Kellan was picking us each up at our houses in the morning, making sure we know our way around, even though we all live within four blocks of each other, including Kellan and the two Peace Corps workers who are here, Irene and Meghan. Now we find our own way around and are saying hello to the people we greet each morning. El Sauce is a pretty small town.
We are settling into a routine.
• Shower at night — the water gets turned off by the municipality around 6 a.m. each morning to conserve it. Some families have water longer, but you never know exactly when it will turn off.
Families stockpile a bucket of water for use during the day, to wash hands and other necessities. I have a jug shaped like a gasoline container full of water in my bathroom so I can wash my hands during break.
• Say goodbye when you pass someone, not hello — since you're not stopping to talk, it's a more polite greeting.
• Get used to the staring — People usually stare because we are the only "gringos" (foreigners) around, but it's not a bad stare. We're just unusual, though they see quite a bit of Geneseo volunteers come through. I see the same people each day and we nod hello and say "adios."
• We wake up around 6 a.m. and leave our respective host family houses to make it to the work sites by 7 a.m. Adam has lunch about noon and break for an hour, then it's back to work until 4 p.m.
Meredith was out today with a doctor and nurse at a remote health station, so she took the bus back into town around 2 p.m.
• If we have time, we have dinner with our families before English class at the New York School of English, the Geneseo busines and English school run by Kellan and Yacarely.
Adam and Meredith prepare for each day's class during the one or two hours of free time between jobs. The English class is very participatory — the students learn by speaking and interacting instead of reading boring grammar books, so it's a lot of fun.
Last night, the winning team that could thread the most sentences together in the shortest amount of time won bright blue Geneseo key chains. They are all working on pronunciation. They must be saying Geneseo twenty times a night now that we are here and they are asking us questions about ourselves, but the "G" here is a soft one. Like an "H." Everyone says it out loud and to themselves trying it out, and laughing as they take on different accents.
"Yeneseo?" says Ileana.
"Heneseo," says Luz, mumbling under her breath.
From the back is Henry. "Jenesee-o." I give him a thumbs up and he grins back.
• If we have time, we have dinner with our families before English class at the New York School of English, the Geneseo busines and English school run by Kellan and Yacarely.
Adam and Meredith prepare for each day's class during the one or two hours of free time between jobs. The English class is very participatory — the students learn by speaking and interacting instead of reading boring grammar books, so it's a lot of fun.
Last night, the winning team that could thread the most sentences together in the shortest amount of time won bright blue Geneseo key chains. They are all working on pronunciation. They must be saying Geneseo twenty times a night now that we are here and they are asking us questions about ourselves, but the "G" here is a soft one. Like an "H." Everyone says it out loud and to themselves trying it out, and laughing as they take on different accents.
"Yeneseo?" says Ileana.
"Heneseo," says Luz, mumbling under her breath.
From the back is Henry. "Jenesee-o." I give him a thumbs up and he grins back.
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