Tuesday April 25, 2006

I’m posting (or going to try and post!) a couple of pictures. The first is swearing in at the Peace Corps office in San Salvador. Lavinia is my program manager all the way on the left. She’s a former PCV in El Salvador, and is originally from Romania. She’s really great, supportive, and encourages our independence as Volunteers. Josh and John are the young guys in the pictures. Josh was a PCV in Nicaragua and John served in Ecuador. I won’t be working directly with them, though, since they are in different communities and work in agricultural programs. Mike Wise is the Country Director in the middle—really knowledgeable, supportive, down-to-earth kind of guy.

The next picture is my house. I’ll probably be spending most of my time outside since it’s so hot! I’m also posting a picture of me with 2 of my neighbor kids, Pepe and Sandra, from Mexico.

Haven’t been up to much the past couple of days, as my project won’t begin until next week or the following week. I’ll be working with a group of artists in 3 communities to do workshops with kids affected by the volcanic eruption and tropical storm Stan. We’ll be doing workshops with them to create stories, theater, and music—activities that I strongly believe are what psychosocial programs should look like. Hopefully I’ll be visiting one of the communities this week when the organization that I’m working with (REDES) goes out to deliver supplies.

I feel pretty good physically and emotionally (with the exception of the heat!) It’s hard to eat when it’s so hot, but when I do there is plenty of fruit around and pupuserias. Pupusas are a tortilla thing filled with beans and cheese, meat or eggs. I have a feeling I’ll be sick of them after 6 months, but for right now they’re filling and a treat!