Not all who wander are lost: Bus

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Monday, August 22, 2011

College level English class

Monday, 8-22-11

Some things I put on my long term to do list in hopes that someday I will be able to do them. Well today I got to do something off my list. I went to a college English class. I arranged ahead of time to go with Alejandro, Cecilia’s brother, to Usulután where he attends school. I put this on my long term things to do list when I knew I’d be coming down this year to teach. I was excited to compare the college English class with the English classes I teach. I’m also hoping to go to an English class at the high school sometime.

Class starts at 7:30am which means to get there on time we needed to leave on the 5:50am bus to Usulután. So I rolled out of bed this morning at 5:00am. I got ready and grabbed myself a piece of bread for breakfast then met Alejandro by the garage at 5:30am. We left the house and walked to where the bus would pick us up (it’s not exactly a bus stop). We were met by his friend, Juan, who also goes to school in Usulután. The bus pulled up and we hopped on. Ale and I squeezed into a seat that I’m pretty sure was meant for one person. I was a little confused but figured that’s just how people do it here in El Salvador.

The bus left around 5:50am. I opened my window right away since I tend to get hot on buses even when it’s cooler outside like in the morning. Eventually more and more people boarded the bus. All of the seats meant for one person were filled by two people and the seats meant for two were filled by three people with the occasional child sitting on someone’s lap. Once the seats were full people piled into the aisle. The name of this game is to shove as many people as humanly possible into the aisles as the bus goes along and makes several stops. The term “maximum capacity” does not exist here.

On top of the buses is where people are able to put their “load” if they have one. Their load may be anything from vegetables, fruits, bread, plants, flowers, etc. Most of the time the things people put on top of this bus are to sell in Usulután. There is a place close to Berlín where they have a lot of guisquils (vegetable) and Alegría has a lot of plants and flowers. There is one guy who helps people put things on top of the buses and another that collects money from everyone. You don’t pay as you get on the bus. Instead, someone squeezes around all the people and collects the fare. It was $1 to ride from Berlín to Usulután, and thankfully it’s a direct bus so we didn’t have to change buses in Santiago.

The ride is a little over an hour and I ended up falling asleep for about 20 minutes but woke up as we were approaching Usulután. When we made it to our stop we pushed our way out of the bus. From there, Ale told me, we’d either catch a ride with one of his friends who drives to school or we’d get on another bus. Fortunately, his friends were parked and waiting for us. We hopped in the car and drove another 8 minutes to the school. While his friends went to go park the car we walked inside passed the armed guard who asked Ale if he’d asked permission to bring a visitor. He said he did and we went to the classroom.

The classroom was full of about 30 people, only one girl (poor thing!) And it was very hot inside the classroom. Usulután is hotter than Berlín because it’s lower in elevation so it was probably in the 80s at 7:30am when class started. There’s no AC in the room which I’m sure makes it harder to sit through class. The professor came over to greet me and said she hoped I enjoyed the class. I told her I was looking forward to seeing what the class was like. Everyone was talking a lot but pretty soon things quieted down enough so she could get started.

During the class the professor spoke in both English and Spanish. Many times she’d say something in English and then repeat what she said in Spanish. Today the class was discussing adjectives. Everyone got out their workbooks that had been assembled for the class. I recognized the workbooks because I’d helped Ale with adjectives last week. We worked on adjectives for a while and then discussed other things in the workbook. Since everyone in the class is studying auto mechanics much of the class focuses on how to learn English for the auto mechanic trade. So there’s a lot in the workbooks that I don’t know.

There were a couple interesting things I noticed about the class. One thing is that all the students had to sign in on a sheet of paper. They all have a space for where they need to sign their names each class. The professor chastised the class about attendance because last Friday 14 people didn’t show up. Another thing I noticed was that all of the students (except the girl) were wearing a belt and had their shirts tucked into their pants. I asked Ale about this and he told me that this was required by all of his professors. When one student walked into the room and didn’t have his shirt tucked in the professor told him he had to tuck it in or he wouldn’t be allowed in class.

Throughout class I noticed that the professor seemed to face a lot of the same problems that I face as well in my classes, and after class she and I talked about our problems. The guys talking during class in one thing our classes have in common. I know this happens at schools in the US but it’s different here (though I’m not sure how to describe it). And sometimes a lot of time is wasted because the boys are laughing or goofing off during class instead of paying attention. Getting them to pay attention at the beginning of class is difficult. Also, a couple guys didn’t bring their notebooks to class, and when she asked them why they didn’t seem to have an answer. This happens frequently in my classes. I always make my students use another notebook to take notes if they forgot their English notebook.

Another thing the students in our class have in common is not wanting to try to speak English. This happened a couple times during the class I was sitting in on. I’ve had kids flat out refuse to practice saying something in English in my classes. I’ve found that getting over being timid when speaking English is a challenge for many kids. I tell them that they need to try and that it doesn’t matter if they don’t say something perfectly because we’re all learning together. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. With my younger students I sometimes say what they’re supposed to say in a higher voice and then I say something in my regular voice, thus having a conversation with myself. That usually makes them laugh which helps them relax.

Something I have much distain for, machismo, is another thing our classes have in common. Today during the class I was sitting in on a couple girls (other students) walked in to talk about something they were selling on Wednesday. At least five guys in the class whistled at them when they walked in. I wanted to chastise them but decided it wasn’t my place and they probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway. But when I’m teaching I talk to my students a lot about having respect for women. And I always tell them that if they don’t have respect for women then they are not welcomed in my class. Many times I’ve had to stop my fourth graders from whistling and shouting at girls from the girl’s school next to us.

