´s too close to me. (Note that these desks are 1 person desks that are moveable. I´m talking super light easy to move desks.)

Me: (with incredulous look) OOOhhhhhh. Well, let me just help you out then! (I take 2 steps towards him.)

Him: (look of fear passing over his face, immediately followed by him getting up from his desk and walking to the front of the room and doing what I asked him to do in the beginning)

Me: Look. I have taught a lot of classes in the states. I´ve heard all the excuses. When I ask you to come up here, you´re coming up here!

Students: Laughter.

Seriously. "I´m stuck"?? They should know by now that I make it WAY more difficult if they try to pull crap like that on me! Although, other students LOVE it when someone starts giving me excuses because they all know that that person IS going up there and I AM going to make them do stuff. There are a lot of laughs in my classes. :)

Ok, well it´s really late now so I have to go, but you´ll be hearing from me again VERY soon!!

Lots of hugs!

Yeah, so this is UNBELIEVABLE!! I mean, I NEVER thought this would EVER happen in El Salvador during my time here. I think it´s made my entire year! Are you ready??

I went to Office Depot last week and was walking up to the front of the store when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks and made me make me squeal (very loudly) with happiness. (Many people turned to look at me when I made that noise.) Anyway, they are now selling THIS:

Granted, it´s $0.99 per package, but it´s AVAILABLE!! I bought one immediately! I know, I know, you´re too much in shock to react right now. But I´m sure this wonderful news will make your day!! :)

Ah, and apparently, the test for cancer came back negative, so that´s exciting. And the tech project is moving along quite nicely...more to come on that soon!

Ok, sorry I haven´t written in a while. So much has happened in the last month and I´ve spent most of it in the capital...

Our Director leaves us

First things first. At the end of February, our awesome Peace Corps El Salvador director, Mike Wise, finally retired. He´s been the director here in El Salvador for 9 years and has been awesome to work with. So, we decided to give him a book of memories from Peace Corps and El Salvador and I volunteered to head up the project. The final book turned out beautifully and I think he really liked it. It has some really nice photos of El Salvador (and most of the scenery shots are from around my site); if you´d like to view it, click here.

The Computer Project

We have a new building. We have a new budget. And soon, I hope, I will have a link where all of you can donate $$ (tax-deductible) to rennovate the building for the cyber. (The community is providing everything for the cyber once the building is ready.) I´ll send more info about that shortly.

My Medical Saga

This is what has been taking the majority of my time here in the last month. It feels like I´ve seen a million doctors down here over the last 2 months! It all started when I got back here after the Dec trip back home. Because I felt like there were a lot of odd things going on with my body, I went to see the nurse to just tell her about them, you know, to get them documented. I figured that there should be a record of them since Peace Corps pays for all medical care relating to stuff that occurs/starts during service. The nurse ordered a lot of tests based on our conversation: urine test, stool test, gynecologist visit, and an ultrasound, which I have to say is SUPER cool.

From all of those tests, we discovered that I had a urinary tract infection, some type of parasite, and had possibly had a tumor growing in my uterus. Nice, huh? So I got to take some pills for the urinary tract infection and got to reschedule another ultrasound to be completed after my period. During this ultrasound, which, by the way, they injected a boatload of saline into my uterus which is NOT super cool, they found that I indeed did have a tumor growing which (A) could have been cancerous and (B) wouldn´t allow me to get pregnant. So, after many calls and emails back and forth between Washington and here to get approvals for surgery, we decided I would have the operation here in El Salvador. Needless to say, I was somewhat nervous about it, but it only ended up taking about 15 minutes to complete and I only had to stay in the hospital for 1 night. However, after the operation, the doctor informed me that since I have not been pregnant before or given birth, my uterus is small and it´s hard to dilate my cervix and she´s "not sure we got all of it". That´s nice to hear. Apparently, I might get to repeat this surgery in the US when I get back. Oh, and the stuff that she did remove was sent to Washington to be tested for cancer, and fijate que, they haven´t finished testing it yet even though they were supposed to be done with it 3 weeks ago. I hope it wasn´t lost in the mail.

So, after the surgery, I was all good and happy for about 3 days. Then, on day 4, I started getting sick and got a fever and SUPER weak. So, I had to do another urine test, stool test, and blood test. During these tests, they found that I still had the parasites (which were probably making me feel like crap) and additionally, had high cholesterol. So I got to take pills for 3 days to kill the parasites (and I´ve gone from NEVER being hungry to ALWAYS being hungry) and go see another doctor to figure out what to do about the cholesterol. He informed me that I shouldn´t eat eggs or foods with oil or fat and I responded with, "You know I live in El Salvador, right? You just told me not to eat Salvadoran food." He laughed and we talked a little more and he gave me a sheet with foods that I should and should not eat. Fabulous. Then, about a week later, I returned to see the gynecologist (this is now 2 weeks after the operation) so she could check me to make sure I was cool after the surgery. All good below, but, fijate que, she felt some weird lumps in my breast so I got to see yet another doctor for a sonogram, which apparently is an ultrasound for your breasts. During this fun experience, I got to see a couple potential cancerous centers scattered throughout my breasts, then go see the gyno again for her to tell me that they´re probably not cancer, but we´ll repeat the test in 6 months to check that they haven´t grown in size. Needless to say, the last month I´ve been in the capital A LOT and experienced a lot of medical stuff. What´s up with that anyway? Nothing happens to me until last August when I get dengue, and now I´m on a first-name basis with half the doctors in the country. Is this what happens when you turn 28? I´m not a fan... :) I said to my counterpart´s wife, "Every time I see a doctor, he/she finds something else wrong with me! I´m only 28! What´s going to happen when I´m 50?! I´m not going to make it!" I guess we´ll see about that...

