Saturday, October 31, 2009

2 Days in the Life of...

First of all, Happy Halloween! I hope you all had a wonderful one. I'm not celebrating, at all. They have it here, but it's not a deal in the campo (countryside) where I live. I have however done other stuff and decided to update my blog with a list of things I've done the last two days. I received a comment on Facebook to my video that this person would like to see a video of the day in the life of a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). I don't have that, yet, so I've decided to do the next best thing.

Yesterday, Friday, October 30, 2009:

6:30am: Wake up
6:40am: Read the newspaper online and eat breakfast
7:00am: Chat with mom for a bit over the internet
7:27am: Bucket bath
8:00am: Arrive at Alcaldía to leave for a farm
8:45am: Leave for farm
9:30am: Arrive at farm
9:35am: Start tour of farm where Israel grows bananas (4 types), coffee, mango, oranges, tomatoes, coconut, lemon, watermelon, sugar cane, hot peppers, jalepeños,plantains, papaya, zapote (no English word), beans (3 types), and matizano (no English word)
10:40am: Go inside Israel's home, eat some fresh bananas (check'd off the list of things to do before I die), and eat some blue boiled bananas from the Caribbean with an orange drink.
11:00am: Driver received call that his daughter had an emergency and was on the way to the hospital
11:30am: Arrive at Alcaldía (notice the 15 minutes less time, we cooked it)
11:33am: Talk with my friend from Mexico for a minute about soccer
11:40am: Eat sugar cane with others from the cane Israel gave me
11:50am: Explain that I don't eat animals, eggs, or dairy to Catholics because I want to live how they did in the Garden of Eden.
11:55am: Help move tables behind the City Hall - the office closes for the mayor's birthday.
12:00pm: Go inside and surf the net about the harm rodeos cause animals while people eat dead crabs. Eat some more fresh bananas.
12:25pm: Go outside and join the party after most everyone is done consuming crabs in soup.
1:10pm: Pass on cake because it has eggs
1:15pm: Accept some of the rum everybody's drinking / dance
1:45pm: Mayor opens gifts including a pair of women's undies with "Arena" (conservative political party) patched on
2:00pm: Go inside. Party is done and the City Hall (Alcaldía) is open
2:10pm: Convince others I work with to help me, this Sunday, to clean out the drain near the bridge on the road so water will drain.
2:11pm: Decide to help them clean the cemetery for a celebration this Monday.
2:15pm: Leave for cemetery.
2:2opm: Arrive at cemetery and begin cleaning up the old fake flowers and used cans (coffee cans, infant milk cans, plastic soda bottles, etc.) they used to put the flowers in last year. Watchpeople scrub off some of the graves.
3:40pm: Leave the cemetery.
3:45pm: Arrive at Alcaldía and empty the truck into the garbage truck that always sits in the back of the Alcaldía.
4:00pm: Leave for home with my friend's bike
4:02pm: Run into someone I know and live by while I'm buying some breakfast food.
4:10pm: Convince an 11 year old girl that is the daughter of my landlord that it's not a good idea to litter and have her pick up her plastic water bag she just threw on the ground.
4:15pm: Arrive at home.
4:20pm: Play with neighbor kids - baseball (way better than soccer, IMO, I'm better at it)
4:45pm: Play with parrot. Hold parrot. Scream and get rid of the parrot when it bites me REALLY hard and draws blood.
5:00pm: Eat dinner: bean soup (red beans, water, salt) and tortillas while listening to NPR News
6:00pm: It's dark. No more going outside
6:01pm: Listen to podcasts about animals and research vivisection. Spend some time on Facebook and looking at e-mails. Think about the poor animals. Chat with mom.
10:00pm: Mom calls. Talk to her on the phone.
11:11pm: I'm beat, up way too late. Go to bed without reading.