I think several of the problems that the professor and I share seem to center on respect, or lack thereof, from the students we are teaching. Disrespect for women, teachers, authority figures, etc. is not uncommon in school nor when you’re out and about. In fact, it’s probably one of the things I struggle the most with in El Salvador. Some days I come home angry and frustrated and not sure what to do about the lack of respect. I could go on and on but I think I’ll save that tirade for another blog.

Ale's school

Lots of plants

After class was over several of us walked over to the little snack place to get some breakfast. It’s nothing fancy but of course they had the usual morning staples. Looking at what was prepared I chose casamiento (beans and rice), plantains, and something that looked kind of like a hash brown. I also got a Pepsi. We all sat down and chatted for a while. Several of Ale’s friends were asking me about how to say certain words and phrases and also pronounce things in English. His friend who lives in Berlín, Juan, who I’ve met several times really likes English and has a pretty good grasp of a lot of the basics. I had a good time; it was kind of like being back in college again.

When we’d finished eating they were discussing a project for another class. We ended up driving 20 minutes to the nearby town of Ozatlán where Ale’s friend, Milton, is from to work on the project. For their class they have to repair something not working and had found an old tractor somewhere to fix it. They needed to get pictures of the tractor and several pieces to show their professor today but had forgotten. However, I’d brought my camera with me (as usual) so they were able to borrow it to take pictures.

We spent maybe a half hour at the house. They took various parts from the tractor and laid them on a piece of roofing to get pictures. Oscar also posed for a picture with his jacket that he uses at the body shop where he works. Milton has several dogs so, of course, I had to take pictures of them. Milton told me all their names. They were definitely canton dogs but I still thought they were cute. After that we took off and drove back to Usulután. When we got back we showed the pictures to the professor and they explained what they were doing with the tractor.

The old tractor they need to repair

Boys and their toys

Arranging the parts

Taking out more parts

Different parts of the tractor

I recognize the dipstick

Top down view

I have no idea what this is

The mechanic, Donkey

He's a hard worker

Instructions (in English, which is why

they need the English classes)

Oscar pretending to do something

Princess and her pup

Cute yet kind of pathetic looking

Killer

Then we went to Ale’s next class. I’m not sure exactly what it was but it seemed like some kind of business class. He’d gotten permission so I could sit in on the class. This room was definitely hotter than the last one since it was close to midday and I immediately started sweating when we got inside. Plus the class was 1½ hours. I followed some of what they were talking about but not all of it. Business really isn’t my forte. I sat in on the class so I wouldn’t have to sit outside. And I stayed through that class, which was his last for the day, because it’s not smart for me to be riding buses here alone.

Class ended at 12:30pm and Milton gave us a ride to the bus stop near his home in Ozatlán. Oscar, Juan, Ale, and I all hopped on the bus about 10 minutes later. There was no sitting room but thankfully we were able to stand close to the door to get some air. You see, many times the bus driver doesn’t close the doors to bus because this allows people to enter and exit much faster. Sure there’s the risk that someone might fall out since the bus is jammed full of as many people as possible, but you try not to think about that as you whiz down the mountainous roads of El Salvador in a bus that wouldn’t meet safety regulations in the US. It’s all an adventure.

Less than a ½ hour later we exited the bus at Santiago de Maria to catch a different bus for Berlín. Juan, Ale, and I got off and walked about ¼ mile to the next bus stop area (remember, “bus stop” is a relatively lose term). By the bus stop we all got a hot dog to eat since we hadn’t eaten since right after the first class. “Hot dog” is a relatively lose term here as well. The hot dog had lots of curtido, ketchup, and what I think was mayonnaise. The “meat” itself was cut up into small pieces that to me looked suspicious. I’m not sure what kind of meat it was and afterwards I thought it probably wasn’t a good idea to be eating food like that.

Soon the bus showed up and we rode for less than a half hour to Berlín. We didn’t get seats right away on this bus either but eventually people got off and we were able to sit down. The ride went fast and before long we were back in Berlín. We got off by the high school and walked a couple blocks back home. I was tired and sweaty but glad I had the chance to make the trip. It was a fun day.

P.S. Although the hot dog did NOT make me sick I will probably refrain from eating that kind of hot dog in the future.

Monday, May 2, 2011

El Salvador visa renewal time

Monday, 5-2-11

The application
Over the past several days I’ve been gathering and filling out paperwork so I can get an extension on my visa. I will have been here 90 days this coming Saturday. That means I’d either have to leave the country for 3 days or get a 90-day extension on my visa. I choose to try to get an extension on my visa. Now, I usually enjoy filling out forms. I know that sounds peculiar, but it’s true. As a child I used to create forms for myself to fill out. Well, that was not the case in this situation.

I tried searching online to find the forms I needed but to no avail. Thankfully, Kathy had filled out the forms before so she was able to give me the website of where I needed to go to find the forms. Good. Once I got to the website I eventually found where I needed to download the forms. But there were about 50 forms there and they weren’t labeled well so I had to look closely to be sure I got the right one. Alright, got that done.

Now the forms themselves. In order to get an extension on my visa I needed a copy of my passport and any pages inside that have been used. This was easy because I had to renew my passport in December. Check!

The second thing I needed was a passport size photograph that they would glue to the form. I wasn’t for sure how that was going to be done but Kathy had a plan. She’d take close up pictures of me and could print them off on special photo paper she has that she uses for really special occasions. She took several pictures yesterday and we picked two that we thought were good. I adjusted them on the computer to make them the right size. We printed off two just in case. Check, check.

