Hmm, I seriously am debating whether or not it is worth the time to write an entry just two days before I will be home, but I already have an opening sentence so I will go on. This is my last time coming into the Peace Corps office. I have officially handed in all of my paperwork and the final report for my Partnership project (don't worry donors...I will have a report and pictures out to you soon, but that will be oh so much easier with a DSL connection when I get to Minnesota). Despite this being my last time in the office and my final days as a volunteer, this trip doesn't feel very different from all the other times I had to come here (basically that it's a pain in the butt to travel so far and I can't wait to get back home to my town, my bed, and my Ismael). I was thinking about it as I was walking from the bank this morning after closing my account...I am done. But it so does NOT feel that way. Maybe it's because I am coming back in less than a month or because I will be continuing with some of the same projects I was working on before or because I have been so busy lately that I have not had time to think about next week. It could also be that all this has been so big and I do not really know how to start taking the next step (besides all the wedding planning and visa stuff); but that thought just opens up another whole can of worms that I do not want to face right now. The short of it is that more than half of my group (those volunteers who arrived at the same time as I did), though our number had slowly dwindled down to 18 over these two years, left this morning and are not coming back. It's strange to think - though for me the change is not immediate because I did not get to see these people everyday - but two of them were very close friends (future bridesmaids) and it is a pretty big concept to grasp that we will probably never see each other in El Salvador again! So I keep saying it to myself and writing it, but it is just not sinking in yet.
So that is where I am, in the office, getting ready to go back home to enjoy another day of fiesta tomorrow, finishing with the Peace Corps. I have a few project details to line up between today and Thursday, a second suitcase to pack, and then I am heading home for a while. It will be a longer visit and hopefully I will be able to get a few details taken care of that will make my and Ismael's arrival easier. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone (family and friends) and my puppy. Then there' Aaron's wedding to enjoy and more friends and family to see there. So once again I think we will be cramming all I can into a short period of time, but I am looking forward to it. Honestly, though, I do not have things so put-together as last time. I have not had time to prep for this trip or to organize reunions, but if I have not learned flexibility here I have learned nothing...so I am n ot worrying or planning or anything until I am there.
Wow, if you can't tell from my rambling I feel kind of scatter brained and not overly coherent right now, so I will wrap up by letting you know that I moved houses last week and am now renting a room in a mansion with a pool (you can ask me when you see me). Ismael and I went to my friend Alison's wedding on Friday (she also married a Salvadoran man) and we had a blast (and Ismael walked away with a friend he might get to see in the States!). I had a couple of good bye parties (even though I am coming back) which were pretty fun. Finally, I have developed a case of chronic back pain or some kidney disorder that I am supposed to get checked out in Minnesota. Otherwise, things are moving along as normal...Ismal working the fields, it rains most everyday, and the pupusas are as tasty as ever. So that's it in a nut shell for now.
So I am signing off as a Peace Corps volunteer, but I will try to keep the blogs up until Ismael and I are in the States for good. After Friday call me at home or email to get together!

I know it’s not a good sign that I do not remember the last update I posted, but I know that a lot has happened since that time. While things seem a bit crazy lately, I still end up with more free time than I know what to do with. I feel busier here (or that I have more going on in general in my life) than I did many times in the USA, so I keep asking myself why did I not seem to have so much down time to fill. I suppose the answer is simple, there is just more to entertain myself with in the states. Though I maintain that much of what we are accustomed to having in the states is unnecessary, I could go for a bit of that familiar distraction right now.
First thing first, while the countdown to my return home is still on, there have been some slight changes to the original game plan. After much waiting on the visa front, we have been told that it will be just a little longer than we had hoped. While we have gathered all of the paperwork, passed the necessary exams, and sent in the required forms as mandated by the embassy, we have been told that we cannot schedule an interview until an interview package has been mailed to us. An embassy rep told us (at a bargain rate of $2.10 per minute!) that due to the large amount of work flowing through the consular department that we can expect to wait anywhere between one and a half to three months for such a package to arrive. That being the case, we are looking forward to that paperwork toward the beginning of August. So plan B is this: I am flying back to Minnesota on July 18 and will be returning to El Salvador on August 7 in order to see the paperwork through and return with Ismael in September (hopefully). I will be in Minnesota for about two weeks and will be at Aaron’s wedding, so I should have time to catch up with everyone before I return here. You all will have to wait just a little longer to meet Ismael, though. As for wedding plans, I do not expect this to set us back much. For now we are just returning the prospective date to late October (say the 26th) as was originally proposed. Though I will no longer technically be a Peace Corps Volunteer when I return, I have work that I will be continuing as long as I am here.