Today, Saturday, October 31,2009:

9:45am: Wake up and get out of bed. It's HOT in my house!
10:00am: Eat breakfast and dink around on internet
10:10am: Wash dishes, decide not to do laundry today.
12:00pm: Eat lunch: beans, corn tamales, squash, and tortillas.
1:00pm: Go outside and check on my worms - they've been inundated with maggots!
1:01pm: Take down worm bin and dump bucket onto some plastic I saved.
1:20pm: Put part with the most worms and no maggots in a guacal (big bowl thing)
1:35pm: Feed maggots to chickens - they love 'em.
1:40pm: Clean out the bucket at the pila.
1:50pm: Put worms back in bucket and hang.
2:20pm: Notice that the stacking option for Leopard isn't working on my computer.
2:30pm: Download a program to customize and restore the dock options - SuperDocks.
4:00pm: Plant some sugar cane with my neighbor
4:45pm: Help my neighbor put up some more sticks across some trees for the chickens to roost> in at night
5:10pm: Eat dinner: bean soup and tortillas
5:30pm: Update blog

To the right, in the last photos you can see the process of planting the sugar cane, in the back yard. We'll likely have some sugar next July. I'm stoked to watch 'em grow.

Happy Halloween! It's creepy because all the dogs are howling for the first time ever. Spooky.




Friday, October 23, 2009

¡Día de los Niños! (Children's Day)

Today was wonderful day of celebration for the children in the area, nothing like what we have in the U.S. I'm excited to tell you all about it, but first I have some sad news. The rooster pictured roosted in the branches in the first photograph of my last blog was not hanging out below the roosting area at his normal time. He normally waits until all the others are roosted until he heads up. He would also lead the hens to food and then not eat it, but let them. Anyways, I thought it was odd and I looked around, but did not see him. Then, I saw a woman take a rooster from the "kill pen" - it's where they keep the chickens before they kill them. He was in there. So tragic. Luckily, she didn't take him (although another beautiful rooster was treated like a chili pepper). I'm going to look into saving him, tomorrow. He is my favorite and sure has a personality that shines - like my dog.

Speaking of my dog, I'd also like to thank my Grandma for e-mailing me photos of my dog (perra, or chucha as she'd be called here). I sure do miss that girl and riding my bike around with her. I'm going to first share a photo my grandma sent, and you'll understand what I mean. She's wonderful (both my grandma and my dog). To the right is the pic of Sydney in her trailer in which I'd pull her around behind my bike. Good dog. She'd stay in there in the middle of traffic and we only wrecked twice. Thanks for the pics Grandma!

Entonces, now to get on to the events of the day. I was told about a week ago that I'd have to buy a gift for the kids today. I could buy a toy, some balls, or just donate $5 or $10 cash. I waited until the last minute, as usual, and so when I showed up to the Alcaldía (City Hall) today and found a huge party out back, I donated $5 at the appropriate time and I later saw this $5 go into a bag full of gifts :) (Good thing because I have like $12 until I get paid).

I could not believe how big of an event they had going on. All of the schools from the entire municipality where there - that's like 43 smaller communities. They had clowns, music, presents, ice cream, and lots of people. When I first arrived a woman I recognized was talking - I'm not really sure what about because I really have to focus to understand Spanish. Suddenly, I hear something about el medio ambiente (the environment) and Jeff. Within a moments notice, all eyes where on me. I wasn't expecting it, but everyone cheered - so that's good. She mentioned how I'm going to work in the schools and such. I'm sort of getting used to that, now. It seems at every large event they point me out and I usually have to give an in-prompt-to speech. Today I lucked out, unlike yesterday when I was at a town meeting and I thought I was just observing. until they called me up in front of everyone to speak. I'm getting pretty good at it by now.

One of my favorite, but kind of uncomfortable for me, parts of the culture is how they like to embarrass people. They like to put people on a sort of stage in front of everyone and make them look like fools. I first experienced this in a training hosted by a consulting group in the Alcaldía. I showed up one day and they were having a workshop on recognizing and solving problems in the work place. So, I joined in. And out of nowhere, during the middle of the lecture, the director of the workshop said, "silla caliente" (hot seat) and everybody popped up quickly out of there chairs. I didn't because I had not idea what was going on. Well, it turns out the last person up has to do something embarrassing in front of the group like model, blow kisses, sing, or kiss other people on the cheek, or line up to have everyone from the opposite sex kiss you on the cheek.

Anyways, today, they would randomly pick students out of the crowd and have them come up in front of everyone and either play a game or do something really stupid and make them feel embarrassed. Below is a video of kids pretending to propose to a girl. It sure did embarrass them; however, I am not sure what I think of kids that young pretending to propose to a girl. Maybe I'm being over-judgmental because of the young age women seem to have babies here and female graduation rates are much lower than the U.S. I don't know. Maybe we'd do the same thing in my culture. I'm not sure, anymore. However, it's funny to watch, even though I was really far back at this point.