The third thing I needed was proof of income or financial solvency. What? I guess they needed some proof that I was planning to return back to wherever I came from and that I wasn’t going to be bumming around in El Salvador looking for jobs that are already scarce to come by. But I wasn’t for sure what I should use and had easy access to. So I called my dad, who is a securities lawyer, to get his opinion. He said I could use this year’s federal income tax form as long as I took off our social security numbers. Triple check.

Part of the application had to be filled out by another person. This shows that I am who I say I am and the reason that I’m here. Kind of like a character reference. I had Cecilia fill out that for me. We also had to make a copy of her DUI (Documento Único de Identidad) which is like unique governmental identification card. We got that copied and taken care off last night. Check x 4.

Then came the paperwork itself. They needed my name, birth date, country of origin, passport number, and when I got to the country. All easy. They wanted my address here and wanted to know if I was ever a resident in another country. Nope, only the US. They also wanted my parent’s full names and where they lived. Not sure why but I was able to comply. They did not, however, ask for my husband’s name which I thought was weird. You’d think it’d be more important to get Matt’s name than my parents’ name.

They also wanted a brief description of what I was doing here. Since I’m here on a tourist visa (the only kind I can get) they wanted to know what I am doing because they want to make sure I’m not trying to get a job or have a job offer from someone here. Like the US, I’m sure they don’t want foreigners taking the jobs of the people here. I think this is a completely different situation than in the US but I will save that tirade for another blog. Now, I’m sure I could have had a different visa, a work visa, if I worked at a private, fancy school in San Salvador but that’s not for me. So I am here as a tourist to learn about the culture, life, and language of El Salvador.

They wanted a brief explanation about my financial solvency. Ummm, I have no paying job so what do I put? My husband and family are financially supporting me. That works. They needed the names of two people in the country who were supporting me and could give good references about my conduct. Finally, they wanted to know how much longer I’d like to remain in the country. The maximum I could have is 90 days so that’s what I wanted. I had to sign the form and give them my thumbprints as well but that would have to wait until we were in San Salvador.

My major problems came with understanding some of the language and the way the questions were worded. I had to ask Cecilia and Blanca to read it and explain it to me several times. We misunderstood a big section and had to redo it. They’d also changed several things on the form since the time Kathy filled it out. So we all had to read it very closely to make sure we were giving the correct information. But after several tries the four of us figured it all out. Yay!

I shouldn’t complain. I’m sure it’s easier for me to get an extension here than for visitors in the US from El Salvador to get an extension. But again, that’s another blog for another day. So Sunday night I gathered my paperwork and the $25 application fee to be ready for today.

The trip
Today was the day that I needed to go to San Salvador to submit my application. It was good timing because Kathy and Cecilia also needed to go to get a wheelchair for someone. Since gas has been getting even more expensive we decided to go by bus. In order to fill the tank in the pickup to get to San Salvador it’d cost around $80. Gas is up to over $4.50 a gallon here. And remember, that’s for people making a whole lot LESS than most people in the US. Plus parking is a major issue in San Salvador.

So I woke up this morning at 6:00am to make sure we could catch the bus by 6:30am. This bus wouldn’t be taking us directly to San Salvador. That bus leaves at 5am and none of us wanted to get up that early. At 6:30am we were outside waiting for the bus. It drives right by the house and buses basically stop wherever you want them to so we got on right outside the house. We also got seats right away. Woo hoo! This bus was taking us to Mercedes Umaña where we’d be switching buses. The person collecting change was helping the women who were getting on with their large tubs of food. I thought it was very courteous of him. The bus filled up quickly but a half hour later we were in Mercedes.

We were not so lucky with the bus from Mercedes to San Salvador. There was room on the bus but it was standing room only. This may not seem like a big deal. But when you’re on a packed-full bus for almost two hours in over 90 degree heat with no air-conditioning and no open windows you get hot and cranky very quickly. And remember, you’ve also got the person coming around collecting change that has to somehow squeeze by all the people stuffed into the aisle of the bus. This is not an experience for people who are claustrophobic or don’t like to be touched. But hey, for us it was a whole lot better than the $80 we’d pay to get to San Salvador.

I asked the guy collecting change if we could open a window and he opened one for me. Even at 7:00am I was already sweating. Of course, then more people boarded the bus and we ended up getting pushed toward the back, away from the fresh air. Bummer. I just had to suck it up. Around 7:45 we reached an area close to San Vicente called the Desvio where Kathy said some people would probably get off thus leaving empty seats. Well, today was not our day. Only one seat opened up. Kathy sat down and said we could rotate sitting down. We could each have about 15 minutes. Yay!

I got my 15 minutes and savored the time. But soon it was Cecilia’s turn. Then something unpleasant happened. A large woman needed to get off the bus. She was sitting by the window and had to get past two people just to get to the aisle. From there a series of us were smooshed up against the people sitting in the seats while she passed. Nope: no personal space. She wasn’t very large by American standards but it was still uncomfortable. I should note here that calling someone “fat” or giving them a nickname like “gordito” (little, fat one) is not considered offensive here. For example, Kathy was sitting in between two women on the way from Berlín to Mercedes. One of them leaned over to the other one who she didn’t know and said something like, “It’s a good thing we (she and Kathy) are so small because you are fat.”

Eventually we all got seats for a short while and reached the bus terminal in San Salvador at 8:45am. From there we took a taxi to the immigration office. Well, that’s what we thought we were doing. When we reached the office we went up to the door but it turned out that they’d moved. Lovely. So we had to hail another cab. I guess we’ll know in the future where it is! We got to the next place within 10 minutes.