More to come.

I know, I know...it's been FOREVER since I posted something. There has just been a boatload going on here and I haven't had a moment to write for awhile. But I've received some emails from you asking if I'm still alive and all, so I just want to say it's good to know you haven't forgotten about me. :)

So much has happened in the last 2 months (I'm really wondering if I should back-date this so I have at least one entry in January), I don't know where to start. I guess I'll start with Christmas and just give you some short stories about what's been happening.

Christmas 2006

As many of you know, I ended up going back to Illinois around Christmas. It wasn't planned at all, but my step-mom's dad died so I went back to the funeral and ended up staying about 10 days. It was really nice to have some time with the family (including aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma, etc.), and there is one little story that just CRACKED me up. And, of course, it's about baby bro.

So Christmas Eve (or at least the eve when Santa came to our house), baby bro and I were playing cards. Now, he's a bar back in Columbus, so his hours are like wake up at 2 PM, do whatever, go to work at 4 PM, and leave work at 4 AM. Something like that. And I can usually stay up quite late myself, so we ended up playing cards until like 2 AM. As we got ready to go upstairs to bed, he said, "Ok. Let's fix this stocking situation." I said, "Stocking situation? What's the stocking situation?" And he said, "That's not my stocking. I'm getting out the real one."

When baby bro was about 4 or 5, he got a new stocking as a gift one year for Christmas. At the time, the stocking was bigger than he was; it's about 4 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide. (I really wish I could post the photo of him standing inside it when he first got it...too bad we didn't have a digital camera at the time.)

Anyway, so he starts rummaging through boxes looking for his "real" stocking, not the normal-sized one like the rest of us have. And he actually finds it, takes down the normal sized one, and puts up his "real" stocking. It was so heavy that the stocking holder was barely able to keep it up on the mantle. (See photo below.) I was laughing so hard just thinking about my dad's reaction when he saw THAT (which I knew we would unfortunately be sleeping through.)

So we went to bed.

The next morning, we got up around 9ish and walked downstairs, of course forgetting about the whole stocking ordeal. We sat down at the table to have some breakfast, and I walked through the living room to get something. As I passed through, I noticed something different, but I couldn't quite place what it was. I turned towards the fireplace, and saw this:

Oh my goodness. I could NOT stop laughing!! And my dad came out laughing his butt off as well and said, "I was thinking that I was really sad I wasn't going to get to see your faces when you saw that!" And I said, "That's what I said to Jeff last night before we went to bed! That we weren't going to see YOUR face!" Memorable.

There is information about the cyber cafe and photos of the final world map here if you're interested.

December 4, 2006. My dad turned 50! 5 decades! And he came to celebrate it with me. For 5 days. So, guess what we did? We celebrated a decade of his life each day. (Some days the theme worked out great, some days, it was pretty lame.) Here's how it worked out:

Day 1: 1956 - 1966

He depended on his parents for everything, so the theme was money. I gave him a colon (the money El Salvador used before switching to the US dollar) and he got to pay for dinner. :)

Day 2: 1966 - 1976

He was going to school, learning about everything, and started his hobbies, like photography, the theme for the day. I told him I wanted to give him a memory book from his visit from last year, but all the photos he sent me were low resolution so I couldn't do it until he got me higher res photos. (This was a lame theme day.) :)

Day 3: 1976 - 1986

He was having kids, graduating from college, working multiple jobs to support the family, etc. So, the theme was getting through the tough times. We hiked a volcano. And when I say hiked a volcano, what I mean is, started on top of a hill above the volcano, walked down, then walked UP the volcano, then surfed down rocks on the other side (because it's made up of loose rocks), then hiked back UP the huge freaking hill. That was an experience...

Day 4: 1986 - 1996

During these years, he was raising the kids, so the theme was family trips. And we went to visit another volunteer, Leah, to plan a 2008 trip to Alaska. (She used to be a tour guide there.)

Day 5: 1996 - 2006

He was adjusting to life with kids living apart and getting back into his hobbies. So, the theme was relaxation. We just chilled that day and he got a massage.

We had a blast while he was here! And ate some darn good food here in El Salvador! Hopefully, he'll remember it for awhile!

To view videos from the week, visit here.