They also had other games. Some of them included dancing. Others involved chasing other people around. And one game that took me a little while to understand was one the clown, Chiclin, initiated. There was some kids music going - like the type they sing at Chucky Cheese - and the kids (all girls) spun around like Ring-Around-the-Rosies. Then, when the music stopped, she - the clown - would yell out, "todos", "cinco", "dos", or "tres", depending on how many people they needed to have in a group. Each group was actually a group hug. They limited it down to less and less by saying "dos" or two, when there was 5 girls. This made one girl the odd one out. She then lost. They eventually got down to two when a third (clown-type, but not) young woman (early 20s?) joined with them. When the music stopped they had to chase her and the first to catch her won. How much fun!

While some things, like the games and the idea of a community day for kids, are different than the U.S., there are other aspects of the U.S. that you just can't escape. In my opinion, some of these are the parts of the culture in our wonderful country that I could do without. During the show, we had a surprise, at first a highly inviting visitor. He was a cute chic. You know, like a baby chicken. Except he was big and really just a human with a suit; it turns out, he also became annoying and judging from his behavior I'd say he'd been to jail on more than one occasion. So, cute chicken. That's wonderful. I find nothing wrong with that and it may be a bit endearing. However, the U.S. part comes when I realize that he's from Pollo Campestre (Rustic Chicken), a fast food place down here. They actually have really good carrot/ orange smoothies. But, they sang a song and danced about eating Pollo Campestre.

I disagree with this for two reasons (nothing to do with El Salvador, but this American value that spread here): 1. In my opinion, the kids are being engrained to eat unhealthy fast food without any other thought. This marketing towards kids, I believe, takes part of the responsibility for the health problems in the U.S. and these problems spreading into other parts of the world. It also undermines small community values. 2. the chicken was dancing around and singing like he actually wants to be eaten! Last time I tried to catch a baby chic -two days ago- they run from me like mad, chirping. When I do catch them, depending on the mother, the mother runs after me trying to bite me with her feathers out or she runs away screaming and clucking for her baby. The chic always tries to get away, even thought they're sooo cute and I just want to hold co. I think this is a reaction to predators. In other words, unlike marketing wants you to believe - THEY DON'T WANT TO BE FOOD!

Ok. So, back to the events at hand. One of the final events are took part in today really reveals a lot about their values, here, and priorities. I ran inside the Alcaldía because I had to get away from people, for a little bit. It was getting crazy. I was then asked if I could help put together a basketball hoop - a little small one. I helped put the hoop together and while doing so I noticed the boxes and boxes near the hoop. Were these all basket ball hoops? And, if so, who were they for and why? Turns out that, yes, they were all basket ball hoops (probably about a $7 value) and they were for the kids! How wonderful! Ever kid - nearly - received a basket ball hoop from the Alcaldía. Although, not having the same luxury in the U.S. I thought ($7 x 200 = $1400). So, maybe $1,000 - $2,000 on basketball hoops. Huh? That wouldn't happen in the U.S. Anyways, the kids loved them.

Later, everyone received ice cream and I passed up ice cream for probably the first time in my life. I think I'm done with cows. However, all of the kids and others loved the ice cream (helado) that the kids just eat with their fingers. Less garbage! That's not why they do it, but hey. Continuing along, during the ice cream time, at the end of the festivities, people from the Alcaldía where giving away candy, prizes, and balls. I happened to be at the right place (or maybe it's that I'm so much taller than the kids)at the right time because I caught two separate balls. The first one I gave to the neighbor girl, which means I'll get to play with it. The second I threw up in the air and watched the kids go nuts.

All-in-all, today was a really fun day. I certainly enjoy the sense of community and group oriented society, here. It's probably good for the kids to get out of school for a day - although they go less than the U.S - and have some fun with the community. It helps build trust and brings the community together. I think something like this, in our culture, could help build the school communities and let parents meet one-another and the kids meet the parents and teachers, etc. Things always seem much more serious in the U.S. - like parent/ teacher conferences. Maybe we just need to have a little more fun.



Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Animals

I wanted to write this blog about the odd things about El Salvadorian culture - like women don't bath (or shower) when they're on their period because they think it'll make them sick. However, I have something pressing on my mind that has been difficult for me to deal with the last couple of weeks. It's been building and I need an outlet. I must add that these views are my own and not in any way the views of Peace Corps, or the staff.