Stickers in the taxi:

Jesus lives in my heart

Christ takes care of you and me

Once inside I handed them my paperwork. I was told to go to another building adjoined to that one. So we walked over and I handed the lady there my paper work. She had me sign my application and gave me ink to give them my thumbprints. Then I had to go back to the first building to pay my $25. So I did that and got a receipt. Then I went back to the second building to give the other lady my receipt. She told us to come back at 11:30am because all she needed was a signature from her boss. Hey, this is a good sign!

We then drove to a store we’d passed that was selling wheelchairs. We went inside to have a look around. One of the partner churches in the US is buying a wheelchair for someone in their sister community. We found a great wheelchair at a good price. Another good sign. That’s what we need! And it was only 10:00am so we had time to get some breakfast.

That's the one!

We walked a couple blocks to a Pollo Campero (kind of like a KFC) to have some breakfast. I ordered scrambled eggs, beans, plantains, and orange juice. The most exciting part? It was REAL orange juice! OJ like we have in the states is not easy to come by in El Salvador. Most of it is orange pop or orange drink, neither of which I like very much. So this was a special treat. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.

Mmm, breakfast cream for our rolls

What is breakfast cream?

After breakfast I suggested we find a grocery store like Super Selectos. I admit that I wanted to look for chocolate but what I really wanted was to find some really orange juice. Cecilia asked a woman at Pollo Campero who told us there was a store only three blocks away. So we browsed through the store for a while. I did get some chocolate but I also found orange juice. It said it was made from 25% juice. Not great, but it was the best I could find. I bought it and hoped for the best.

We caught another cab and headed back to immigration, making it there right at 11:30am. “Just in time,” Kathy said. I secretly thought to myself, “Or a half hour early.” You see, things in this country move at a different pace. The government is a good example of that. We arrived there on time but the woman said it would be at least another 30 minutes. So we waited and waited and waited. Soon she came out to tell us that it was going to be another half hour so we could go over to the other building where they had air-conditioning. Kathy and I went inside (at 12:05) but Ceci doesn’t like AC so she sat outside. A little more than a half hour later we joined Cecilia outside.

Then the women from the non-AC building told us we could again wait inside the building (12:50pm). In we went. We were starting to get concerned. One person came in with the paperwork filled out for an extension. The woman told him that he could return tomorrow afternoon to pick it up. Or he could come in the late morning and wait. Huh?? That’s just the way things work around here. I decided to fill my time by trying to learn the “Our Father” in Spanish. I sang a little of “Lovin’ You is Easy Cause You’re Beautiful” but was quickly told to put a put a cork in it (my words, not Kathy’s).

I put on my sunglasses and laid my head against the wall. Kathy told me I wasn’t fooling anyone, she knew that this is what I do when I want to fall asleep without anyone knowing. Oh, man! I said the people from immigration wouldn’t know I was sleeping. She gave me a questioning look. I decided to close my eyes anyways. The next thing I knew it was 1:30pm and the immigration lady had just walked through the doors. I signed a paper and that was it! I had my 90-day extension. Yay!! (Note that: two hours after the time we were told to return we got the paperwork signed. But at least I got my extension!)

We walked outside to hail a taxi. We were a little uncertain about finding one. Thankfully, I take after my parents and quickly flagged one down. Being from Iowa and not usually needing to hail cabs I was pretty proud of myself. We stopped off at the store to pick up the wheelchair we’d purchased and were off. Everything was going smooth and then the car started to make an odd noise. Hmmm. It sounds like we’re running out of gas. Oh! We are out of gas! Look, there’s a gas station! We almost didn’t make it up the slide incline into the gas station but the cab driver got out and pushed the car the rest of the way there. Victory, once again, is ours! He filled up and on we went to the bus terminal.

I think I can, I think I can

At the bus terminal we found the bus to Mercedes Umaña and boarded. It was a really nice bus. It had proper seats and air-conditioning. What luck! You don’t come by these buses often and when you do they usually cost more. This one was $3.00 from San Salvador to Mercedes; 50¢ more than Mercedes to San Salvador. But it was worth every penny. Several vendors boarded the bus to sell various things to the passengers. You can buy almost anything from the assorted vendors who board the bus. Today, I bought a pretty headband, Kathy got some candy, and Cecilia bought strawberries. We also get some “healthy” candy that someone made an announcement about.

The bus took off at 2:30pm. It was so comfortable. Kathy was soon asleep and I followed suit. We woke up shortly before crossing over the Río Lempa which meant we were close to Mercedes. But the adventure was not over yet. When we reached Mercedes at 4:10pm and got off the bus we found that the bus to Berlín was full. Another one soon arrived but it didn’t leave until 5:00pm. So we sat on the bus in order to get good seats and waited until it left at 5:00pm.

The ride to Berlín was uneventful and the bus drove fast. When we were only a couple blocks away from the house in Berlín when the bus pulled over to get gas. Kathy asked Cecilia if we should get off here. She said no. I decided I didn’t want to be sitting on a bus any longer and that I could walk the couple blocks to the house. I made it home and about 8 minutes later so did Kathy and Cecilia. It was a long but productive day

I hope you enjoyed this blog. For other exciting bus stories go to the “Bus” category. P.S. How was the orange juice? It turned out to be more like orange drink. Too bad.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Adventures on the bus

Saturday, 4-2-11

What a long and interesting day it’s been. Today I went on my second ever bus trip in El Salvador. Riding the bus is not something I typically do because Kathy’s here and can drive us places. But she’s in the states so that’s not possible. Cecilia needed to go to Alejandro’s school today for a meeting. The meeting was for parents so she was going as a representative (Cecilia is Ale’s brother). Ale is a student at a 2-year university in the city of Usulután studying auto mechanics. He’s into his second year already so he’ll graduate at the end of the year. I was especially excited for this bus trip because it’s the same route that Ale takes Monday thru Friday to get to classes. I like to have a better understanding of what people’s lives are like.

