I just stepped outside the office to watch the torrent of raindrops start to fall, to smell the thirsty soil drinking it all in. If that sounds like a peaceful, thoughtful experience, then maybe I can’t explain through writing—perhaps through an expression: IT’S RAINING CHUCHOS AND GATOS!! The first rainstorm of the season--about time, too, since the dust and the heat were getting to be more than slightly unbearable. Oh, and, here comes the thunder…and lightning...!!!!!!!! And then I started to write a blog entry here--my first attempts foiled by the storm, as the power keeps going in and out and [View Full Entry]

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It’s amazing how my senses can bring me back so quickly to memories I didn’t even realize I had. Sitting in the back of a pickup truck on my way down to Ciudad Romero, the strong smells of dust, burning trash, and soap (the kind used for washing clothes) reminded me of my first days in the campo last year. The way the light spills golden on the sugar cane fields in the late afternoon and the dust-covered green of the trees. The chorus of insects at night and birds in the morning. The oppressive heat. Now that I’m getting accustomed [View Full Entry]

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I am acutely aware that I haven´t updated my blog for about 2 months now! I apologize for the lack of updates, but be assured that I haven´t been a "huevona" (lazy) during this time. Quite the opposite--we´ve been working pretty much non-stop on several projects and are moving forward at a pace that I can´t believe! (Note: There are a lot of pictures posted on this blog from the past 4 months, so make sure to look through all of them if you´re interested (go to where it says "next page" to see the other 60 something pictures)! I´m not [View Full Entry]

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The decision to get up at 3:30 in the morning to jump on a bus for four hours is a decision you can only make the night before. So, that´s what I did--waiting in the muddy street at 4 a.m. listening to frogs and hearing the first chirps of birds while watching the stars slowly rotate their way across the sky and hearing the honking of the bread sellers as they started their daily rounds balancing the oversized baskets on their bicycles...waking up this early isn´t that rare in the campo. I joined up with Nohé and Leo and we waited [View Full Entry]

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Last night, five youth performed a revival of a play that Aryeh first created with the técnicos (agronomists) of the organization two years ago. Although we had a rather rocky time putting together this peice (3 of the original cast members dropped out, and only 1 remained constant in his own part!), the result, after 5 rehearsals with all present (and bringing in new folks), was fun and moving. The play´s basic premise is about two indigenous "antepasados" (ancestors) who practice advanced methods of agriculture, planting according to the phases of the moon, sharing the land, and believing in the sacredness [View Full Entry]

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During the rainy season in El Salvador, the saying "when it rains, it pours" takes on an entirely new meaning. When walking on dirt roads becomes wading calf-deep through slushy mud (and who knows what else, since the cows and pigs trod the same paths) while the roads transform into streams with gentle currents or algae-covered lakes and ponds (I once saw a group of tadpoles spawning in the middle of the street!), you begin to understand. When the rain comes (la tormenta), usually at night, the booming of thunder and the crackling of lightning barely make a sound over the [View Full Entry]

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I´ve been through a complicated set of emotions in the past few weeks--through what I would consider my latest "adjustment period." The thing they usually don´t tell you about "culture shock" is that it comes in waves...some that are more intimidating and crushing than others. I had thought it was an orderly process--the honeymoon period, the culture shock, then the delicious profundity of feeling "settled" in a "foreign" place. Not true. Every time I´d get a wave of depression, self-doubt, or have another experience that convinced me that I truly don´t have as secure a hold on things as I thought, [View Full Entry]

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At the prodding of the youth, we put together an improvised play with a very short 2 weeks of rehearsal for Mother´s day. Uniting the two communities Ciudad Romero and Nueva Esperanza, we had a cast of 14 youth who cross-dressed to make the theme of gender more apparent and to internalize and understand the different "roles" that men and women play in daily life (plus, it´s just funny and campy--which is always enjoyable!). The play centered around a family, specifically a day in the life of Mamá Julia, who confronts the daily tasks of cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, maintaining order [View Full Entry]

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Click the above link to see the work I´m doing featured in the ArtCorps May e-newsletter! (Haz un clic para ver una versión en español también!) Here´s the beginning of the article... Theater has proven to be a necessary tool for helping the youth of Bajo Lempa, El Salvador develop teamwork and leadership skills--and receive an invitation to perform internationally. "We believe that art is a tool that greatly facilitates the work that we do every day to achieve the empowerment of our communities and the strengthening of our organization," says Nohé Reyes of the Mangle Association, which received its [View Full Entry]

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¡AVISO! WARNING!: SOME CONTENT OF THIS ENTRY MAY BE DIFFICULT TO READ FOR THE FAINT OF HEART AND/OR STOMACH. That being said, I was recently inspired to write about my not-so-glamorous experiences here in hot, flat, rural El Salvador by the ingenious travel writer J. Maarten Troost, author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals ( The Book ). Reading this book and laughing out loud convinced me that it´s indeed okay--and in fact, quite healthy--to express my concerns and, well, deep-seated anxieties about my continuing lifestyle "abroad." "You´re the inspiration" So, one night while I was consuming a surprising amount of [View Full Entry]

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