Oh my goodness! I just had to share this AWESOME email that I just received from one of the kids that I've been working with! His name is Omar and like the others, he just finished his senior year of high school and is now working, as you'll see, in San Miguel, a state located in the eastern part of the country. (I live in the western part of the country.)

I asked the students to create in-depth final presentations about the Ciber Cafe that included their calculations for points of equilibrium, how much they thought we should charge customers per hour, the org chart for how the ciber should run, how we should report earnings to the community, etc. It took them about 20-30 hours to finish these (and they did ALL of this work during their vacations...school is out.)

This student, Omar, worked during all of that time, but the day before the actual presentation, he told me he couldn't attend because he had to start working on the other side of the country. But the fact that he emailed me means that he's continuing to use Internet! (They had never used it previously and I was worried that they would stop when they weren't with me.)

I was about ready to start crying when I read this!! (I hope my translation is ok...it's hard to get across meanings sometimes and make it flow the way it should in another language!)

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Hey, Michelle,

I hope that you liked the presentation that Gilberto and I did and that it was what you wanted. We worked on it really hard.

I really want you to forgive me for not attending the ciber presentation on Monday the 27th. I wanted to be there but it was difficult for me. I knew how important it was for you that all of us attended, but really I couldn't, although, I had all of the intentions of the world to attend.

I wanted, also, to give you my sincere thanks for all that you taught me during this year. I learned a lot from you, for example, not to throw trash in the street and how to look for a place to throw it, not to ruin walls and furniture...those are some examples of what I learned from you not mentioning everything you taught us on the computer. You know a lot about that and I admire you a lot.

The reason I couldn't attend the presentation is because I came here to San Miguel to work and you can find me here now.

I hope that you continue with the ciber project; you've already done a lot to make it happen. You are very intelligent. You can count on me anytime. I will always remember you as a great friend, co-worker, and teacher.

Thank you so much, "thekc you" or something like that.

I hope that you write to me and remember me.

Omar

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Oh, and you can view a project update here, if you're interested.

This is a video of the school where I'm normally working...

I took this video during the last youth camp that the kids in my community planned and held. I hope you can tell from the video (A) how AWESOME the location is (between 2 volcanoes and a national park) and (B) how FABULOUS the kids and school director are from my community in terms of planning and executing leadership events like this. They usually have camps like this frequently (1-2 per month) and hold them all over the country! I really feel like they are the best in the country, and for that matter, probably in all of Central America. And they're planned by the peeps in MY SITE!! How lucky am I??

I'm planning a youth camp for February with other volunteers (right now there are 35 interested) where volunteers can bring kids from their communities and we can discuss thinking outside the box. It's something that's not taught or talked about in this culture, so it will be really awesome if we can pull it off. Life-changing type stuff for the kids that attend. And, I'm trying to hold it right here in this location. So, we'll see.

Anyway, thought you might be interested to see what types of youth activities are going on down here...I'm super lucky, huh?!

I thought of another super funny story that was told to me by another volunteer, Allie, about an experience she had here. So I´m going to share (and hopefully tell it as well as she did).

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Allie and the Pig

Allie, a Peace Corps volunteer, lives in a quaint little house in a small community somewhere in the middle of northwestern El Salvador. As most Peace Corps volunteers do, she lives as the locals live - eating eggs, beans, and tortillas, speaking another language all day everyday, waking up at 4 AM when the roosters start crowing and the bread man starts his bicycle route, announcing his presence during his route with a cross between a horn and a bell going off every couple of seconds. And she´s learned to live with all the stray animals exploring around throughout the day - cows, horses, pigs, dogs, cats, lizards, frogs, snakes, mice, etc.

Many people don´t know what it´s like to be a Peace Corps volunteer. Allie had finished one year in country and still had one ahead of her. This is exactly the point in time when Peace Corps volunteers tend to lose their patience and sanity and Allie was no exception. The pig across the street just gave her a reason.

Allie woke up one morning feeling that her mattress and pillow had been indoors too long; they were started to smell of mold and mildew as most things in El Salvador do during the rainy season. So, like everyone in El Salvador does, Allie found a spot in her front yard where she could sun her mattress and pillows to dry out the humidity/rain water that had accumulated during the last few weeks. The area, of course, was covered in mud due to the rain that had fallen the night before, so she brought out 4 chairs to hold her mattress up while it dried.

Everything was great. There they were, drying out in the hot sun. She decided to go inside to pack up some things for her upcoming trip to the capital.

Just as she entered her room, she heard an odd sound outside. She waited for a moment, and then out of curiosity, walked to the door to see what was going on outside. As she approached the door, she saw her mattress laying in the middle of the mud, her pillow a few yards away, with feathers covering the muddy ground, and the next door pig happily trotting away.

As you can imagine, when a person is already feeling unraveled, this tiny problem grows in magnitude to something that you would think would cause the end of the planet´s existence.

As any normal 1-year PCV would do, she angrily stomped outside, yanked her mattress and pillow up into her arms (causing more feathers to start flying around her), and furiously marched across the street to her woman neighbor´s house where she just began screaming at the top of her lungs and waving around her pillow (again causing feathers to fly everywhere).