The bus was scheduled to take off at 7am so I got up at 6:15am to make sure I’d have enough time to get ready. I made myself a banana sandwich to go. Yes, I realize that sounds weird, but I came to enjoy banana sandwiches last year when I was here. A visitor from Spain liked to eat them and told me I should try them. I did and I liked it. So today I grabbed my banana sandwich and was off with Ceci by 6:50am. As we were walking Cecilia looked at me eating my sandwich and said, “Niña” (little girl). “Qué?” (what?) I responded. She asked me if I knew what people said about others who walked in the street eating. No, I had no idea. She said people think if someone is walking in the street eating then they don’t have a home. That makes sense. If someone has a home then they are able to eat breakfast/lunch/dinner at home at a table. It gives me something to think about.

We arrived at the bus just before 7am. There was standing room only on the bus when we got on. After a few minutes someone got up and gave me have his seat. Being a gringa can have its advantages. While we were waiting for the bus to leave several people got on to try to sell candy, ice cream treats, mangos, coconut water, and other various items. I heard a bird squawking and figured someone on the bus had a perico (little parrot) of their own. Though it was early I was already starting to get hot. Of course, regardless of the temperatures outside, none of the buses have air-conditioning. I suppose there are buses somewhere in the country that have air-conditioning. I’m sure you have to buy a ticket ahead of time and shell out a lot of money for those buses. I’m sure they don’t exist outside of big cities for the average person to use.

The bus eventually left at 7:10am. At this time I should explain that people in El Salvador have a different concept of personal space (i.e. it doesn’t really exist). And when you’re on the bus you may as well forget it. You’ve got every seat full and then as many people crammed into the aisle as humanly possible. Forget everything you know about maximum capacity and safety. If there’s no more room someone hangs on to the handles outside the door to go for a ride. It’s either that or wait for the next bus. Or someone will sit on the stairs by the entrance to the bus while the doors are open and we’re going down the road at 40mph.

I wasn’t feeling terribly comfortable because the bus was so packed full and I was really hot. But that’s life here. Then the guy who collects your money started coming around. You see, they don’t collect your money as you on the bus. Someone walks around the bus collecting money from people. This is a continual process because people are constantly getting on and off the bus. Occasionally the guy collecting money would shake his hand in front of someone who’d already paid in which case they just ignored him. This is all happening as you’re driving down the road on a hot, crowded bus. The person taking the money kind of squeezes his way between people as he goes down the aisle. Eventually he makes it to the back of the bus at which point he gets off at the back door and goes back around to the front to start all over again

Also, I need to mention that most of the time there aren’t exactly “bus stops” per se. The bus and passengers seem to know where the normal bus stops are because there are few actually signs that say “bus stop”. If you are not getting off the bus at an actual bus stop or if you want to signal to the driver that you want off, you either whistle or make some sort of noise like “Ay!” It all seems very confusing to me as I’m sure it would to any foreigner who hadn’t ridden the bus here before.

We made it to Santiago de Maria by 7:45. I was confused when Cecilia started leading me off the bus. She let me know that we had to change buses to get to Usulután. We walked over to where we’d pick up the next bus. As we got onto the second bus I decided it needed to be called “Mega Bus.” It had three seats on one side and two seats on the other. I also noticed that none of the windows were open. Uh oh. Not good. Usulután is at a lower elevation and much hotter than Berlín. It’s easily in the 90s most days. I started to worry that I was going to suffocate on the way to there. This was not a good thing to think about because then I felt even hotter. When the guy came by to collect money I asked if I could open the window. He leaned over and opened it for me. I grinned at Cecilia with excitement and she started laughing.

At one stop when we were getting close to Usulután some guy got on. He started talking in a really loud voice. I didn’t pay much attention at first and then it seemed like he was preaching at us. I asked Cecilia why he was on the bus and she told me he was selling some sort of medicine. Ahhh, yes. I remember this from my first bus trip. I started paying attention and heard him talking about a magical cream that makes your pain go away. Then he started walking down the aisle because, of course, we really needed one more person walking down the already crowded aisle full of sweaty people. As he walked by I could smell something like Icy Hot or Bengay. For the second time, I decided against purchasing the miracle cream (I have Icy Hot back at the house).

We got off the bus a little before 8:30am. Then we made our way to another bus stop. At that point I realized we had to board a third bus to get to our destination. We stood on that final bus as music blasted away inside vibrating the floor. I didn’t mind the music because I liked what they were playing. Finally, we reached our destination at 8:45am. So our total time from Berlín to Usulután was 1 hour and 45 minutes.

This experience, this bus ride, is what Alejandro does Monday thru Friday to go to school. So here’s his day in a nutshell: He gets up around 5:00am to get ready for school. He walks to the bus stop and the bus takes off around 6am. He changes buses in Santiago de Maria around 6:40am. He catches a second bus to Usulután and arrives there around 7:30am. He catches a third bus and finally arrives at his destination around 7:45am. Just like our ride, it takes him about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to school. It’s hot, crowded, and uncomfortable. How many college students do you know that would experience this every day just to get to class?

