Full Circle

I find it interesting that just before I am to return to the States I have returned first to where I began my trip. Mark left this afternoon to return to Guatemala. He will fly back to the States from Guatemala City, which takes him back to the beginning of his summer in Central America. I am once again in Eva's apartment while Eva is out of the country, which brings me back to how I began my summer here. I have truly come full circle.

Now, I am packing my bags for the last time with the new challenge of finding creative ways to get my various gifts and souvenirs to fit into bags that were already tightly packed when I arrived. I really need to work on my packing skills at the beginning of my trips lol. The good news is I won't have to single-handedly maneuver my heavy bags too much. Delmy and her son Fernando have officially agreed to take me to the airport Sunday morning. I'm very grateful for the gesture but I feel bad because my flight leaves San Salvador at 6:30AM which means we'll have to leave between 2:30 and 3:00 AM. It's just the latest of many kindnesses from Delmy and her family that I sincerely wish I could repay and perhaps someday I will be able to.

For now, I am enjoying the down time before returning to life in DC and dealing with all the things that had to be put off while I was out of the country. As my many friends who also spent their summers abroad return and begin the process of settling back in, I look forward to my return that much more.

I've found that saying goodbye has been harder than I thought it would be in some cases. At our farewell party this week I found myself tearing up at the thought of saying goodbye to Delmy. I also found saying goodbye to Mark this afternoon surprisingly hard. I know I'm going to see him in the coming weeks but for some reason I felt a certain sense of loss because I know we are unlikely to be able to share the same type of time with each other once we return to our "real" lives in DC.

Despite the many mental and emotional challenges I've faced this summer, I've developed several friendships that I sincerely hope to be able to continue after I've returned to the US. The one positive is that one goodbye, at least, has been delayed because our good friend Gabby will be visiting us in Washington in the coming months for a whole week. I can't wait to take her around DC for her first visit to that city and repay her for her time and effort in making us feel welcome.

For now, I am off to pack and sleep and I look forward to standing on US soil again. Just 28 hours until I am on my way to the airport and then home.

The Last Hurdle

Mark and I jumped our last hurdle today at work. We presented our findings to date at the USAID offices to people from the Democracy and Governance Office as well at the Strategic Planning Office. I'm not going to lie, I was terribly nervous. I really didn't eat anything substantial all day and I'm betting if I had needed to shake hands with anyone they would have felt me trembling. Luckily greetings here are a kiss on the cheek so I dodged a bullet there.

In reality the presentation went very well. It was obvious that everyone was pleasantly surprised with the results of our work and our analysis of the mediation programs. The report is still not done and Mark and I will have to complete it after returning to DC because we are still missing some very important numbers. Just the same, our USAID audience was very pleased with the progress to date and even expressed surprise at how much we accomplished in just a couple of months. Interest has been expressed on several sides in distributing our final report, which I think would be excellent. Our humble contribution would be one of the few examples of a quantitative analysis of a mediation program made publicly available for quite some time.

Once that stressful, though ultimately positive, experience was over, Mark and I returned to the office for the last time. With the presentation given and no chance of getting the missing data before we leave, or even in the coming weeks due to some major events, Mark and I are left with nothing more we can do here. I know I'm excited to take a couple of days off and away from the office before returning to pretty much jump into classes.

We also took tonight to have our "ultimas pupusas en El Salvador" with Delmy and her son Fernando. I have grown very fond of Delmy and her children and I must admit I am going to miss them. They're warmth and friendliness has been one of the highlights of my time here. If I can work with someone half as capable and friendly as Delmy in every job I have in the future, I will consider myself uncommonly lucky.

Tomorrow I will finish packing and rest up for the always long and stressful process of flying internationally. I am fully expecting this to be a good trip home. I will have family to greet me at the airport and I look forward to seeing all of my friends in the coming weeks.

This summer has had its ups and downs but luckily the positives outweigh the negatives. I knew from the beginning that this was going to be a learning experience and I was not disappointed.

Farewell Party

It's official. Mark and I are coming to the end of our time here in El Salvador and we were generously treated to a lovely farewell party tonight. Some goodbyes need to happen sooner than others and we wanted to make sure that we would be able to have a proper celebration with everyone. Eva will be leaving this Thursday and our friend Patricia will also be traveling later this week. We had friends and acquaintances from the Public Defender's Office come as well as our co-workers from the office and a few additional friends. It was a very pleasant time and we were surprised with some wonderful parting gifts. (Side note: I'll buy a drink for anyone who gets the meaning of Mark's gift)

I actually started the process of packing and planning the logistics of my trip home. There are some people I am really going to miss but I am ready to return to all the people I have been missing for the past 10 weeks. It'll feel good to be home.

Drafts and Draughts

Mark and I are now into the "home stretch" and that means the real work has well and truly begun. On Wednesday we were asked to produce a draft of our document by the weekend in order for our supervisors to be able to make comments. After working for two days straight we produced a 10 page (single-spaced) draft of the document, which we sent off just after midnight last night. The real challenge was writing sections with information that remains incomplete as we wait to be provided with some data that we think is extremely important for our arguments about the effect of the mediation programs on the efficiency of the Salvadoran justice system. All we could do was note the gap and move on. This did prevent us from being able to write our conclusions and the executive summary our contacts at USAID have expressed the most interest in.

I have to say, I don't think I have ever appreciated Mark's superior professional experience until this week. He has been invaluable in helping to keep me grounded in the realities of how projects and evaluations usually work in the "real" world. My frustration has been all but boundless on countless occasions and Mark has had the unenviable job of breaking through my idealistic perfectionism and reminding me that I will face these challenges for the rest of my career so I might as well learn to accept the limitations and work around them. It's been a hard won lesson but, I am sure, a lesson I would have learned sooner rather than later. That is not to say, however, that I will not be frustrated when confronted by these challenges. I just hope it means I will be able to resign myself to the limitations and find creative ways to work around them.

