Teacher's Day

Monday June 22 is Teacher's Day in El Salvador. This is a national holiday and everyone here joins in to celebrate a profession that is exceedingly important to society but often disregarded.

To be honest, I thought I was (I still do sometimes) failing as a teacher but my students surprised me with cake and a song.(I also received a gift from a person who is not one if my students but more on that later.) This was perhaps one of the most memorable days of my life. As we sat in the classroom sharing cake two of my students gave a speech on how much they appreciated me and respected the fact that I had return to my country of birth to contribute as a teacher. I got emotional as I explained to them that this is a personal development for me because I don't want to forget my roots and also because I believe in the potential this beautiful country has. I also went to ask them for patience; just like them I am learning as well but I take this work seriously because ultimately I want to do this for the rest of my life.

I heard stories from my students about their dreams of having a better life and how some of them tried to make it to U.S only to be mistreated and almost raped. I wanted to hug them all as I teared up.

I have never in my life felt so inspired. I finally feel like I have a purpose in life. As I heard these women I felt that with the gift that I have I can at least open a window of possibilities to them. Education is truly power.

Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.
-Lord Brougham

Pics: Some Random and from the beach

Here are some pics Alice took at the beach as well as some other goodies. Click here.

Las Cheras Del Norte Go To The Beach

So this past weekend, Las Cheras planned a trip to the beach. Our departure was quite tardy as some of us took awhile to get ready. Thankfully Meryl and Vicky (two amazing girls working in Tacuba in eco/agro projects) had "chucho" (a pick up truck that had already had some rough years on him). They came to pick Rhita and myself up and with Alice and Vivian's excellent map skills we made it to the beach.

We decided to go to El Zonte. I was absolutely mesmerized by the black sand and the warm water. The place that we stayed at was beautiful, it was called Casa De Frida. We invited the spanish school students, and all the volunteers (approx 15 of us). We practically took over the place. There was only one room for four of us to share and the rest slept on hammocks outside.

The weekend was full of insightful conversations, laughs, and amazing waves. Although it rained for most of the weekend it didn't put a damper on things. Even with the rain we still went in the water and exofoliated ourselfs with the sand. (lol) There were no fatalities only some injuries evoked by some rocks, (stubbed toe, scrapes, chipped nail polish). Most of the accidents ended when the Cheras noticed that the surfer boys were swimming in a none rocky area. (We decided to follow them) The bus ride back to San Salvador was amazing. I was sandwiched between Heather and Alice on the way back (Grrrrrrr :) ) and the bus was blasting music so we had good beats going on the way back. There was this beautiful little girl that as standing on the bus because her mom was sitting down and holding their chicken. (Ritha freaked when she saw the chicken) the bus was packed and Heather offered the little girl her seat.

When we got to San Salvador Heather, Ritha, Vivian, Alice, and myself were exhausted and finding the other bus to get us home was a struggle but we managed.

So no picture because I forgot my camera but as soon as Vivian, Alice, or someone else posts their pictures I will link them to this post.

Teaching

I just completed my first week of teaching. I must be completely honest; I do not have a clue about what I am doing. One thing I am certain of though is that I will lose weight this summer from so much jumping around, and miming in order to get my students to understand what I am saying.

My students (all over 18) are adorable. They are eager to learn and are not afraid to ask questions. Preparing lesson plans actually takes more time that I thought....

I try not to speak Spanish to them unless I have used all body language possible and all synonyms I could think of....

Well I am still working on other project here (promoting CIS and English school) and I am going to start my lesson plan for Monday today.

Cheers

Assignment number 2

For this assignment Larissa would like the interns to describe our surroundings. I think I have done a good job so far in doing this but this time I will include pictures.

I think I have already disclosed that I am staying at my grandparents house
Most of the time its just me and the cat, Pingo. ( or “mish” is what I like to call him)
Sometimes I have my aunt or one of my uncles that comes to check up on me but for ninety percent of the time is just me and Mish. I think this solitude has depressed me recently because I am not able to interact as much with me fellow interns or the other volunteers at CIS (they live practically on the same block). I just need to find a way to get out and stop spending so much time with the cat.