I'm a vegetarian (mentally on the edge of being vegan) and an animal rights activist because it lets me live my values of peace, compassion, and sustainability. I'd like to add that I used to make fun of vegetarians and I don't try to be perfect about it; also, it's not my intention to offend anyone. I have my views for the animals, not to insult people and I can understand why other people have not converted to vegetarianism. I've been listening to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegetarian Food For Thought: Inspiring a Joyful, Inspiring, and Compassionate Diet podcast, in the evenings. It's an awesome podcast, and please, help me feel better by listening to just one episode. It's full of information about health and food.

Anyways, ever since I've gotten here it's been really hard for me to see people beat dogs, see little children throw large rocks ON baby puppies, and see pets (in the US) eating garbage and go without positive attention. I don't give it to them, either, because they have cuts, fleas, and possibly bite. It's also been very hard for me to be around exploited animals - such as cows and chickens. I didn't like it before, when I was in training, but now that I'm on my own it's even closer to my home. I can hear the cows moo-ing right now, as a constant reminder.

I do enjoy some things about living in close proximity to cows, pigs, and chickens. I have learned that they all seem to have unique personalities. Some are shy, others are aggressive. Some like to share and help the others, while others seem to want to outcompete others. Also, my favorite, some of the cows seem to really like me...lol. I was trying to pet the cows one day and they were acting timid. A white one from the back of the herd came up to me and kept wanting to get closer and closer. She wanted to sniff me and lick my shirt - big tongue.

The problem I have with the close proximity to them is that the people around me make their money (in-part) by selling animal parts (muscle, stomach, etc.) and their secretions in the form of cheese. Everyone loves the cheese and I've even eaten it and pretended I like it. It's their pride, how do I take that from them? It's really popular and regionally famous cheese. Also, they "raise" chickens. They don't really raise them, people raise children and animals raise their young; they feed them and then murder them because they think they are tasty.

I've been 100% vegetarian in El Salvador. And the other day, I thought I saw animal meat in my food. The woman who cooks for me denied it (sweet woman, in the film below). She said it was onion and then swept it away. I had no reason not to trust her, 'though I thought maybe I had meat juice in my lunch that day and stopped eating it. Then, her daughter said there was meat in it "too add flavor." I quit eating and wanted to puke. I'm worried it may harm our relationship. She denied putting meat in my food, but I don't want to eat her food any more. Her cooking for me brings us together.


^--Video of My Home --^

I really want to speak out for the animals, as I was able to in the US with the MSUB student club All Lives with Liberty, where I could help open the crack that people resist because this type of truth is really hard to take. I also attended Their Lives Our Voices 2009. It worked as an outlet for me and I was introduced to many vegetarians/vegans. I also ate some awesome vegan food in Minneapolis (Triple Rock, for example). It felt good to be around like-minded and compassionate people.

Now, it's nearly impossible to express my views and I keep them inside. During Peace Corps training, we were given advice on how to build confianza (trust) with the community and how creating divides that make us appear more different than we are disrupts our ability to work affectively. Such advice included not discussing politics (duh), but also when they ask if we believe in God to always say "yes" and eat the food that you're offered even if you don't like it because they don't have much and it's all they can give. Not accepting the food is sometimes taken as "I'm too good for your food." I've been given advice from others to just say "me hace daño" (it causes me harm) when asked why I am vegetarian and not go into details.

Basically, I'm feeling as strong as ever for the poor animals and I don't have an outlet. I want to go into the details, but instead I make subtle suggestions. I can also do small things, like when I attend the Unidad Ambiental (Environmental Unit - a new part of the mayor's office) trainings, I ensure I get lunch that never had animal meat in the same box, or I don't eat it. But my concern for the animals keeps me up at night, when I hear the roosters crow. It also bothers me in the morning when I hear the cows moo when my neighbor takes the milk - that is technically for a baby cow - from the mother.

I can hear those of you out there saying, "well, don't listen to the podcast and let it be". Well, I don't think ignorance is the answer and as many others know, once you become enlightened by the animals and their desire to exist you can't just let it go. As a side, the US eats 10 billion animals every year and humans throughout the world consume estimates as high as 45 BILLION animals annually, when you include fish and bycatch.

I hope I didn't bum any of you out. That was not my intention. Also, I understand those of you who eat meat. It's everywhere and we're bombarded by the culture, media, advertising, and habit of eating animals. Many of us have grown up with it. I don't blame anyone for eating animal meat. I did it myself for many years.