We walked into his school, which is the “Instituto Technológico de Usulután.” Like many places in El Salvador, the school was surrounded by high cement walls and there were armed guards when we walked inside. We asked some people where to go and were directed to one of the classrooms. When we walked inside I noticed that they had air-conditioning. Yay, yay, yay!!! I was really excited. I remember Alejandro telling me that his classrooms were air-conditioned. The reason being it’s over 90 degrees outside and being inside the classroom, a room without windows or ventilation, you’d fry. Now, it wasn’t super cool. Though the AC was set low, to 65 degrees, it was probably still in the 80s in the room. I attribute this to the door to the outside being left open and people constantly going in and out.

The meeting was scheduled to start at 9:00am. I looked at the letter that was sent home with Alejandro and it said in bold 9:00am. Now, did the meeting actually start at 9:00am? No, of course not. This is El Salvador and things are rarely on time. You go with the flow. We eventually started around 9:30am. Now, I had no idea what this meeting was going to be about and neither did Cecilia. It was hard to hear what the people were saying. They had a power point up but I’m not exactly sure what purpose it served. The print on it was really small and the information didn’t seem especially useful to the parents. They talked about the school itself and the values, mission, and vision of the school. They also talked about how important school was.

I was feeling really tired. The bus ride had done me in and it was still hot inside the classroom. I did my best to stay awake for the presentation hoping at some point there’d be useful information. At one point I leaned over and asked Cecilia what the purpose of the meeting was, thinking that maybe I just wasn’t understanding the Spanish. But she said she didn’t know. Then they put up a video that they’d created for us to watch. It was about the school, but other than that I’m not sure why we were watching it. The movie was set to several different songs. Not entire songs, but 30 second snippets of songs. There were pictures of various clubs and other things but I was still lost about why we were there.

Then something happened that really ticked me off. Some guy who was a professor at the university and was there to help with the presentation sat behind me and turned off the air-conditioning. I realize this might seem silly to you, but picture yourself in this situation and tell me with a straight face that you wouldn’t be upset as well. I just experienced a long, nearly 2 hour bus ride where I was smashed against lots of people and now I was sitting inside a cement room with no ventilation and no air-conditioning. And it was in the mid-90s outside. Yeah, I was kind of mad.

Now, all that being said, if the building didn’t have AC to start with then the situation would be different. When I’m at someone’s house in the cantons and it’s hot outside I don’t complain. But come on, if you have AC then take advantage of it. It’s not like it’s personally costing him money. The air-conditioners are there for a reason and that reason is the heat. Even Alejandro has said that it’d be terrible if they didn’t have AC (and he lives in a canton). Turning off the AC in that situation is like having someone hand you the keys to a new Mercedes and you saying, “No thanks. I’d rather walk barefoot over broken class for a couple miles.”

I leaned over and asked Cecilia why he turned off the air-conditioning. She said it was because he had a cold (he was coughing every once and a while). At this point my sarcastic button switched on and I thought of some really derisive things to say. Thankfully I didn’t know how to say them in Spanish so I kept my mouth shut. I will tone down my sarcasm here and simply say that perhaps he should have moved across to the other side of the room and not sat down right next to the air-conditioner.

Now, I am by no means a wuss. I’ve had my share of interesting and difficult experiences. I camp, backpack, bike, kayak, and love spending time outdoors. I’ve pushed the pickup here out of the mud when it got stuck and I’ve walked up the mountain that Berlín in on from several miles below in the pouring rain. But sometimes the heat can make me irritable and so do people when they don’t consider other’s feelings. When I looked around me at other people in the room I could see they were uncomfortable in the heat as well. Several people where fanning themselves with paper and looking anxiously at the AC. But everyone was too polite to say anything and I didn’t want to look like the whiny gringa so I just kept my mouth shut.

After a while Cecilia told me that I could go outside and wait. I said I didn’t want to miss anything and she told me that it was okay. So at 11am (remember, the meeting started at 9:30) I went outside to walk around. It was hot outside too but at least there I had some air movement. I wondered around a little and eventually found the bathrooms. Then I came upon a food stand. I decided that a cold Pepsi and some cookies were in order. I bought them and walked back to where the classroom was. At 11:15 the meeting was finally over. I still have no clue as to its real purpose.

I thought about not including this air-conditioning experience in my blog because it wasn’t very positive and really showed my ugly side. But I feel like I’m omitting something when I hold back information. And I want people to know how I’m truly feeling when I’m here. Now just the good times, but the bad times as well. Not just the moments when I’m happy, but also the ones when I’m really sad. I will definitely remember this experience in the future and maybe I’ll even see things differently someday. Who knows.

Chelita poking her heard out of her nighttime home

Alejandro's university

Inside the classroom

There's the AC!

Walking around campus

It's very pretty

A picture of the national tree: Maquilishaut

Cecilia had asked me if I wanted to go downtown to go to the supermarket. Of course! I like checking out the stores and markets here. We hopped another bus to the downtown area. We got off and walked a little ways to the supermarket. Now, Berlín doesn’t have a supermarket and the closest one to us is two towns over in Santiago de Maria. The one we were at now was huge!! Well, for El Salvador it was huge. It was probably about half the size of the new Dahl’s store on Ingersoll in Des Moines.