The second big news is that Donovan (my puppy) has braved the cross-continent journey and is now safe at home in Minnesota. It was quite an affair to get him there, but I am glad at least that step has been completed. Ismael and I made the trip to the airport (twice!) to get his paperwork in line and to send him off. After a few long rides in the back of a pick-up, getting up and on the road before the sunrise, and a long day in the Houston airport, he made it to MSP. Mom and Dad were waiting for him and say that although he was a bit nervous he was fine and is now adapting to his new home. The house is a little lonelier without him, but he is in good hands.
Work is pretty booming as of late, though, as I say, I still find some time to get some rest. We are in the middle of spending the $4,595.25 that you all kindly donated for our trash project. We have about half the garden planted and fenced in, one of two murals painted, and construction on the work shed at the composting lot is set to commence this week. Maggie (the new volunteer and I) have also been working on the plans for the environment classes we will be giving at the school next week. On the soccer field lighting project front, I am awaiting the contracts from the embassy which are to be faxed this week. Once those are signed we should receive the money and be able to start construction. The plan is for them to work while I am in the USA and we will have an inauguration celebration (possibly with the ambassador) when I return. The last project is the school library. We are still plugging away at those books, though there has been less and less time to dedicate to that project. That is where I plan to concentrate my efforts when I return in August.

We´re on to June, which means about six more weeks to get everything wrapped up. I ran around last week in San Salvador doing my final medical checks, writing reports, and filling out surveys. My goal is to get logistical things done early to make time for everything else (i.e. visa stuff and saying goodbye to the town). I am also in the middle of two fairly large scale projects which are supposed to be finished by the time I leave, so there will not be a lot of down time in the near future.
The biggest news, in my opinion, is that the papers have arrived from the Embassy! That means I need to send in a few forms and schedule Ismael´s physical so that they can give him an interview date. That is what´s on today´s schedule. This is his last week of work, so as of next week he will be back home. Hopefully we can get an interview date within the next couple of weeks, and that will be the final step until we get to the States. It´s a relief to think that we are almost done for now, but the interview is really the deciding factor.
As for the waste management project...the funds are supposed to arrive in the bank account today, so tomorrow we are scheduled to go buy the first load of materials. This will include large trash cans for the local stores and restaurants as well as equiptment to build a storage shed on the composting lot to endure the rainy season (which has already started). We are definitly excited to get this project underway. We are also preparing to paint an environmental mural and to do trash education classes with the schools.
Finally, I am starting to think about what to do with all of my stuff. Much of the larger furniture Ismael and I have decided to store at his parent´s house, thinking that we might have a place for it later. Other items I will be leaving with the school or the kindergarten. Further still, some things I will give as gifts or just leave it up for grabs to anyone interested. I want to get started on this process, but I still use a lot of what I have, so I have to wait to get rid of it all.
Needless to say, it´s a pretty hectic time, and it´s only going to get more stressful before it calms down. I am staying positive, though, because most everything seems to be happening on time (or at least in a reasonable time frame). But it won´t stop when I am back in the states because then it becomes wedding planning and j0b search time!

I assume many of you have given up on reading this by now, as my updates have become much more sporadic. I assure you that I have the best of intentions, but that just does not always result in action. So this is for those of you hanging in there and still reading. Thanks for sticking with it and continuing to remember me down here! Actually, the two month mark has passed and my days are officially numbered in San Luis. There will be a lot to report in my final eight weeks, but I can already foresee that time flying by.
Many changes have come about since my last post (nearly a month ago), so I will try to catch you up quickly. I now have two new savings accounts, one for the waste management project and one for the soccer field project. Unfortunately, both are currently empty, but just opening them ended up being a task itself. You may be remembering me saying I had the check for the waste management project; we deposited it last week and they need three weeks to cash it as it came in the form of a US bank note. So we are waiting one more week on that one, but the project plans are set to begin spending immediately. As for the soccer field, everything seems to be set and everyone on board except for the Ministry of Education. I too wonder, why are they even involved here? However, their people are supposed to come to talk with our people this week to work something out. My great hope is that will remove the final obstacle to $10,000 being transferred to my bank account, but I have learned here in El Salvador to prepare to face frustration especially when dealing with government institutions and money (whether they will see a penny of it or not).