Speaking of Mish, this is something that has surprised, I am generally not a cat person but now I don’t mind taking care of Mish HOWEVER I don’t let him climb on my lap or touch me in any way. He knows already I don’t like him touching me so he obediently watches t.v. next to me. Sometimes though I catch myself making little baby voices at him.

Some of the things that have surprised me about El Salvador is the astounding heat. I can't believe how friggin hot it gets here. I have a belief that I suffer from hyperhidrosis or sweaty face like Vivian likes to call it but as Ritha (my fellow intern) pointed out that I only perspire when outside in the sun but if I indeed have hyperhidrosis I would have sweaty face all the time. So in conclusion I am just a hypochondriac.

Speaking of extremely hot weather, I cannot imagine ever wearing make up here. But to my surprise every morning I see women all done up and through out the day I see women re-applying their make up. What amazes me is that they do it on the bus, the very same buses that you have to hold on to your life because otherwise you will end up rolling around in the aisle or hitting your head against the ceiling.

One thing that I love though is the city's fixation with the 80's. I love going on the bus and having 80's tunes blasting and looking at the women with their 80's make up. CLASSSIKKKK!! This morning actually I was listening to AHA....it made my day.

Crossing the street here can be quite dangerous. For example in Canada the pedestrians have the right of way here the cars/buses/microbuses/ have the right of way. For me however crossing the street depends on what I am wearing...you see if I am wearing a dress or a skirt I will automatically have the right of way. I know it sounds absurd but its true.

Click below for my album, I have more picture but there is a shortage of computers at my placement. I haven´t been able to upload all of them.

Yenny's Odyssey in El Salvador 2009

Sat 13-Jun-09

I have officially been in ES for two weeks. It seems like I have been here for months. For the last couple of days I have had a sore throat that just wont go away, I have been monitoring my temperature. No fever, no body aches, therefore no piggy flu. (I think)

Yesterday Alice and Ritha had their first day at CIS. I was excited to meet them and was relieved when I was welcomed with their warm smiles. Alice has been extremely wonderful by bringing items that my mom has sent for me (excluding the family size shampoo that my mom was trying to get her to smuggle in for me, seriously the size of this thing was ridiculous). I talked to my mom in the evening, she told me how my little sister took an instant liking to Alice and would not let go of her hand it's so adorable but Alice does have a benevolence about her - I could definitely see my two year old sister bonding with her

We finally started our training for the English School. I find that our group of teachers is very eclectic and we all have a genuinely goal in mind – liberation through education. Our day mostly consisted of getting to know each other and learning more about CIS. I think however the highlight of my day was when Rachel held the York Interns back to have a small meeting with them. We had an opportunity to exchange ideas and it was refreshing to hear Ritha rant about the same things that frustrate me about the Hispanic community in Toronto. We both believe that there is a scarcity of resources for youths, and that the community is more interested in party party party rather than moving the community forward from a stagnant situation. The Hispanic community in Canada has no active MP, the drop out rate keeps escalating, and the youth keep feeding into stereotypes. The same stereotypes that Ritha and I have been able to over come.


Who am I?

During our initially training yesterday we had an opportunity to pair up and find three things in common. I was paired up with Nick and we both found that our mother's call us by a different name.

My mother calls me “Jenny.” Typically when I introduce myself to English speakers I say “Yenny” but when I introduce myself to Spanish speakers I say “Jenny.” So where does this ambiguity lie? Typically in Spanish the letter Y is pronounced as palatal affricate with a complete stop closure. (Like in the word judge) in English however Y is a velar fricative, by raising the back of the tongue toward but not touching the velum. (I am so glad I passed linguistics :) But my name is more complicated than that; when my mother and I travelled illegal to “el norte” my name went from being spelled Yeni to Yenny my last name some how went through a transformation either deliberately or not. I now use my mother's maiden name, meaning that in ES I do not exist by this name.