"LOOOOOOK at what your STUPID PIG did to my stuff!!!!! I HATE your pig! I´ve told you before to keep that stupid thing TIED UP! WHAT is wrong with you??! WHAT am I going to do NOW??!! The next time that pig comes anywhere CLOSE to my house, I´m getting out my machete and STABBING IT until it dies and then I´m CUTTING IT UP into a thousand pieces!!!! THAT´S what I think about your PIG!!!"

Of course, all of this yelling and feathers flying caused interest from the other neighbors, so by the end, she was covered in the white pillow feathers and had an audience of her community members standing in front of their homes watching the gringa entertainment. Just as she finished describing her killing methods, she gained a moment of clarity and thought, "What am I doing? I need to breathe."

She lowered the pillow and mattress and just concentrated on breathing while looking at her neighbor woman. The woman just stared back for about 15 seconds, then slowly turned to the pig and....started yelling at the pig.

"What were you thinking??!! Look at what you did, you stupid pig!" And then started whipping it as the pig started squealing and running away.

Allie just lowered her head, turned around, and walked back into her house dragging her mud-covered mattress and now lifeless pillow.

She continues to dislike the pig. As far as we know, the pig has not returned to visit Allie. Stay tuned for more developments in the next year.

Ok. Don´t kill me. I´m still alive...I´ve just been really busy and haven´t been motivated to write anything when I have time. So...a few recaps.

IMMERSION WEEKEND TAKE 2

You (and I) thought my immersion day experience was memorable. (See here if you don´t remember it.) Well, I got to have another one. Sort of.

Two new volunteers who are in training came to my site to have their immersion days. I selected 2 families in 2 different locations for them to stay with. Both locations want a volunteer, so I figured it would be good to hear from new people what they thought about the locations.

They arrived early to my town and started asking people if they "knew where the gringa lived". Apparently, EVERYONE that they asked was like, "Oh! Michelle lives up the road." or "Oh! Michelle left her house this morning at 9:00 and walked down this street and then waited for the bus."...etc. And when I finally arrived at the place and time for our meeting, like 5 community members saw me and were like, "Your friends have been looking for you!"

Natalie and Jen (the two trainees) said that in training they learn that people get to know the gringa and everything that she does, but they didn´t actually believe it until coming to visit me. They were like,"Yeah. EVERYONE here knows EVERYTHING about you!!!" And I, of course, asked, "Did anyone say anything bad?" They said no...

Anyway, we ended up hanging out a bit in my house until early afternoon when we left to go to their host families´ homes for the next 2 days. We visited Jen´s family first. We left her bag there, and started the journey to host family #2. Of course, as we started walking, it started pouring down rain, and Jen had left her umbrella in the host family´s house, so the 3 of us walked in the rain to the bus stop, Jen and I sharing an umbrella.

We reached the bus stop, got on the bus, and I saw that my khakis were DRENCHED to the point of being able to see my skin! Now THAT is pretty wet. But no big deal...whatever. We arrive in the next town where Natalie is staying and start the trek up to her house. Again, in the pouring rain. Through muddy roads/paths and all. Finally, we arrive at her house, but it´s all closed up (due to the downpour). So we´re all standing out on the road in the pouring rain looking at the closed gate and I decide to start yelling the name of the kid that lives there to let him know we´re there. So there I am, shivering under an umbrella with Jen, with water POURING down around us, screaming, "MAR-VIN!!! MAR-VIN!!!" This lasted about 10 seconds. Surprisingly, he didn´t hear me. (Hmm...maybe it was all the rain pounding down on the tin roof that makes it sound like a train is right next to you....)

So, I decide I´m just opening the gate. Again, this is difficult because the fence is made of wood branches standing vertically with wire running horizontally between them. And the door opens with someone removes the wire that ties the fence to the posts. (I don´t know if I explained that very well...it´s much easier to see it.) Anyway, I had to undo the loop at the top of the last branch and at the bottom. Still, while rain is falling in buckets. FINALLY, I get the fence open and Jen and I run up to the door where there is cover (while apparently Jen decides to close the fence again) and I start pounding on the door, again screaming for Marvin. No one comes to the door.

I was like, "OK....Maybe since it´s raining, Marvin couldn´t come home from school yet." So I decide to ask the next door neighbor if she knows where Marvin is and, AGAIN, have to open and close that stupid fence! But, when I got to her house, she was super helpful. She said, "Oh no!! Well, I´ll go over there with you and we´ll find Marvin!" So she gets her umbrella, and we walk back over. As we approach the fence, I start to tell her I can open it because I´ve just done it like 10 times (ok, a bit of a stretch) and just as I am yelling this out to her, she approaches this tin metal thing next to the fence and presses on it with her PINKY (ok, maybe it was her entire hand, but whatever), the door just easily swings open. I just stood there with my mouth HANGING OPEN and the trainees got a glimpse of what happened and just started ROLLING laughing! That WHOLE time, there was a DOOR that I could have just BLEW on to open up, and I was messing around, getting covered in mud trying to open that stupid fence!!! I REALLY wish I had a video of all that.

