Life

Yesterday after another unsuccessful day in which I went to meet the governor of La Union who decided not to show, Erica and I went to a bakery for some pan dulce (sweet bread, pastries, etc). We were sitting there kind of pathetically, discussing frustrations with our perspective ADESCOs.

Side note, I don't think I've adequately explained what ADESCOs are. ADESCO stands for Asociacion de Desorollo Comunal, Communal Development Association; it's like a local government for the small communities volunteers work in whose members are internally elected. It doesn't exactly function as a government, but we have a president, a treasurer, and so on. It's like in school when you have a student body president, etc. There's not a president of the community so to speak, but just a president of a group that functions in the community, one that assists in development. It's complicated and I'm still trying to figure it all out. It does sound like an ideal association for volunteers to collaborate with, but it tends to plague everyones' service because these associations don't typically function too well. I haven't quite made a decision on my ADESCO, but I think there's a lot of potential, as long as the president doesn't keep asking for money.

Anyway, returning to my story, Erica and I weren't feeling too awesome, so we were indulging on sweets. All of a sudden I looked down at the bread I was eating and noticed a plastic wrapper attached to the bottom, a plastic wrapper of which I realized I'd eaten half of. Awesome. I'm starving in El Salvador, I now eat plastic. In any case it lightened the mood and Erica just about fell off her chair. It's comforting to bring a little embarrassing humor to the table at times like these.

Another exciting event I witnessed this week was pig neutering. So I live right next to the cow corral which also houses other animals such as pigs. I hear the pigs screaming all the time. I assume they're killing them or transporting them, the usual fuss, but while Meredith was visiting she got really curious so we went over to check it out. That's when we found out what was really happening. A few kids were hanging off the fences surrounding the corral and so was my 90 year old neighbor, all of whom were all encouraging us to come join in on the fun. When we got over there they were working on the biggest pig I've ever seen. They had his front hooves tied together as well as his back ones. He was laying on his side and the men were attempting to calm him down, but he was definitely a fighter. They shot him up with a bunch of morphine and got right to work. They washed the pigs gigantic testicles and then pulled out a switchblade. That would be the point where I left. No thank you. The kids and the old woman laughed at me, but I just couldn't watch that demonstration. Gross.

In good news, my Spanish is getting a lot better. I've met a few people in Santa Rosa lately who were really impressed with the amount of Spanish I could speak. I think it's that I'm starting to sound like salvo too, picking up the accent here in the East. It's a horrible accent though. The best way I can describe it is that it sounds like everyone is mumbling. The other half of the country even has a hard time understanding it. Oh well, integration here I come.

Also, to all you listeners, or readers out there, if you have any questions for me, please ask, I'm always searching for something to write about, even if it's just explaining terms or Spanish words I might throw in.