So I am now back in the country trying to grasp my roots and finding who I am but just like my name I believe there are two sides of me. What is my culture and where do I stand?

It's turning out to be a long week...

Nothing new to report back...just that I can't seem to get use to the weather. It is too friggin hot here and I break out sweating often. I am researching on getting Botox b/c I don't know how long I can deal with this. Apart from that I woke up today not feeling so great, I have a sore throat but that can be as a result of the pollution I have to face everyday.

I nearly fell out of a bus today. I didn't plant my foot right on the stair while getting off, I had to hold on for my dear life. Ohhh and I was dropped off so far away from my usual bus stop so yet again I had to walk my ass to CIS. Well that was my cardio work out for the day.

This weekend I have training with the rest of the interns/volunteers who will be teaching english. As my first day of teaching approaches (Monday) I am beginning to get nervous. I keep thinking how will the classroom dynamics will be? Will the like me????(well they better :P)

For my fans out there (if there are any, I think only Margie is my fan...lol) I am still working on getting the cable for my camera to upload pics. Patience is a virtue...

Cheers....

Y que siga la selecta...(oh ya btw I am a huge soccer fan now...who knew???)

Email from Mommy

Hola hija como esta espero que bien. en este momento estaba pensando en usted y en lo afortunada que soy yo en tener una hija como usted,pensar que un dia a una edad tan joven dios me dio un regalo tan hermoso de tener una hija tan bonita que es usted y que tambien un dia tome una decicion de venirme ilegal a la usa como dicen ahi y luego al canada donde unos años mas tardes esa niña hermosa regresa al salvador hecha una mujer pero no derrotada si no triunfada y eso me llena de mucha sastifaccion. wow que sensacion tan bonita.
Muchas veses en la vida hay que tomar deciciones que aparentemente no parecen ser las correctas y eso fue lo que yo hice cuando me vine dejando a Ernesto, pero viendo todas las cosas que usted, joshuay sarita pueden lograr como siudadanos canadiences me llena de alegria y su ves me pongo a pensar en todas aquellas personas que decean venir al canada o la usa por que tienen un sueño de prosperar y salir adelante en la vida y muchas veses quizas nosotros no valorizamos lo que tenemos en nuestras manos como poder viajar a cualquir pais que se nos de la gana. es eso una vendicion de Dios? o como le podemos llamar?
La quiero mucho,

tu mama

05-June-09

As usual my ride home was a pain. Today I waited for the bus; one bus passed but I guess it decided not to stop. I became livid. I couldn't believe that the bus just kept going even though myself and another lady flagged it down. Thankfully another bus came fifteen minutes later.

On my way home I get to see many different things. I travel from a nicer part of San Salvador to a more necessitous part which is where my grandparents have their home. I am staying where Soyapango begins. This part of town is a motley of large well built houses adorn with pastels, shanty towns, and factories. My grandparents have had the option (I believe) to move to a nicer part of town with the assistance of their children but this is what my grandparents have known to be their home. My grandparents have built a humble home and thankfully they have much more than those that live around them. Regardless impecuniousness that surrounds me in this part of town I walk safely and not at any point have I self insecure.

On my way home today I became very emotional. Just seeing the scarcity around me dispirits me and makes me realize of how important our democratic rights are. Every time I see a person getting on the bus to beg for money my heart plummets to the floor. On this particular day a gentleman his wife and baby got on the bus. Then all of the sudden he comes to the front of the bus holding his baby and begins a speech. I became concerned for the child because the bus rides are tremulous, and I feared for the safety of the child. He began to tell all the riders that he “too was coming from work but unfortunately he has to work in whatever he can each day because he was let go from his job recently.” He then went on to explain how he barely has enough to feed his child and that he is asking for the co-operation of any coin. All us who felt his pain assisted him with a quarter or two. Later on an old man (septuagenarian) crawled under the turnstile (typically these turnstiles have a counter that are checked periodically; people who get on the bus to sell or to beg typically jump over) as he crawled under he said a small prayer and did the sign of the cross. Then then got up and holding on to the seats with his cane in had he began to ask for money to help his family. When I saw this began to tear. Seeing this poor old man in this condition stung me completely. I have been here close to a week and have seen many things but this perhaps struck a chord in me.