We will be spending the majority of this weekend continuing to polish the draft and begin the process of extrapolating the conclusions we can make at this stage in our process. We expect to get the comments from our supervisors on Monday and spend the rest of Monday and Tuesday getting the product as far as we possibly can with the information we have. Wednesday we have scheduled a meeting at USAID to present the report (ideally the finished product but we may have to settle for less). Eva leaves town Thursday so, come hell or high water we present what we have Wednesday. Mark and I are already resigning ourselves to the possibility of needing to finalize the report after returning to Washington.

The past week has not been ALL work, however. We have been able to squeeze in a few, much needed, nights out and a few equally necessary drinks. We went to see the new Batman movie with Delmy and her kids a few nights ago. They're always a fun bunch and that was a very well timed night out.

Thursday night Mark and I also briefly met with an acquaintance of Eva's who shares a surprising common interest with me. He is deeply fascinated by all things Celtic. Now, those of you who know me well are well aware of my love of Celtic music. Slightly less well known is my interest in the myths and traditions of the Celts, especially the Irish for obvious reasons. Interestingly, this friend of Eva, a native Salvadoran, shares this interest and is extremely knowledgeable on the subject. Eva has been trying to get us to meet for the majority of the summer but it had not panned out until this week. It was an unlikely encounter that was certainly fascinating.

Two Weeks Left

I know. I know. I've been a horrible blogger recently. It's not for lack of wanting to say something as much as it has been a lack of something to say. Life moves along the same as it has for several weeks now. Mark and I are still struggling to get the information we need; let alone write our report. This was complicated by the recent week of vacation here in San Salvador.

This past week was the festival of the patron saint of San Salvador, which meant the city almost entirely shut down and emptied as everyone left for vacation. Ricardo was kind enough to share his first day of vacation with us by taking us to the Mayan ruins. The following Tuesday our friend and co-worker Gabby took us to Suchitoto. A lovely town a short drive from San Salvador and a strong-hold of the communist party. I swear I have never seen so much red in my life. Even the mayor's office was painted red and white. During the war the area was a strong-hold of the rebels and that loyalty continued once the FMLN became a political party. We didn't stay long because the day was oppressively hot but we did get to walk around the lovely (and very clean) town and enjoy a very nice lunch at a hotel that overlooks the lake. Besides these two outings, Mark and I stayed close to home and did work. I was actually content to stay home the majority of the time because I had the house to myself so my schedule was entirely my own and I got some much needed down time.

We will return to the office and our regular schedule tomorrow in the beginning of our final push to the end. In approximately 10 days Mark and I will need to complete our research and write our report. We will also have a final meeting with USAID to present the product of our time here.
Mark, ever longing for a beach is trying earnestly to find the means and time to make a final weekend trip to Honduras. I'm highly skeptical that the timing and logistics will work out but I've wished him luck.

Exactly 14 days from now I will finally be comfortably back in my own apartment and I can't wait. My mom and sister should be in town and I'm looking forward to seeing them. I also miss my cat something terrible. At least he doesn't charge me from dark corners in an attempt to make my heart jump out of my chest (long story, suffice it to say the dog of the house and I are not on speaking terms at the moment). I also have plans for more of my family and a friend or two visiting DC in the months after I get back. These weeks can't possibly go fast enough.

Mayan Ruins

I know my posting has become less frequent lately but that is primarily because Mark and I have been trudging through the nitty-gritty of the data we've been given as we prepare to begin writing our long anticipated report. Today as well as last Saturday, however, were much needed breaks from our work that afforded us the opportunity to visit some of the nearby sites of Mayan ruins. These various structures are officially the oldest man-made objects I have seen thus far.

Last Saturday we visited Casa Blanca with Delmy (the Financial and Administrative Manager of our office) and two of her children. Casa Blanca is well known for its indigo. They process/produce the natural dye and use it on site to make some amazing works of art on fabric. The intricacy of some of the designs is astounding. After watching a demonstration on the process of dying fabric we walked back to the pyramid ruins on the grounds. They were not well excavated, which is an ongoing process, but that didn't stop us from being in awe. Unfortunately the site hasn't been developed for tourism yet so there weren't signs to help give us any information. It was a beautiful day, though, and a wonderful introduction to the many structures the Mayans left behind.

Today Mark and I went with Ricardo (the resident mediator in the office) to a string of sites. First we visited Joya de Ceren, which is the Central American Pompeii. This city was buried in 14 layers of volcanic ash, perfectly preserving it. Like Pompeii, it was a residential area but fortunately the eruption was not as catastrophic so the people were able to evacuate the city. Still, their homes were preserved just as they left them. Any structural damage to the buildings can be attributed to the earthquakes that accompanied the eruption. Corn, beans and seeds were preserved in the ash and the voids they left in the ash are amazingly detailed. The buildings themselves are very interesting. The kitchen/eating areas were always in a separate structure from the bedrooms/storerooms. The bedrooms consisted of raised plaster platforms that they would cover with cushions. All of the houses that have been uncovered only has one bedroom meaning everyone in the family slept together in a single room. Remains of the fences used to confine animals as well as the remains of their gardens have been found giving a very complete picture of a relatively simple agrarian lifestyle. So far, only a very small area has been excavated and it is believed there are many more houses buried nearby.