I looked around at all of the things they had. They had a fruit and vegetable section, a dairy section, and entire aisles devoted to cleaning products, hygiene products, etc. There’s nowhere in Berlín where you can find all this stuff and certainly not all together like this. I got some candy, brown sugar, and yogurt. The brown sugar I’m planning to use when I make chocolate chip cookies. Kathy has all the other ingredients that she brought down and now I have the brown sugar. It’s not easy to find in El Salvador and I thought I was going to have to resort to using a recipe without the brown sugar. I’m also excited about the yogurt because, with the exception of cheese and ice cream, I eat no other dairy products here. There is no milk and yogurt is not easy to find either. I looked for peanut butter but the one of the employees told us they didn’t sell it. That’s another product that’s hard to find. No big deal. I think I’ll live.

We purchased our products and headed out to find some lunch. We stopped at Pollo Campero to eat. This was my second time at this restaurant. It’s sort of like a KFC but even more popular. A new Pollo Campero opened up in Berlín but it’s really small and only has about 6 main dishes on the menu. The one in Usulután is huge. We decided to eat there so we sat down at a table and someone came to take our order. Oooo, very nice! We both ordered a chicken sandwich with fries and something to drink. Not too long after we ordered our meal came and we munched away. Cecilia also ordered some chicken to go to take home to Blanca.

We finished up and headed back outside to catch the bus. It was a ways away but I like looking around and at all the things for sale on the streets. We just barely caught the bus at 12:45 that was heading to Santiago de Maria. There was standing room only and I propped myself up against one of the seats. The windows were open so there was lots of air and they were playing some great reggaeton music. Eventually some seats opened up so Ceci and I sat down. I recognized one of the songs and started singing to her. I asked for a quarter but she refused to pay me. Oh well.

We got off at Santiago de Maria and walked quite a ways to our next stop. We got on the bus around 1:40 but it didn’t leave until 2:00pm. Most of the trip back was pleasant. There was some drunk guy on the bus standing in the front. He kept tapping the guy next to him on the shoulder and then leaned over and was tapping a woman on the shoulder as well. I felt bad for them. Unfortunately, that’s definitely not an uncommon sight here. Usually when I see drunk people here in town they’re more annoying than dangerous. Probably because by then their blood alcohol level is so high that they can barely function. It’s not unusual to see people sleeping it off on the sidewalk.

We got off the bus in Berlín and were back at the Pastoral House at 2:40pm. It was quite an experience. I was tired enough to nap but decided against it. I got showered and worked on a couple school things for a while. I chatted with Blanca and Idalia when the pan dulce arrived around 4:30pm. Later we were all out back talking. They were cleaning up the yard and I went out to see what all they were doing. I brought out Chenita and had her pose for a picture on a really cool flower in the yard. I’ve decided that her nickname will be Chiquita, which means “small,” because I’ve heard Aminta and Blanca calling her that. It’s been an interesting day. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

The supermarket

Yogurt!!!

The store mascot?

Walking in downtown Usulutan

They have a Payless here

Pollo Campero

The desserts and drinks

Inside the restaurant

Our food

There's our bus

Swimsuits in Santiago de Maria

I thought this was weird because most people

do not wear swimsuits to the beach

Pollo Campero Queen

Complete with crown and chicken

Chelita pecking around

She still loves mom

Turtle, turtle!

Isn't Chenita beautiful!

Barbara likes to eat Chelita's food.

I love her so much!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Santiago de Maria & Alejandría

Wednesday, 2-16-11

Our plans are always changing. We were going to get up early today to be able to leave by 8:00 so we could go to Usulután to get flowers for tomorrow’s celebration in Alejandría. But Kathy wasn’t feeling well and the ladies decided we could to Santiago de Maria to get the flowers which is much closer. Usulután is about 50 minutes away and Santiago is only 25 minutes away but truck. Since Kathy wasn’t going to be going with us she wouldn’t be driving. So we got to take the bus. This would be my first experience on a bus in El Salvador.

Since Betty wasn’t feeling great either only Maurice, Blanca, Idalia, and I went. We left the house at 8:30am for the bus stop in the center of Berlín. We hopped on the bus, which is a converted school bus, for Santiago. At first Maurice and I were going to share a seat but the seats were pretty tiny and we didn’t fit into the seat well together. So he moved over to his own seat. The ladies sat behind me. Several people got on while the bus was parked to try to sell candy, ice cream treats, mangos, coconut water, and other various items.

We saw a sign that said, “Dios va en mi camino” which means, “God is on my journey” so we figured we’d be safe on the bus going around the curves in the mountains. And we were just fine after the bus took off at 8:45. After a few minutes a young man came around to collect bus fare from everyone which was 75¢. Several people were on the bus though it wasn’t near being full. I had a seat all to myself the whole trip. At one point a young man was playing music on his phone loud enough that most of the bus could hear, but it was good music so I didn’t mind. We passed through Alegría at 9:05 and arrived in Santiago at 9:20; only a 35 minutes drive which was pretty good for being in the bus.

The first place we headed was the indoor market, which Kathy calls Jordan Creek Mall because it’s indoors, bigger, and nicer than the market here in Berlín. You can buy lots of things that you’d need there: clothes, fruit, vegetables, meat, flowers, first aid supplies, etc. Blanca and Idalia knew exactly what they wanted and where they were going. When we found the flowers they were a little disappointed because there weren’t any roses, but they found many other beautiful flowers to buy for the celebration. Maurice was immediately in charge of carrying the flowers and, later on, the other bags. It was nice to have a tall, white person with us because he got stared at and attracted all the attention away from who he calls “the blue-eyed, fair-haired one.”