06-June-09
Tonacatepeque
Today I was invited to go to Tonacatepeque. I had a change to get out of San Salvador and actually breathe some fresh air. But it took me awhile to learn the name of this city. (still can't say it) This city is so small that you can practically travel from corner to corner in an hour. I had delicious soup, and tamarind sorbet. It was extremely hot and I wore jeans because my legs have been massacred by mosquitos and ants. I suffered the whole day from the heat.

I got home just in time to watch El Salvador kick Mexico's ass....buyaaahhhh!!!

Futbolisticamente El Salvador SI existe!

04-June-09

04-June-09
Good news! Two more interns from York are coming soon (hopefully next week). I received an email in order to put Vivian and myself in contact with them and fill them in on the action. Like I stated before the only draw back is that I am so far from where they are staying. I will have to crash at their place once in a while. :)

Today on my way home from CIS I attempted to take another route home. My aunt told me to take “microbus 53” and then transfer. I waited for half an hour and this “microbus” never came. I called my aunt to tell her about it and to see what other bus she would advise to take. She said to me, “oh, I guess they decided to go another way today.” I had no idea that busses or microbuses take whatever route is convenient on that day. I had to again go on the only route I know and it took me 1:45 to get home. Thankfully I have a lot of material on the methodology and the history of CIS to read so I was well occupied on most of the ride.

As I was reading the teacher manual on the ride home I began to think to myself why is it that people dwell on the past. El Salvador has had a turbulent past and it seems that at times as a nation we can't move because our history keeps being brought up. I am not saying that history is not important according Hegel history in an integral part to our human condition, it is only through history that we are able to understand ourselves but living with this on going memory can cause rancour and in turn not lead to any reformation. I am not saying that we should forget all our history but what I am saying is that we should not make it your present...Perhaps it is more complicated than this but this is what I understand so far.

As days pass by my reason for coming to ES becomes more concrete. I have always wanted to either inform or educate people in one way or another. I have always been a fountain of information (sometimes useful at other times useless) because I like to immerse myself in anything I find interesting. Since I was thirteen I have had the ongoing indecision of either being a teacher or a journalist but on the bus ride I thought to myself, what is the difference? In both occupations I would be in a sense informing or educating people on salient issues. However as a journalist I will be informing the public of that “they” tell me to report. The most rewarding however is teaching because I would be educating someone and regardless of how microcosmic my contribution may be in the end I have left a footprint in someone's life.

Defining My Culture

As part of my internship at York it is important for me to reflect on my experiences. One of the “assignments” (if I can call them that) is to define my “culture.” To dig deep within my soul and in some way come up with what this “word” means to me.

In my opinion there is no set definition of what culture is. I can go into the Oxford dictionary and provide their definition but I think this definition should be subjective. Living and growing up in Canada I find myself sharing commonalities with other cultures. My almond shape eyes are a cause for confussion for many as many can confuse my features as being Asian.

I find that I don’t belong to one specific group, because I have a difficulty relating to just one culture. I can probably go into a lengthy blog about where I was born and where my parents are from etc etc...but in the end this is insignificant in defining my definition of culture.

Coming back to the country I was born has been difficult because people expect you to assimilate the culture easily since in essence if you were born here than it’s your culture. But how can I adhere to a culture with opinion, ideas, or rituals that I do not understand or much less agree with.

So at this point in my life I come to the question of who am I? Does my culture define my identity?

