Coming to (North) America

During my visit to the states, I look forward to…
• Not sweating.
• Sleeping in passed 6am, with no mosquito net, and without daily readings from Animal Farm: ”moo...cluck…woof…oink…kill, Napoleon!”
• Playing, I’m the coolest Uncle, with my nieces and nephews.
• Having a 4x4 quadruple-patty IN-n-Out burger, animal style fries, and an ice-cold Dr. Pepper! Mmm…hell yeah!
• Wearing my kafiyah + wool coat = deathtrap in balls-hot El Salvador.
• Watching some REAL fireworks…the non-bomb/gunshot sounding variety.
• Eating Indian food!
• Getting my teeth cleaned…yeah, Peace Corps is getting a little cheap and will only pay for one annual cleaning. In fact, they keep telling us that cleaning your teeth once a year is the same as getting it done every 6 months. I mean, come on, who the hell are they trying to fool?
• Drinking tap water and not having to worry about amebas alienating my insides.
• Using high-speed internet to download all the new tunes.
• Riding public transportation without the friendly extortionists.
• HOT showers!
• Playing Scrabble with competitive people…oh and no offense to the crybabies, but you guys need to sit this one out.
• 24hr coffee shops.
• Paying $10 for a movie! hahaha…ok, so this one’s clearly a joke. But, seriously, I could buy like 20 or 40 papusas with that much dough.
• Hanging out with brown people that don’t speak a word of Spanish.
• Hanging out with people that do speak Spanish.
• Sharing pictures and stories to those that care to listen.
• Not having my community health promoter accidentally prick me with a rabies vaccine this was clearly meant for Ramses. Yes, this actually happened and, if I’m lucky enough to live and see next week, I’ll be more than happy to tell you the story.
• Kissing Maryam’s cheeks :)
• All the little things that don’t seem so little anymore…I guess being a PCV in El Salvador has that effect.

**Ojalá, vaya a estar en los estados desde Dec. 27 - Jan. 6, 2010!**

Mártir

I know it's been a while since my last post...I guess you can say that I've been overwhelmed...too many stories and not enough ink, or at least that's what it feels like.

Well, I guess I should start where I left off. About a week after my last entry, we had another big storm...which, at this point, didn't seem too out of the ordinary. I do remember, however, a significant amount of thunder and lightning that night; in fact, I pretty much stayed inside for the majority of that weekend. As I walked to work the next day, I saw nothing. That's right, nothing...or, really, no one. Normally, on my way to the school, I'm greeted by all sorts of people...vendors, children, and even by the town's drunk...but, oddly enough, that day took a one-eighty. So, where was everyone? Usually, when the pueblo turns ghost-town, there's most likely a concert, futbol game, or funeral in session. It didn't take me long to realize what was happening. There was a large crowd of people outside of the mother's home...the vendors, children, news reporters, and, yes, even the town's drunk. I guess you can say that I sort of knew him. I knew that he played for our town's futbol team and that he was a promising college student. No, I'm not talking about the drunk...I wish I was, but I'm talking about the 23 year old kid in the casket. He was playing futbol when it happened. They say that the lighting went straight through his chest, killing him instantly. I wanted to feel sorry for the boy, but I knew in my heart that he will be treated like a martyr and, thus, be taken take of. I guess I was more concerned for the mother. Her tears were so heavy, clearly carving paths down her cheeks...a familiar pain, but yet so different.

'Martyr' in Spanish is 'mártir'...a word that I've heard here more than anywhere else. I'm not going to go into too much detail about the hurricane and landslides; in fact, I think I expressed myself enough on fb. If there's one positive thing that surfaced from all this mess, it's that my faith and purpose here in El Salvador have evolved to something greater. I look forward to visiting friends and family this winter, but I also look forward to return to El Salvador with new endeavors and hope.