Speaking of the embassy and soccer, though…last Tuesday we hosted the big soccer clinic with the professionals here in town. Cindy and Jeff (the players) lead the kids in several soccer activities and then sat down to talk about their experiences and the influence soccer has had on their lives. They ended with a snack and by handing out signed diplomas. Afterward, we (Peace Corps), the embassy group and the players went to lunch. I got a chance to hold Cindy’s gold medal from the Athens Olympics, which was a highlight of the day. The kids really enjoyed themselves and are excited to have the players’ signatures as a memory of the event.
The other big news around town is Maggie, the new volunteer who arrived on May 9. She is living with the mayor’s parents, staying in the same room I lived in for my first year here, and seems to be settling in fine so far. I am trying to maintain a balance of introducing her to the town and some projects, but not being on top of her. It’s a hard task to accomplish in a town as small as San Luis. We are together mostly during the day, but for meals and in the afternoons I leave her to do her own thing. In our roles as volunteers it is important to do much of the cultural adaptation and immersion stuff on your own, and I do not want to be thought of as the second Whitney (for her own sanity in the next two years), so I am keeping my distance. So far it is working out pretty well.
I spent last week at the Close of Service conference. It was basically three days at the beach (though we rarely saw the outside of the meeting room) in which it was explained all that I need to do as a volunteer to end my service and go back home. There are various forms and reports to turn in; interviews and doctor’s appointments to schedule; money matters to clarify; packing and getting rid of the stuff that I will not be packing; and saying goodbye to my town, among other things, to take care of. It will be no small feat, which is why I commented that I should have plenty to report on in my final two months, but I think I can handle it on time.
The final news is on the visa front. Things seems to be moving along, and I can only hope they continue to progress at this rate. We received word that our petition for the fiancé visa was approved by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services on April 23. From there it was forwarded cross-country to the National Visa Center for further processing. On May 10, we received a notice that our case package would be received by the US Embassy in San Salvador for following week (last week), and we should expect to be notified of how to further proceed in the visa application process and to schedule an interview after that date. So as we are waiting for some mail from the embassy (which I hope to have next week or the following), we are gathering the forms and information we will need to present at Ismael’s interview. This week we are heading downtown to get his passport. He put in his notice to quit work two weeks ago, and he will be finished at the factory after the first week of June. His work schedule is so overbearing that we decided in order to most efficiently handle all of the running around we are facing to get the necessary documentation, his medical exams and the interview, it would be best for him to be here. This way he can create his own work schedule, help his bother with the farm, and have a chance to spend some time with his friends and family before we take off. I probably won’t mind having him around either J.
Finally, mentioning Ismael, his birthday was this past Thursday (May 15). He was working the night shift and I was at my conference, but I made sure to call first thing in the morning and have the whole Peace Corps group sing him Happy Birthday, which he thought was hilarious. He really did not want to celebrate, so no cake or gifts this year; I promised him that he would not get away so light next year, though.

Ok, this blog is getting away from me again. The past couple weeks have been pretty normal, schedule-wise, but some excitement is on the way.
Ismael and I did go to the rodeo the Sunday before last. They apparently have professional bull-riding teams across the country to compete in such rodeos. I had no idea. So we watched the rides, the rodeo singers, a transvestite rodeo clown (which is pretty scandalous in El Salvador), and some non-professionals on the mechanical bull. All in all, we had fun and it was good to get out of town for a day.
We also took care of a request from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office for additional evidence that I have been to El Salvador recently. They now have received that information and say they are continuing with processing our case, so that is good news. We hope to hear from them by the end of next month in order to proceed to the Embassy with our visa request.
Here in town, I have taken it upon myself to start the inventory of the donated books that will be the school’s library. It’s pretty tedious work opening up all of the boxes, recording each book’s information, and stamping and numbering each one…especially when I am doing the work by myself right now. The important thing in my opinion, however, is that we have a record of the books and that each one is marked as property of the school so that no one walks off with any of the donations. I have made it through about 250 of what I estimate to be nearly 800 books in total. Once the initial inventory is finished there will be plenty of work to categorize, card catalog, and prepare a check-out system in order for the library to get up and running. Luckily, I will be getting a new volunteer in my town in about two weeks who can help to organize this project and the students who will be helping out as the library committee.
