Good luck on this one!

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for waiting on me...I have been receiving a lot of notes wondering where my blog posts have been lately, so please understand that it has been a very busy two weeks. The few days before we left for El Salvador we had all of our final presentations and proposals due, so I had trouble finding time to write. THUS, thank you in advance for reading everything in this post, I´ll try to make it worth it, and I promise they will be more regular from now on!

First, a few notes about things pre-El Salvador...

I gave my final presentation for Spanish class on an incredible book written by Nicaraguan author Emilio Quintana entitled, Bananos about the lives of banana workers and the corruption and poverty they endure in southern Nicaragua and Northern Costa Rica. It absolutely blew me out of the water and I would recommend it to any of my Spanish speaking friends (it´s only 66 pages!), so if any of you are interested let me know and I would be happy to bring back a copy for you.

That also means...60 hours of intensive Spanish instruction: CHECK!
Here is a picture of my Spanish class (Sam, Chelsea, me, Molly, and Elizabeth) with our two professors, Ramón and Araceli at the end of class celebration. They are too wonderful for words.

ALSO...drumroll please...I turned in my ISP proposal! My official topic is: An investigation of psychosocial support networks for people living with HIV in Nicaragua. Starting November 4th, I will be in Managua with the same host family (HOORAH!) while working with a psychologist at an organization called Fundación Xochiquetzal, learning about the support services offered and the challenges that the positive population face in Managua. I may also go up north to Chinandega for a week to do a case study of the resources in another region. It is so exciting to finally have it almost figured out, although now I have a few days to get everything sorted out with the Bates IRB...eek!

AND, my last exciting piece of pre-El Salvador news...I VOTED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!

Washington was being slow about sending out the absentee ballots, so I voted with Kendall, my dear friend from Sammamish, using the super sketchy federal write-in absentee ballot for citizens residing outside of the United States. We were probably a little too excited for it, so we took pictures of the entire process:


I am really looking forward to seeing these elections through a Nicaraguan lens because as far as I have seen, Central Americans are more informed about the elections in the United States than many United States citizens. Only 9 more days!

And finally, EL SALVADOR!

El Salvador was probably the most enjoyable part of my semester so far, and that is seriously saying something. The best way to describe this excursion is completely and utterly overwhelming - between the amount of activities we had and the weight of all of them, I am lucky I am still breathing. We visited a lot of groups and met a lot of fabulous people which would be way too much to write about here, but these are a few of the big events and exciting moments from the trip.

-We spent two days in the campo again - and it wasn´t that bad this time! We lived in Santa Marta, a community in the Cabañas region near the Honduran border. During the war, the people of Santa Marta were caught in between the guerrillas and the military, so they fled to Honduras to escape the inhumane treatment they were suffering. During the day, we worked at Radio Victoria, the community radio run by the youth of Santa Marta and Victoria up the mountain that reaches their region and even parts of Honduras. It was absolutely amazing - the first day I worked with production to make an informational advertisement to encourage people to vote, and the second day I worked in the cabin where I spoke live on the radio and got to play music. The song I chose to play was actually by the Bates Deansmen in an attempt to introduce Central America to a capella...so Tom and friends, you are now international superstars!

-We all spent a day with students from Santa Marta who are studying on scholarship at the universities in San Salvador. Chelsea, Phil and I followed Vilma, a journalism major at the UCA, who actually worked at Radio Victoria before coming to the city. We went to her photojournalism class and then to her job at the radio station, from which we went absolutely everywhere. Vilma had to get interviews for her two stories that day, so we took the bus to the Sheraton for a meeting of the embassy of Holland regarding trade with El Salvador, and then to a conference at the National University. We returned to the station at 5PM, she wrote her story, and it went on the air at 6PM. It was amazing but so stressful - it made me feel like I was back at college....goodness, I can´t believe I forgot what stress feels like!

-We visited the National Assembly to talk to government representatives from the two major political parties about their platforms and their thoughts about their huge elections this January and March. El Salvador has municipal and representative elections every three years and presidential elections every five years, and 2009 is the 15th year (least common denominator!) in which all will occur simultaneously. It was an awesome opportunity, and after all the history we had learned and the time we had spent talking to Salvadorans throughout the week, it was super interesting to see how these parties function.

-On Wednesday, we watched one of the most incredible and terrifying movies that I have ever seen called, Voces Inocentes about the civil war in El Salvador during the 1980´s. We had spent all week learning about the war, seeing the horrific pictures, and hearing people´s unbelievable testimonies, but this really hit me hard. After the movie, I went up to my room and hyperventilated because I felt so powerless in the face of the injustice and abuses that occurred and still occur around the world to this day.
In fear of the threat of communism, the United States gave what equates to 1.5 million dollars per day for 12 years to the oppressive military dictatorship that committed unforgivable acts against the people of El Salvador which are some of the most disgusting human rights abuses I have ever seen. It is so difficult to even attempt to fathom the psychological training and the barriers one must create in their mind to do these sorts of things. And how can these things still be happening in our world?
I am still recovering from these images and now more than ever I have started to question myself about who I am and what I believe. I have been told this is a good thing, so hopefully I will come out of this stronger and with a clearer idea of what life means.


And now for a little more upbeat news...

-We met with an SIT Nicaragua alum who is actually JEWISH, from BELLEVUE, graduated from NEWPORT in 2003...and knows my sister and Nathan! Just one of those happy moments that lets you know that the world really is that small.

-I had the most marvelously and fabulously economical ice cream while in El Salvador...gosh I love Central America!

-I rode the most terrifying ferris wheel of my life. It was so bad that Aynn is adding "Ferris wheels in Santa Marta" to the list of banned activities for future semesters. You can see a video of me and Chelsea on the wheel below...though it doesn´t do it justice.



Overall, El Salvador was a fantastic experience, and has actually made me think about coming back down here to study the psychological effects of the war in Nicaragua and El Salvador for my thesis. Who knows!

Here are a few more photos from the trip...


This is from the rose garden memorial for the six Jesuit priests who were assassinated in 1989 by the government.Outside the National Cathedral, I saw this little girl feeding the pigeons.We walked down the mountain through the corn fields from Victoria to Santa Marta on our first day in the campo, and this was the view we had the entire way. In the distance you can see Honduras! The war memorial in San Salvador for the Salvadoran civil war is just like the Vietnam memorial in Washington DC. Oscar Arnulfo Romero was the archbishop who was assassinated in 1980 by the government. He is the most famous man in Salvadoran history, described as a prophet by everyone in the country.

And since then? We returned Friday night around 9PM to a wonderful potluck dinner organized by our host moms. It was so cute!


This next part is dedicated to Margaret, Hilary, and Liz:
Yesterday, I made my family´s first ever chocolate chip cookies that weren´t Chips Ahoy ("They aren´t hard!" (That´s what she said!)), and my sister and I went around Máximo banging pans and with pots on our heads to deliver cookies to all our aunts. IT. WAS. AWESOME.


So that is the way too long update on the last two weeks of my life. Basically, I am having such a great time and it is crazy to think that we are now more than half way done with the program!

The slideshow in the upper right hand corner is now completely updated, so you can click on it and have fun going through the absurdly extensive collection.

Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Love,
Nicole