I am a woman, of Hispanic back ground, born in El Salvador and who grew up Canada. I consider myself both Salvadoran and Canadian. I proudly carry my Canadian passport, like Larissa I also listen to the CBC (radio one), and enjoy a big plate of poutine. I am as much Salvadoran with my appetite for "queso duro," "horchata,"and "pupusas,"

I am my own culture. I can transpose my culture freely, and preserve ideals and morals I deem important. But most important in my culture I expresses myself without inhibitions.

day three at CIS

The commute to CIS hasn't been as difficult, but unfortunately for me; the closest bus route to my home is notorious for being tardy.


Last night I started calling friends and family (most or at least the numbers I could remember) to catch up and to see what was up in Canada. My friend Margarita told me that there have been some lay-offs at work. My heart sank last night upon hearing this news. Now I am worried that I won’t have a job when I come back. :(
Good news is that this morning Vivian found out that there will be other interns coming. I am super excited about having other Canadians around. The downside is that I live so far from them that I won’t be able to hang out as much. I am in the process of making some arrangements to see if I can at least stay in this area three days out of the week; especially when I have to teach late.

I found out that I will be teaching "nivel basico!!" I am super nervous but we will see how that goes.

I just thought of something funny when we had our first day at CIS, Rachel took us aside and gave us a small talk. She informed us that unfortunately many of the young men that enroll in classes at the centre do it as part of a dating service. Their goal sometimes is to get a foreign girlfriend. I laughed when I heard this because a) I don't look foreign so I won’t have that problem and b) I can't believe men would go to that extreme to get a "chelita."

By the way I still don't have the cable for my camera, I went to look for it yesterday but I was extremely expensive.

Lengthy update...

The following are some excerpts from my journal. I have been trying to load all my pictures from my camera but the cable is not working. I will go get a new cable soon.


30-May-09
My day began with my mom waking me up. I had fallen asleep on the couch, my attempt on pulling an all night failed me. It was 4:15am and my plane was taking off at 6:30am. Half asleep I got up and prepared for my long journey. My little brother got up early to help me load up the car. Typically he never wants to get up that early but for me my little brother will make this small sacrifice.

I already had my major break down on Thursday, I can now face the prospect of this adventure with a more serene feeling. When I arrived at the airport I instantly looked for Vivian, my travel buddy. Vivian will be working with me at CIS but she will be working on projects dealing with the craft store and local artists.

We had decided to travel together because we thought it would be safer for us and I thought I would be fun to have someone to talk to for the five hour plane ride. I saw Vivian at the airport with only one bag, I left like I had over packed but I had many things to give away. I had practically cleared out my whole closet. I checked in and it was time to say good bye to my mother and my little brother. Vivian said good bye to her family and her mother was so nervous that she even asked me to hug her. (so adorable!)

The flight that we booked had a stop over in Newark. I had stop over at Newark on a previous flight therefore I am familiar with the small two engine plane that Continental uses. Flying from Toronto to Newark is approximately an hour. Unlike most planes this plane uses stairs instead of the bridge to load on passengers. It almost makes me feel like a celebrity heading out to the apron and going up the stairs to a plane that looks like a private jet. (I should insert picture here but I forgot to take one, I will take one on the way back)

When we got to Newark we had an hour for the next connection. We had arranged to sit together on the emergency exit row. I think I frightened Vivian when I told her the type of responsibility the people who sit in this row have but when she saw the extra leg room she was content. It turns out that our seating plan backfired, initially when we booked the seats in Toronto we requested to have the aisle and the window seat in order to have the middle seat free for more room. It turns out the flight was full and a gentleman had booked the middle seat, because we wanted to sit together we offered him the window seat. He was very nice and he gave us some tips while being in El Salvador. I think however that there came a point when Vivian and I probably annoyed him. We did everything to keep ourselves entertained, from practising our French, singing Spanish lullabies and laughing at practically everything. I never had so much fun on a flight.