Continuing with work…I mentioned before that the Partnership grant (to which many of you have donated!) has received the full amount of funding. That check is now here and I will be picking it up on Monday from the Peace Corps office. The mayor and I went to the bank yesterday to open an account for the administration of this grant. For security purposes, we have to use a joint account and two signatures are required for all monetary transactions. The mayor is my co-signatory in this case and in order for him to open an account at the bank (as a politically involved person) we need a special permission from the bank’s headquarters. Basically that means we sat at the bank for three hours and were still not able to open this account. I do not believe that such rules exist for politicians opening bank accounts in the USA, but maybe I am just not aware of it. We will return on Tuesday, once the permission comes through, to open the account and deposit the check so we can get to work.
Finally, the soccer field project is also picking up momentum. We were able to open an account in my name yesterday for this project (as I am the sole signatory). Hopefully the money will be transferred sometime next week so we can get the construction under way. The big news, however, is that the Embassy is coming in all of their glory on May 13 for a big soccer event. A group of professional soccer players from the states will be in El Salvador at the time, and so will also be a part of that event. The idea is for the ambassador to attend, but with his busy schedule we are still not sure. I was informed this morning that the crew (embassy reps, soccer players, and Peace Corps staff) will come in the morning to set up and have a press conference. Then we will have lunch and a time for rest before a two hour soccer clinic with 100 kids from the area. So in the end it should be a pretty large-scale event. Getting the kids involved is always fun, though, and they will really enjoy it. It will also be nice to get some publicity for the town because such an event involving the Embassy is guaranteed to bring out the news crews.
Outside of work, I have some activities coming up to get myself out of town. On Sunday, the town hall is sponsoring a town field trip to the beach. All of El Salvador is relatively close to the beach, but somehow I have not made it to the coast this past year; so I will be taking advantage of that opportunity. I will be staying in San Salvador for a meeting on Monday morning with the Embassy regarding the soccer field project followed by lunch with Ismael. Then, in the afternoon, some friends and I are headed dress shopping for a friend of mine who will be getting married here in July. The following weekend (a week from tomorrow actually), Ismael will be coming home to visit. The following week the new volunteers are sworn in and sent out to their communities, so I am headed back to the capital for that celebration. At that point a new volunteer will be arriving to San Luis, so I will have a chance to show them around and get them involved on some of the projects we have started. Finally, in preparation for my departure from the country, my Peace Corps group has a three day conference at the beach to go over our exit plan (or basically all that needs to happen to wrap up our two years of service before we can go home).
So all of that will take me well into May…and the time just keeps rolling by.

I am still here! This whole internet thing is becoming tedious and takes a bit of planning, but I am still here. I spent most of last week traveling around fighting off boredom and the urge to spend hours upon hours in my hammock. So instead I spent that time on a bus (though I am not sure which is better). When I got off of the bus, at least, I was somewhere new and was able to meet up with friends. I went to San Salvador twice since my last update to visit Ismael, went south almost to the airport to spend the night at a friends house, and met up for dinner and a girls night with a few friends on Saturday. It’s been good to get out, good to trade some DVDs with my friend, good to eat somewhere other than my kitchen, and oh so good to see Isma. It seems right now that all of us (my friends, Isma, and myself included) are in an antsy state. We are about three months away from going home, so Peace Corps has started sending out wrap up information. Our closing conference is one month away, at which point we have to turn in our flying out dates! It all seems very close, yet still far away. It seems that work things are progressing and hopefully will be wrapping up. At the same time, knowing that I will not be here much longer, I am starting to miss little things like a car, living close to a city, and a house with air conditioning (but that may be because it’s the hottest month of the year down here). Also, Ismael and I are getting a little tired of this whole long distance thing. So, while three months is not much time, we are all about ready to take that next step.
Somewhere in my recent traveling days I found time to redo my Peace Corps Partnership grant budget. We were looking to submit an adjusted budget to receive the already-donated funds. Today, however, I went online to see where the project was at and it is no longer on the website! That really can mean only one thing…we got fully funded!!! I don’t know where more money came from, but thank you to all of you out there who participated. I just talked with my advisor and she said we should expect a check in about three weeks. There will be a more formal thanks to all of you donors, but I hope you can share in my happiness right now and celebrate because WE DID IT!
On another positive note, we received our first update this week on the visa application since the notice of receipt back in November. It was a request for some additional information, but what that means is that they have started processing our request! They wanted proof that Ismael and I have met in person at least once within the past two years. That shouldn’t be a problem because I currently live in El Salvador and see him on an almost-weekly basis, but they want evidence. So I have copies of my Peace Corps assignment, my visa, and entry and exit stamps from the country. Hopefully with this information, they will be able to finishing processing our permission and we will be dealing with the Embassy by the end of next month. So this is where things may start to get exciting (or overwhelming… we have to wait and see). Depending on how overwhelming, we are looking at Ismael possibly moving home once this permission comes through to handle most quickly the next step of the visa process. It’s all awaiting this permission right now, though.