Only a few kilometers away is the San Andrés archaeological site. This was the economic/political/religious center for the people who lived at Joya de Ceren. The original Mayan name of this site has been lost so it is referred to by its colonial name. This is a large complex of pyramids with a large communal plaza. The two main pyramids are the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon. Surrounding the Temple of the Sun are several smaller pyramids creating the acropolis complex. This site has not been well excavated and the majority of the pyramids (60-70%) remain buried. The cool thing is you literally can climb to the top of several of the smaller pyramids that are still completely buried and get a bird's-eye view of the site. As a funny side note, after climbing up the pyramids we looked down into what would have been the acropolis courtyard to see 6 or 7 sheep just wandering around eating the grass. Ricardo spoke with a man leading another sheep away from the pyramids and confirmed that the sheep are there purposefully. They keep the grass short and save the people the trouble of needing to maintain the grass. Mayan lawnmowers. This site also has a large and ancient complex for processing indigo. Ricardo pointed out that the plant used to make the dye quite literally grows as a weed in the area even now. They certainly wouldn't have had too much of a problem with their supply of the plant.

Finally, we visited a site called Tazumal. Here we saw the most complete pyramid of the day. Fully excavated and well preserved, this pyramid seemed huge after the other sites. The revelation we learned here was the fact that the Mayans actually built on top of their own pyramids over time. The pyramids at Tazumal are the result of of 3-4 building phases. This is actually fairly new information for the archaeologists who had been studying the site. An earthquake a few years ago knocked loose part of one of the structures revealing an earlier structure below. It was a fascinating day.

I've also updated my photobucket album with a ton of pictures taken over the past month. Here's a new link to it so you can check out all the lovely ruins and beaches I have visited since the beginning of July.

Safe travels to all my friends as they begin to head back to the States. I look forward to seeing everyone again in about 22 days. Yes, I'm keeping track.

Homesickness and Culture Clashes

I've been struggling for some time with some culture clashes and homesickness as has probably been apparent in a few of my posts. These have peeked recently and since I have been so candid in the past I thought I might as well share my thoughts and emotional struggles as well.

I've spent long periods away from the US before, so I've experienced homesickness before. I was expecting to experience the same types of things this time around and I did at first. The longer I have been here, however, the worse some of these feelings have gotten and recently they hit a fevered pitch. After a lot of reflection and a lot of conversations with multiple friends (thank you to everyone - you know who you are) I have started to piece together what I am really feeling and why. This is a normal process for me when I'm faced with strong negative emotions because I don't like to be unhappy and therefore I like to understand my feelings in order to correct whatever needs to be corrected. I have come to a few major conclusions that have been very helpful.

My first conclusion is that my homesickness is stronger this time because my home life is happier now. I sincerely love DC, Georgetown, the CR Program and all of my wonderful friends and I miss all of these places and people terribly. This was actually a comfort to me, like most people, I have had my ups and downs in the past few years and it was great to recognize and acknowledge that I am actually in the midst of an "up" time and it is my desire to continue to enjoy these people and places that is making me sad. Ironic but now that I know it I can express these emotions more positively and productively.

Second, I have been struggling with a few cultural clashes that have been extremely frustrating. Some I was forewarned but in the end it didn't seem to matter as they are all equally frustrating. Most of these clashes revolve around the cultural conceptions of time, punctuality and scheduling. I am pretty much obsessive compulsive when it comes to punctuality and this OCD is very contradictory to the local cultural understanding of time and schedules as fluid and flexible. I know there is no "right" or "wrong" in this situation. There is only what I am "used to" and what I am not. I have my good and bad days with this and I recently had a very bad day, which prompted a lot of these reflections.

Third and most influential is my realization that much of my frustration stems from the common source of the dependent lifestyle I have to live while here. What I am referring to is my almost complete dependence on others for my ability to move around the city. Buses in San Salvador are fairly unreliable and not terribly safe (the most common threat is pick pocketing but other things have been known to happen). Suffice it to say Eva is not encouraging us to utilize the buses that run within the city. Taxis can get pricey if you're using them a lot and my lack of Spanish language skills and my lack of familiarity with the city can make giving directions a challenge. I think it has been this problem that has been the most frustrating and it has increased the effects of the other two challenges.I'm used to being able to independently move freely around DC, which allows me the flexibility to adjust my schedule more easily when plans need to change, an ability I don't really have here. I truly think this has been the cause of so much of my frustration and I am hoping that now that I recognize this I will be able to avoid any more moments of extreme frustration.

My experiences thus far have been too good to allow them to be spoiled by such a petty cultural clash. I thought I would share all of this with you because I know it was a comfort to me to learn that my reaction is not uncommon for Americans in Central America. This is a process I think many, if not most, people go through when they spend extended amounts of time away from their home country/culture. For any of you who may be struggling through similar homesickness/cultural clashes, you are not alone.

Yes I Do Work

The past two weeks have been particularly busy for us and it made me realize that I really have not written much about the work I'm doing. It may surprise all of you but I'm really not on vacation here.

Part of the reason that I haven't given a lot of detail about what we're working on is we didn't really have a clear objective until recently. We knew from the beginning that we would be focusing on an evaluation that would combine empirical data from the project and theory in an attempt to demonstrate the role mediation can play in a justice system in a developing nation. In some ways it's a tall order. I don't know of any reports that have been able to empirically show mediation's effects on a justice system. (If anyone has any suggestions in this area, please pass them along.) Despite knowing this broad goal, there were a lot of related questions that were unanswered until last week at the meeting at USAID on my birthday. I guess that was USAID's birthday present to me, a final project description and goal. Now we know our final product will look far more academic than we had originally thought, which Mark and I actually like since we feel like we're on more familiar ground.

