Our host brother at the gravesite of a relative.
Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Bruce taking the beans out of their pods.
It is difficult to take a picture of a piscucha (kite).
Our host brother with piscucha. Note the Colorado Rockies hat.
Our casita. This is where we sleep. It was constructed with help from the European Union after two devastating earthquakes in 2001. Speaking of earthquakes, we felt a tremor last Thursday night.
Our entire training group spent the night in town to watch the news on Election Day.
Bruce with new guitar. $45. Hand-made by a local Salvadoran man who may have spent eight years in jail for murder.
November 2 is the Day of the Dead. Relatives came from out of town, mostly from the capital, to pay respects to their deceased relatives. Flowers, some real some plastic, were placed on the graves. There is a cemetery in the city, but out here it is common to bury family members on one’s property. U.S. high school students often study the Day of the Dead in Spanish class around this time of year. However, the customs studied are usually Mexican.
Thursday was a big day. First of all, I (Bruce) got a box sent from my mom in Pennsylvania with some favorite childhood books in Spanish. For example: Shel Silverstein’s “El Árbol Generoso” (The Giving Tree), Maurice Sendak’s “Donde Viven Los Monstruos” (Where the Wild Things Are), and Dr. Seuss’s “El Lórax” (came with a Lorax puppet!). Dark chocolate for Kelly and Brach’s candy corn for me.
Secondly, on Thursday afternoon, everyone in our training group found out their sites. Folks in our group are spread out all across the country. Kelly and I had already heard rumors of our site and they were confirmed. We are going to a pueblo in the department of San Miguel, in the east of the country. We were given information on the pueblo and the Final Report of the previous Volunteer. We called our counterparts (locals who will at least help us find our footing when we get there). There are several options in terms of living arrangements. It may be a while before we have a new address. But on Saturday, November 15 we are going to the site where we will live for two years.
For most students, the school year came to a close this past week. So we will arrive at our site over “summer” vacation. Friday night, we were lucky enough to accompany our host family to a graduation (9th grade) party. The majority of students here don’t continue their studies in bachillerato (high school), so the 9th grade graduation is a big celebration. There were decorations, dinner, dancing. Our host brother borrowed our camera for the day. Between the graduation ceremony and the party, he probably took a hundred photos.
Saturday, we had La Fiesta de las Familias at the Peace Corps office. This was held to say thank you to our training host families (whom we will leave Thursday the 13th). We had lunch, a photo slideshow, games, and piñatas.
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