After purchasing flowers we went to a little store to buy other items for the celebration. The store was a cross between a Hy-Vee and a Target but much smaller. The ladies bought cups, little plastic baskets, candles, bowls, and cleaning supplies. I also bought a couple plastic baskets to help organize my things. We did not, however, buy the gun holsters that were also for sale in the store strategically placed by the baby wipes and brooms. Nor did we buy the “Colesterol crema” (cholesterol cream) that apparently is used for your hair. We made our purchases and were on our way.

On the way back to where the bus stop was we passed a building that read “Taller Mecanico” which is basically a mechanical workshop or store. While the Trinity group was here we were joking that the sign actually meant “taller” so it was a place for Larry and Maurice who are both very tall. Subsequently, we had to get picture of Maurice in front of it. After we took the picture a person in a pickup passed us and I heard someone shout through the window “gringo feo” which means “ugly white person.” I assumed they were talking to Maurice and laughed as I told him what they said. Not very nice, but I rarely hear name-calling like that here. Shortly after that happened a guy standing by the side of the road was trying to sell us combs. Maurice said no and immediately the guy said in English, “Don’t be greedy, my man. Buy a comb.” They had a friendly, brief exchange as we walked toward the car.

We hopped back on the bus around 10:15. Several people got on the bus making it more crowded than the first trip. The vendors came through as usual and tried to sell people things. At one point, a man got on the front of the bus and started talking loudly and holding up a jar of something. We realized he was trying to sell some sort of magical cream and Maurice said he was like an infomercial. He was an effective infomercial because a couple people bought his product.

Around 10:40 the bus took off. We thought it would be a fast bus because a logo on the back of the bus said “misil” which means missile or rocket. Unfortunately, the bus did not live up to its name and got off to a very slow start. This time every seat in the bus was occupied and several people were standing. Blanca told me that when the kids come home from school around 5pm that the bus gets really full with barely enough room to stand. Blanca sat down next to me so no one else would and Maurice shared his seat but was able to sit on the outside. At one point he had to stand up and when he did he had to duck because his head reached the ceiling. I actually fell asleep for a while on the ride home.

The way money is collected and the process of people getting on and off was interesting. The person walking around collecting money would make several sweeps of the bus as people got on and off. When the bus stopped and new people got on he’d shake coins in his hands in front of people if they hadn’t paid yet. Occasionally he’d shake his hand in front of someone who’d already paid in which case they just ignored him. If someone wanted to get off they’d stand up and the guy who collected money would whistle. The bus driver would stop and people got off. Then the guy would whistle again and the bus would start moving.

He barely fits!

Very comfortable

God is on my journey

Walking through the mall

I'll take some fresh fruit, please

Mmm, pineapples

There is no lack of food to buy here

Gun holsters next to baby wipes, brooms, and rope

Cholesterol cream? What's that for?

He's almost taller than the Taller

Infomercial on the bus

We got back to the house at 11:20. We had a leisurely lunch and spent some time relaxing before we had to leave to help decorate Alejandría. At 2:45pm we all piled into the pickup to head to Alejandría to decorate for the celebration tomorrow. We will be celebrating the recent installation of electricity and running water for each home. It is going to be a huge event with the entire community attending as well as people who helped to fund the project.

We arrived in Alejandría with much work to be done. The tent needed to be set up as well as a tarp to cover people tomorrow from the sun. The plastic streamer decorations that we’ve been working on for a couple days needed to be hung. The road and area where the tents were set up had to be watered with a hose to help eliminate the enormous amount of dust in the area. And flowers needed to be cut out of paper to embellish the large palm fronds tied up at the corners of the tents.

It took a while for everyone to figure out what they needed to do and how they needed to do it. Maurice headed down to the area where the tents were to be set up with a group of guys. Kathy, Betty, and I helped out hanging the plastic streamers. But after a while we asked Blanca if there was anything else we could do because they really didn’t seem to need our help. Blanca put us in charge of designing and cutting up paper flowers to put on the palm fronds. Kathy was handed Maurice’s camera and started taking pictures of everything while Betty and I worked on the flowers. We thought we only needed 20 because that’s what Blanca told us. But later on we needed more so we had to cut up the rest of the paper.

Blanca, Cecilia, and Idalia went with some guys to hang up the streamers at several points on the road. The guys had to dig holes for the poles to be put into the ground and get bamboo from the area. After a bit of a mix up with the poles the guys below figured out how to get the tent set up. Several ladies and a guy were taking turns hosing down the dirt to make it less dusty (this really does work) while other women carried away stones and brush from the area to make it look nicer. Everyone was doing something and by working together we got a lot accomplished.

Soon it was time to hang the streamers around the tents. Good thing Maurice was there because he’s super tall and could help hang the streamers. Kind of like the Bumble in the movie Rudolph. Everyone participated in this including the kids. Soon we’d hung the rest of the streamers on the tent. Next it was time to bring down the palm fronds and decorate them. They were tied to the corners of the tents and decorated with bows and the paper flowers we made. The finishing touch to the decorations was two palm fronds tied together in an arch at the entrance to the area. We didn’t finish until 5:30pm; 2 ½ hours of work!

Also, the reason there are so many photos was because both Kathy and I were taking pictures today as we were working. I only took 35 as we were decorating while Kathy took a whopping 267 (I kid you not!) So I spent a lot of time going through and picking out the good ones. I always thought with a digital camera I would be able to take fewer pictures because I’d be able to erase the bad ones but this turned out not to be the case. I usually take tons of pictures, probably more than I need.

We got home and scarfed down some pupusas for dinner. We spent the evening talking, blogging, and discussing other important issues. I need to get some sleep because tomorrow is going to be busy! I always say that but then I never end up getting to bed until midnight. Something is wrong with my system of doing things.