Life in the Marina, like everywhere has its ups and it has its downs. For example, an up for me is waking up at 6:30/7:00 and accomplishing breakfast, my laundry and preparing an English class all before 10:00. While three hours and a bit to accomplish all of this may seem a little excessive to some, it is definitely an accomplishment for me. These three simple tasks used to take me at least the morning if not the whole day to do, and now I am a three hour wiz. Now, some downs for me are the way in which people like to control my life, how the sun causes me to sweat profusely when I am brushing my teeth at 8am, and how every day lacks a structure that I had become so accustomed to in my past life- my American life. I often say with a smile: “Tengo que aprovechar el día” (I have to take advantage of today). However “taking advantage” of the day means something very different here than it does in gringo land. I am still trying to get used to it.

On the phone, my mom likes to tell me that my writing and the way in which I now speak both make me sound like a foreigner. While I hate to admit it, my English- yes- is digressing while my Spanish is tapering off at an intermediate level. Argh. So I often find myself in a state of utter confusion, unable to express myself in neither Spanish nor English. Yet I find that dancing and silly faces save all awkward linguistic moments. Sometimes I wonder if I will leave here fluent in a language that I stumbled over when I arrived, and sometimes I just hope that I leave here speaking something.

My tribulations and accomplishments of everyday differ much from what they used to be. Here I often wonder if I am going to have water to fill my water filter or wash my clothes, which is a wonder that I am still trying to get used to. There is also the food issue. I often take nibbles of food in hope that only nibbles won’t cause me to awake at three in the morning with serious dysentery and vomiting. A fear that has only come with the education about the amount of bacteria and parasites in the water here. However, my accomplishments for the day no longer consist of an A or working 9 hard hours. They now consist of making one person laugh or sharing childhood stories or planting a seed. It’s the smallest things that matter here. Yet the smallest things seem to make huge impacts. I am still learning, and everyday I am still trying to suppress the person within me who wants to construct a road and water tank all in one day. Slowly but surely the tortoise won the race and he probably touched a few lives doing it.

“Santa vaca,” holy cow, it has been quite a long time. Time flies and before you know it you are staring at a computer screen trying to write down the past two months coherently and concisely. Being here has definitely been a washing machine of emotions. You know, it’s a cycle. It begins with the rinse cycle, then fills with water, then starts to spins and the calms down (or some rendition of this cycle). But nonetheless, it is a cycle. This very much depicts how I feel here. The motivated and happy turns into the frustrated and pissed off which eventually turns into the sad; however, after the sad the cycle begins again with the happy. I also include the washing machine because it is something I do miss, quite a lot.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I asked the school if we could do an environmental festival with the 4th, 5th and 6th graders to celebrate our fine, yet extremely polluted, earth. There was an opportunity given to me by the American Embassy. They sent out an email that said if we (Peace Corps volunteers) submitted art work that represented the earth, each school could win a prize from the Embassy. I saw this as an opportunity not only to win something, but more importantly do something about the continuing problem of litter bugs. Well the festival was much more successful than I could have ever hoped for. The kids put on skits and dances. More importantly they made some fabulous art work. I was in awe.

Two weeks after the fact I have learned that there were about thirteen volunteers who submitted art work. That means that my three kids that had submitted artwork had competition from 39 other kids in El Salvador. The Embassy chose three kids from the forty-two kids that had entered the contest. Well, two of the kids from the school where I live won prizes. I am so proud of them! Here are some pics from that day.

There is a picture of me in my trash dress that I made out of snack bags and an old tee-shirt. Also one of the kids demonstrating a dance that they choreographed to celebrate the environment. The girls wearing the trash in one of the pictures was one of the winners. Yeh for them, they rock.