For the next 3-4 weeks Mark and I will be sifting through crime statistics, statistics from the mediation centers, ledgers of costs for the courts and mediation centers and hopefully making a few more site visits outside of San Salvador. How well the numbers will be able to show a direct and positive relationship between increased efficiency in the justice sector and the use of the mediation centers is yet to be seen. At the same time we will be diving into theories on rule of law, democracy, legitimacy and public perception surveys in an attempt to create bridges of theories, logic and statistics between mediation and its uses and effects. Mark and I now have 5 weeks left in El Salvador and the pressure is truly on. Word of our work has circulated fairly widely and we have already been invited to make a presentation to the Procurador (the Public Defendor) and many within USAID have expressed interest in the paper as well.

The work itself is extremely interesting to me. With my interest in post-conflict justice systems, this project is ideal for me in that respect. Searching for information has revealed an interesting trend. It seems that most people stopped writing about Central America, at least its challenges in the justice sector between 3 and 5 years ago. Finding recent information has been extremely challenging in some cases. Mark has been focusing on issues relating to democratization in the past day or so and he has commented that he is surprised that he can find so little considering the various levels of democratization and the very different processes one can observe in the region. Pass the word along to our DG friends, there's plenty to be done and learned in Central America.

Another note on our research process concerns politics, both in El Salvador and globally. Mark and I have recently had some meetings with representatives from the two violence prevention programs USAID is currently funding here. In both meetings concern was expressed over the less than ideal timing for attempting to promote some of our projects. 2009 is a major election year for El Salvador. January will see the election of a new Legislative Assembly as well as municipal councils and mayors. March will see the next presidential election. Within a few months almost every layer of the government here will face elections and the consensus is that these elections are going to be bitter and nasty. Some have even expressed concerns about the possibility of violence but of course it is far too early to really be able to predict that. While mediation in and of itself does not appear to be terribly politically sensitive, the approaching elections have made the upcoming out-reach program DPK is organizing far more challenging. The private sector is reluctant to donate money because they do not want to be associated with any governmental department, which the Procuradoria and Fiscalia are both widely seen to be (although that is technically not the case). Political changes can also threaten projects that have become associated with an opposition party and that can include some of the current mediation projects as well as some of the work being done by the other two projects.

In addition to the domestic politics of El Salvador, we also have to keep in mind our own elections this fall and the effects they may have on the policies and priorities of USAID and the State Department. All of these things can come into play. I have also learned that Canada, Italy and Germany are also major international development donors in El Salvador. Politics in those countries can also be very influential on projects they fund. This showed me yet another way that the globe has become interconnected.

First Birthday Abroad

Yet another first...I told you this would be a summer of firsts. Let me give you a little timeline of the madness that was my 23rd birthday.

6:30 AM - Woke up 15 minutes earlier than I wanted to.
6:40 AM - My host/coworker knocks on my door and informs me we need to be at the Fiscalia (Attorney General's Office) for a meeting and need to leave at 7:00.
7:05 AM - I'm dressed and ready and waiting for her so we can leave.
7:15 AM - We're in the car and on our way.
8:00 AM - The meeting begins. Due to some recent problems my office needed to make a presentation to the top prosecutors to get them to recommit to a pilot mediation project hosted within that Fiscalia office. Thanks to Ricardo, who I am now calling the Mediation televangelist, everyone in the room was converted and their souls (and the pilot project) were saved.
8:45 AM - We leave the Fiscalia and head to the office so that I can go to another meeting. Along the way Ricardo sang "Happy Birthday" to me a la Marilyn Monroe (it's on youtube if you somehow don't know what I'm talking about).
9:00 AM - We are preparing to go to the Procurduria (Public Defender's Office) when Delmy surprises me with a birthday gift. A lovely necklace! Thank you Delmy!
9:30 AM - The meeting begins. This was the wrap-up meeting to end a week-long workshop/evaluation of the mediation process in the Procurduria. I'm not going to lie, I couldn't/didn't follow most of the conversation. I was distracted by the thought of going to the beach for the weekend.
10:30 AM - Break and snack
11:00 AM - Back to the meeting
12:30 PM - Break for lunch (Salvadorans feed people well at their meetings).
1:30 PM - The meeting begins again
1:45 PM - Eva is finally released from her simultaneous meeting with the Procurador (Head Defendor) and we need to rush out in a vain attempt to get to USAID on time.
1:57 PM - We call USAID to tell them we will be late for our 2:00 PM meeting.
2:15 PM - We finally arrive at USAID for our meeting.
6:00 PM - We leave USAID more because the Embassy is closing for the day than because we ran out of things to talk about in regards to the specific projects Mark and I will be working on. Not going to lie, by this point I was pretty tired and had a definite headache.
6:30 PM - We stop at PriceMart (it's like a Cosco's or Sam's) because there was no food in Eva and Mark's apartment.
7:30 PM - We get back to Eva's to put away the food and so Eva and Mark can change clothes.
8:10 PM - We FINALLY leave for a nice quiet birthday dinner for the three of us.
8:30 PM - We arrive at the restaurant Eva picked out and after mumbling something about a reservation she leads us to the back of the restaurant where I find the entire office waiting to celebrate my birthday. Needless to say they were very hungry by this point.
10:00 PM - We finish dinner and Luis takes me and Mark out for a few drinks. The bar is supposed to be one of the best in San Salvador. There was live music (which was really good), beer (which is always good) and plenty of drunk people dancing (which made everything even better).
12:45 AM - We decide to call it a night. After the long day of meetings I was pretty wiped out and it was clearly written all over my face.
1:00 AM - I finally get home. I read all the birthday greetings sent to me (thank you everyone!) and pass out within half an hour.

So, that was my first birthday abroad. In a few hours Mark and I will be returning to that beach we have posted so many pictures of for a weekend of relaxing, swimming and other fun things. I am SO ready!