Anyway, once we FINALLY stopped laughing (about 10 minutes later), the neighbor (who didn´t really ever understand why we were dying laughing I don´t think) finally located Marvin and he told us he left to buy something and was stuck there because of the rain. And we ended up waiting about 30 more minutes for his mom so I could explain everything to her - why Natalie was there, why she might not be able to eat much, etc. By the time we finished with all of that, it was dark outside and I had to still take Jen back to her community! We found that there were no more buses running, so I called in a favor from my neighbor, who graciously assisted us by driving us to her community. Thank goodness for awesome neighbors!!! :)

Anyway, I felt like it was an excursion and something they probably won´t forget for awhile...

ARAÑA DE CABALLO

Here is something I never want to talk about again, but, probably will. :) Arañas de Caballos. Translation? Horse spiders. Does anyone know what these are? I have photos, but don´t have my flash drive at the moment, so you´ll just have to look it up until I can post the photos. These are the NASTIEST spiders because they´re HUGE, and furry, and I swear, they have brains.

As I was talking on the phone to a student planning our meeting the next day, I see this big, black...creature...start crawling into my kitchen. And my reaction...in mid sentence...is, "AH!! WHAT is THAT??!!" He stopped talking and I immediately said, "There´s an animal in my house. Have to call you back!" and hung up the phone. I get my "kill anything that can move" strength RAID and start approaching this THING. I spray like half the can on it, and it´s STILL MOVING!! So I get my broom out and start pounding it while probably yelping a bit each time because I´m so grossed out. FINALLY, it more or less, stops moving and I sweep it outside. I noted that I was probably yelping a bit, because the majority of my neighbors were standing outside their homes trying to see what was happening with the crazy gringa. When I saw them, I started waving my arms like crazy screaming, "VENGA VENGA VENGA VENGA VENGA!!" ("Come here! Come here! Come here....)

The woman across the street shows up and I point to the convulsing creature and say, "WHAT is that??!!" And she bends over and says, "Ah...¡una araña de caballo! ¡Que grande! ¡Muy peligroso." (Ah...a horse spider! It´s huge! Those are dangerous!") Then she informs me that they live in holes in the ground and she and her son start scouring the land for where it came from. I´m like, "Oh, so you think the FAMILY lives here?" KIDDING. And she´s like, "Maybe." GREAT.

What do they find? THREE HUGE HOLES in the ground in front of my house. And inside, they see MORE of these things. UGH. So we spend two HOURS pouring water in the holes (that supposedly is supposed to make them come out) and stabbing machetes into the holes (that supposedly is supposed to kill them). And when I say "we", I really mean I got buckets of water and observed (while snapping a few photos) from afar while THEY did all of this. No more emerged, so after this effort, we (and I mean they) stuffed big rocks into the holes to block the creatures from leaving. So I was like, "Good. My awesome neighbors got rid of those nasty things."

Yeah. That´s what I thought until the other day another one emerged and I had to kill it. Again, impossible to kill, so I wounded it so it wouldn´t move, and then smacked it with my shoe and watched this yellow trail of nastiness (it appeared to be brains) fly out everywhere. Yeah. Nice, huh? I have photos of that too. And yes, I´ll definitely send them. And I´ve proclaimed to all the creatures outside that I don´t like things with brains (especially SPIDERS) in or around my house, unless they can speak MY language!!!

Nastiness, I tell you.

Well, that´s probably enough stories for the moment. If you´re wondering what the heck I´m up to at this moment, visit here.

I've been thinking a lot about why the Peace Corps experience is so hard. Read "Just why is it that way?" here if you're interested on my take. Updates from the last couple of weeks are below...

June 2006 swearing-in ceremony at the Embassy

1 Year Anniversary: Celebrating in Black

Andrea, Steph, Tara, me, Josephine, Jen

My identity has been defined...

Before leaving for the states, the new group of volunteers were sworn in and we had a huge party for them. Because they came in exactly one year after my group, we all planned the festivities. Each of the new volunteers received a goodie bag from us that included an assortment of helpful items here, one being an "emergency contact list" with the contact info for everyone in my group and a reason each of us should be contacted. I didn't help come up with this list, but for me it said, "Contact if you need to organize your life and then put it into a database." Fitting I suppose. :)

The Student Tech Team:

