What a week

This week I was totally worthless. Sometimes I wonder if my whole service will be like this and frankly I'm not sure yet. It's on again, off again with work here. This so called "off again" makes me a little crazy. I'm frustrated. Mostly it's the education system. El Salvador is becoming more and more notorious for it's poor education system and I don't know how to fix it. The biggest hurdle is that in this country, education isn't valued. The largest part of my Peace Corps service is education. Yes, I'm a health volunteer, but our main goal is health prevention through education. What have I gotten myself into? I'm still unsure. Anyway, I've finally given up working for the week. Everyone is in vacation mode. School is out for a week because of the festivals in Santa Rosa, so my plan is to calm down and wait until people are ready to work again; although I'm not sure if anyone is ever really ready to work here.
On a lighter note, I have some things to share.

My frog came back again and I played another game of chase it out with a broom. I'm pretty sure it's becoming a new roommate.

I got stung by a scorpion twice, and it was a big sucker. So I was cleaning my pila outside my house and I thought I saw something over my shoulder. There are so many bugs around I did a quick shake, figuring I was just being paranoid. Doing so, I brushed off my shoulders and got stung on my finger. When I felt that I knew what it was. I then proceeded to freak out as the scorpion crawled down my back, under my shirt, stinging me along the way. I immediately started screaming at Jordan to get it off. I pulled off my shirt and was running around in my shorts and bra while she batted it off and the neighbors came running over to kill it. Meanwhile I'm exploding with a plethera of bad language, practically wearing nothing in front of the religious salvos I live by. Oops. Anyway it was not pleasant and I'd rather that NEVER happen again. Ever.

On another note. . .

There is a large American influence in this country. Many men I've talked to have spent time in the states working. Many people in El Salvador receive remittances from family in the States, and often times they spend that money recklessly. It's not rare for someone to own a TV and DVD player and not have running water. In any case, American influence has definitely filtered in. And there are two ways I observe this on a daily basis.

First, the music. People here listen to a lot of Hispanic music, yes, but there's always American music too, especially when the gringos are around. For example, one day I got on a bus with Jordan in my community and the bus workers were hitting on us and wanted to impress us with there American music. "When a Man Loves a Woman," always does the trick. They love their cheesey power ballads and they love the eighties, a lot. Anyway, it's a good pick me up sometimes, seeing what the salvos pick out. Also, when I'm riding the bus to San Miguel there's always this clown that comes on singing Madonna to everyone. I'm not shocked by anything any more. Something exciting is always bound to happy. Okay, well my version of exciting has changed a lot, but hey, I'm coping.

The other thing, being my favorite, is the clothes. People are always wearing t-shirts with something written in English displayed. I've recently recorded a few of my favorites. I saw girl no older than twelve wearing a shirt that said "SEX," a middle aged man wearing a swastica on his shirt, an old woman wearing "I will be a future star," someone wearing a British Flag, a woman wearing "I'm the Daddy," and a young guy wearing "I (heart) my weiner." I'll keep this fun tid bits coming.
That's all for now.

Oh also, I posted a few pictures on an El Salvador album on facebook if you haven't checked them out yet.