When we got to El Salvador we were attacked by an intense heat. We proceeded to immigration and baggage claim. At immigration I wasn't asked many questions as my Canadian passport indicates that I was born in San Salvador. I plainly told the officer that I was there to visit my family and I was never asked how long. When I had to go look for my bag things got complicated. I only remembered what one of my bags looked like. I couldn't remember if my bag was blue or black with a red ribbon or white ribbon. I kept looking and looking until Vivian volunteered to look for it, thankfully she was able to locate it in seconds. After getting all our luggage we proceeded to the exit, I noticed the “traffic” light post but I never pressed the button I just kept walking like I knew where I was going and Vivian did the same. It wasn't until much later did I realize that I was suppose to press a button in order to go (green=no bag check) or to stop (red=for bag check). I just kept walking to toward crowd of people outside. The only thing holding the people back was a fence, as I walked out my aunt instantly recognized me. I gave her a hug and we proceeded to wait for the van she had booked to drive us to the city.

On the drive towards San Salvador, the scenery was just like I experienced while vacationing in Mexico but as soon as I entered the city everything changed.

I was flabbergasted by what I saw. Someone how I had imagined the city to be in a different state, the war has been long over and all these years should have been years of progress but all there was, was remnants.

As we were looking for the address of Vivian's host family I was speechless. I couldn't find words to describe my feelings. Everything is different from what I remember as a child. A child's mind can see beauty in everything.

As we dropped Vivian off I was having separation anxiety. My heart just dropped when I was separated from my travel buddy. I felt like I was losing my only Canadian connection. We only looked at each other like to little kids being separated. The only thing that pacified me in the end is that we were to go shopping the next day.

“overwhelming” everything about today has been overwhelming...I am beginning to see how the other side lives and hard to come to terms that this where I come from. It is difficult for me to find beauty on something that seems so dilapidated.

I sat down this evening to have dinner with my aunt and I began to think to myself, “How am I going to do this for three months?”

31-May-09
Today I woke up with a different perspective. Things are somehow getting easier. I had my first cold shower today I must say that I miss the hot showers. Taking a shower now takes longer and I have to wash a limb at a time. My uncle offered to buy an electric water heater that can be attached to the shower head but somehow the idea of electricity and water all together frightens me.

My aunt and I took the bus today to go pick up Vivian. On my first bus ride I was entertained by a comedy show. After their show was over they asked for a small donation that my aunt was happy to oblige with since she was pleasantly entertained. We picked up Vivian and went to Metro Centro one of the malls in San Salvador. The goal for the day was to find a cheap cell phone. We found that the items at this mall were expensive and so we travelled across the city to Plaza Mundo where we were able to find a cell phone for less than 20 dollars. We bought other things like a change purse and school supplies to donate to CIS.

My aunt has been amazing with Vivian and I. She goes to the extreme of showing us how to dial our cell phones (even though we have cell phones back home).We now know how to tell how much “saldo” we have left on our phones. She has made the best effort to prepare us and warn us against potential dangers.

01-Jun-09
“Humility” is what I believe I am acquiring. It's hard to comprehend how drastically different things are here. I find it difficult to understand how when I was small I never noticed all that was around me. I never felt like I lacked anything and my mother always sheltered me from my surroundings.

Today I heard my aunt and uncle talk about my father and everything my mother had gone through. Is it possible to love so hard?... So hard to potentially cause harm?

02-Jun-09
Today was my first day at CIS. I woke up at 5:30am, took a shower, had breakfast, and took the bus all myself to my internship. The bus ride was approximately an hour and a bit. I managed to get to CIS at 7:45am. I was the first one there and the housekeeping lady opened the door for me. Slowly people kept trickling in. I made sure to text Vivian to make sure she was on her way and that she wasn't lost.

I finally got to meet Rachel (Raquel). She was very welcoming and gave us a lot of information on CIS. Everyone at CIS was still buzzing with the excitement of the night before. The inauguration means a “potential” change in El Salvador and CIS is a supporter of Mauricio Funes. Many of the members made it out to the celebration and many of the CIS members were able to be close to all the international delegates.