Celebrating the Fourth of July

[Let me start with a brief side note to explain the double posting I've been doing lately. For the past couple of weeks I have not had internet access at home so I have had to wait until in the office to make blog posts. To minimize the amount of time I spent doing "non-work related" work I started drafting blog posts in word documents at home, which eventually led to a small back-log of thoughts I wanted to share. The internet glitch has been resolved so I wanted to get caught up with my posts and as of this post I will be.]

This was actually the first time I have been out of the US on the Fourth of July (yet another first) and I was honestly a little torn about it. Part of me would have loved to spend another Fourth in DC and part of me is glad I missed the outrageous number of tourists who come to the area for this important national holiday. Still I wanted to celebrate and Mark was also eager to avoid spending an entire weekend sitting around the apartment so we went in search of some entertainment.

Before we started, however, I was in desperate need of clean clothes so I had my first experience with hand washing ALL of my clothes. My host does not have a washer or a dryer so buckets and soap are my only option. Call me spoiled, lazy, whatever you wish but that process is horrifically time consuming and although my clothes have been hanging to dry for two full days, they are still wet. Trust me, I'm going to be looking for alternatives in the future.

Anyway, after I spent my morning doing that I got a call from Mark asking if I'd be interested in going to the national art museum. I was, so off we went courtesy of a friend who drove us. There was a $1.50 entrance fee and Mark and I went off to enjoy the works of Salvadoran artists. The collection was very interesting although fairly small. Maybe I am just too used to the expansive Smithsonian collections. Still, it was a very pleasant way to spend an hour. Afterwards we attempted to visit the Anthropology museum but we arrived only 30 minutes before closing so we saved that for another day.

Later that night we again ended up in the Multiplaza mall for dinner and a movie. After agreeing on our ideal criteria for dinner (full service and not Mexican food) we ended up, a little ironically, at Tony Romas. We didn't consciously plan it this way but we ended up in an American restaurant on the Fourth and had some really good BBQ. We then met up with another friend and watched Wall-E at the theater in the mall. Overall it was a very pleasant night of BBQ, cocktails and storytelling. It was the first phase of "celebrating the Fourth".

We did hear of a celebration at the Embassy that we would have been welcome at but we decided to bow out of that one. We've seen parties at the Embassy. They're not that entertaining. There was to be another celebration of the Fourth on July 5, however, and for lack of anything better to do we decided to go to there. I can't explain to you the extent of the wildness of this party! (Sense the sarcasm). It was attended by a lot of embassy workers with their families, a group of Peace Corps volunteers, and the two interns from Georgetown. Mark and I entertained ourselves with joking remarks about the "party", the music, and the food. It wasn't very expensive, however, and all told I think we both enjoyed ourselves. We were warmly greeted by the Ambassador's wife and later the Ambassador himself. If nothing else we each got to shake hands with him and hear his very bad joke at the end of his welcome speech. Mark has reserved the right to retell that story so you'll have to wait until he gets his blog up and running. The party ended with a nice fireworks display (that set off almost every car alarm in a 5 mile radius).

Now, before you conclude that Mark and I don't know how to "celebrate" a holiday, there is one last phase to our celebration. Once again our friend Luis picked us up and took us to a couple of bars where there were PLENTY of other Americans "celebrating". Our first stop was La Ventana (The Window) which is apparently a popular hangout for "extranjeros" (foreigners - predominantly Americans in this case). I was able to get a couple of Guinnesses so I was in heaven. Luis forbade the use of English for the night, which means I didn't talk much...at least for the first hour or so. Luis and his friends that joined us were convinced a few beers would loosen my tongue and it turns out they weren't far off. Mark, always more brave about speaking did very well throughout the night.

After a couple of drinks we moved to a nightclub/restaurant that I wish to high heaven would branch out and come to DC. The music was an entertaining mix of salsa and American pop and the food to die for. By this point there was a group of five of us so they ordered a huge platter of delicious meats. (My apologies to any of my vegetarian friends who may be reading this but I've never made it a secret that I am a carnivore.) That is truly the type of dinner I always crave when drinking. For the rest of the night we watched some very drunk Americans do their version of salsa dancing. Thanks to my Salvadoran companions I now actually know how locals look at us crazy Americans when we cut loose in other countries. Trust me, we are funny people. No one at my table seemed to stop laughing.

It was a great weekend and a Fourth of July to remember. Happy Independence Day everyone!

Spreading the Wonderment of Peanut Butter (In More Ways Than One)

As I am sure most of you know one of the things that gets most of us through long periods away from home is comfort food. One of my favorite comfort foods is peanut butter and it is usually more readily available than chicken wings so I rely heavily on it during my homesick phases.

An interesting thing I have learned from my hosts is the tendency of Central America to hold close ties with the United States while South America prefers to maintain closer ties with Europe. This dynamic means that grocery stores in El Salvador look a lot like grocery stores in the US with a lot of the same brands. This, of course, includes peanut butter! Which I have to say was a great relief to me because in my semester in Ireland a few years ago I learned that peanut butter that isn’t from the States just isn’t the same. Even though peanut butter is easy enough to find, it is still not the cultural icon it is in the States (understandable) and I have encountered several people who have never tasted it. Well, OF COURSE I feel the need to offer a sample and most are willing to give it a try. So far I have converted 3 or 4 people to the wonderment of peanut butter. It is my way of thanking them for introducing me to pupusas.

