Fijese que... (Part One)

FIJESE QUE...

Exploring a different culture has been a truly rewarding experience for us. There are new and exciting foods: pupusas, tamales, and an endless selection of new tropical fruit. There are interesting idiosyncratic tidbits: “he’s so angry, it’s like he ate scorpions!”. There are the people, who are so fun-loving, hospitable, and outgoing. There are their memories from an unbelievably horrid civil war. There are the politics, which have a totally different vibe than at home and are more intense now than ever with a possibly groundbreaking presidential election in less than a week.

There have, however, been some cultural differences that have been harder to deal with. One is machismo. Machismo we will save for a different entry, when Kelly has a tall glass of wine and can laugh and laugh as she recounts anecdotes. Today we will talk about time and productivity.

Long before Peace Corps, we certainly knew that life here in Central America was slower. And it's easy to romanticize that fact, to see things through rose-colored glasses. No one refers to life as a "rat race" down here. People spend more time with family (unless the family is in the U.S.). But one goal of Peace Corps is to share our experience with all of you good folks back home. We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't communicate some degree of frustration or disillusionment. Hence, we vent...un poquito.

In the states, things run like clockwork. People arrive early to important meetings and events, allowing extra time in case something should go wrong. That certainly does not happen here. We’ve received some very formal and serious looking invitations to meetings. In spite of such formalities, things consistently start between 30-90 minutes late. The rule might even be the more legit looking invitation, the later it will actually start.

In the States, people carry planners, writing down important events, keeping everything organized. It would be really embarrassing if you told someone you’d meet with them and then forgot about it completely and didn’t show up. It would be rude. Time is so very much valued. People value their own time and that of others as well. Time is money. In the States, people often refer to things as ‘a waste of time.’ We have never heard anyone use a similar expression here. We’re not really sure yet how you would say it, and you probably don’t want to be the first person to say it. “Tranquilo” they’d say, “Hay más tiempo que vida.” (Relax, there’s more time than there is life!) All of this brings us to "fijese que".

Fijese que basically means, “look, here’s the deal” or, “however, as it turns out. . .” It’s what you might say to someone right before you tell them why the planned activity/ meeting/ excursion/ class is not going to happen. As in, “I know we had planned on having a meeting with the students right now. Fijese que, we cancelled classes; the students have all gone home. There will be no such meeting.” We’ve been hearing a lot of "fijese que"s these days. It often involves scheduling conflicts. We’ll think we’re totally confirmed for a planned activity, and then...kerplunk.

You might be thinking that these damn gringos are trying to hold the Salvadorans to their gringo standards. That we need to do as Simba did when he moved in with Timon and Pumbaa: learn the virtues of Hakuna Matata. That's part of it, perhaps. Peace Corps is impressively laissez-faire, flexible, supportive...but they still crunch numbers and there's an underlying go-get-'em attitude that's typical of the U.S. But we believe there's more to it than that. It's not just an issue of time. It's an issue of productivity.

There are definitely exceptions: we've met really ambitious folks. But so many people just don't get the job done. Ever. It's as if, to many, words speak louder than actions.

In some parts, there is extreme poverty. There is exploitation. There are folks who work ridiculously hard to pick coffee for absurdly low pay. But there is a widespread hand-out mentality, doubtlessly a consequence of El Salvador's struggling economy, job shortages, troubled past, natural disasters, and the list goes on. However, there are lots of folks who are doing alright. This hand-out mentality, it seems to us, is a huge roadblock in terms of productivity. There exists a sad self-pitying inferiority complex in the mentality of many. We realize the uphill battle people face in many areas. But the absence of aggressive action can be baffling.

Another factor is religious fatalism. It is sooo common to say "Primero Dios" or "Si Dios quiere..." If God wants this, it will happen. We'll see if we get the job done. It's in God's hands.

The power of collective thought also factors in. The U.S. prizes individualism. Not nearly as much here. There is a set way of doing things. "Oh, teachers don't help out with after-school clubs." "Boys don't help out around the house." "The people here only like cheese or pork pupusas." The outside-the-box mentality is much less common here.

However, things are complex. We know. We haven't even been here for six months yet. And many things about this culture are unbelievably amazing.

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RANDOM NOTES

*We went to the Lion's Club in our pueblo for a Valentine's Day dinner and dance. It was adorable. We danced cumbia to the live music (we thought it would be a band, but was some dude with a karaoke set).

*Cuaresma (Lent) is underway. Instead of Stations of the Cross inside the church, the faithful follow a gi-normous statue of a cross-carrying Jesus from one church to the other. Thirteen strong young men hoist the statue on their shoulders. The priest reads. Old ladies sing.

*The major projects we have going on right now are our two ecological clubs, our incredible! chess club, our journalism/ literary club, English with the kindergarten students. Next week we start more English projects. They're very much in demand.

*Kelly turns 25 tomorrow (March 11)!

*The election is Sunday! Tomorrow is the last day for propaganda. Everyone is sick of the campaign songs. Mauricio Funes may become the first left-wing leader in the history of the country. Or Rodrigo Avila may win, adding five more years to the ARENA party's 20 year ownership of the presidency. Tensions run high.

*Check out the U.S.-El Salvador game on March 28. It's a qualifying game for next year's World Cup and it´s in San Salvador. It should be on ESPN2 in the States.

*We miss you.

*Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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the journey


a box sent from heaven (or Pennsylvania)


the sun shining through our church as we head out on a hike


leaving town/ you might be able to see two trees that stand out on top of the cerro (tall hill, not quite mountain)...that was our destination


this was the largest hike we've led so far (eighty people)


our volcano


the expert (he claims there are seldom-seen spider monkeys nearby!)


on our way to destroy the one ring