Way behind on my blogging so this is merely a place holder entry. An ugly little stain on my blog that'll motivate me to post something intellectual/fun/interesting later this week.
The quick rundown...
Sam, got your package. Incredible.
Chuck and Dana, thank you so much. Because of the size, your package was processed through more rigorous customs and held in the department capital. Literally took me more than a month to bail it out of mail jail.
Roof. Putting one on our school. Hard work.
Community soccer tournament. Every Sunday for two months. Headache.
Women's group gardens. Seeds planted. Yippee.
That's the news from Lake Wobegon. I'll clean this up and post more later this week.
Hope all's well.
4.24.2010
4.12.2010
Guns N' Fuckin' Roses
My eyes hurt. My throat's killing me. I still can't hear a damn thing. And I'm pretty sure at some point I got punched in the face. But it was worth it. Because last night I got to see my childhood idols (seriously... sadly...) live in concert.
It was unbelievable. Fireworks, covers of Bowie and Floyd. So cool. Definitely the best concert I've been to. Or maybe at least the most anticipated.
It was pretty amazing. In the lead-up to the concert, the country pretty much shifted into some sort of GNR mania. Every day there were articles in the paper about the upcoming show. I mean, it was like the entire country was asking itself: Was this a mistake? Some sort of clerical error that the "little thumb" of central america is benefiting from? We almost didn't care, we were so psyched to finally get a real band. Especially after Metallica blew off El Salvador for Guatemala City when their tour passed through the region last month.
And say what you will about Slash not being there or Axl going off the deep end, but I gotta be honest, that crazy, old tattoed freak's still got it. Brought the house down. Plus, with his cowboy hat and 48 year old gut (yes 48, can you believe that?), he couldn't have looked more salvadoran. Just like one of us. The crowd loved it.
4.05.2010
Once in a lifetime...
I’d never played on a field that large. Or with grass as nice.
You could tell we were all a little hesitant the first time we committed to a slide tackle, but after surviving the first one and realizing we weren't playing on our rocky dirt fields back home, everything changed.
Recently, we had the once in a lifetime opportunity of playing a few exhibition games at the national stadium against volunteers from JICA, Japan's version of the Peace Corps.
It was an amazing experience. Estadio Cuscatlán is the largest stadium in Central America, and you definitely felt the size of it once you walked out from under the tunnels. Since we only had the field for the first half of the day, we had little time to soak it all in before we were lined up, standing before the Minister of Sports, listening to the national anthems of El Salvador, the US, and Japan.
Here we are just before the event kicked off. Crouched down in front of me is our Country Director, Jaime, an incredibly cool guy without whom the day could never have been possible.
Everyone was pretty antsy to get going and see what a stadium field felt like. Apart from my buddy Ross and my old roommate Chris, who played on the national level, we were all pretty green.
We played well, with added intensity fueled by the feeling that we were playing in some sort of quasi-olympic atmosphere.
But the JICA volunteers stepped it up as well, and drew first blood.
All in all, we got smoked. The PC women's team put up some amazing numbers, but the guys just couldn't put anything together. We had a great time all the same.
Chris, sending in a corner
Me, totally wiped out playing on a field twice as large as my community's
Our buddy Matt, soon to be Dr. Matt, and his famous cheap mirrored lenses, definitely a must for any PCV.
Chris taking advantage of said famous mirrored lenses
It was a very unique experience communicating with the Japanese volunteers only through Spanish. I’d had Italian and German friends that only knew me through our Spanish personas. But this Japanese/Spanish thing was a first for me. Actually, the JICA volunteers said that learning Spanish was easier for them than English. Something about the vowels. Pretty cool.
What a crazy day
You could tell we were all a little hesitant the first time we committed to a slide tackle, but after surviving the first one and realizing we weren't playing on our rocky dirt fields back home, everything changed.
Recently, we had the once in a lifetime opportunity of playing a few exhibition games at the national stadium against volunteers from JICA, Japan's version of the Peace Corps.
It was an amazing experience. Estadio Cuscatlán is the largest stadium in Central America, and you definitely felt the size of it once you walked out from under the tunnels. Since we only had the field for the first half of the day, we had little time to soak it all in before we were lined up, standing before the Minister of Sports, listening to the national anthems of El Salvador, the US, and Japan.
Here we are just before the event kicked off. Crouched down in front of me is our Country Director, Jaime, an incredibly cool guy without whom the day could never have been possible.
Everyone was pretty antsy to get going and see what a stadium field felt like. Apart from my buddy Ross and my old roommate Chris, who played on the national level, we were all pretty green.
We played well, with added intensity fueled by the feeling that we were playing in some sort of quasi-olympic atmosphere.
But the JICA volunteers stepped it up as well, and drew first blood.
All in all, we got smoked. The PC women's team put up some amazing numbers, but the guys just couldn't put anything together. We had a great time all the same.
Chris, sending in a corner
Me, totally wiped out playing on a field twice as large as my community's
Our buddy Matt, soon to be Dr. Matt, and his famous cheap mirrored lenses, definitely a must for any PCV.
Chris taking advantage of said famous mirrored lenses
It was a very unique experience communicating with the Japanese volunteers only through Spanish. I’d had Italian and German friends that only knew me through our Spanish personas. But this Japanese/Spanish thing was a first for me. Actually, the JICA volunteers said that learning Spanish was easier for them than English. Something about the vowels. Pretty cool.
What a crazy day
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)