Marielos, Rigoberto, Gilberto, Adrián, Marta, Ronald, Carlos, Salvador, Omar

The Technology Project: A small, but important, accomplishment

Before I left for the states, I told the kids that they needed to visit with the non-profit organizations while I was gone to find out what types of projects they work in, and give them a description of our project. Kind of a first visit sort of thing. And you probably remember me talking about my attempt at the motivational talk. Well, when I was home in Illinois, curiosity just got the best of me, so I called my counterpart (the director of the school) and asked if any of the kids had given him a permission form to sign. And he said, "Yeah! They all did! They told me they didn't have the print out of the project description, but still HAD to go, because they didn't want to think about telling you they didn't do it. They're scared of you!" I could NOT stop laughing. Sweet. So my motivation to them was scaring the living daylights out of them. Well, I guess whatever works... But I was SO happy to meet with them and see accomplishment in their faces. They traveled alone, to offices that they had never been to, and talked to professional people about our project. Awesome. I'm SUPER excited about the project. We definitely still have a ton to do, but we're on our way. :)

More Miami Muddles

As many of you know, I had planned to leave the states on August 29th. I didn't actually leave until September 1st. I spent 2 extra days in Columbus because I knew ahead of time those two days that I wouldn't be able to leave from Miami. The last day, September 1st, the Miami plane was cancelled while we were in route to Miami, so I ended up staying an additional night there. Here's a tidbit that just might help you in the future: When the airline people ask you if you want your checked luggage, don't say, "Whatever is easiest." Say, "Yes." Because if you let them decide what to do (especially if you're in Miami where NOTHING ever works right), they just might leave your luggage out on the tarmack overnight, where it can get drenched from the rain, causing (A) all of your clothing to reek when you arrive to your final destination and (B) all of your dark clothing to bleed onto all of your light clothing, leaving you with nothing to wear. It's not fun. And you will continue hating the stupid airport that you can never enter and leave from without problems.

Stupider, indeed...

Baby bro did indeed graduate and now is looking forward to moving to Alaska where he wants to be part of the ski patrol at a local resort. I had such a good time visiting with everyone back home; thank you to everyone for that! I have to admit, though, this is the first time that I felt like a visitor. I was freezing the ENTIRE time! I kept my hotel room at 85 degrees (only because the system prevented me from making it hotter) and was still freezing!! And that feeling was just amplified when I returned to my community. It was such a relief to be back and I was so happy to see everyone. I guess I really do consider this home now. Strange, huh? (Side note: it was 84 degrees in San Salvador when we landed and I started sweating again the MOMENT I got off the plane! 85 in Columbus is NOT the same as 85 here!) Anyway, when I saw people in my community, they were so welcoming and I could tell that they genuinely missed me, and I them. It was a strange, but good, feeling. :)

I've also realized in the last week back that for some reason, I've lost ALL ability to have social conversations. (And I'm talking in English here.) It started dawning on me during a fellow volunteer's birthday party that we were celebrating in the capital. I didn't talk much during dinner, and afterwards, I decided to talk to one of the former staff members for Peace Corps. The conversation was probably the worst conversation I've ever had in my life in terms of flow. There was NONE. He was being sarcastic. I didn't get it. He had to tell me. Then the awkward silence followed. And I mean things like this happened constantly during our conversation. I hope I never have to see him again in my lifetime because I'm pretty sure he considers me one of the dumbest people he's ever met. Then, a fellow volunteer texted me and I started responding back like a mad woman. I mean, I sent like 10 messages to this volunteer about absolutely nothing! And like 5 minutes after the last one, I was like, "What the heck was I just doing?" I really came across as a crazy woman. Finally, one of the volunteers from my group visited me this week and we had a blast talking and listening to music all night. And I said to her that I really thought I had no abilities to communicate anymore. And she said, "I KNOW!!! We've gotten STUPIDER here!" And I was like, "You mean...more stupid?" And we just both LOST it laughing. That about sums it up on where I stand. I really hope I get back SOME sort of social ability... :)

A dose of reality

Yesterday, apparently our 15th anniversary of arriving in country, I had my first security incident. I was riding a local bus in San Salvador (and of course was only on this bus because I was lazy and didn't want to walk) and these 2 guys in the back walked up to the front of the bus, to the passenger (a professional looking woman) right behind the driver. The 2nd guy, as he walked to the front, pulled a pocket-knife out of his pocket, opened it, and held it behind his leg so ALL of us in the back of the bus could see it. And I'm not talking regular pocket knife. I'm talking, when opened, a knife that spanned twice the length of the palm of my hand. The Peace Corps security officer later told me this is called a "ninja knife", or something like that. Anyway, then the first guy asked the woman for something and I just saw her shake her head no. And then the bus stopped at its next stop. EVERYONE behind these guys jumped up (including me) and RAN to the back of the bus to get off. I, and a woman carrying her baby, were two of the first ones there because we were sitting close to the exit. When we arrived, we ran into a 3rd guy that was blocking the exit and all of us from getting off. He starts in with, "Tranquilo. Nada pasa. Está bien." ("Calm down. Nothing is happening. It's all good.") Yeah, RIGHT. We RUSHED him, pushing him off the bus onto the sidewalk, and RAN in all different directions. I ran to a side street up to a small business and asked if I could come in. They let me in and I called our security officer and just LOST it. Nothing even happened to me, but I was shaking like mad and bawling. I could barely even tell her what happened! She was great, though. She came to pick me up and brought me to the office. Then I talked to our PC medical officer and she let me know that I could go talk to the PC psychologist, if I wanted to and asked me for a short description to report the incident to Washington. Man. I really thought I had prepared myself for something like that, with all the security info that we've received. But I guess I hadn't. I was shaken up really badly. I spent the afternoon swimming in the pool at the Sheraton. I needed it. (And thanks to my friend that I called to help me calm down...it helped a lot.)