Despite the occasional frustration that arises from intercultural encounters, I sincerely think they can be a positive thing. While sharing food is interesting and entertaining, I grant that it is hardly a life changing experience. I have, however, grown to envy the general culture of the work environment here. Unlike the seemly nonstop “nose to the grindstone” culture that predominates in the US, the professional culture here is far more relaxed and healthy (at least in my opinion). The tone in our office, in particular, is extremely laid back, friendly and social. Do not think for a moment, however, that this somehow means that less work is accomplished here than would be if the American work culture presided. The regular members of the team here have accomplished far more in the past year than I would ever have expected a staff of 6 to be able to do. At least partly due to this work culture, everyone in this office comes in with a smile and enthusiasm daily despite their hectic schedules, holding more than one job in some cases, and taking care of their family responsibilities in the evenings.

We have often spoken of the importance of maintaining our mental and emotional health while working in this challenging field. Conflict resolution work often has the potential to be mentally and emotionally draining but I now see the important role played by the dynamic of the setting of one’s work. I can only imagine how frustrating this project could have been for the team here if they did not take the time to laugh with each other and support each other. Work can be stressful enough so the office shouldn’t be. Yet another lesson learned.

Pictures

I know that I have been posting a few pictures but I thought everyone might be interested in seeing the other pictures I have been collecting over the past few weeks. Just click on the picture below. I'll keep updating this album as well as the one on Facebook. Enjoy!

Coatepeque

At long last, it has happened. I have finally seen where Go spent those six months before beginning his adventures at Georgetown. This past weekend Mark and I were taken by Eva, along with two of her friends who are visiting from the US, to El Lago de Coatepeque. We arrived fairly late Saturday night, just in time to see the lake from a look-out point while the sun was still up. We had dinner and drinks at Las Palmeras, a restaurant on the shore of the lake. Eva told us that it was a regular hang-out for her, Go and other summer volunteers. It was certainly a beautiful spot. After our meal we headed down the VERY rough dirt road to the San Jorge Hostel for the night. This is where Eva’s other organization (Nueva Acropolis) hosts their volunteers and where Go called home for all those months. Eva and I actually shared the room where Go stayed.

After seeing the area, I am in awe of Go and of everyone who lives there for any length of time. I can’t explain the sense of isolation that I had while there. Coatepeque is only about an hour’s drive from San Salvador but while you are there you can easily feel as if there isn’t a city within living memory. By the time we got to the hostel it was well after dark and Eva did her best to give us a tour of the grounds. It was wonderful to see all the great projects Nueva Acropolis has going on the grounds and nearby but I have to admit I was absolutely distracted by the unbelievable number of stars in the sky. If I could see that night sky every night, I would be a happy girl. The cost may be too high for me, however, because the price is living in a VERY rural area. I think I may be too much of a spoiled city girl for that. I truly enjoyed the experience all the same.

In the morning Mark and Eva’s friends went for a six hour hike on the volcano while Eva stayed to welcome a small group of volunteers for an agricultural training session and I slept in for the first time since I arrived in El Salvador. We then rented a boat for the afternoon and went out on the lake. After touring around the lake for awhile to see some of the beautiful weekend houses that have been built along the shores, we took the boat out into the middle of the lake and jumped in for a swim. The water was beautiful but our swim was cut short when a thunderstorm rolled over and caught us in the water. We jumped out of the lake and back onto the boat and made a run for the restaurant where we rented the boat from. We eventually got behind the rain and almost everyone jumped in for another dip before we went back.

Of all the events of the day, however, I have to admit the highlight was probably meeting Oscar and his sister. They are two local children who Go befriended during his time there and, although shy, they were interested in meeting the friends of Go. They were sweet kids and I’m sorry we didn’t have the time to spend with them and see if we could get any good stories about their memories of Go.

It was definitely a good weekend.

A Country of Opposites

Mark and I had a short day on Friday with some meetings at the Fiscalia (Public Prosecutor’s Office) and at a Family Court in the morning, so our co-workers Luis and Ricardo suggested we go to one of the many malls in the area for lunch. Off to the Multi-Plaza we went to get some very tasty Mexican food at the food court. When I first walked in I swore I had somehow been transported back to the States. I was met with a Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, Quiznos, Subway, KFC, Burger King and the list goes on. We did go to one of the few stands that was not an American brand. Afterwards Mark and I decided to wander around the mall for a couple of hours shopping and relaxing. The mall is beautiful, modern and fairly new from my understanding.

After wandering around for awhile we walked onto a terrace to look around and directly across from this affluent mall filled with designer brands of clothing and shoes we saw a shanty town. Just one of many communities in and around San Salvador that live in true and utter poverty, this little community had several chickens roaming free, a number of pathetic looking stray dogs and men and women coming and going steadily. There could hardly have been a more striking contrast between the lives of the affluent and the poor in such close proximity. This scene got me to thinking about the many examples of extreme opposites I have noticed here.

Despite the almost overwhelming friendliness and openness the Salvadoran people are known for, almost every imaginable shop or business you can think of has a heavily armed guard due to the high crime rate. In fact, Thursday night Mark and I were treated to a traditional Salvadoran meal at a famous place called Arbol de Dios (Tree of God). This place is the local gallery of the artwork of Fernando Llort, a famous Salvadoran artist, and it houses a very good pupusaria. The warm and welcoming atmosphere of this lovely place is offset by one’s immediate encounter with a guard armed with a large shot gun at the door.

Another example I thought of revolved around children in El Salvador. I have noticed the wonderful “kid-friendly” nature of the Salvadoran culture and I admire it immensely. There are tons of family restaurants equipped with play areas for children (including Pizza Huts and KFCs) and children are allowed a great deal more space to simply be kids in public than I think is generally found in the US. Despite this kid-friendly environment, I have also noticed that there are no laws about child car seats and seatbelts. More than once I’ve literally seen children hanging out the windows of moving cars. Somehow that just seems contradictory.