This week I am hanging out, waiting for some checks, watching “new” DVDs, and trying to help Donovan get comfortable with his new cage. We are not exactly sure when he will be making the trip to the states, but the more comfortable he feels in the cage, the better the trip. On Sunday, Ismael and I are hoping to go to one last Salvadoran rodeo. Fiesta season has basically been over since February, but there is one final, pretty large fiesta this weekend, and Isma does not want to miss it (not knowing when we may head back down to here for another one, he says).
So that’s life right now: on the verge of some big things happening (on the work front and in my personal life) and feeling ready for that change. The other big news I am waiting to hear about is whether or not I will be getting a replacement volunteer next month. That will also affect my work because I may be trying to turn over those projects to the new person; if not, I will be rushing to get things done by July! I will not know any more about that until the end of the month, though, so until then I am working on having patience.
Final update: It hailed yesterday afternoon. I went home a little early from work and went to pay the months rent and Donovan and I made it home just before the storm hit. I had little dime-sized ice balls melting on my floor and the temperature dropped from high 80s to about 60 within a few hours! And I thought I was in a tropical climate!

This past week, my second week of vacation, was pretty uneventful on the whole. It was Holy Week, so the town hall was closed all week (Monday to Monday). As I had just gotten back from a week of vacation, it probably would have been better for me to return to work. That wasn’t an option, however, and I got pretty used to laziness and lying around. A little time off is good, but too much is bad. I already foresee a struggle in readjusting to a normal work schedule when I get back to the states, so I need to start training myself to be more busy and productive than the life of a volunteer demands (not saying volunteers are lazy and don’t do anything, but there is no one to MAKE us do anything and sometimes self-motivation succumbs to temptation and hammocks).
I did accomplish reading most of David Copperfield this week. It’s a long book and, it being a classic and one that they sometimes make you read and analyze in high school, I thought it might be boring. I was wrong, however, and really am enjoying it. Any book that can make me laugh out loud is a good one. I am thinking that Charles Dickens actually deserves to be a classic, because many times I don’t agree with the literary critics.
The only other thing that really occupied my weekend was Donovan. On Thursday afternoon I found him limping around and eventually he was down to walking on only three paws. He kept licking and chewing at his wounded paw until he would cry. I examined it several times (which was tricky with a wriggly little animal that clearly was not thrilled about me touching his foot) to find no blood, no wound, and no foreign objects. It was definitely agitated and inflamed, but likely by his constant licking at it. So I gave him an aspirin and kept him inside for a few days to see how he got along. I would have taken him to the vet on Monday, but by Sunday he was no longer crying and was not licking it much anymore. On Monday he began walking on it as much as he could, and he is doing much better. He still favors it a bit, but he seems to be getting on so I am going to let him heal on his own.
So aside from afternoon after afternoon in my hammock and several long-winded conversations with Ismael to pass the time, there is not much to tell. There was a procession on Friday night that I went to. The town carries a statue of Jesus in a glass casket to his tomb (it’s called the Santo Intierro, the Holy Burrial) through the streets and end up back in the church for mass. Friday is more celebrated here than Easter Sunday. And, unfortunately, there is no Easter Bunny.
Isma is doing well. He worked a double shift (14 hours) on Friday instead of taking the day off like most Salvadorans and then a full day again on Saturday. He thought I was crazy on Sunday morning when I asked him if a bunny had brought him a basket of candy and then started rambling about colored eggs, buts it’s a tradition I think he will get used to (I mean, who doesn’t like Cadbury Cream eggs?). Even better, though, I am going to see him on Thursday.
We are down to less than two months away from the date we expect to get the permission from US Citizenship and Immigration Services for the fiancé visa. There will be plenty to do at that time with getting passports, medical exams, and interviews out of the way, but the long wait is not so long any more. That being said, we should be able to set a concrete date for the wedding soon, as well, so you can all clear your calendars for the celebration. I am trying to prep Ismael little by little for an American style wedding, but the truth is he has no idea what he is getting into. I just hope Aaron’s wedding doesn’t scare him too much, though I imagine ours will be a bit smaller scale.