Wow it is already mid December and 5 days until I make the long journey home to Boise, Idaho! I am so excited! I dream about mountains and snow at night, and daydream about being with family and friends and all that we can pack into a two-week period. Top things I want to do while home besides see family and friends (because those are always number one!): take a bath, sleep on a mattress, go skiing, walk in the foothills with the Zeke and Koda, be cold, eat real Mexican food, eat a salad (I think I have only had one in the last year and it was when I went to the states in Sept.), drive a car, make Christmas cookies. Pretty basic stuff but haven’t done since I have been here.
Thanksgiving was GREAT! Two other volunteers (Alex and Carolyn) and I stayed with a family that had three kids. One is in Switzerland at boarding school, but we met the other two, a 7-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy. They were fun we played botchy ball, Candyland, and Sorry. It was really interesting to hear about where all the family has lived while working in the Foreign Service. They have lived on a tropical island, which I forget the name of, and Brussels. The wife is the one in the Foreign Service and then the embassy will hire the other spouse on doing other types of work. We ate dinner at another family’s house. It was so great! We ate everything that makes and American Thanksgiving dinner delicious: turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli salad, etc. Dessert was even better: apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin bars. Needless to say we ate ourselves sick!
I didn’t end up going to any of the activities for my communities patronal saint celebration, because they were all at night and there had been some incidences, but ended up going to a rodeo in my pueblo Yamabal during their celebrations the following week. It was quite a show. They begin with some “fireworks.” Fireworks is in quotes because there is no pretty lights and colors, they are just little bombs that make a VERY loud noise. I hate them and they are always lighting them off and scaring me to death, they sound like guns going off. Then begins the rodeo. They had 2 men dressed as Spanish matadors (the guys that bullfight in Spain, which is kind of an art and they spend their whole lives doing it). These men looked like they had somehow bought the traditional Spanish bullfight get up, but it was very worn and looked like he had resized it himself due to a growing gut (sadly I forgot my camera). Also in the ring was a man dressed as a woman, a “rodeo clown” I suppose. The bull is let into the ring jumping around with a cowboy on the back. Then after the bull stop jumping around the cowboy will jump off and the “matador” will begin taunting it with a red cape. In imitation of a Spanish matador he will begin with a pinkish cape and then switch to a red cape with a sword. I find this funny because in bullfights the matador will kill the bull with the sword, but here is has no purpose. After the “matador,” the rodeo clown does some kind of trick with the bull. During this particular rodeo a “bolo” or drunk guy decided he wanted to be apart of the show and climbed through the bars to get into the circle. He then proceeded to taunt the bull, but lucky for him the bull didn’t come after him. After about 15 mins of people telling him he needed to leave, although they didn’t stop to wait for him to get out, he left. All in all it was pretty funny. On Dec. 5th we had an activity in the school to celebrate Volunteer day. We played games and gave out prizes. There was a soccer game, chess, and coloring. I did musical chairs, duck duck goose, and then my school director did this funny/dangerous game. You have three kids blindfolded and take off their shoes and spread them around the circle. Who ever finds and puts on their shoes first, wins. The thing is that the people on the sides want to help, so they end up throwing shoes, the kids are knocking heads and everyone is screaming. The first round this little boy was playing, and spent the whole time untying, putting on, and retying his one shoe. It was very cute. We gave out little nick nacks that my mom had sent me like bracelets and other little trinkets. THANKS MOM!
I have been talking about starting this stove project for a few months now and the grant is due in January, so I decided I was going to finish it before going home for Christmas. I have written all of it and just needed to get prices on supplies, and decided I would call my boss to see if there is anything else I need to do. He tells me that Trees Water People (the NGO that I am working with for the project) is building 300 free stoves in volunteer’s sites around El Salvador, so I don’t need to write a grant. Plus they will do 40-60 stoves, which is a lot more than the 20 that I was going to do. Although I almost had the grant done, this will be much easier for me to coordinate, plus they pay for everything and I won’t have to worry about money. The Monday before I leave for home I have a meeting with the stove guy in the capital to learn more about this great project! Hopefully everything works out!
Some exciting news, I will be getting a puppy when I get back from the states. A neighbor has a dog that had puppies. They said that I could have one, and super excited to have a little buddy!