I by no means intend this to be judgmental. These are just some things I have noticed as an outsider that I’m sure many Salvadorans are so used to they no longer consciously see. Sometimes I wish I could get into the heads of visitors to the United States to see our country through their eyes. My hope is that our work here can somehow help all Salvadorans have greater access to justice and improve the rule of law here.

There is one final note that I wanted to share, if only to ensure that I never forget it. While visiting the mediation center at the Fiscalia one of the public defenders who work in the center gave me and Mark a remarkable welcome. She thanked us for making “sacrifices” to come to El Salvador to help her country and she expressed her hope that our work will have a positive impact on her country. The sincerity of her message and its sentiments really made an impact on me. She made me realize the extent of my initial selfishness in coming. So much of my attention was on my need to gain experience and skills and, frankly, to improve my resume that I lost track of the real reason I should want to be here and the potential for what I do to have a real impact on the future of justice in El Salvador.

This was an unexpected but positive and even necessary wake-up call for me. What I do and where I go in my career can never be just for me and I ALWAYS have to remember the people of my host countries so that I never forget why I started pursuing this field. I always knew this experience was going to be an invaluable learning opportunity and in just three short weeks my expectations have already been surpassed.

Bienvenidos Mark!

I finally have my co-intern with me! Mark has made it safely to El Salvador and has been welcomed as warmly as I was when I first arrived. He, however, has had the added benefit of not arriving when half the office was going to be absent and thus his first few days in El Salvador have been more eventful.

Mark arrived Saturday morning and I picked him up from the bus stop along with several of Eva's friends. We went to lunch and then off to Eva's apartment to drop off his bags and to pick mine up for my move to Lely's house. After the new living arrangements were settled, we went off to the volcano for some "gourmet" pupusas at El Café del Volcán. We also had some Salvadoran hot chocolate (much better than that powdered stuff we call hot chocolate in the US) and fried yuca (very tasty). Shortly there after we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant with Eva's family to celebrate her sister's birthday. Even the Chinese food here is good. Of course by that point I was ready to burst. A whole day of eating!

Sunday has been the highlight of the week, however. We went to the beach! FINALLY! Just a 30 minute drive from the city, Playa Tunco (Pig Beach) is actually a fantastic surfing spot. The water was insanely warm and it was my first time swimming in the Pacific Ocean. Fun times! AND I managed to keep from becoming horrifically sun burnt! All in all, a very successful day. Mark and I are trying to plan a weekend there. There are a string of cheap hotels along the beach that generally cater to visiting surfers. The most expensive hotel is all of $60-$70 a night and it is absolutely beautiful. I'm sure everyone will be hearing more about our time on this beach in the future.







Since Monday we have been working on getting Mark familiar with the Mediation Project and the reports we will be writing. We've spent a lot of time reading and in meetings. Nothing terribly interesting until today when we went to talk to our USAID supervisors about the reports and their expectations. It was just a preliminary meeting but it means we're finally going to be able to start diving into our work. We were also invited to attend a fair-well party for the former Mission Director at USAID who is returning to DC to become the Regional Director for Latin America. It was a great opportunity to meet people and network. Luckily there was an afternoon torrential downpour that extended our stay at USAID for over an hour.

The real work has truly begun now that we have a better understanding of the large scope of the work we will be doing. We are still not sure of exactly who will be reading the documents we produce but interest was expressed by many people at USAID, so the pressure is on. Let the fun begin!

Visiting Home...Sort Of

Greetings everyone. I know it's been an entire week since I updated all of you on my adventures in El Salvador but I have been sincerely busy most of the week. This week provided me with some wonderful opportunities to start diving into the regular work of the office.

I have been invited to sit in on several sessions of an ongoing workshop to design a set of indicators to measure the impact of mediation on justice and the justice system in El Salvador. Although the meetings were in Spanish, I was able to follow the majority of the flow of the conversation. Hearing these representatives of the institutions associated with the mediation centers talk about the role and importance of mediation in their society was both interesting and inspiring because of their passion.

I was also invited to attend a recent meeting with representatives from USAID at the USAID offices in the US Embassy compound. That meant for a couple of hours on Thursday I was within US legal jurisdiction, so it was almost like going home for a little while. That meeting was quite the educational experience. The leaders of the two other Democracy and Governance/Rule of Law programs were also present, which gave me the great opportunity to learn more about the other types of efforts being made and the challenges they are facing. The good news is that the meetings was not all political fluff and nonsense, which I admit I was expecting to a certain degree. Instead, the meeting was a very frank discussion of the progress and remaining challenges in El Salvador. I was a really positive experience on a lot of levels for me.

As you may have noticed, I also like to talk about my social/cultural experiences and I had an interesting one last night. Eva has finally returned from her conferences, so we decided to go out for dinner last night. Originally the plan was to go to a Mexican restaurant Eva is fond of but we found it UNBELIEVABLY busy so off we went in search of a place where we did not need to wait in a line simply to get into the parking lot. We actually decided on going to a place called Buffalo Wings. For those of you who may not know/remember, I grew up in Buffalo, NY the home of the original Buffalo wings and I can be quite picky about my wings. To my astonishment, not only is this place very popular, they make some pretty impressive wings! Who'd have thought I would find such a great comfort food in El Salvador?!? If you consider how hard it is to find decent wings in the States outside of Buffalo, it is incredibly ironic that I can find them here. I love it! Globalization obviously isn't all bad.