Ok, that's about it from down here in El Sal! Hope you're all doing well!

Today was travel day. And I made it! I'm sitting here at the nice computer at my dad's giving you the update...

Miami Airport

Yep. I had to go there again! It wasn't pleasant by any means, but I did run into a situation that made me laugh my butt off. Picture this:

Flight lands. The hoard of people take off to customs and their connecting flights. On the way, a lot of people stop at the bathroom, including me. The one I happen to stop in only has 1 stall, so there is a line. There are 3 people in front of me, and about 5 behind me. There is a middle-aged woman immediately behind me that is literally physically jumping up and down like a 4-year old when he/she has to go to the bathroom. And she yells at this airport worker asking if there are other stalls somewhere. The worker replies no.

Just as the worker says no, the person in the stall opens the door to leave and the first person in line moves forward to enter. She's halfway in, and this woman behind me just runs up, pushes her out of the way, and says, "Is it ok if I go?" And, of course, the girl doesn't really have a choice since she was just shoved out of the way. So the middle-aged woman slams the door shut. We hear her pull her pants down, and then very soon after, we hear...how to describe it...well...squishy squishy farty noises. (That's the best I can do, man.) :) I'm pretty sure it would fit into the category of explosive diarrhea...

Of course, ALL of us look at each other and everyone in front starts moaning, "Ohhhhh...." I left. I could wait. I'm not sure what happened with the other girls (or with the middle-aged woman when she came out) but I bet THAT was someone fun to follow...

Oh my goodness. The last 4 days have been CRAZY and the next 3-4 are planned to be just the same! Recap:

Saturday August 12th

That is the day that I sent the last update. I wanted to finish the introduction letter and project description so all of the heads of organizations working on this Internet project could sign the letter and put their stamp next to their name. (That's important here. Stamping. If you don't have a stamp, you might as well just go home because no one will take you seriously.) :) Anyway, I didn't finish it Friday because the woman I wanted to consult about it got sick and I ended up asking my coordinator at like 4 PM if she could look it over, and - obviously - she told me she would get it to me on Monday. So...I decided to finish everything I could without their help on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Saturday afternoon, I hopped on a bus and returned to San Isidro after my marathon week of medical check-ups. I met with a community leader about the work I had done, went to the local pupuseria to chow down and socialize, and then went home and went to bed.

Sunday, August 13th

I woke up at 7 AM and threw on some clothes and made it over to the elementary/middle school to attempt to finally finish the world map. I stayed from 7 AM to 1:30 AM on Monday! I didn't eat lunch. I didn't eat dinner. I outlined countries. I identified countries that were missing or in the wrong place. (Hey, man, we did this by HAND!) I numbered all the countries. I painted an area to write the names of the countries and world facts. Then, I collapsed on a bench in the priancipal's office, waking up each hour for the next 2 hours FREEZING and then finally asked the security guard to walk me home at 4 AM, where I bathed (and the water felt WARM since I was freezing), and then got on a bus headed for San Vicente, about 4 hours away. Click here for more photos of this project.

Monday, August 14th

I arrived in San V and immediately went to the office to work on the presentation I was going to give that afternoon to the trainees. There were tons of people working on the 1 computer available to us, so I decided to use the cyber cafe down the street. When I got there, I found that (A) they didn't have ANY Microsoft products - only Internet and notebook and (B) I couldn't download ANY photos on the computer. So much for that plan...

But I did get to check my email and had some conversations with the family. So it was all good. :)

I returned to the training center and just talked to some folks, got all the new volunteer contact info, and then did some last minute prep for the session I had. It was about the world map project. I feel like the session was a bit boring, but I gave them a lot of info and showed them a variety of photos from other volunteer maps, so hopefully they took what they needed from it. We ended around 3:30 and I left for my site.

We got into San Salvador around 5:30 and I decided to grab a bite to eat out of town and stop by the office to print out the changes that the PC staff recommended for the Internet project. By the time I got to the office, it was getting dark out so I decided to just stay there and work. I saw that one person had sent me her comments, but she recommended that another staff member review it and that staff member told me she would do it first thing the next day. So I decided to sleep in the office (again) and get an early start.

Tuesday, August 15th

I woke up around 7:00 AM and made some changes in the Internet documents based on what the first staff member recommended. Later in the morning, the second staff member sent me her edits and I made some more changes. Let me just say, I saw JUST where my Spanish was when I got these edits back. Take a look at Click here to view the edited document in Word if you want to see just how many errors I made. The entire document is freaking RED!!!! :) Oh well. Thank goodness I have a bunch of super supportive staff members here to correct all my mistakes. And thank goodness the people in my community have figured out my gringa Spanish so we can communicate!

