Tuesday, September 30

Got my absentee ballot via email this morning and Chepe just happened to be fixing the printer. So I got the ballot and the “security envelope template” and the mailing envelope template and the instructions all printed off, then spent a while perusing the “issues” sections of the candidates’ websites to help myself feel like I wasn’t voting only on gut feeling and/or party lines. And while I’ve been following the presidential race a bit more recently, I had sort of forgotten I’d also be voting for Senator and Congressman. So I connected the little arrows, got Estela to be my witness on the absentee voter statement (it said anyone over 18, not that they had to speak English), then got it all folded up and taper per the instructions. Then gave it to Carmen in the afternoon with the understanding that it’s fairly important this get in the mail in a timely fashion.

Saturday, September 27

- Ended up in San Nicolás, where Carmen invited me to come into San Salvador – there would be an “especial” bus passing at noon. So I scarfed down my lunch and took her up on the offer. Turns out the ‘cobrador’ is a friend of her (otherwise the bus wouldn’t have stopped for us), and besides being a direct service, it was pretty “especial.” Bucket seats instead of bench seats, air conditioning (although I usually sort of like the breeze from the open windows), and best of all, flip-down TV screens playing old music videos. There was Abba’s “Chiquita,” Bon Jovi in full hair-band mode in “I’ll be There for You,” Roxette “Listen to Your Heart,” something Bee Gees, someone’s “November Rain,” Beatle’s “Let it Be,” and my favorite, New Kids on the Block “I’ll be Lovin’ You Forever.” So it was a good bus ride.

- Picked up Carmen’s car from the little parking lot where she leaves it, then headed to the “zoológico.” Which was closed for remodeling until further notice. Which was probably a good thing, because we ended up going to the Tin Marin children’s museum, which was amazing. It was bright and clean and had lots of young friendly staff members. There were a bunch of different “stations” (each one apparently with a different, sometime corporate, sponsor, which might explain why is was so nice) – the 5 senses, a giant mouth, a mini grocery store and more traditional market, a little theater, ‘My Body is Mine,’ a ‘gravity house’ with floors slanted at 23 degrees, a butterfly garden, a walk-through volcano, a reading/storytelling room (complete with an “Above Washington D.C.” book), a re-created houses from El Salvador, Thailand, and Greece. And of course everything was interactive and hands-on, so I had a great time. I will have to find some way to bring Rosi and Monica (and Heidi & Fabi, Manuelito & Astrid?), as I couldn’t stop thinking about how much they would love it.

Friday, September 26

- We found out on Tuesday that Monchito and Juan Manuel had been caught by ‘la migra’ (including a helicopter and a dog!) and would be deported. I ran into Iris and Astrid in the morning after visiting someone to see if they’d heard any news. She was afraid Manuel might end up in prison for two years, as apparently he’d been caught the first time he tried to go. Yikes.

Tuesday, September 23

“Cabo de año” (1-year anniversary of a death) for Gilma’s mom. Very much a fish-out-of-water experience, culturally speaking. I found myself getting a bit angry with Gilma for not explaining it all to me (specifically, that it went until midnight and I was expected to go for at least a few hours), while at the same time realizing that she probably just doesn’t understand how something so normal for her can be so foreign to me.

Monday, September 22

- Seems like the stores project overall is indeed headed towards shutting down, which doesn’t make me very sad, but also doesn’t make me very happy. And I still don’t really know what’s going on, as the meeting we had scheduled for the afternoon got cancelled.

Saturday, September 20

- Bike home just after dark (eek!), and ended up playing with the girls. First just spinning them around, then some dancing on my feet, then doctor and nurse (complete with some fairly elaborate combinations of getting hit by a car and having a baby). So that was fun but also tiring.

Friday, September 19

- When I got home I heard a strange noise along the side of the house and looked up to see Mito way up in a tree by the corner of the roof, which for some reason made me laugh out loud. We’ll see if I’m still laughing next time it rains, as it turns out he was fixing a piece of the roof that had broken off after getting hit by a large branch. And that piece of roof is located, of course, right over the corner of the house where my bed is. So he eventually got a piece of plastic bag, two sections of ‘duralita,’ and a piece of corrugated metal layered over the hole, then climbed down from the tree. I scooted my bed a few inches away from the wall.

- Random note: Gilma usually wears a little gold cross necklace. She uses it to poke small holes in the bags of rice and beans to let out the trapped air. Also to clean under her fingernails. And tonight, her toenails too.

- There were a couple of chocolate chip cookies with the junk food tonight (for Tomasa’s birthday) and Rosi commented on how they were like the ones I brought with me when I came – good job, Mom!

Thursday, September 18

- Went into Jiquilisco in the morning for out long-awaited and often-cancelled meeting with the “alcaldía” about the Patrimonio Cultural project. The mayor (David Barahona Marroquin, not to be confused with the David I work with more, who is David Marroquin Barahona. Apparently they are uncle and nephew.) remembered meeting me several months ago (maybe March?) and had apparently seen me riding my bike across the bridge wearing a red shirt. Which, I must admit, made me feel a bit special, although he’s also a bit creepy. Tania and Estela did a good job explaining everything concisely, and we got a meeting scheduled for this Saturday to train people from the rest of the “municipio,” which means that the meeting was basically a big (if belated) success. The mayor murmured “muy guapa” as I shook his hand on the way out…

- Was semi-successful in using Skype to talk with Brooke after lunch – I called her and we got connected, but I couldn’t hear about half of what she was saying, so we switched to written chat. Long story short, it looks like we’ll be doing some traveling together during the first two weeks in December (which means I’ll have over a month off of work). The general idea is to work our way from near Lake Atitlán in Guatemala (where she’ll be volunteering in November) down to Panama, generally staying to the Pacific Coast side. Slightly more specific itinerary to be worked out gradually, as she was heading out this afternoon for Germany.

Wednesday, September 17

Random note: I found a small bird (a hummingbird, I think, and dead) in the fridge when I went to get out a cucumber. I asked Tomasa why it was there and she didn’t seem to be aware of it. Perhaps some little girls?