However, I would like to add that I appreciate my decision not to consume animals (as I'm sure they do). I feel it gives me a certain freedom. It's my choice to be vegetarian. If you're not, that's your choice. If anybody would like more information I have some links below. The video is difficult to watch, but recommended. I think the podcast, linked above, is the best source for kind-hearted and understanding discussion I've found. She knows what she's talking about and it's full of great information, even for non-vegetarians who don't want to be vegetarian.

Take care and may peace guide your journey.



Meet Your Meat

And I have to add this from Mercy for Animals...


Mercy for Animals,Animal Rights,Vegetarian,Vegan,Why Eat One and Not the Other,Pig,Dog,Add,Ad,Peace,Non-violence

Monday, October 12, 2009

I have my own house!

So, I've been living in my own place for over a month, now. I live in eastern El Salvador where I get to enjoy 90+ temps almost everyday. I'm growing really fond of my Sanyo industrial strength fan that was my first purchase. I've also got a real bed! Yeah! It was a lot of fun to drag a twin size mattress on the bus. Only in El Salvador could I bring a bed onto the bus. What a great experience.

As I'm you may have guessed, I've been settling in and buying things for my home. I have a Rubbermaid container to store my food. This is wonderful because although people need protein in their diets, I'm vegetarian and that includes not eating insects. I also bought a water jug holder (for the 5 gallon water bottles) and I absolutely love it! And one of the most exciting new features of my life is 24/7 internet service in my home.

I'll write for a moment about that struggle and maybe expose a little about the cultural differences. It took me 3 weeks to get it. I set up an appointment with Claro and they said they'd come to the Alcaldía (City Hall, where I work) Friday at 1:00p. It seemed too easy. However, they didn't come. So, I went to Tigo and they said I couldn't get service because I'm not from here and don't have a DUI (Salvo ID). Claro showed up 9 days later, in the morning. They called me, I met them in the afternoon. They came to my house. The internet would work.

I jumped through hoop after hoop to satisfy their desires, including wanting a copy of my passport (although i don't have a copier and neither did they). We got it all worked out and they came back the next day with the contract. I signed the contract and then, I had no internet. I called them and they said they wanted more... so, I gave them more. They said it'd take 30 minutes. I didn't get it until 3 days later. It's really slow, but I'm loving it and it's opened up my world to Podcasts including my new favorite found here: http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=38546

Now, I'll talk a little about my work, since that's why I am here, after all. I am working with the Alcaldía (again, City Hall) with the mayor's office (Alcaldé). According to a law that is about 10 years old, every municipality needs to have a Unidad Ambiental (Environmental Unit). I've been going to a lot of trainings and getting to know the other UAs in other parts of the region. They have presentations where I've learned about volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, recycling, cleaning campaings, composting, etc. in El Salvador. This Wednesday, I am going to a disasters conference in El Salvador (it's called Desastres Evitables). Another cool thing is that I have 3 shirts as a part of this group.

I've also been doing something Peace Corps calls Community Diagnostics. I've been walking around talking to random people in the community and going to their house. Yeah, it's a little awkward because my Spanish isn't the best and I don't know these people. However, I'm learning a lot. I've found there is a lot of interest in reforestation, gardening, and there may be a need for energy efficient stoves (they all cook with wood). I still have more work to do with this, however. I am going to host a Asamblea General (General Assembly) with community leaders on the 20th of this month.

I'm really excited about all of the opportunities here. I've been discussing starting bus charlas about throwing garbage out the windows. I want to get a group together to make a skit about God and how He (b/c I'm in a Catholic / Evangelical part of the world) gives humans dominion over the world and that means we need to take care of it, starting with not throwing plastic and other garbage out the bus windows.

Speaking of garbage, I have a sinus infection and I've taken Elequine, Allegra, and Claratin without any help. I think the problem is all of the air pollution. They burn their trash, here. Everyone. When I take my trash to the town to put in the garbage cans there (basuraros) they wonder what I'm doing. I'm certainly going to push the point of how bad burning trash is for the environment and health.

Ok, well, I'll try to keep my blog updated more. I guess it's that I've felt connected to many people through telephone, facebook, and other outlets that I don't feel the need to blog. Ok. More to come. Also, I have a video on YouTube. Just search for "Jeff Butts El Salvador" and it'll bring it up. It shows my house.

Take care.