Anyway, back to the documents. I realized that I STILL did not have the legal information for the city council in my town. (I started asking for this a month ago, from about 3 different organizations.) So I decided to go straight to the source: the public record. Now, this entailed getting in a taxi (apparently, it's in a dangerous area of town), and then having the following fun experience:

Security Guard (a woman!): Welcome. What do you need?

Michelle: Good afternoon. I need to go to the library downstairs to get some legal information for a city council.

Security Guard: I need your identification.

[Michelle panics when she realizes she left her ID in the Peace Corps office with everything else she didn't need since she was going to a dangerous part of town.]

Michelle: Um....I left my ID in my office. (and KNOWS she is going to hear "fijate que...")

Security Guard: [a little apprehension] ....well.....ok....here is a badge. You can go into that room.

Michelle: [SHOCKED that she is allowed in without meeting the requirement of showing ID] Ok....but I was told that I needed to get the info from the library downstairs.

Security Guard: You need to start in that room.

Michelle: Ok, thanks. [Enters the room and waits for 10 minutes for an available clerk.]

Clerk: How can I help you?

Michelle: I need the legal information for a city council.

Clerk: When did it become legal?

Michelle: I don't know the exact date; I was told 2004, probably in November.

[Clerk begins opening EVERY PDF version of the official publication in November 2004 (about 15 in total) and searches each one for San Isidro, part of the name of the city council. She finds nothing and tells Michelle she needs to go to the library downstairs.]

[Michelle is escorted downstairs where she tells the next clerk what she needs.]

Clerk2: When did it become legalized?

Michelle: I don't know exactly. Just sometime in 2004.

Clerk2: What is it's legal code?

Michelle: I don't know. I need to find that information. I just have the name and that it was legalized in 2004.

Clerk2: Then I can't help you. You have to have that information.

Michelle: But that's the information I need!

Clerk2: Well, there is nothing I can do.

[Michelle calls the director of the munipal development program, the person that described where she should go to get this info and asks him to talk to this woman.]

[They talk and she agrees to help Michelle. Again, thank goodness for awesome staff members!]

[Clerk2 brings out a 3" binder with about 1000 sheets of paper in it. This binder contains ALL of the laws that were passed in 2004, including the ones legalizing city councils. She tells Michelle that she needs to read line by line to find the information she wants. Michelle does this (and constantly is wondering HOW she can convince them to hire her to build them a searchable database). After 2 hours, she finishes the book with only locating the legal information for a city council that is part of her town, but not the one she needs. She asks for the book for 2005 and is told that is in room #1 where she started. She returns to room #1 and explains what she needs to a new clerk. THIS clerk opens a DATABASE, that's right, I said a DATABASE, and starts trying to search for it.]

Michelle: Wait! You have a database with this information!

Clerk3: Only for 2005.

Michelle: Ok. Click here. Now here. Now here. Now here. Now type in Sonsonate. Now click here. Now move this. etc. [Clerk3 does everything she asks, but is unable to find the info. The name of the city council is about 200 characters long, and the space illustrating this name is big enough for about 25 characters, all of which are the same for each city council in the country. Michelle asks to take over his computer explaining that she will NOT change any data. And he agrees!!! Michelle changes the design of the form so they can actually view the data and does some quick searches. Nothing comes up. It wasn't created in 2005 either. PUCHICA!]

Michelle: I guess it's not here. Thanks for your time.

Clerk3: You really know what you're doing with computers.

Michelle: Yeah. Thanks.

[Talks with the coordinator for municipal development and the coordinator suggests asking for ALL of the legal information for the city council that Michelle found that she thinks is incorrect. She goes back downstairs and asks the woman if she can view that and the woman says, "not for 45 minutes." Michelle walks back up to the first room, because it's air conditioned, and looks over, again, the Internet proposal information. She gets thirsty and realizes the 5 gallon jug of water is empty but there is another one on the floor that needs to be put into the contraption that gives water. So she starts opening it until a woman runs over flailing her arms wildly saying that she'll get a man to do it. Michelle continues doing it and lifts the water up, turns it over, and places it perfectly into the container just in time for the woman to come back and see it happen. There you go...teaching the women that they can do "manly" stuff too! :) Michelle walks back downstairs and starts reviewing the detailed legal information of the wrong city council to make sure it's the wrong city council. And guess what? It is!]

Michelle: Do you have a phone number here that I could call once I receive the information?

Clerk2 (Michelle's new friend, Maria Dolores): Yes! I have a couple. Just give me a call and I'll get you whatever I need. (What a difference being friends makes! Geez, at first she couldn't help me AT ALL and now she's willing to do whatever I need!)

[So, after all that, Michelle leaves with a phone number, empty-handed of the info she wanted and waits at the office until people get off work in her site to, yet again, attempt to obtain this info.]

And now she's waiting.....waiting...waiting...waiting....and needs to shower....shower....shower...

Stay tuned for more fun with this one! :)