A Week of Firsts

Well, I'm almost at the one week mark and it has certainly been an interesting experience thus far. I have spent the majority of my time at the office getting used to the people and the routines. Everyone remains amazingly nice and, with Eva out of town for a conference, everyone has been taking turns picking me up and dropping me off at the apartment. The majority of the week was fairly slow with me reading reports on the Mediation Project and the state of the justice system in El Salvador. Everyone is doing their best to incorporate me into the workings of the office as much as possible while I wait to have Eva return and for Mark to arrive. When both of them are in San Salvador I will be able to begin working on my main project for the summer, whatever that may be. [Side note: Salvadoran culture is extremely laid back and so the sharing of details before I came was pretty minimal. Luckily I was forewarned and I'm simply going with the flow and enjoying my chance to be in such a beautiful place for the summer until I do get the details I need.] So far my main function has been to aid in translating and proof reading messages from the office to USAID and other contacts who speak English.

Yesterday was a big day for me, however, because I was taken on a series of visits to several of the local mediation centers. This summer will see the beginning of a major evaluation program of the Mediation Project and a consultant has been hired by my office to evaluate the current efforts to publicize the work of the mediation centers and to make recommendations for improvements or additions. It was very interesting to finally see the place I had been reading about and to learn more about the way the centers function and their situation within the justice system. The fun part of the day was of course the fact that I spent most of it traveling with people who don't speak a lot of English and the Mediation Center Coordinators we spoke with didn't speak any English. Many of you know that the language issue was one that sincerely concerned me before coming to El Salvador. It is most definitely still a problem BUT I learned yesterday that my comprehension is not as bad as I had feared. I was able to follow the conversations fairly well and luckily we did meet up with a young man who works for the National Coordinating Office for the Mediation Centers who was able to roughly translate the parts of the conversation I was not able to understand. It was a very interesting but definitely exhausting day.

So that was my first week in my first formal office position. Those weren't my only "firsts" this week, however. On Wednesday I had my first pupusas. For those of you who do not know what pupusas are: they are a very traditional and popular food in El Salvador y son deliciosos (they are delicious). They consist of handmade corn tortillas filled with quesillo (a Salvadoran cheese) and they can also have chicharrón (pork), frijoles refritos (refried beans), ayote (squash), or loroco (an edible flower) among other fillings. Rocío was kind enough to take me to a local pupusaría where she bought me one of every kind of pupusa they had for me to try. Out of the four she bought I probably ate the equivalent of 2.5-3 of them. We also took a picture of me eating one to make Go jealous so here you are Go...



I have one last first to share that is a little embarrassing but I think it's a bit amusing as well. First, you need to understand that the climate in El Salvador is actually so mild year-round that most homes don't have heating or cooling systems. This also means many homes do not have water heaters, mine included. As a result, for my first week I was taking VERY cold showers thinking I didn't have much choice in the matter. Tonight, however, I was in less of a hurry to shower and I took the time to examine the unusual shower head and realized it had a switch on it and voltage rating. Lo and behold, the shower head is designed to warm the water! Now the water is by no means hot. I wouldn't even call it warm. But it is no longer so cold that I feel like I am getting a bucket of ice water poured over me through a colander. So, this is my first electric shower head and I had my first shower that didn't turn me blue since leaving the States. I hope you got a chuckle out of my ignorance because frankly I thought it was pretty amusing.

My best to everyone in their various summer locations. I hope to soon be able to tell you more about this interesting city and about my fascinating projects at the office. Adios!

Bienvenidos a San Salvador!

Greetings everyone!

This marks the first posting on my blog of my adventures in El Salvador. I have never been much of a faithful correspondent but I fully expect to have so many wonderful or at least amusing experiences that they will be worth sharing.

I just arrived in the country late last night after a full day of traveling and sitting in airports. Actually, I only spent about 5-6 hours in the air with an additional 5-6 hours sitting in the Houston International Airport (aka George Bush Intercontinental Airport). I finally arrived in San Salvador around 9PM local time (11 PM EST) to the warm welcome of Eva, Rocío, and Luis who drove me from the airport to Eva's apartment where I will be staying until Mark comes to join me from Guatemala.

During the 30 minute drive Eva and company began giving me my first lessons in Salvadoran Spanish. Salvadorans emphasize things by expressing them with diminutive suffixes. When you're thankful for something you say "muchisima gracias". When something is cool you say "chivo" (which actually means goat - this is a distinctly Salvadoran slag use) and when it's really cool you say "chivismo". My primary goal is to simply avoid insulting anyone during my stay here. So far, so good.

I also had my first glimpse of a volcano last night, which my companions found fascinating. Since they have obviously grown up around volcanoes they think nothing of it but I was excited. Even better was seeing the volcano this morning, which is conveniently and beautifully framed by the large window in Eva's living room. It's far from being the only volcano in El Salvador and once I figure out which one it is I will let everyone know. Eva and Rocío tell me this one has not erupted since the early 20th century.

For those who don't know, I am interning with DPK Consulting on a USAID sponsored project. This morning was my first morning at the office. Eva brought me in to meet everyone and I received a wonderful welcome with a banner and balloons and flowers. Almost everyone in the office is bilingual so I have time and lots of support to improve my weak and rusty Spanish. After introductions I was given several reports and documents to use to begin to acquaint myself with the Mediation Project that I will be working on this summer. I only spent a few hours there before Luis took me to the supermarket and brought me back to Eva's apartment to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

As for my specific duties, I'm still not sure what they will be. Eva actually had to leave this morning after dropping me off at the office to go to Honduras for a few days, so for now my job is to learn about the project and begin to plan for an upcoming presentation in Miami. I'll get more details on the rest of my summer when Eva comes back.

For now I'm off to do some more reading. I'll do my best to update this frequently and to post pictures as well. Best to all and I look forward to reading the comments that I am sure will come flooding in!

Best wishes to all!