I need to start eating with a fork, I need to not talk about gastrointestinal issues, I need to learn to talk about things that have nothing to do with El Salvador or Peace Corps. These things are not interesting to anyone outside of my friends here.
More seriously, I have been out of the US culture for the last 2 years. No tv, sporadic internet, spanish language radio, no social life outside of a few gringos and my community. This might sound melodramatic... but that's kind of a horrifying prospect. Diving headfirst into all of this, even though it will also be great, is scary. People find PC interesting for about 4 minutes, and rightfully so. El Sal has been my life, and I have little more to talk about.
We live in a little bubble here, and in some ways, defend it's borders. Due to our need to immerse ourselves in the Salvadoran culture and push away things American, we never have to confront the problem. However, a few weeks ago, I spent time with non PCV gringos, and the realization hit me.
I've become a little socially stunted.
On the plus side, I'm really looking forward to having new conversations. Throughout these last 2 years I've been reusing conversations, jokes and interactions with Salvadorans in the campo. For my part, I always privately blush when I re-use a joke with a second group of people in the US. Contrived. Here, it's just a part of immersion. You use whatever technique you can to get people to laugh, to interact, to like you. It's a cheap, useful, and fuerte tool.
You know how many times I've had the same conversation about mitos and frijoles and las lluvias? Igualito. Down to the punchline. Exactly. The. Same.
Cheap. Socially cheap.
I guess on the plus side, my absolute ignorance of basically everything will hopefully lead to some kind of conversation... I'll be schooled. Hopefully, I'll at least have the pleasure of having good tasting microbrews on the table while I learn the ways of the new world.
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from El Salvador? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in El Salvador in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39 Bajo C
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely