Feliz HanuNavidadakkah.

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmahanukwanzikah this year. I was invited to spend Christmas with my school principal and another teacher from my school in their Canton in Santa Ana (department next to Ahuachapan, which is where I live). It was an absolutely lovely Christmas, I enjoyed delicious food and getting to know both their families a lot better. I felt my faith has been absent since being here, so I made a lovely menorah out of Salva cola soda bottles and bought catholic memorial candles to fill them (hey it’s all they had in the pueblo). I told my host mother it was a tradition in my family to remember the dead, there was no way she would understand Judaism, let alone Hanukkah. But, I lite my candles even though on the 3rd day of Hanukkah I served BBQ pig, until I realized what it actually was…half way through eating it. But, it was the only meat I had all week…plus it was pretty damn tasty. When it comes to protein, I get it through nuts, eggs and beans…so girls’ got to get her meat when she can. I hope this does not make me a bad Jew. Oh well.

(Lago de Coatepeque during our attempt to hike Volcan Santa Ana)
I have officially been in El Salvador a little over 6 months. Some days it feels like A LOT longer, and some days I feel it has gone by so fast. It’s the longest I have ever been away from home, lived abroad, and not seen my mom and sister. I have hit some pretty low points in college (like when I thought I was going to fail and kicked out first semester, or when my Volvo would continually breaking down every few months) and I had wished more than once just to go home. There were times when I was sick (fortunately not many) or after graduation when I did not have a job, interview, or any prospective for what I was doing with my life. But, I have to stay the emotional roller coaster of living here, as a Peace Corps volunteer pretty much tops it all.

Sarah's 25th bday!

Panes de Rellenos (delicious)
I wanted to send a late and more recent congratulation to two of my most wonderful friends. My best friend, big sister from my sorority, roommate, (I know, I was in a sorority, crazy, but I got her out of it so it was all worth it) and trusted friend, Rifka Blum was proposed to by her boyfriend in October and is planning a Colorado wedding in August. I was thrilled to hear the news (found out a day after via my kindle…SO GLAD I BOUGHT IT…during the 10 day rainstorm) and started consider that a year into my service would actually be a good time to go home. Then, more recently another best friend of mine and also my oldest friend (our mothers were friends while they were pregnant…LITERALLY), Bonnie Thomas was proposed to by her boyfriend before Christmas. So, now I have two wonderful weddings to attend in the not-too-distant future. No offense ladies, but this generally had an emotional breakdown effect on me.
I mean, I am a twenty’s, single, smart, size 7 shoe girl who…is alone. IT IS SCARY. I have always believed in marrying older, which I am totally fine waiting until that time when some wonderful guy somewhere shows up (Which city do you live in…so I can put that in my 5 year plan?). I am so happy for both of my friends, honestly; their boyfriends (now finances’…oooh…scary) are truly good guys. But, it does remind me how alone I am here; which leads me to my official blog post about…MEN. There is a 99.5% chance I will be single my entire service in El Salvador. I had my hopes up coming into this experience that maybe I would find some other amazing volunteer who loved to travel, help people, tall, loved snowboarding, strong…yada yada…but sadly they do not exist (here). 60% of Peace Corps Volunteers are women and I am pretty sure it is a lot higher in El Salvador. Even if I did find some great guy, this country is not that big, but transportation from one side of the country to the other can take up to 10-12 hours on buses, even though it’s in the same time zone! Welcome to the developing world. As for the Salvadoran men…I am simply not attracted to them and I could say many other things, but I think it would be best not to be posted. Hearing two of your best friends getting engaged from far away can be hard, but I know this experience will make me a stronger woman overall and hey, when I do get back to the US of A, I will be BLOWN away by how many more options I will have had here. :-)
Okay positives first, now more on the sad side of things, I also have some not so great news. There has been a lot of suspicion, emails and concerns about PC El Salvador. Some of you sent me The New York Times article, but let me give you a little background. Peace Corps in Central America has heavily considered El Salvador with Guatemala and Honduras as a group, whatever happens to them affects us and so on. Every year El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have received two new training groups of volunteers, one in the summer (when I came in July) and one in the winter (around January). Because of the various reports of theft, robberies, violence, and general targeting of volunteers, the new groups coming in January have been cancelled and rerouted. Honduras is sending all 158 of its PCV’s back to the US for 30 days as a reevaluation period to consider the situation of future volunteers. One volunteer was shot last week there on a bus (fortunately it was in his leg and he survived). Our wonderful country director has told us several times that we are not getting shut down. There are TONS of rumors of what will happen; will we be able to finish our service? Will we be transferred to another country? A lot is up in the air, but I do believe Washington and our staff here are trying to their very best to keep us here and keep us safe.
It’s VERY nerve racking not knowing what is going to happen in the near future, as I start to plan all the things I want to do in this wonderful community. I have no desire to leave. I have established relationships with families, played UNO with children, and I know everyone (pretty much). But, I do forget the dangerous place I live in. El Salvador was recently listed as the "most dangerous country in the world" by the Geneva Convention based on the number of lethal deaths per 100,000 people. You can read more about it here: http://www.genevadeclaration.org/fileadmin/docs/GBAV2/GBAV2011-Ch2-Summary.pdf. It also has one of the highest murder rates among PC countries; which is an average of 12 people a day. As I live out in the countryside, I have zero-to-no threat. There is no public transportation nearby; maybe 3-4 cars drive past my house a day. But, it is only when I go into the cities, ride the bus, and especially go into San Salvador where I am at risk. Things happen; entire buses are robbed (a lot of times they just ask for a dollar or two from everyone). Fortunately, most of acts of violence are NOT targeted to volunteers. The people who are murdered most of the time are targeted by one gang or another.

I resisted writing this as I do not want anyone to worry about me here. I have a WONDERFUL community where people are always warning me where to go and to travel with someone and calling when I get to where I am going. I have fortunately traveled a lot of places and have always been careful when I leave to go anywhere. I do think it is better to know and be educated that not know. As this New Year approaches, I am wishing and hoping for many things and I do have faith that I will be able to continue my service here. I hope all of you take a moment at some point this week and be thankful for the wonderful place you live in where you can walk the street at night and take a public bus safety. There are so many places in this world where that is not the case. I hope I did not scare you, this was not my intent. May all of you have a safe, healthy, full and happy 2012, my thoughts are with you.
Hello from Kermit, the frog who lives in my letrine. :-) Hopefully that makes you smile!