¿Como Tejer?

We had a somewhat deserved “working vacation” from our usual site activities. We went to what is called IST in Peace Corps acronymphyllia. It stands for In Service Training. At roughly six months in site (has it already been that long!), they call you all in and let you share experiences, also they provide additional language training. It was nice to re-connect with everyone and see what has been going well, or poorly for them. You really get to appreciate how everyone’s experience in the Peace Corps, even in the same country and program, is very different.

However, the highlight of our time back at the training center in San Vicente, was the time spent with our family in San Isidro. This was the family that we lived with during our first 10 weeks in the country. I hadn’t seen them for almost six months. Katie got to see them a while back, frequent readers will remember the shower episode. Anyway, it was really good to see them again. Our improved communication this time was proof that yes indeed, we are still improving our Español.

Here are several pictures from our visit. Katie spent every night teaching Carmen, Alma and Vanesa how to knit. Knitting is called “tejer” in Spanish, and as a not so interesting aside, in Spanish, spiders “tejer” a web (the word for knitting and weaving is the same). The first night there was quite a bit of frustration, I think they thought is would be easier, but they learned the fundamentals. By the last night, I think they might actually have been having fun. We will see when we go back to visit in August, if they still want to learn more.

To keep the kids busy during the knitting lessons, I broke out the crayon box that was sent down by my aunt Toni, and we bought some coloring books that had tear out pages which I would pass out to the kids. They had to share the 64 crayons, which resulted in a few broken ones, but overall, they had a great time! They even begged to do it again the next night. Of course I had to look at each finished drawing and give praise.

It was Dia de Madres while we were there. They celebrated on Thursday the 10th of May. For our part, Katie made fudge, which we had discovered previously that Margo (our family’s mom) loved. Katie brought all of the ingredients, and she made it in between knitting sessions. Alma, the more entrepreneurial of the two sisters, took notes and watched carefully as she is sure there is a market for the stuff here in El Salvador! We also bought Margo some flowers, which is a traditional gift down here as well. All in all, it was a very nice visit. It felt a lot like coming back to really good friends or family.

It was interesting to note how different our interactions are with that family in San Isidro, compared to the people in our site. To some degree we have really spent more intense time with that family, they cooked for us, helped us with language and culture, and protected us during our early time in the country. We have spent more time “around” our people in site, but not “with” really… also the people up here are just a bit more reserved than the people down there. The lesson is; we still have a long way to go in gaining more “confianza” in our site. I now understand better why so many PCVs say that it wasn’t until after the first year that they felt they were starting to accomplish something.